/*-----favicon----*/ my corner of the sandbox: March 2008

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Africa- An economic agenda

A lecture of his is available here. Beware, it's about one and a half hour. There is a small reference at the end of what he calls 'banking pimps', those bankers in England, Switzerland, the U.S., etc., that are profiting from the billions of ill-gotten gains, securely tucked away, of Third World strongmen.

globeandmail.com: Interview with Gelber Prize winner Paul Collier

THIS ISN'T WORKING. I'LL GET BACK TO IT.

On the meeting about Afghanistan in Bucharest tomorrow

Canada, we know, will be a spoiler to such ideas as proposed here. Harper , we know, will fall into line with the U.S. yet again, in contrast to a saner view held by most of the other players. It's disgusting, embarrassing and despicable. And the liberals are right behind them. Politics at it's smelliest.

It’s Time to Promote Peace in Afghanistan

Friday, March 28, 2008

“If the news is important, it will find me”

 

mathewingram.com/work

Venezuela and Brazil Strengthen Cooperation via Refinery and 7 Other Agreements

 

venezuelanalysis.com

China losing it's competitive advantage?

Employee benefits? Collective bargaining rights? I'm outta here!

International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News

Blame Canada

2008-03-28_011046

Canada Abroad: Is 'Canadian' a racist slur?

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Canadian, Mexican and U.S. legislators plan simultaneous motions to block the SPP


Canadian, Mexican and U.S. legislators plan simultaneous motions to block the SPP

solar/ price of coal generation!

images10 

MIT spin-off plans to manufacture cheap, efficient solar cells

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Circumventing Big Brother

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Anonymous Blogging with Wordpress and Tor at Global Voices Advocacy

Interesting...

Suggest reading the Mother Jones article.

Say Hillary, What About The Religious "Family" You Have Chosen To Be Part Of?

$150,000 artillery shells in Afghanistan

 

The Canadian Press: Army begins using $150,000 artillery shells in Afghanistan

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

good ideas

 

North American Commission Pushes for Green Building Design | Worldwatch Institute

Canada/ water/ export

2352250758_3cbb857ec8 Canadian Dimension / Articles / A national disaster, made for TV

Monday, March 24, 2008

ya gotta love'em

Wrapping up a nine-day overseas trip to Iraq, Vice President Dick Cheney was asked, in an exclusive interview with ABC News, about the effect on the nation of today's grim milestone of at least 4,000 U.S. deaths over the five-year Iraq war.

Noting the burden placed on military families, the Vice President said the biggest burden is carried by President Bush, and reminded ABC news that the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan volunteered for duty.


Canada/ War on Drugs

Creeping neo-conservatism . Mini-Bush and co. coming to save us from ourselves. Anti women, anti-gay, anti-art, anti-Medicare, anti-think, anti-C.B.C., humorousless, pro-war, pro big business, pro integration, paranoid, holier than thou, Fredrick Hayak loving, petty, global warming skeptical, anal, derisive. I could go on and I just might. The really scary thing is that we might be stuck with this crew for a while. Oh, Canada!

Macleans.ca - Canada - Features

Ben Heine

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Kurosawa Akira
Born this day in 1910, Japanese director Kurosawa Akira won worldwide acclaim with subtle, brilliantly composed films, such as Rashomon (1950), that combined Japanese historic themes with a Western sense of action and drama.

This Day in History -  Britannica Online Encyclopedia

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Up the skookemchuck without a paddle

(first draft- just posting for fun)

They used to show up from Storm Bay, up the inlet a ways. They would park their car at the "logging museum" as we used to call it, canoe down and take off to Vancouver or whatever. They said we could use their canoe whenever while they were away. So one fine morning after a coffee or whatever we thought we'd take them up on it. We decided we'd paddle up to Storm Bay which was a commune. So off we went. It took a while, funky old aluminum canoe that it was. We socialized with some of the people that were there and spent the night. The next morning we headed back down the bay. It turned out that there was a heavy head wind. We battled away and weren't getting anywhere. So T. suggests we should paddle up to the mouth of the bay and check out the Skookumchuck. So we started off making pretty good headway now. Effortlessly moving along. Well, it was such a beautiful day and this is all we had to do so we decided to drop a little sacrament. We didn't always have it around by any means but somehow this day we did.

I did most of my experimenting in Toronto I the mid-60's. We got into 'dropping' on Saturday night, as it would be quieter on Sunday, coming down ( as the man in the song said). We took it fairly seriously in those days- set and setting, all that stuff. Those were other times. One knew exactly how much one was taking and where it came from. It wasn't till later that things got weird. But that's another story.

So time went by and we got closer and closer to the chuck. I didn't know it at the time but the Skookemchuck ( native word: skooke- fast moving, chuck- rapids) was a tidal- bore where the Seshelt Inlet emptied into the larger ocean. It is a narrows, about a mile long, with a couple of islands in it, where the inlet, which is about 25 miles long, empties and fills. We had probably canoed about ten miles or so and I imagine were starting to feel the effects of what we had ingested. Suddenly we were being deluged by the water flow. We had to paddle to the opposite side for all that we were worth. Now we're in the back eddy with water falling off in sheets into monstrous whirlpools in the centre of it all. We would paddle a bit then would have to grab onto salal bushes as the water would tilt underneath us. While doing this every now and then there would be mink snarling at us, I guess thinking we were vying for the fish that would be smashed up along the rocks. I remember looking off at one of the moments and seeing this massive cabin cruiser out in the middle of it all, U.S. flag and all going around in circles with some character on the deck reading his charts! I'm not making this up.

I saw a tree trunk get spit out of the water as if from some kind of projectile. Swarms of seagulls were swooping around in a feeding frenzy. After what seemed like a lifetime or two we arrived at a still pool just what was known as Rocker Point, where we could pull our canoe out and kiss the earth (or rock in this case). Looking out from this point you could see a drop in the water level of about a foot it seemed. And the sound, a huge electric roar. The seaweed was bright red and green.

So there was no way we were going back through this monster so after catching our breath we journeyed on around the top of the peninsula to the town of Seshelt where we got a ride back to Tillicum Bay with canoe in toe. Oh yea, that was my first canoe trip. And that's the end of that story.

Monsantoland





The World According to Monsanto - A documentary that Americans won't ever see.

"...staring into the jaws of hell"


 

TheStar.com | Canada | Five reasons to start worrying.

Friday, March 21, 2008

An article from a site recommended by Layla




Older Than 60 Years for Sure, But How Long Will It Persist? Al Nakba of 1948 :: www.uruknet.info :: informazione dall'Iraq occupato :: news from occupied Iraq :: - it.

Why Tibet is boiling over


 

globeandmail.com: Why Tibet is boiling over.

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Friendly Fuedalism - The Tibet Myth


 

Friendly Fuedalism - The Tibet Myth.

5 years later- again




Robert Fisk: The only lesson we ever learn is that we never learn - Robert Fisk, News - Independent.co.uk.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The war- 5 years on. Pepe Escobar



Asia Times Online :: Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs.

Saturday, March 15, 2008

yes dear, we can all sleep rich again



The $200 billion bail-out for predator banks and Spitzer charges are intimately linked.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Robert Fisk


Robert Fisk: The cult of the suicide bomber - Robert Fisk, News - Independent.co.uk.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

and now a little good news

In Chicago, a secret garden cools a concrete jungle

i've got the blues about an arab woman



An Arab Woman Blues - Reflections in a sealed bottle...: The Aesthetics of Occupation

I've got my eye on yours


Dahr Jamail's Weblog: The Biometric Cataloging of Americans at Home

Pollution - a Byproduct of a 'Clean' Fuel

 

CorpWatch : US: Pollution Is Called a Byproduct of a 'Clean' Fuel

Monday, March 10, 2008

The CIA- a primer.

Sorry folks (or, you the cow in the back pasture) this blog is getting a little depressing. Good post though- well referenced. Good site!

The Existentialist Cowboy: CIA Holocaust Claims Twenty Million Victims.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

'brave new world' is SO yesterday- welcome to 'everyware'



NeuroSky

New Instruments of Surveillance and Social Control: Wireless Technologies which Target the Neuronal Functioning of the Brain.

Saturday, March 8, 2008

the 'D' word


US Loves Democracy

As the US presidential election motor shifts into gear, regular New Internationalist (NI) contributor, Jeremy Seabrook, reflects on the United States' professed love of democracy. Everyone knows of the love the United States bears for ...

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Gaza conditions 'at 40-year low'

Neil Kitson

BBC NEWS | Middle East | Gaza conditions 'at 40-year low'.

blame canada (not harper?)


Canadian Bacon.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Th!nk - rolling right along

 

Geneva '08: Th!nk announces the Ox, a new 5-seat electric car - AutoblogGreen.

productivity primer for artists



HOWTO Earn an artist's living in the 21st century: 1000 True Fans - Boing Boing.

goings on in columbia situation- backgrounder


The Big Question: Why has Colombia invaded Ecuador, and why is Venezuela joining the fight? - Americas, World - Independent.co.uk.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Artists draw on air to create 3D illustrations

Artists 'draw on air' to create 3D illustrations.

DrawingonAir

The 'rape' of Okinawa


Asia Times Online :: Japan News and Japanese Business and Economy.


Chalmers Johnson article. While on a visit there Chalmers was started on the path which led to his trilogy of books on “the empire” situation.

Kurzweil sees the future in games


globeandmail.com: Kurzweil sees a future in games.

interesting, but a little salt please.


the conquest of cool


Adbusters : The Magazine - #76 The Reconquest of Cool /

Monday, March 3, 2008

The Real Story Behind Kosovo's Independence


The Real Story Behind Kosovo's Independence.

A report finds one in 100 U.S. adults in custody


Canadian Dimension / Articles / A report finds one in 100 U.S. adults is in custody, highest ratio in world.

Famed geneticist creating life form that turns CO2 to fuel


Famed geneticist creating life form that turns CO2 to fuel.

Sing, o muse, the wrath of Michelle


Asia Times Online :: Asian News, Business and Economy..

Sunday, March 2, 2008

A long road from Kosovo to Kurdistan

Asia Times Online
Pepe Escobar. I don't know where I was during the breakup of Yugoslavia but it keeps coming up. Now with the latest chapter I've been finding out more about it. This article puts a few pieces of the puzzle together.


To all the loyal sons of Fredrich Hayak - Yuk!



Canada's Budget 2008: Taxes and the Forward March of Neoliberalism.

The United Nations Contributed to the Establishment of a Mafia-State in Kosovo


The United Nations Contributed to the Establishment of a Mafia-State in Kosovo.

my corner of the sandbox

so i haven't worked now for a year or so. i have found myself spending an embarrassing amount of time on the net. like- get a life, alan! anyway i thought it might be time to plunge into bloggerland. no real objective in mind except to share some of what i think of as interesting things with some friends as i go along. don't know how it's going to work out. i might abandon it next week but here goes...
 
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