Reactions to Gaza

What does this bigot have against juice anyway? I love my Sunkist in the morning ...

Happy Xmas!

Man in Santa suit kills at least 6 at holiday party. The rampage began shortly before 11:30 p.m. Wednesday when Pardo, dressed as Santa Claus, approached the front door of his ex-wife's parents' home with a large, wrapped package. Inside the two-story home at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac, his ex-wife, her parents and about two dozen others were enjoying their annual holiday party. An 8-year-old girl ran to answer his knock. When the door swung open, Pardo shot her in the face with a semiautomatic handgun, stepped into the house and opened fire on the revelers. Amid the chaos, he doused the house with a flammable liquid contained in the package -- a pressurized fuel tank, about 2 1/2 feet tall. Partygoers fled in panic as the house went up in flames. They ran to neighbors' homes and frantically called 911. A young woman leaped from a second-floor window, breaking her ankle.

Wanna ride with me?

The recently wrecked Whistler Excalibur gondola is built by the same company who recently finished constructing the record-breaking Peak2Peak gondola...

Peak2Peak

Ride Time
approximately 11 min.
Total Distance
4.4km/2.73miles (straight line)
Length of Unsupported Span
3.024km/1.88 miles (straight line between the two towers that are furthest apart)
Highest Point
above the ground is 436m/1427 feet over Fitzsimmons Creek
Capacity of Cabins
22 seated, 6 standing
Haul Rope
the single rope that pulls the cars along the track ropes is 46mm in diameter. Total length of the haul rope loop with the sag is 8850m

Lost in Translation II

Michael Jackson converts to Islam?

The former king of pop is certainly known for his physical transformations, but a spiritual conversion? An Imam was summoned from the mosque and Michael went through the Muslim declaration of belief. "Mikaeel" is his new name. Brit singer Yousef Islam, 60 — who was called Cat Stevens until he famously converted — turned up to help Jacko celebrate.

Leon for sale: $2,99!

Election's over: winner takes it all. Thanks for the 299 votes: all of you who voted for me. I got more than I bargained for: two, ninety nine! Now I need a coffee:

Creative Cabaret gig

The hopeful mayor hopeful

The amazing walking house

For those of you not convinced yet... enter the WALKING HOUSE. It is a modular dwelling system that enables persons to live a peaceful nomadic life, moving slowly through the landscape or cityscape with minimal impact on the environment. It collects energy from its surroundings using solar cells and small windmills. There is a system for collecting rain water and a system for solar heated hot water. A small greenhouse unit can be added to the basic living module, to provide a substantial part of the food needed by the Inhabitants. A composting toilet system allows sewage produced by the inhabitants to be disposed of. The walking house is not dependant on existing infrastructure like roads, but moves on all sorts of terrain.

As the election day is nigh, I hope you start taking this comedian seriously and vote for me! I would implement projects such as this one -- I'll end aberrations like "Project Civil City" and start measures to stall the government's control of its mutant citizens. (What better way than nail them into an SRO?)

www.n55.dk

Campaigning

Not in Vancouver

"Today the fear of taking risks is creating a society that celebrates victimhood rather than heroism... the virtues held up to be followed are passivity rather than boldness." -- Utne Reader

In the media

Ladner leads after cabaret chaos
"Sporting a red nose, mayoral candidate Leon Kaplan presented a comedy routine (at least I think that's what it was) leading to silence so profound that he commented, "My mom thinks I'm funny. She's probably the only one who'll vote for me." Jamie Lee Hamilton (running for park board) was equally lame." --Peter Birnie, Vancouver Sun

Candidates enter stage right
"(...) Or they could tell jokes, which is what Leon Kaplan will do. An immigrant from Rio de Janeiro, Kaplan heads up the self-styled Immigrant Party. 'It's more of a project of a party,' he said. The improv comedian promises absurdist humour. 'I'm like the Rhino [Party] candidate,' said Kaplan. '[My jokes] aren't too objective, it's cracking jokes about everybody. Like a rotating machine-gun.' The chance to crack wise about local politics is probably a better forum for his talents than a debate on the issues. "Yeah, because I am beyond issues," said Kaplan. 'Issues are a thing of the past.'" --Sean Conner, Vancouver Courier

A wide variety of choices for mayor
(...) The bookstore owner and comedian’s platform includes raising beer prices at GM Place, iPods for every citizen and turning libraries into Masonic lodges." --Maria Cootauco, Metro News

Vancouver mayoral hopefuls take part in questionable talent show
"Leon Kaplan's stand-up bit was fairly amusing, as he explained that he would split the right-wing vote with his plan to take tasers away from the cops—and give them to the Downtown Ambassadors." --Jessica Wirb, Georgia Straight

My Creative City Cabaret Time-Delayed Live Blog
"Now, Leon Kaplan. Independent. His mom thinks he’s funny and will be the only one voting for him. Ha! He’s got an out-RAG-eous French accent. He also thinks we should take tasers away from cops and give them to street ambassadors. He’s got a nice clown nose, and he’s going to bottle Vancouver [tap] water. Moderator cut him short but he was doing very fine. Someone asked him a question: Is this your first time running for mayor? Answer: Yes, and thank you for giving me a chance to finish my act." --Travis Smith, Unvarnished www.hopstudios.com

Shaw slams Langara for barring Work Less from mayoral debate
"A Work Less Party city council candidate is lashing out at Langara College for its decision to exclude the slate’s mayoral candidate, Betty Krawczyk, from a debate on Wednesday.(...) The Straight pointed out that the public could ask her and other candidates such questions if they were allowed in the debate. “So should candidate Leon Kaplan,” Berner retorted. “He’s as legitimate a candidate as Betty. He’s paid his $100 and he’s filed. (...) Further explaining the college’s decision, Berner said, 'Democracy is a flawed jewel. It’s not perfect, but I guess if we had 12 hours, I don’t know how we’d film that. It would be unwieldy; it can’t be done.'" --Matthew Burrows, Georgia Straight

Life without Frank

Frank magazine, the satirical scandal sheet that for nearly two decades savaged the reputations of some of Canada's most powerful politicians, celebrities and media figures, has stopped running. Many of those who had been written about or "Franked," threatened lawsuits, and many issues toward the end of Michael Bate's ownership contained printed apologies as a means to warding off the expense of lawyers' fees.

Other signs of humourless times
Now they've axed MadTV! The show's final episode is scheduled to air in May. "We're proud of what we've accomplished, we're appreciative of what Fox has done and we don't think it should be over yet," Producer D. Salzman said. What else? And brilliant sitcom/reality TV show Trailer Park Boys got unplugged as well this season. Aaaaaaaarrrgh.

Canine's favourite candidate

Hi, I am Leon Kaplan and currently own Devout Books, doubling as my mayorship campaign headquarters. On certain nights I perform stand up comedy at pubs or wherever I can get a gig. I was born in Rio de Janeiro, raised in a secular Jewish Family in Brazil and in 2007 founded the Immigrant Party. Like a pill in dog-food, humour sometimes is the only way to convey a serious message. Will my opponents will try to use unseemly tactics against me? Can a comedian run a public office? Yes we can!

G-d bless you all and may G-d bless the City of Vancouver!

Be afraid, be very afraid!

Debates I crashed

Vancouver Real Estate Board debate (AKA: what's the new rental loophole?)
It actually included ALL mayors! Too bad the content of the brown envelope given to candidates after the debate was just a "thank you" note. (I was expecting to practice as a mayor)

AMSSA Immigrant Debate (AKA: we're all equal, but some mayors are more equal than others)
The mayoral debate at the Library hosted by CJC, S.U.C.C.E.S.S., the Vancouver Multicultural Society & AMSSA featured only the famous two bike-riding moderate white businessmen.

Decison 2008 (AKA: we take the comedian seriously)
Airing November 9th, 1:30pm. Shaw Cable lost my original footage and after playing phone tag for a week, I finally crashed at their studios to have my 2-minute candidate retaped.

The Langara Dialogues (AKA: the Langara Monologues)
David Berner enjoyed the usual suspects company. I didn't dare to crash this one.

Get Your Vote On (AKA: speed dating with arranged marriages)
@Biltmore Cabaret. The student organization organized this fun event made to promote the politicians they favour.

Arts Alliance debate (AKA: an artist representing us? Eeeeew)
@Granville Island. I didn't crash this one because my ex-wife organized it!!!

Church & state

We're learning with the U.S. as far as the illusion of social inclusion and democratic participation is concerned. Are Peter McCain and Gregor Obama the only ones running for mayor/president?

Thinking and living outside the box

Homelessness is not a housing issue. There'll always be houses. It's just that most low-income people can't afford rent. However, the meltdown is bringing us a unique opportunity to shift paradigms: let's learn with the First Nations, third-world people and Buckminster Fuller: Simple-living is the way to go. As the world financial houses collapse around us, it will be the homeless who will outlast the best because they learned to be survivalists.

Out top-down current housing models are okay as a make-work scheme. The cost-benefit is ludicrous: $200,000.00 per capita to allow a homeless to endure month-to-month Draculean contract and a life of regimented despair and bed bugs? The less fortunate need dignity. Let's give them wireless laptops, so they can cross the digital divide once and for all. Let's provide them with prefab units on wheels and liveaboard floating devices. Electric outlets & shower opportunities and honey wagons should be placed all over the city/BC. Let's change legislation so homeless can have driver's licenses/insurance/and vote without a 'brick&mortar' address; so they can park in empty lots-cum-trailerparks, or moor their boats wherever they see fit.

The digital nomad is the new man.

Land of the Dead benefit

The digital nomad

"So, where do you call home?" Someone always asked me during those on-the-street encounters around my RV. "Where do you actually LIVE?"
"In the Internet," I'd answer, usually receiving a blank look in response. "You know... my home is the Net. Once you move to the Internet, your physical location becomes irrelevant."
By this time, the average questioner is squirming uncomfortably, unsure whether I am some kind of nutcase. I can almost hear him: "What's this freak trying to tell me? To give up my Jaccuzzi?"

Our world is increasingly opened up by wireless communication breakthroughs. Last year, in my mid-life crisis, I thought, 'My God, I'm lost and there's no hope!' But it wasn't that bad; it was more like, 'I'm lost but this may be a good thing because there is maybe a change that I have to make.' So, I shrunk my housing back down into manageable proportions. Living in a van is a hoot. Mobility satisfies your tangible needs. Being capable of becoming physically rootless but wired into your electronic "home" in the Internet changes our basic constructs: adjacencies, accessibility, attachment to the grid, boundaries between work and home. All these liberating, fascinating and terrifying concepts are being challenged by our current mortgage crisis! If elected I'll put a motion to allow vans & RVs to park in empty parking lots, behind churches, community centres and back alleys.

Ask Leon!

The cure for anything is salt water

My friend used to say, "Leon, it takes one like you to degentrify an entire neighbourhood." He wasn't completely wrong. Just ask anyone in Yorkville or Kits.

Before you jump into the fray with more street-smart bravado about Victoria's tents-in-parks judge ruling precedent, I'd like you to reflect on how there's more dignity to living aboard than to be in a tent or a room. Liveaboards practice a cooperative, sustainable lifestyle. I guess that's why they had to go! (Watersquatters, Thinking and Living Outisde the Box is available at DEVOUT BOOKS).

Ask Leon!

watersquatters.blogspot.com
waterworld at youtube

BC's new currency: iTap

This is my suggestion for investors: instead of buying gold, pile up Vancouver bottled tap water, more exactly "iTap" -- available at DEVOUT, 6 E. Cordova. We're currently selling them as campaign contributions for $10 each (hey, I predict this WILL be the price of bottled water in 2015).

PS -- DTES residents, mostly, do not consume bottled water, they can't afford it. However, they supplement their income recycling PET bottles.

Ask Leon!

Because we need more horny Jewish males pulling the strings!

Please read my platform and if you support my goals send us money to help with the campaign!
My motto is: Be afraid, be very afraid. We're afraid of the upcoming civilization economic/ecological collapse! We're afraid of each other; we're afraid of our sexuality; we're afraid of being afraid! I urgently advocate people to bring up their clown chakra. Let's take ourselves less seriously?

Ask Leon!

Siverman gone Obama

Buy my shitpile!

The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.

Michael Moore

The belly of the mayor

Repent sinner!

Joe Eszterhas, who wrote “Basic Instinct” and “Showgirls,” is a new man, born again of the Holy Spirit. He gives his testimony at Newsweek’s On Faith religion site:

"Why did God save the life of a man who had trashed, lampooned, and marginalized Him most of his life? Why did He take the time and the trouble to save me? It certainly wasn’t because I had written Basic Instinct and Showgirls, right? Was it because my wife and I had four little boys we were trying to raise? Possibly. Or was it God’s divinely impish sense of humor? Well . . . and then all of the things God said would happen . . . did. My life has turned inside-out. I have stopped my excesses and replaced them with prayer and long walks. I am carrying the cross as often as they’ll let me at Holy Angels Church in Bainbridge Township, Ohio."

Ask Leon!

California got it

Was Tchaikovsky poisoned?

Tchaikovsky was one of the first postmodern composers. His infamous "1812 Overture" pasted sound collages, cannon explosions...

Tchaikovsky died in St. Petersburg on November 6, 1893, nine days after the premiere of his Sixth Symphony, the Pathétique. His death has traditionally been attributed to cholera, contracted through drinking contaminated water several days earlier. However, some have theorized that his death was a suicide because he was outed. Homosexuality was no longer a stigma in Tsarist Russia, but was accepted at the highest levels of public life. At worst, Tchaikovsky might have gone into exile, like Oscar Wilde. The question remains by musicologists and researchers...

New Gates & Seinfeld ad

These ads have been referred to as "icebreakers." Gates has been wisely cast as Seinfeld's straight man. In this installment, it drags on for too long, and still fails to get to the point. There remains no mention of product, and scant reference to Microsoft at all. Additionally, the juxtaposition of the two rich men against the "real world" continues to make them look like haplessly ignorant aristocrats.

Hockey moms vs. Soccer moms

Sarah Palin proudly described herself as a "hockey mom" in her speech to the Republican National Convention Wednesday night. How do hockey moms compare with soccer moms? They probably have to pay a good deal more to get their kids on the ice; They may also have to wake up earlier, too; because ice time is limited, many teams are forced to have practice hours before school starts. Hockey partisans on the Internet also claim that hockey moms are a bit more intense than their soccer counterparts, both in terms of the commitments they make to the sport and the intensity with which they cheer their kids. Partially as a result, USA Hockey has spearheaded a "Relax, It's Just a Game" campaign to try to get parents to calm down.

Bike theft etiquette

Five years ago, when I had my bike pilfered on Queen street (Toronto) I knew exactly where to go to get it back: Igor's Bicycle clinic. I correctly assumed the crackhead made a beeline to one of Igor's 10 garages. I paid a hefty $40 fee and retrieved it. Igor was loved and hated in the neighbourhood. Yes, he did buy stolen bikes; but he also fixed your bikes at no cost. The eccentric Slavic Robin Hood was famous for his appetite for bikes and food. I still laugh to myself remembering the horror expression stamped on the "all-you-can-eat" Chinese restaurant owner every time we walked in.

We're gonna miss the philosopher bike theft king, finally nailed by cops, who waited 20 years to get him--although they knew of his activities.

http://www.nytimes.com

Trimble Park

Our doom is nigh

(...) there is just a thin veneer of civilization on our society. You take your average urbanite or suburbanite and get him excessively cold, wet, tired, hungry and/or thirsty and take away his television, beer, drugs, and other pacifiers, and you will soon seen the savage within. Put yourself in the mind set of Mr. Joe Sixpack, Suburbanite. He is unprepared. He has less than one week’s food on hand, he has a 12 gauge pump action shotgun that he hasn’t fired in years, and just half a tank of gas in his minivan and maybe a gallon or two in a can that he keeps on hand for his lawn mower. Then the (planned) "Meltdown" hits. The power grid is down, his job is history, the toilet doesn't flush, and water no longer magically comes cascading from the tap. There are riots beginning in his city. Now he is suddenly desperate. Once the Golden Horde has been thinned (and honed to ferocity) and they’ve cleaned out an area, the thugs at the pinnacle of ruthlessness will comprise the most formidable rover packs imaginable. They will move on to an adjoining region, and then another. Here are your potential adversaries: A squad to company size force (12 to 60 individuals), highly mobile, moderately well armed with a motley assortment of weapons and vehicles, and imbued with absolute ruthlessness. Be afraid... www.survivalblog.com

My book "I Married a Terrorist", available at Devout Books [6 E. Cordova], is a humourous blueprint for survivalism and nomadism.

War of my dreams

1. The Georgians started it.
2. They lost.
3. What a beautiful little war!

Found this real cool Georgian war analysis by the "war nerd" on the net:
exiledonline.com/

This is Sparta!

I love the infobahn trashy ways! Sparta 300 were a crazy bunch. To paste their angry face on today's junk images is hillarious.

Famous people who were homeless

Halle Berry In an interview with magazine,US Weekly,Berry stated that she had stayed in a shelter for a time. * Jim Carrey Actor,writer,producer and comedian lived out of a VW van in various locations across Canada with older brother John Carrey, older sister and parents. * Charlie Chaplin Lived on the streets of London during his childhood after his father died and his mother, Hannah suffered a mental breakdown. Themes in his films in later years would re-visit the scenes of his childhood deprivation in Lambeth. * Kurt Cobain Lead vocalist of the band "Nirvana" camped under a bridge in Aberdeen, USA and slept in a cardboard box on the porch of a drummer friend; hallway floor of an apartment building, hospital waiting room and old couch in a garage. * Daniel Craig Actor; James Bond in the 007 movies, is reported as having slept on a park bench in London while a struggling actor. (source: Daily Mail newspaper, October 14, 2005). * Ella Fitzgerald Ella spent years as a struggling, homeless teenager before she was discovered in a singing competition. At one point, she worked as a lookout at a bordello. She was taken into custody and sent to a reform school. Eventually she escaped from the reformatory, and became homeless. * David Letterman Emmy Award-winning television writer, comedian, author and talk-show host of the television talk-show Late Show with David Letterman spent time living out of his Chevy pickup truck while struggling to establish his career. * William Shatner After the cancellation of the television series Star Trek, in which he starred, he travelled the east coast of the U.S. sleeping in a camper with his dog, a Doberman pinscher. "I now had three children and an ex-wife to support and I was just about broke." * Martin Sheen Emmy Award-winning actor,director and producer; slept in New York City subway while a young struggling actor.

Beatles for free, mais oui

Calling McCartney an "international Anglo-Saxon idol" is too much! In an open letter, Quebec City painter and sculptor Luc Archambault informs McCartney that he should learn some French songs before coming to perform as part of Quebec City's 400th anniversary celebrations.

All that bickering reminds me that Canadian natives have to choose between phlegmagtic wit or buffonic repartee from members of the founding nations.

Iran releases new missile photo

New iPhone app

Reptilian humanoids in Holland

No Country For Raising Arizona

Parallels between two Coen Brothers movies.http://www.thecleverest.com/blog/426

Too good (bad) for tv

A really cheesy tv show pilot with Jack Black and a talking bike! An astronaut with super powers... aliens... b-movie aesthetics... produced by Ben Stiller... Too bad it was never aired.

Peace and prosperity

Did you know that the famous Spock salute is actually a Kohanim dinasty priestly blessing gesture? A Kohen is a direct male descendant of the Biblical Aaron, brother of Moses. During the existence of the Temple in Jerusalem, Kohanim performed specific duties vis-à-vis the daily and festival sacrificial offerings. Kohen descendants (Hebrew כּהן, "priest") have a special status at Synagogues. However, the honours given to the kohen during the Torah reading are not observed in Reform Jewish communities.

This is also the salute a heretical Jewish sect used to perform in the XVIII-century. The Sabbatians and the Frankists were followers of Jacob Frank and Rabbi Sabbatai Tzvi. Both self-proclaimed messiahs. However, the father of the Sabbatian movement became an Ishmaelite in 1666, to his followers' dismay! According to current affairs lecturer Barry Chamish, Sabbatians later joined the Bavarian Illuminati.

Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek was a 33rd Degree Freemason.

www.barrychamish.com

Device to root out devil

It was too hot for New York City; too hot for Stanford University. But a controversial, imposing sculpture by renowned international artist Dennis Oppenheim finally found a public home in Vancouver. Now, after 21/2 years in a prominent location near Stanley Park, the upside-down country church, denounced as “blasphemous” by some aghast Christians, is about to be unceremoniously dismantled, its future uncertain. Too many negative comments and too many neighbours complaining that the sculpture interfered with their view of scenic Coal Harbour sealed the immediate fate of Mr. Oppenheim’s work. The decision to remove the sculpture, approved unanimously by Vancouver Park Board commissioners this week, has dismayed those who wanted to keep the piece’s topsy-turvy church spire where it is, like Michaela Frosch, the disappointed chairwoman of Vancouver Sculpture Biennale: "I don’t think we are yet prepared for this level of art. Very clearly, it does create debate and dialogue, but that’s good."

Checkmate

Internetscelebrities' brilliant! also check Urine Nation and Cereal is Dope

Church of the Euthanasia

For those obsessed with the prospect of planetary overpopulation -- or just really, really depressed about their own lives -- the Church of Euthanasia has a modest proposal: "Save the Planet -- Kill Yourself." In fact, suicide is just one of the four pillars of the Church's dogma, along with abortion, cannibalism, and sodomy -- sacraments of non-proliferation for a crowded and despairing world.

It may look like just another joke religion, but the Church of Euthanasia's founder does a great job of sounding completely serious. A radical environmentalist gone spiritual, she insists that unless immediate, voluntary steps are taken to reduce the world's population, within a decade we'll be facing a cataclysm of such massive proportions that the living will envy the dead.

The Boston-based Church of Euthanasia is the brainchild of the Reverend Chris Korda, who alleges that in 1992 an alien intelligence she calls simply "the Being" visited her in a dream and intoned the words, "We are not of this planet," going on to describe a coming eco-catastrophe. The self-anointed Reverend, with a flippy hairdo and statuesque good looks more often found among fashion models than shamans, concedes with a small laugh that it all "sounds spooky, sounds kooky," but still swears to the authenticity of her experience. And if her alien's message sounds a bit cryptic to you and me, she attests that it was "sufficiently powerful so that pretty much on a dime I turned around my life and founded the Church of Euthanasia."

http://www.churchofeuthanasia.org

New goodies at Devout

This has been a good hunting weekend. I found lots of Noam Chomsky stuff, and some Gregorian chant CDs. The new crop of DVDs include Alex Jones, Dave Icke and many others.

Porn and pancakes

F.A.Q's
Is Porn and Pancakes R rated? No.
Should I bring my son? Yes.
Should my son be 11 years or older? Yes.
Can I bring my dad? Yes.
Should my dad be ready to talk afterwards? Yes.
Why just men? That’s how we started.
Will there be nudity? Ahhh, no.
Will we have to wear name tags? No.
Do you use Grade A or Grade B syrup? Whatever is cheapest.
Will you talk about masturbation? Yes.
Can I bring my men’s group, youth pastors, lead pastors? Yes.
Will we learn about personal accountability? Yes.
Is porn a 57 billion dollar a year business world wide? Yes.

Excerpts from http://xxxchurch.com

Taser happy

The first phase of a public inquiry into the use of Tasers in British Columbia begins today. Police departments in Chicago, Illinois and Birmingham, Alabama have reportedly discontinued their use of the weapons due to safety concerns. Until such time as unbiased study into the safety implications of Tasers has been properly completed, I think that a moratorium must be imposed upon the weapon who killed 20 people in Canada.

Like so many Poles of his generation, Dziekanski went looking for work in one of those “normal” countries that Poland was supposed to become but never did. Two million Poles have joined this mass exodus during the last three years alone. Dziekanski’s cohorts have gone to work as bartenders in London, doormen in Dublin, plumbers in France. Last month, he chose to follow his mother to British Columbia, Canada, which is in a pre-Olympics construction boom. However, the nation that used to be known around the world for its openness to refugees, is militarizing its borders, with lines between immigrant and terrorist blurring fast. “After seven years of waiting, [Dziekanski] arrived to his utopia, Vancouver,” said the Polish consul general, Maciej Krych. “Ten hours later, he was dead.”

Creationism in a cheap tuxedo

I didn't go to see Expelled yet, although I sympatise with host Ben Stein, whose approach plays into the conspiracy theme of the movie: somehow, scientists are scheming to keep the unwary public from learning the truth about the supposed falsity of evolution.

Reviewers hated it, saying it confuses the debate among scientists about the details of evolution – how it works and what descended from what – with a nonexistent dispute about whether evolution occurred. I guess the movie manages to expose the rancor and malice on both ends of this issue. It isn't an argument so much as it's a war, complete with soldiers and battles and funding and propaganda, such as the science community's reply, http://www.expelledexposed.com/ (even more ludicrous!)

The flick was produced by BC millionaire and Bowen Island resident Walt Ruloff, former owner of hi-tech company ITLS. With or without intelligent design, Walt is laughing all the way to the bank. It did pretty good at the box office. Well... not so good, the producers have run into legal trouble over their unlicensed use of the song "Imagine", having failed to seek the permission of the copyright holder, John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono.

Brenda is back

I'm embarrased by the number of people who just can't accept this woman was convicted of a crime. Other than Alyn Richard Waage, the mastermind, most of the men involved in the Tri-West Investment Club scheme received reduced sentences of four to five years in prison after laundering 60-million dollars! (Waage's son cooperated with the Feds in exchange for a lighter sentence)

And now after CBC campaigned to save Brenda's ass... Aren't there more worthy causes for the media to embrace during prime-time newscast? They've paroled her in five days!!! Before you buy her upcoming book and patronize her website (brendamartin.com was purchased last week), check this out. Brenda tells all under name Sandi Smyth:
http://www.thewantednovel.com/edjournal.html

Spiral Island

It looks like an island, it feels like an island but it just happens to be made of spiraling pop bottles.

Eyes forced shut

To claim Stanley Kubrick -- arguably the finest film director ever -- was a major 20th century figure is an understatement. It's nice to know that some conspiracy lovers -- ready to challenge official reality -- question if Kubrick died from natural causes or was assassinated. The last major film to reveal occult secrets like Eyes Wide Shut was Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby. Soon after its release, Polanski's lover and unborn child were slaughtered by Manson's occult "family," and he was later run out of the States. (Polanski screwing a 13-year-old girl didn't help.)

Conspiracy rumors argue Kubrick's swan song, Eyes Wide Shut, earned Kubrick his death certificate. He warned of things to come way ahead of the curve: Lolita (1962) was a sexual taboo-smasher, 2001 (1968) anticipated Von Daniken's Ancient Astronaut craze, and A Clockwork Orange (1971) predicted the violently grim Brave New World Order police state. Some also allege Kubrick filmed NASA's faked "moon landings" and wrote the "script" for the Apollo 13 disaster/hoax. Eyes Wide Shut, a sexual thriller about the decadent underbelly of the rich and powerful, has a creepiness that chills. The film's highlight is a masked-ball orgy into which Cruise's character sneaks, barely evading punishment when his uninvited entry is discovered. Kubrick warns that anyone who reveals upper-crust secrets can be snuffed. Was he predicting (and warning of) his own farewell?

The secret king

Sinister tales circulate about the occult roots of Nazi Germany, but little documentation has ever been uncovered — until now. The Secret King reveals the true story of Heinrich Himmler’s “Rasputin,” the magus Karl Maria Wiligut, commissioned by Himmler to write private reports on runes and ancient Germanic traditions, and to preside over secret SS ritual ceremonies.

The basis of this book revolves around obscure texts of the little-known and enigmatic figure of Karl Maria Wiligut, a name first encountered back in the early 90s from an interview with co-author Michael Moynihan. He expressed plans to publish Wiligut's writings and in 2001, Dominion press finally released The Secret King.

So, who would want to read about nearly century-old German mystical texts that were not widely distributed even during the historical era in which they were penned? Evidently, thousands of readers, as the authors assert judging from the sales of The Secret King's first edition that sold largely on word-of-mouth alone. Nazi occultism: the majority of books on this nebulous subject trump sensationalism over scholarship. However, the Pagan and non-Christian spiritual currents did exist within the Third Reich, and The Secret King gives a fascinating overview of a number of occultist individuals, many of whom were well-received in Nationalist Socialist circles.

Repent sinner hunt

If you've set foot on the streets of the greater Vancouver area in the last several years, you've almost certainly seen one of these small signs. If you're of an inquisitive mind-set, you may have wondered where they came from. The "repent sinner" phenomenon is fairly well-represented on the 'net. It's all just speculation, though. "A crazy jamaican lady". Who is she? What's her motive? Are now MORE than one repents sinner?

David William Littler started his own inquiry. Let the hunt begin.

http://www.bjorn-comic.com/hunt1.htm

Back to our roots

Australopithecines first walked upright: 3.5+ million years ago.
First appearance of Homo: about 2 million years ago.
First stone tools/weapons: about 2 million years ago.
First handaxes: about 1.6 million years ago.
First appearance of Homo sapiens: about 100,000 years ago.
First hafted weapons: 25-100,000 years ago.
First known migration by boat (Australia): 50,000 years ago.
First colonisation of America: 12,000 years ago (perhaps earlier)
Large mammals extinct: mostly by 10,000 years ago.
First known agriculture: around 10,000 years ago

Only very, very recently we formed our post-industrial revolution culture, it was overnight that we understood ourselves as "modern men." Free Spirit spheres rescue the primeval, primordial and primal in us for around $80 a pop.

Export yourself

Like an endangered species, the Green movement is all the rage; Wal-Mart is marketing it and venture capitalists are investing in it. But it had better be more than that; it had better become the movement to end all movements or we will all be facing what Al Gore calls "an inconvenient truth." Contemporary designers and architects have sought to adapt domestic environments within new parameters. The physical aspects of being human — the need to eat and sleep — will never change, but there are global challenges to the prescriptive notion that a home must have a kitchen, a living room, a dining room.

The work of internationally regarded architect Sean Godsell, the Mobile Dwelling Unit (MDU) utilizes recycled shipping containers to provide temporary emergency or relief housing. MDU is based on the concept that, around the world, there could be colonies of standard container docks where an urban nomad population could arrive and plug in its module houses. The Container Home Kit is a prefab house in which containers can be linked to make a 2 or 3-bedroom house. According to Sean, the short answer to the question of shipping container’s sudden appearance in the spotlight is a straightforward one: Because they are there, and there are so many of them. The abundance of shipping containers is a byproduct of a trade imbalance that means that many more arrive in Canada than leaves.

www.containercity.com

Zero garbage

Almost everything that we recycle is not re-anything, it is downcycled. A plastic bottle cannot become a plastic bottle again; at best it becomes polar fleece, which we eventually throw away. It takes the plastic bottle a little longer to get to the landfill, but it gets there nonetheless. Don't stop recycling your plastic bottles, though. Downcycling is still less bad.