TELUS Forcing Customers Off Unlimited Plans

"Canadian telco TELUS sold a bunch of (expensive) Unlimited EV-DO aircard accounts last winter and are now summarily canceling them or forcing people to switch to much less valuable plans. TELUS is citing 'Violations,' but their Terms Of Service (see #5) are utterly vague and self-contradictory. The TELUS plans were marketed as being unlimited, without the soft/hard caps that the other providers had at the time. They were purchased by a lot of rural Canadians who had no other choice except dialup. Now TELUS is forcing everyone to switch from a $75 Unlimited plan to a $65 1GB plan, and canceling those who won't switch. Have a look at the thread at Howardforums, a discussion of the TELUS ToS (in red at the bottom), an EV-DO blogger who's been a victim, a post at Electronista, and of course Verizon getting fined for doing the same thing! Michael Geist has taken an interest as well."

Link

"Nothing like giving the customer what they don't want!"

Canada remains happily mediocre

Bruce Dowbiggin, Calgary Herald
Published: Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Was I the only one wondering why Donovan Bailey, perhaps the greatest Summer Olympian ever in this country, was mentoring Jamaican athletes in Beijing? Why was he hugging Usain Bolt, not Canadians Gary Reed or Priscilla Lopes-Schliep? Oh, right . . . he was frozen out by Canadian officials despite a medal dry spell going back to 1996 for Canadian track.

Am I the only one who wonders why this is going on in a country that supposedly needs all the help it can get?

Our athletes won 18 medals. A lot better than the 12 in Athens. Better than the 14 in Sydney. A lot more than anyone believed in the futile first week in Beijing. The nation finished in the top 14 nations, slightly ahead of its own predictions. Tied with Spain! And we had another nine near-misses for fourth (can we get the IOC to cast a copper medal?)

Eighty per cent of Canadians think the team did a swell job. So let's celebrate as Canada exceeds expectations at the Summer Olympics.

Or not. There was something hollow in much of Canada's self-satisfied Olympic machinery in Beijing. Call it the triumph of low expectations. Like the faux-Beatles commercials for Little Mosque On The Prairie flogged by CBC during the Games, (turns out that virtually none of Little Mosque's actors are even Islamic), there was a smug satisfaction with our cleverness in grabbing a whole three gold medals in China.

Hey, look at us, overcoming the odds. Underdogs defying gravity.

As one reader has pointed out, much of that medal production came in low-hanging fruit, sports such as trampoline, rowing, diving and wrestling, with smaller participant bases. In the major team sports that enjoy worldwide attention, there had not been a Canadian squad that has won a medal in a summer Games since 1936. Soccer. Basketball. Field hockey. Baseball. Volleyball. Kaput.

Canada has (for the past three Olympics) virtually disappeared in the swimming pool. The track team that kicked butt in Athens in 1996 is now a hope here and a prospect there. After Kyle Shewfelt's 2004 revelation in gymnastics, Canada once more disappeared in the sport in Beijing. Boxing? Zilch. Cycling: Nada.

This is not to knock the athletes who dedicate themselves with their hearts and soul. They try, they sacrifice. But there are still too many in this country consoled by a nanny culture that celebrates 17th place with a trophy. CBC and other Canadian media compliantly promote the plucky Canuck scenario, but it obscures the reality of what can truly be achieved in Canada.

Let's reflect on this wonderful country a moment. Blessed with great prosperity, immense talent and guaranteed health care for all, we still can't win more than three gold medals in each of the past three Olympics? Spain's a cool place to visit, but with our resources we should school them (and much of the world) on a quadrennial basis.

Some will say that, unlike the Australias and Spains, we must split our focus between Summer and Winter games, diminishing our resources. Vancouver 2010 is the big dog that must eat first. That our corporate community is too branch-plant to mount the funding effort needed to push Canada to the top. Government has other priorities for the money.

All good excuses. Excuses that many in the sports community and media readily grab to explain failure. Reliable, clutch performers such as Alex Despatie or Karen Cockburn are the exception, not the rule in Canada's Olympic firmament. There are legions who believe that, when the going gets tough, it's time to go home.

There is reportedly a new spirit in our sports culture -- Own The Podium -- that seems to be working on the Winter Games side. Our hockey teams now possess a newfound mental toughness. The ski team is headed in the right direction, etc. Vancouver could be the showcase for mental toughness that Summer Games are not.

Now, former swim hero Alex Baumann has been repatriated from Australia to spread this gospel to Canada's summer athletes. Maybe we'll see the rewards of that by London in 2012. But why not also bring Bailey and Bruny Surin back as well to help the track team? There are still too many stories out there about bureaucrats who refuse to rethink the paradigm of carded athletes and mediocre coaches in their sports.

In women's field hockey, for instance, a group of parents and supporters came forth with four proposals to make sure the team gets to the Games in 2012 after failing to reach Beijing. They were turned down each time by the governing body. This is not an aberration in Canadian sport.

Look, if we want to be the world's 14th-place team, that's fine by me. But let's not pretend that riding in the fumes of other nations is the natural state of our potential, either. We can do better. We just choose not to and then create a myth of inferiority to excuse the results. (We do this is in business, too.) Canada has the best -- we just need to tell them it's OK to be so.

Link

A Beautiful Place to Die

THE SIGNS ARE SUPPOSED TO remind hikers of their vulnerability. Especially those who, emboldened by cellphones and global positioning systems, set off into the Presidential Range in New Hampshire's White Mountains carrying little else besides day packs stocked with PowerBars. The message, in black lettering on yellow, is blunt: "STOP. The area ahead has the worst weather in America. Many have died there from exposure, even in the summer. Turn back now if the weather is bad." And each year, many people do stop, long enough to pose for a picture. Some photographs are uploaded to Flickr and other websites - including one of a pink-faced man gleefully acknowledging the warning with upraised middle fingers. A caption reads, "Tom showing the White Mountain National Forest what he thinks of their sign."

Todd Bogardus, the search and rescue leader with the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, is accustomed to such cavalier attitudes. For a new breed of hikers, he says, high-tech gadgets have replaced common sense, even though cellphone service is spotty in the mountains, and many people do not know how to operate their GPS devices. "Technology is good when it's used with proper basics and education, but it also gives a false sense of security," says Bogardus. "They figure, 'This is the weekend I took off , and, by God, I'm going to climb that mountain.'"

He is talking about hikers like Tom, who probably returned home unscathed. Most of the 5 million visitors to the 800,000-acre national forest each year do, even if they have spent less time preparing to navigate its wilderness trails than they would their local supermarket. "People don't start the day thinking, 'Oh, I'm going to get hurt,' " says Rebecca Oreskes, spokeswoman for the national forest. "They might not have the proper equipment, and they underestimate how difficult the White Mountains can be. They're starting from the valley, where it's 80 degrees. They're in shorts and T-shirts, and they get up high, and there's sleet. It's a really different world."

ABOUT TWO HOURS NORTH OF BOSTON, INTERSTATE 93 CURVES SOFTLY to reveal the indent of Franconia Notch, etched by Cannon Cliff on one side and Franconia Ridge on the other. It is so seemingly benign, so accessible. Seventy million people live within a day's drive.

Link

Death Star Over San Francisco

"Can Vader Really Be Worse Than Bush?!?"

The class of 2012 Mindset List

Students entering college for the first time this fall were generally born in 1990.

For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.

1. Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.
2. Since they were in diapers, karaoke machines have been annoying people at parties.
3. They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego.
4. GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.
5. Coke and Pepsi have always used recycled plastic bottles.
6. Shampoo and conditioner have always been available in the same bottle.
7. Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.
8. Their parents may have dropped them in shock when they heard George Bush announce “tax revenue increases.”
9. Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.
10. Girls in head scarves have always been part of the school fashion scene.
11. All have had a relative--or known about a friend's relative--who died comfortably at home with Hospice.
12. As a precursor to “whatever,” they have recognized that some people “just don’t get it.”
13. Universal Studios has always offered an alternative to Mickey in Orlando.
14. Grandma has always had wheels on her walker.
15. Martha Stewart Living has always been setting the style.
16. Haagen-Dazs ice cream has always come in quarts.
17. Club Med resorts have always been places to take the whole family.
18. WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.
19. Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.
20. The Warsaw Pact is as hazy for them as the League of Nations was for their parents.
21. Students have always been "Rocking the Vote.”
22. Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.
23. Schools have always been concerned about multiculturalism.
24. We have always known that “All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”
25. There have always been gay rabbis.
26. Wayne Newton has never had a mustache.
27. College grads have always been able to Teach for America.
28. IBM has never made typewriters.
29. Roseanne Barr has never been invited to sing the National Anthem again.
30. McDonald’s and Burger King have always used vegetable oil for cooking french fries.
31. They have never been able to color a tree using a raw umber Crayola.
32. There has always been Pearl Jam.
33. The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno and started at 11:35 EST.
34. Pee-Wee has never been in his playhouse during the day.
35. They never tasted Benefit Cereal with psyllium.
36. They may have been given a Nintendo Game Boy to play with in the crib.
37. Authorities have always been building a wall across the Mexican border.
38. Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia.
39. Employers have always been able to do credit checks on employees.
40. Balsamic vinegar has always been available in the U.S.
41. Macaulay Culkin has always been Home Alone.
42. Their parents may have watched The American Gladiators on TV the day they were born.
43. Personal privacy has always been threatened.
44. Caller ID has always been available on phones.
45. Living wills have always been asked for at hospital check-ins.
46. The Green Bay Packers (almost) always had the same starting quarterback.
47. They never heard an attendant ask “Want me to check under the hood?”
48. Iced tea has always come in cans and bottles.
49. Soft drink refills have always been free.
50. They have never known life without Seinfeld references from a show about “nothing.”
51. Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.
52. Muscovites have always been able to buy Big Macs.
53. The Royal New Zealand Navy has never been permitted a daily ration of rum.
54. The Hubble Space Telescope has always been eavesdropping on the heavens.
55. 98.6 F or otherwise has always been confirmed in the ear.
56. Michael Milken has always been a philanthropist promoting prostate cancer research.
57. Off-shore oil drilling in the United States has always been prohibited.
58. Radio stations have never been required to present both sides of public issues.
59. There have always been charter schools.
60. Students always had Goosebumps.

Link

The Great Consumer Crash of 2009

“It is easy to ignore the storm if you look at the opposite horizon. When the storm reaches your location there can be no more ignorance.”

I hate to tell you, but the storm has reached your location and it is a Category 5 hurricane. The levees are leaking. Ignore it at your own peril. The 6,000 sq ft McMansion buying, BMW leasing, $5 Starbucks latte drinking, granite countertop upgrading, home equity borrowing days are coming to an end. The American consumer will not go without a fight.

For the last seven years the American consumer has carried the weight of the world on its shoulders. This has been a heavy burden, but when you take steroids it doesn’t seem so heavy. The steroid of choice for the American consumer has been debt. We have utilized home equity loans, cash out refinancing, credit card debt, and auto loans to live above our means. It has been a fun ride, but the ride is over. We can’t get steroids from our dealer (banks) anymore.

After examining these charts, it is clear to me that the tremendous prosperity that began during the Reagan years of the early 1980’s has been a false prosperity built upon easy credit. Household debt reached $13.8 trillion in 2007, with $10.5 trillion of that mortgage debt. The leading edge of the baby boomers turned 30 years of age in the late 1970’s, just as the usage of debt began to accelerate. Debt took off like a rocket ship after 9/11 with the President urging Americans to spend and Alan Greenspan lowering interest rates to 1%. Only in the bizzaro world of America in the last 7 years, while in the midst of 2 foreign wars, would a President urge his citizens to show their patriotism by buying cars and TVs. When did our priorities become so warped?

How Did I Get Here

And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself-Well...How did I get here?

And you may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house!
And you may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!

-Talking Heads, David Byrne lyrics to Once in a Lifetime

By 2005 practically everyone had a large automobile and a beautiful house. By 2010 many of these people will be asking where is that large automobile and will realize as the sheriff escorts them out of their house that this is not my beautiful house. There is plenty of blame to go round for this predicament. According to Northern Trust economist Paul Kasriel, “We’re a what’s my monthly payment nation. The idea is to have my monthly payments as high as I can take. If you cut interest rates, I’ll get a bigger car.” Major banks offer credit cards using your home equity as a way to pay everyday expenses like groceries, gas and clothes. Eating your house was never so easy.

Link

Should Theaters Offer Kid-free Screenings?

Mark Oakley at Den of Geek says, in no uncertain terms, that it's high time for theaters to start catering to their adult customers by offering no-kids-allowed shows. What do you think? Until recently, I'd have said it wasn't necessary. After all, go to a late enough screening, and kids generally aren't a problem, right?

Wrong.

My brother and I hit the local multiplex recently to catch the 8:15 Dark Knight show. Should be a no-brainer on the kid front -- late-ish show that lets out well past bedtime on a Monday night, creepy, malevolent villain, loud, blam-heavy soundtrack, PG-13 rating, plus a slew of reviews noting how not-kid-friendly the film is. There's also Nolan's previous go, Batman Begins. Anyone who's seen it should be aware that his take on the Caped Crusader isn't going to be appropriate for youngsters. Yet we saw one couple walk in leading a preschooler by the hand. The kid couldn't have been over three, and the ticket-taker said that this is quite common.

Few things ruin a movie for me more quickly than a theater full of talking, thrashing, hollering, seat-kicking, popcorn-pitching kids. But is that enough to justify kids-banned shows? As a parent, I want to say "No!" I'm capable of deciding what movies are appropriate for my kids, and what times are appropriate for them to see them. But as a theater patron who's had more than one show ruined by kids, and who's seen kids taken into movies where the plainly had no business, I want to say "Of course!"

Clearly, the preferable solution would be for parents to (a) be smarter about what movies are okay for kids, and (b) teach their kids to behave properly in public. Short of miraculous improvement in parenting competence, banning kids at later shows, say anything past 8 or 9pm, might be a workable solution. Still, that forces adults to pick between staying out late or suffering with someone else's ill-behaved offspring Another choice especially with multiplexes, might be simply designate one screen for child-free shows. Surely there are other possibilities as well.

What say the GeekDad readers (and the other GeekDads, for that matter)? Is there a good, workable solution to reach detente between cranky adults and poorly-controlled children? Is it inappropriate to even consider no-kids shows? Or is Mark Oakley spot-on in calling for theaters to designate some screens exclusively for the 18+ crowd?

Link

"I for one, would welcome this - there should be adults-only theatre times - I can remember when we have had movies ruined by yappy kids and crying babies - weget babysitter when we go to the late show - I see no reason why others should bring young children and ruin the viewing for other people."

The Aethiest's View To Christianity Explained Finally

The Grass Is Always Greener.....

Bartering sex for stuff or services

LifeWire) -- While she was studying in Brazil during college, the one thing Stephanie Gerson longed to do before leaving was spend time in the thick of the Amazon rain forest. Unfortunately, she couldn't find a tour that would take her past the forest's edge.
So, when a college-aged busboy at a resort she was visiting began flirting with her, she asked him if he thought a tourist could survive alone in the jungle.

"He laughed and told me I was nuts," says Gerson, 27, who works part-time in online marketing for a chocolate company in San Francisco.

Then he told her that he'd grown up in the jungle in a nearby indigenous community. That was all Gerson needed to hear. Although she wasn't attracted to the guy, Gerson flirted right back in the hopes that he would be her jungle tour guide. It worked. The busboy wormed his way out of work, and the two headed into the rain forest.

"It was amazing," Gerson says of her adventure in 2000. "We built our homes out of palm leaves, I saw animals I'd never seen before, he taught me the medicinal properties of all the plants, we picked fruit off the trees, we swam with and ate piranhas. And, of course, we had sex ... for almost two weeks."

Body currency system

Gerson never felt sleazy or uncomfortable with her unspoken arrangement with the busboy.

"It was a good barter both ways," she says. "I got to stay in the jungle, and he got to have sex with a cute, young American girl."

Such trades aren't so unusual. Throughout history, humans have used their bodies to get what they want -- from ancient Egyptian ruler Cleopatra, who cemented her power through liaisons with Roman rulers Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, to the man and woman who were arrested at a Fort Wright, Kentucky, motel in late June for allegedly swapping sex for gasoline. Regardless of our motivation, scientists say we're hardwired to use our bodies as a bargaining chip.

A recent study of 475 University of Michigan undergraduates ages 17 to 26 found that 27 percent of the men and 14 percent of the women who weren't in a committed relationship had offered someone favors or gifts -- help prepping for a test, laundry washing, tickets to a college football game -- in exchange for sex. On the flip side, 5 percent of the men surveyed and 9 percent of the women said they'd attempted to trade sex for such freebies.

And although they weren't hard up for resources, the students surveyed "recognized the value of this socioeconomic currency system," says Daniel Kruger, research scientist at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, who published his findings in the April issue of "Evolutionary Psychology."

"It's more about getting what you want than getting what you need," he says. "Unless you think everyone needs a $200 Louis Vuitton bag."

The handyman hookup

But unattached coeds aren't the only ones who barter with their bodies. Some professionals will attest that their skills are, well, sexy.

"Women are turned on just by the simple idea of their guy getting off his ass and doing something for them," says Rocky Fino, author of "Will Cook for Sex: A Guy's Guide to Cooking."

It works both ways, he adds.

"Give it to me first thing in the morning, and I'll play [handyman] all day," says Fino, a 39-year-old father of two and part-time construction worker.

Ben Corbett, a 39-year-old contractor from Boulder, Colorado, credits his tool belt with prompting the barrage of come-ons he fields from female clients -- most of them married -- on a regular basis.

"It starts with the flirting, and it just progresses," says Corbett, who has run a construction and remodeling business for 20 years. "They'll touch my hand, and there's all this physical contact. Or they'll run around in their pajamas."

"Once," he says, "I was painting the hallway right outside a client's bedroom, and she was lying on her bed like a girl at a slumber party with her legs up and her arms crossed and her head resting on them, asking me if I had a girlfriend.

"It's all about the fantasy of being taken by the rough-hewn construction guy," muses Corbett, who, despite the temptation, has avoided getting sexually involved with his clientele for fear of jeopardizing his business.

It's the biology, stupid

Call it crass, sexist or gender stereotyping all you want, but there are thousands of years of biological programming at work here, says Dr. Chris Fariello, director of the Institute for Sex Therapy at the Council for Relationships, a nonprofit relationship-counseling group based in Philadelphia.

Plain and simple, a partner who provides more resources -- wealth, shelter, home repairs -- is seen as more attractive and stands to reap more sexual rewards.

Or, as Fariello puts it, "I don't get anybody in my office who says, 'My husband sits on the couch all day and eats bonbons, and I want to have sex with him all the time.'"
Link

If Vietnam Were Now, What Would You See?

New Stargate series announced for summer 2009

SCI FI Channel and MGM Television Entertainment have reached an agreement to extend MGM’s Stargate brand with a new series for the Channel. Production on the first season of Stargate Universe, a weekly series based on the popular Stargate franchise, will begin in early 2009, with the show targeted to premiere that Summer.

Brad Wright and Robert Cooper, co-creators of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis and who both currently serve as executive producers on Atlantis, will serve as executive producers and writers on the new series.

“SCI FI has enjoyed tremendous success with Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis and we’re proud to be the home of the new Stargate Universe,” said Mark Stern, Executive Vice President, Original Programming for SCI FI & Co-Head Original Content, Universal Cable Productions. “Universe will continue the Stargate legacy of vibrant storylines and compelling adventures, but will re-invent the format in a whole new way.”

Link

Star Wars: Clone Wars… better than expected

Okay, I did the unthinkable. I actually went and saw STAR WARS: CLONE WARS. My eight and a half year old step-son wanted to see it, and I guess I wasn’t as vehemently opposed as many others were. There has been a lot of negative press and discussion around this movie. Last week it was even a topic of discussion over on THE UNIQUE GEEK. Going into the movie I was curious as to whether it was really that awful, or had just gotten a bad rap thanks to all the Lucas hatred out there.

Link

Everything is For Crazy People!

Blame Canada? Hell, let's declare war!

It's a vile, cold, wooded wasteland populated with propaganda-spewing lumberjacks and their irritating ilk. Who needs it?

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Lance Gould

March 23, 2000 | Over the summer of 1997, about 170 angry (and presumably not very pleasant smelling) Canadian fishermen formed an impromptu naval blockade, preventing the Malaspina, an Alaskan passenger ferry, from leaving port in Prince Rupert, British Columbia. The Canadians were apparently peeved that Americans from Alaska had overfished sockeye salmon in the Pacific, and they effectively took the Malaspina's 150 or so passengers hostage. They relented after a two-day siege, but President Clinton warned ominously that if and when an American ship was held against its will again, the United States would take stern countermeasures. And he wasn't just threatening to cut Canadians off from must-see TV.

Had it come to this? The United States and Canada, the two nations that share the world's longest unprotected border, on the verge of becoming another Bosnia -- all because of a bunch of fish? Not exactly. But there is plenty of empirical evidence to point to a serious worsening of U.S.-Canadian relations.

In fact, ever since the Toronto Blue Jays won baseball's World Series for two consecutive years in 1992 and 1993 (during which a U.S. Marine color guard accidentally carried a Canadian flag upside-down at a pre-game ceremony), Americans' tolerance for cute and cuddly Canada has fallen considerably, the relationship now having chilled to a temperature slightly frostier than a March midnight in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Consider the following:

1. Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act -- sponsored by America's No. 1 loon, Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C. -- not only gives Americans the right to sue foreign companies that own property in Cuba seized from Americans during Fidel Castro's revolution but also prevents executives of such companies and their family members from entering the United States. (This law has kept many Canadians from gaining entry to the States, and Canada officially complained that the law violated the North American Free Trade Agreement.)

2. An additional piece of legislation, a 1996 bill known as "IRA IRA" (a nickname for the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act), contains a hotly disputed passage, Section 110, that would subject all foreigners -- including Canadians -- to odious border checks before entering the United States. Presently, most Canadians are simply waved through, but if Section 110 passes, officials in both countries are predicting up to 20-hour traffic tie-ups at border crossings, which could cause irreparable damage to the $1 billion worth of business we do with our No. 1 trading partner, Canada, every day. (The act was to go into effect in 1998 but has been postponed until the end of 2001.)

3. In 1997, a concerned shopper in a Winnipeg, Manitoba, Wal-Mart noticed that some of the pajamas on the shelves were made in (gasp!) Cuba. Amazingly, tensions between Washington and Ottawa rose over this incident, and anti-Canadian sentiments on this side of the border stirred as Wal-Mart vowed to continue selling the pj's in its 136 Canadian stores. The pajamas were actually on the agenda when Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chr�tien visited the White House that year. Thumbing his nose at Washington, Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy later paid a state visit to Cuba, in further bold defiance of the American-led boycott and isolation policy.

4. The Malaspina incident also strained U.S.-Canadian relations over the summer of 1997, and things got even worse in December of that year, when Canada attempted to take center stage in the international political arena by hosting a landmark convention intent on banning land mines the world over.

The United States snubbed the Ottawa Treaty, denying Canada its moment in the sun and embarrassing the Chr�tien government. (More than 120 countries signed the treaty, while the United States joined Yugoslavia, Libya, Iran and Albania among the 30 or so countries that did not.)

5. As recently as this January, Washington became concerned with seemingly lax Canadian border patrols, after a couple of Algerian terrorists managed to enter the United States via Canada.

"We have excellent relations with Canada," argued a U.S. State Department official who requested anonymity. "Yes, the things you pointed out have happened, but they're by no means any indicators of the state of relations between the U.S. and Canada. The fact of the matter is that Canada is our largest trading partner, millions of people cross the border freely every day and we continue to work together on any number of bilateral and multilateral issues. These are minor bumps in an overall excellent relationship."

Sure, Canada may be our most important neighbor to the north -- indeed, it's our only neighbor to the north -- but it seems that even American media outlets are feuding with the Canadian government. The New York Times' Canada correspondent, James Brooke, actually covers Canada from the quite un-Canuck bureau in Denver.

Meanwhile, in some sort of reverse geographical gamesmanship, the Los Angeles Times' Canada correspondent apparently covers the country from its New York bureau. (The Boston Globe has a bureau in Montreal, though its bureau chief lives in Vermont.)

The reason few American newspapers operate a Canadian bureau, or let their reporters live in Canada, has to do with a dispute between the newspapers and the Canadian government over taxable income for journalists. (To make up for the extra amount that a Canadian-based American journalist would have to pay in Canadian taxes, the newspapers would give them more money, which in turn would also be taxed.)

And then suddenly, last summer, those two fart-happy vulgarians Terrance and Phillip "warped the fragile little minds" of (fictional) American kids in South Park, Colo. It turns out these anti-intellectual anti-heroes are from -- you guessed it -- Canada, leading one angry and animated mother in the "South Park" movie to "Blame Canada!" in a highly memorable musical number, during which American troops pound Canadian cities with artillery fire. Amusingly, the song was nominated for an Oscar. But was it the humor of the lyrics that garnered the song a nomination?

This might be a stretch, but the song may also have been nominated as a message from the movie industry to Ottawa, hinting at underlying tensions between, believe it or not, Canada and Hollywood.

Dozens of film and television projects are being lured north of the border because of cheaper production costs in Canada, which is putting the hurt on Hollywood. Plus, if a movie is deemed a "Canadian production" by the powers that be in Ottawa, it can qualify for direct financial subsidies from the Canadian government.

Hollywood guilds and trade papers have angrily labeled these film and TV operations "runaway productions," in that they are fleeing Hollywood for cheaper costs elsewhere. "The Canadian government has adopted an array of policies to promote Canadian culture, some of which American media and entertainment companies claim are protectionist in restricting access to the market," said a Canadian diplomat who requested anonymity. "We say that film is a global industry and that these are films that would never have been made because of what they would cost in California."

Perhaps these sentiments were present when recent films such as Michael Moore's "Canadian Bacon" and Trey Parker's "South Park" -- both of which contain a scenario in which the United States and Canada go to war -- received green lights from U.S. studio executives.

The American government also believes that the Canadian entertainment market is restricted -- for magazines, newspapers and radio, for example. "Americans cannot establish or create magazines with more than 49 percent ownership," said the Canadian diplomat. "And we have quotas on radio airplay in Canada -- 35 percent of the programming has to be Canadian in origin." There is even a point system for determining what is "Canadian": Two of the three main entities involved in each song -- the artist, writer and producer -- have to be Canadian for the song to qualify.

Meanwhile, Canadian women dominated the Grammy Awards earlier this month, as Shania Twain, Celine Dion, Alanis Morissette, Diana Krall and Sarah McLachlan all were nominated, three of them taking home trophies for their mantels.

Perhaps to alleviate the escalating tensions, the Canadians are sponsoring a couple of lighthearted cultural events in New York. Monday was the kickoff of Canadian Restaurant Week, in which a few Canadian chefs are visiting Gotham restaurants, bringing with them their recipes for peppered strip loin of arctic caribou with merlot-blueberry reduction, Prince Edward Island oysters with sunchoke cream and sevruga caviar, and pea-meal-wrapped buffalo fillet. And on April 14, the Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater will present, with the Canadian Consulate's approval, a mini-film festival cheekily titled "Blame Canada!"

"For many supposedly sophisticated New Yorkers," reads the program of the festival, which will feature Canadian-made films by directors such as Atom Egoyan and David Cronenberg, "the image of Canada remains a stereotype: a land filled with lumberjacks in ear muffs, trudging around the frozen tundra on their snowshoes, humming Gordon Lightfoot songs. But if you take a close look at the steady output of fine movies being made north of the border, the view changes."

What kind of insidious propaganda is this? First the Oscar ballots are mysteriously "misplaced" before turning up again. Then the Oscar statues themselves go missing.

Everybody has his or her own theories, but I smell a maple thief.

For Henson!

"Your training is Now Complete, my young apprentice."

Isn't that the truth?

"I totally agree!"

From one of the presidential candidates

"If this wasn't taken out of context, McCain is truly a dumbass."

The Best Eye Chart ever....for men!

"20/20 vision - no, yah need 20/40 vision!"

7 Reasons Why It Sucks To Be a Male Porn Star

By a Male Porn Star

Hello, I’m a male porn star and it sucks! Now, I know what you might be thinking: “F**k you a**hole – you have a big dick and you get paid to get laid.” True, but being a “pro” isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. I’ve been “in the biz” for almost two years now and my experiences, while sexy and fun at times, for the most part have been awful. Below I’ve listed my Top 7 Reasons why being a male porn star sucks but let me say first that, yes, the overall ”kink” of what I do is pretty hot but the nuts ‘n bolts, day-to-day hassles of the porn business can really wear a guy down. (And “being down” can cost you money in this business, trust me – see Reason #2). So why do I do it? The money is okay, but not great, and then there’s the sex. But mostly I do it because I can – not everyone can “perform” with the lights on, and camera crews, and an insistent director yelling “f**k her harder!” And honestly, it beats working at Dunkin’ Donuts (which is what I used to do). Sooner or later I’m going to move on to more “legit” lines of work. But, for now, I guess I’ll struggle through even though it sucks. Here’s why:

Link

Cola Mob Killing

Not just men who compare...

"Both look wonderful to me!"

This Weeks Tasteless Humour

"I wouldn't hit it..."

Ways To Die For Men In The USA in 2008

"Hmmm....."

The 50 best jokes from the Edinburgh Fringe

Compiled by John Elmes

"I told the ambulance men the wrong blood type for my ex, so he knows what rejection feels like" – Pippa Evans

"The Olympics are for everyone, not just someone who happens to own a dancing horse" – Glenn Wool, on dressage

"I like Jesus, but he loves me, so it's awkward" – Tom Stade

"I love being touched sexually by an ecologist" – Jo Neary, in character as a dolphin

"Glasgow has its own version of Monopoly – just one big square that reads: Go To Jail" – Des Clarke

"A problem shared is attention gained" – Pippa Evans

"Never say to an autistic person, you do the maths" – Wilson Dixon

"I'm glad they invented emoticons, otherwise I wouldn't know what my dad was thinking" – Kerry Godliman

On having sex with men in their thirties: "Generally much better, but you've got to rub their legs afterwards for cramp" – Sarah Millican

"I love paying tax so much, the sight of a gritter lorry gives me an erection" – Jon Richardson

"No seriously, I am a feminist, just a lusty, ogling feminist. I'm a lesbian, in fact" – Rob Deering

"Looking at my face is like reading in the car. It's all right for 10 minutes, then you start to feel sick" – Andrew Lawrence, on his ginger appearance

"One-armed butlers, they can take it but they can't dish it out" – Tim Vine

"If it's gone abroad, it must be fraud" – Tom Wrigglesworth, on the mindset of the high-street banks

"Victoria Beckham? Does this tampon make me look fat?" – Joan Rivers, on celebrities

"What do you say to your adopted African child if you want them to eat up their dinner? 'There are people starving in Africa right now, like your parents'" – Tom Stade

"Politicians are like God. No one believes in them, they haven't done anything for ages, and they give jobs to their immediate family" – Andy Zaltzman

"Channel 4 just cuts out bits from 'heat' magazine and throws them on the floor" – Wendy Wason, on C4 scheduling

"I'm dating now, because I ran out of hooker money" – Rick Shapiro

"The Scots invented hypnosis, chloroform and the hypodermic syringe. Wouldn't it just be easier to talk to a woman?" – Stephen Brown

"Whenever I see a man with a beard, moustache and glasses, I think, 'There's a man who has taken every precaution to avoid people doodling on photographs of him" – Carey Marx

"I love making love on a bed of nails, but can I go on top?" – Ginger and Black

"The definition of bipolar? A sexually curious bear" – Marcus Birdman

"One of my friends had twins with IVF. Two old ladies that she knew came up to her, and one got the term wrong. In a very sweet voice, she said, 'Oh, would you look at those beautiful twins! Did you get those on the HIV?'" – Craig Hill

"Old people don't like swearing, because a lot of the words weren't invented in their day, so they feel left out" – Zoe Gardner

"The anti-aging advert that I would like to see is a baby covered in cream saying, 'Aah, I've used too much'" – Andrew Bird

"I don't hate the Germans, I just miss my grandparents" – Ian Stone

"'What's a couple?' I asked my mum. She said, 'Two or three'. Which probably explains why her marriage collapsed" – Josie Long

"My friend said she was giving up drinking from Monday to Friday. I'm just worried she's going to dehydrate" – Kerri Godliman

"Ken Dodd is one of my favourite comics, and one of the richest in showbusiness – he has Swiss money in Irish banks" – Roy Walker

"I wonder what would happen if Franz Ferdinand were assassinated?" – Glenn Wool

"My uncle Cleetus is illiterate and ambidextrous. Which is a double tragedy. He is unable to write, with both hands" – Wilson Dixon

"I like David Beckham. Most of us have skeletons in our closet. But he takes his out in public" – Andrew Lawrence

"If Britons were left to tax themselves, there would be no schools, no hospitals, just a 500-mile-high statue of Diana, Princess of Wales" – Andy Zaltzman

"Surgery is just stabbing in a courteous environment" – A L Kennedy

"I know someone whose dream is to be an actor but they're not that good – they got mugged, and had to audition for the part of themselves on 'Crimewatch'. They got Passer-by No 2" – Isy Suttie

"My boyfriend likes role play. He likes to pretend we're married. He waits until I go to bed, then he looks at porn and has a wank" – Joanna Neary

"I was talking to my friend from New York yesterday, and I used the expression, 'You can't polish a turd'. He looked at me, disgusted, and said, 'No, you can't, but you can roll it in glitter'. He's a lovely guy but I wouldn't want to go to a craft fair with him" – Steve Williams

"My Nan had a plastic hip put in, but I thought she should have replaced it with a Slinky, 'cause if she fell down the stairs again..." – Steve Williams

"A headline last year, after the death of Saddam Hussein, read: 'Tyrant is hanged'. My auntie looked at the newspaper and sobbed, 'Who's going to present "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?"' " – Steve Williams

"I used to go out with Christopher Reeve, but I just had to keep standing him up" – Steve Hall

"I despise cliquishness, for reasons only my four closest friends will ever properly understand" – Steve Hall

"Where I'm from, people aren't quick. A girl once asked her mum, 'Can I have a Cadbury's Creme Egg?' The mum said, 'No, you can't Danielle, I've already told you, darling – bird flu!'" – Tom Deacon

"I once buggered a man unconscious. I'm lying, he was already unconscious when I found him" – Tom Deacon

"I never know the right thing to say, especially during sex. After my first time, I said to the girl, 'That's it, I'm afraid'" – Tom Deacon

"I'm the eldest of five children. My parents aren't Catholic, just reckless" – Danielle Ward

"I was in Halifax one Friday night in July, and I thought they were having an 'idiots and whores' theme party, but no – that's just Halifax on a Friday night" – Rob Deering

"I do love Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. He always looks so... clean. But if you went out dressed like that round our way, you'd get the MDF kicked out of you" – Domestic Goddi Rosie Wilkinson & Helen O'Brien

"I've got nothing against disabled people, I've even got one of their stickers on my car" – Damian Callinan

"My granny was recently beaten to death by my granddad. Not as in, with a stick – he just died first" – Alex Horne

The Catholic Perversion of the Christian Faith

Or the many things we have Catholicism to thank for.


• CE 300: “Baptism” by immersion changed to affusion (sprinkling).
• CE 300: Prayers for the dead. (Against Deut. 18:11 & Is. 8:19).
• CE 325 Anathema (death) decreed to anyone who adds or changes the creed of faith of Nice (see years 1545 & 1560)
• CE 375: Veneration of angles and dead saints
• CE 431: the worship of Mary.
• CE 431 Mary “Queen of Heaven” (against Is. 7:17, 44:17, 44:25
• CE 593: Doctrine of “purgatory” –by Gregory (against John 5:24, 1 John 1:7-9, 2:1,2, Rom. 8:1)
• CE 600: Latin language only language permitted for prayer (against 1 Cor. 14:9)
• CE 709: Kissing the feet of the pope is ordered (against Acts 10:25,26 Rev. 19:10, 22:8,9)
• CE 850: Fabrication and use of “holy water.”
• CE 995: Canonization of dead saints (against Rom. 1:7, 1 Cor. 10:25, 1 Tim. 4:1-8).
• CE:998: Fasting on “Fri-days” & during “Lent.” (Against Mt. 15:11, 1 Cor., 10:25, 1 Tim 4:1-8).
• CE 1079: Celibacy of priesthood declared.
• CE 1190: Sale of Indulgences (against Eph. 2:8-10)
• CE 1215: Confession of sins to priest ordered. (Against Ps. 51:1-10, Luke 7:48, & 15:21, 1 John 1:8,9)
• CE 1229: Scripture forbidden to “laymen.” (against John 5:39, 8:31, 2 Tim. 3:15-17).
• CE 1545: Church tradition equal to Scripture. (Against Mt. 15:6, Mk. 7:7-13, Col. 2:8)
• CE 1854: Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary. (Against, Rom. 3:23 & 5:12, Ps. 51:5, Is. 19:9)
• Papal infallibility decreed. (Against 2 Thess. 2:2-12, Rev. 17:1-9, 13:5-8, 18)
• CE 1950: The dogma of “trans-substantiation.”

For more information, see Fossilized Customs, by Lew White.

Link

Opinion: Can Google be bested? Not anytime soon

By Don Reisinger | Published: August 03, 2008 - 09:01PM CT

Google may be the de facto leader in search today, but will its lead last forever? With services like Mahalo and Cuil gaining attention and Microsoft willing to pour continued billions into its quest for online dominance, Google's rivals are legion, and they're hungry, but that doesn't mean the Big G needs to elevate its corporate blood pressure; Google's dominance is assured far into the future.

According to comScore's latest figures, Google commanded 61.5 percent of the US search market, while Yahoo owned 20.9 percent and Microsoft trailed with 9.2 percent. Both Ask.com and AOL follow far behind the big three. And where are the hot startups? Smaller search engines like Mahalo, Powerset, and Quintura didn't even make the list.
Making room

A search engine can be an extremely lucrative endeavor when it's popular. But with Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft commanding more than 90 percent of the market, is it even possible anymore for a small company to be anything more than the nichest of niche players?

Link

"When the term 'google-it' is a common phrase, it's hard for others to even enter the search engine market."

Chinese restaurant takes the cake for naming error

The internet has been filled with hilarious mistranslations of sign names, restaurant menus and street signs for many years - but at LIVENEWS.com.au we don't think we have seen one quite as outstanding as this.

Off The Wall says: We're not sure what kind of dishes they serve up at "Translate Server Error" - but we have no doubt it would be a smorgasboard of "404 page not found" fried rice, and "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer" with Honey Soy Chicken.

Link

"I'll take the '404 Chicken Chow Mein" & the 'Blue Screen of Death Spring Rolls' , please!

Snake attack

26 Important Comic Books

Sure, it may seem silly, but, comic books mean something. Soldiers used dog-eared copies of Captain America to keep their spirits up in WWII. The Green Lantern and Green Arrow made kids actually think about issues like racism and heroin. And millions gasped when they heard the news that Superman died. In fact, the vibrant medium is so often pegged as children’s pulp, or fun for the feeble-minded, that people tend to forget that comics have actually grown with and continued to reflect the spirit of our times.

Link

"There's a definetely more than a few I'd like to check out!"

Last year I killed a man

At 9.45am on Saturday, June 23 2007, I killed a man. A perfectly ordinary man, on a perfectly ordinary summer's day. CCTV pictures show him entering the station, unremarkable among all the passengers going to the West End. He waited at the front of the platform until he could hear my train approaching, then he calmly stepped down on to the tracks and looked directly at me as he waited for the impact.

Link

"A very sobering read - but excellent nonetheless."

I Am So Starving VS. I am So Starving

I Am So Starving

By Brittany Birnbaum

Oh, my God, I am so starving. I swear, if I don't get something to eat in like two minutes, I am going to die.

I cannot believe how completely famished I am. Why do we have to wait for Tyler to get home from soccer practice? I want to eat now. It's almost 6:15.

I didn't even get to eat lunch today. Erica and I had to sign up for kickline tryouts at noon. We got to the cafeteria way late, and we weren't about to stand in line with the sophomores. All I had was a Twix and half a bag of Fritos. Plus, the stupid machine was out of Diet Coke.

No, I did not still have those carrot sticks left at lunch. I ate them all after second period. Duh.

Did you hear that? I can totally hear my stomach making these weird growling noises. I think I'm going to faint.

Please, please, please let me eat now so I can go up to my room--I have a ton of people to call tonight. It's so lame how you make us all wait to eat dinner together. Erica always gets to eat by herself in the living room with the TV on.

If we're going to wait this long for Tyler, he has to load the dishwasher. I did it last night, and it was totally nasty because you made that lasagna, and I had to scrape all the gunky cheese off the pan.

I am so totally starving. You know, it's against the law to treat your kids like this. You could get thrown in jail by the social-services people for this kind of abuse.

Oh my God, what are you taking out of the oven? Is that, like, salisbury steak? I could seriously puke just looking at that. You actually expect me to eat that? Yeah, right. Like I'm really gonna put that in my mouth. I'll be in my room if I get any phone calls.

Ugh. I swear, I could just die.



Counterpoint
I Am So Starving

By Kitum Asosa

My God, I am starving. If I do not find something to eat soon, I will surely die.

Hunger consumes my life. My young body is hunched and weak, as if I were an old man. Some days, I pass the time by counting my bones.

I would walk 100 miles through the desert to reach a handful of millet. The sight of a sparrow carcass would make my mouth water, if only I were not too dehydrated to salivate. I have not eaten a full meal since the last rain, which caused a few precious patches of field grass to sprout. Soon, there will be none of us left.

I am so very, very hungry. I grow thinner and thinner, as my body starts to digest its very self. The last thing I ate was a small lizard. This was nine days ago. I gave half of it to my only remaining brother. I did this to return a favor: Last month, he discovered a piece of tree bark and shared his bounty with me. Unfortunately, my body was so unaccustomed to food, I was soon doubled over in pain, as a flood of liquid shot from my bowels. Ever since then, my rectum has protruded from my anus. My lower intestines have begun to push their way out, as well.

They say it is almost the new year, but I do not know if I will live to see it. My stomach is swollen as if I were pregnant. I joked with my brother about this yesterday, rubbing my bloated belly and calling it "my little one." My brother did not laugh. He lowered his head and cried.

My legs are like sticks and my eyes nearly sightless. I am careful not to allow myself to daydream about the harvest feasts of my youth, for my weak heart might race and burst in my chest. Those who are still alive have taken to swallowing dirt and rocks in an attempt to stop the hunger pains. Oh, God, why are we made to suffer so?

My only distraction from the constant, gnawing hunger is the chill that runs through my bones. Even in the sweltering heat, I am cold. Perhaps I will soon die of pneumonia. This would finally quell the pangs of hunger. I long to live, but, even more, I long to die.


"Puts things so very perfectly into the real perspective, doesn't it?"

Lunch Time!

Kokomo by the Muppets

"I prefer the original..but the Muppets are always good."

Orgasm Park In Korea

Orgasm Park somewhere in Korea. Here is a park devoted to monumental figurative work, of the graphic nature. Whatever on all that, I like parks, I don’t discriminate. To hell with less is more, a little extravagance every now and again is good for the soul, so Indulge.

Link

"My guess is they don't have a area for kids!"

The 10 Most Awesomely Bad Moments of the Bush Presidency

In a lot of ways, choosing the Bush administration's 10 greatest moments -- disastrous failures, all -- is about as pointless as picking out your 10 least favorite hemorrhoids: There are entirely too many of them, and taken together they all add up to a throbbing mass of pain. But unfortunately, history demands that we at least make the effort so that future generations will understand why we perform voodoo rituals cursing Bush's memory before we go to bed every night.

Narrowing down the Bush administration's various debacles to a mere 10 was no easy fete. In fact, I expect that many people will express dismay that their least favorite moment was left off the list. "How could commuting Scooter Libby's sentence not even make the top 10??!!" I can hear some of you shrieking already. Well, I'll tell you. Essentially, I tried to rate each Bush disaster by two main criteria: its body count and its damage to the country's reputation. So while Bush's awkward groping of German Chancellor Angela Merkel may be personally humiliating to everyone, it doesn't have the same heft as, say, the Iraq War.

But for those of you who insist on seeing your least favorite moment get its due, here is list of every honorable mention I could come up with: warrantless wiretapping; Valerie Plame; Scooter Libby's sentence commuted; Bush believes Rafael Palmeiro is innocent; soldiers face neglect at Walter Reed; signing statements; the Kyoto treaty ripped up; loyalty oaths; the fake turkey; a staged teleconference with troops, staged FEMA press conference, extraordinary rendition, support for junk science; endorsement of neo-creationist "intelligent design"; inaction against global warming; record oil prices; record budget deficits; record trade deficits; record number of Americans without health insurance; two recessions; no-bid contracts; bin Laden still at large; the Federal Marriage Amendment; stem cell research vetoed; waterboarding ban vetoed; "Last throes"; "Old Europe"; "It's hard work"; "Bring it on"; "Yo, Blair!"; "I'm the decider"; "I'm the commander guy"; "I'm a war president"; "This is the guy who tried to kill my dad"; "So?"; "Let the Eagle Soar"; John Bolton; Kenny Boy; Harriet Miers; John Roberts; Sam Alito; Blair talks Bush out of bombing al-Jazeera; Cheney shoots some guy in the face; the Military Commissions Act; Jose Padilla arrested and held without charge or access to counsel; endless tax cuts for the rich; let's waste a shitload of money by sending people to Mars and let's hire some Heritage Foundation staffers to rebuild Iraq.

And with that, let's go onto our 10 worst moments.

Link

A Fitting, Uh, 'Honor'

It's all over the web. It's all over the news. It was reported in the New York Times and USA Today.

I just can't stop chuckling.

A grass-roots initiative in San Francisco, The Presidential Memorial Commission, has collected 8,500 signatures to get a plan on the November ballot to rename the "Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant" the "George W. Bush Sewage Plant".

That's more than enough signatures to get the question on the ballot (7,168 are necessary) and according to some of the polls, it's likely to pass. The renaming would take effect on January 20, 2009, when the new president is sworn in.

Of course the Republicans have their panties in a twist. The White House refuses to comment on the article in the New York Times.

Link

"I can't think of a funnier way to 'honour' the president!"

The 20 Best "That Guys" of All Time

A "That Guy" is a B-list character actor who's just talented enough to secure bit parts in a handful of movies every year, but not quite good looking enough to become a brand-name star. Some specialize in playing villains and others in having freaky-enormous chest tattoos, but combined, these brave, barely handsome men have appeared in every single movie produced in the last decade.

Link

"Oh yeah, THAT guy!!"

Now, that is a pet I would love to have

Love in the times of massacre [pic]

A young couple seeks refuge under a bridge during the Tiananmen Square Massacre on June 5, 1989. Photographer: Liu Heung Shing

Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist Liu Heung Shing is releasing collection 88 rare photographs giving us a glimpse of day-to-day life in China under communism. China, Portrait of a Country, which will be released in the United States on August 1, 2008, captures the People's Republic from 1949 to 2008.

Queen owns a McDonald's

The Queen owns a drive-through McDonald's burger restaurant, the Royal accounts have revealed.

Among Her Majesty's most recent acquisitions was a retail park in Slough - which encompasses a drive-through McDonalds.

Bath Road Retail Park was purchased this month by the Crown Estate, which administers the monarch's property portfolio, for £92 million.

The site, which is visible from the Queen's State Apartments at Windsor Castle, is also home to a B&Q superstore, and branches of Comet, JJB Sports and Mothercare.

Link

"Would you like fries with that, Your Majesty?"

JCPENNEY: SPEED DRESSING

"What's your personal best?"

Australian crocs hit by cane toad 'wave of death'

Pit a cane toad against a freshwater crocodile and who wins? Although the croc eats the oversized amphibian, it seems the toad has the final laugh.

Dead freshwater crocodiles in Australia's Northern Territory were once a rare sight. But since 2005, locals have witnessed mass die-offs. Researchers now say the toxic and invasive cane toad (Bufo marinus) is to blame.

Two surveys, in 2005 and 2007, suggested that the mass croc deaths have progressively moved inland from the mouth of Victoria River, at a pace that matches that of the cane toad invasion.

Link

10 Out of Place Songs That Work Really Well in Movies

Sometimes songs just seem to fit a movie. For example, it’s pretty obvious that one would use the song “Singing in the Rain” in a movie where the guy is actually singing and it’s actually raining.

However, some movies play a song and you think to yourself, “Dude, what the hell is going on here?” and you just can’t fathom why the song has been used.

However, after thinking about it you realize how disturbing, yet indescribably appropriate the use of that song was.

Here are my picks (in no particular order) for the 10 most out of place songs that work really well in movies:

Link

"Gotta agree with choice #1 - but haven't seen any of the others!"

Colbert Explains Upside Of Gas Crisis: "What's Good For Big Oil Is Good For America"

Covering Canada

The best, worst and strangest foreign covers of Canadian songs
By Greig Dymond, CBC News

Every July 1, millions of Canadians mark the achievements of the Fathers of Confederation by consuming alcoholic beverages and cranking up the tunes. We can be justifiably proud, having always punched above our weight class when it comes to producing beer and singer-songwriters.

For decades, musicians around the world have reinterpreted English-Canadian pop-rock classics, and the results range from profoundly moving to extremely irritating. For your Canada Day listening pleasure, here’s a sampling of Canadian hits covered by artists from Britain, the U.S. and Australia.

Link

“Fun, Fun Fun”? Naw, “Guns, Guns, Guns.”

Beach Boys parody - Don Surber has re-written the Beach Boys’ Fun Fun Fun into a pro-second amendment anthem.

“Fun, Fun Fun”? Naw, “Guns, Guns, Guns.”

Brian Wilson is a genius. Which explains his craziness. He wrote what should be the national anthem (“California Girls”) and the best line in a rock era song (“I don’t know where, but she sends me there”).

So any excuse to do up a Beach Boys song is exploited.


I mean if the Beach Boys don’t mean freedom, then why the heck have convertibles and bikinis?

The video.

The parody:

Well DC got her gun
And said it would end the drive-by shootin’s
Seems it forgot all about that amendment
Like in the Constitution
But with gangbangers blasting
She’s running just as fast as she can now

But we’ve no guns guns guns
Now that DC can take them away
(Guns guns guns? None, ’cause DC took them away)

Well conserves can’t stand it
’cause it tramples on liberty now
(It tramples liberty, it tramples liberty)
It makes the Soviet Union look like it’s home of the free now
(It tramples liberty, it tramples liberty)
Those senators have bodyguards
And they avoid the streets after dark now
(It tramples liberty, it tramples liberty)

But we’ve no guns guns guns
now that DC can take them away
(Guns guns guns? None, ’cause DC took them away)

Well you knew all along
That the courts would eventually rule
(It couldn’t be fooled now it couldn’t be fooled)
And since it upheld Amendment 2
Libs are been thinking that their fun is all through now
(They shouldn’t have tried now they shouldn’t have tried)

But they can come along with me
cause we can go to the shooting range now
(You could practice now you could practice)

And we’ll have guns guns guns now that DC can’t take them away
(Guns guns guns now that DC can’t take them away)
And we’ll have guns guns guns now that DC can’t take them away
(Guns guns guns now that DC can’t take them away)

TRIGGER HAPPY BY WEIRD AL

"Gotta be ready if the commies attack tonight!"

Mercedes to Cut Petroleum Out of Lineup by 2015

In less than 7 years, Mercedes-Benz plans to ditch petroleum-powered vehicles from its lineup. Focusing on electric, fuel cell, and biofuels, the company is revving up research in alternative fuel sources and efficiency.

The German car company has a few new powertrains in the line-up that European journalists have had the opportunity to test out in their facility in Spain. One vehicle includes the F700, powered by a DiesOtto engine that combines HCCI and spark ignition to get nearly the same efficiency as diesel, but minus the expensive after-treatment systems. The engine can run on biofuels, and we may have a purchasable vehicle by 2010 – a year that seems to be popular for the debut of a lot of new alternative fuel car models, making ’08 and ’09 simply thumb-twiddling years for consumers. I don’t know, maybe car makers just like the roundness of “2010.” The company’s next big step will be to launch a Smart electric car which is fuel and emission-free.

Link

"Interesting - I'm wondering if this might be the start of the end of automotive reliance on oil, and if other automakers follow suit, what the impact will be?"

10 Best Car Chases in Movie History: Does Wanted Make the List?

Angelina Jolie and Wanted are about to hit the multiplex in top gear, with all the frenetic, adrenaline-soaked celluloid that it takes to make a gearhead action movie these days. It’s an Office Space-meets-The Matrix-slams-into-The Evil Dead tale, with nihilistic instant messaging embedded in linens. And all that breaking the laws of physics stuff aside, there’s one scene amidst the layers of blood and gibberish that could well be the first classic movie car chase of the 21st century. A Dodge Viper spinning at 75 mpg mph, Jolie clutching to it as she fires large-caliber weapons, the supercar literally driving off the side of an out-of-control bus—is this the stuff of Steve McQueen territory?

Ever since the automobile and movie businesses were born alongside each other in the 1890s, car chases have been putting the motion in motion pictures. But the last 40 years in particular—since the 1968 premiere of Bullitt, starring McQueen as a Mustang-wielding San Francisco cop—have been particularly fruitful in developing the art of on-screen motorized mayhem. Cameras have grown smaller, which means they can be mounted in places where the sense of speed is maximized. Stunt performers have grown bolder as safety advances allow them to simulate more and more dangerous antics. Physical effects have grown more sophisticated so that cars can be destroyed in ever more spectacular ways. Finally, digital imaging allows filmmakers to wipe away evidence of rigging, which has heightened the excitement even more.

Link

"For me, it's gotta be the Blues Brothers for its sheer absurdity!"

What if... a nuclear bomb went off in Superman's ass?

Could the Man of Steel survive a massive internal explosion? We demand an answer!

Superman can shoot beams from his eyes, fly faster than a jet and survive point-blank gunshots to the head because our sun is a different color from his sun - fine, we'll accept that. He's essentially a solar battery, constantly absorbing energy that turns him invincible, superhumanly fast and all that other stuff that makes him one of the hardest characters to write.

But, even though his skin is impenetrable, what about his innards? Would a device, properly inserted into his mouth or say, super bottom, bypass his invulnerability and destroy him, or would he shake it off like so many shitty movies?

We must know.

Link

"I can't even come up with any comment for this one - it's a joke just in waiting!"

13 Hottest Women Wolverine Has Slept With

In the realm of comicdom, few characters are as hardcore as Wolverine. And in comic books, just as in reality, babes are attracted to hard core bad boys…As such, Wolverine has had more than his share of comic punani. Here are the top 13 of Wolverine's known superheroine conquests.

Link

"See For Yourself...no comment!"