Unrelated Segments

I've decided to begin a list of blogs that I regularly check out (it's somewhere on the left of this page, but I suppose that could change...). Right now the list contains only the blog of my pal Paul over at Subtrahend . I hope to be adding more soon.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan will start making Patriot 3 missiles. I wonder what kinds of doodads they'll add...

Holy Fucking Shit!

You didn't come here to read about the Red Sox and the greatest comeback in baseball history, but holy fucking shit. In honor of this truly remarkable achievement, today in my university classes we 'studied' the classic Nancy Sinatra song These Boots Are Made for Walkin'. Too bad that my Japanese students are Matsui and, therefore, Yankees fans...

From the Wire Hanger Department

Coke really is better than Pepsi. Joan Crawford screams... from the grave, of course...

Hole in the Sky

As I write this, it's been 29 days 9 hours and 39 minutes since the National Hockey League's owners have locked out the player's union. (Sigh...) To add insult to injury the Yankees are up 2-0 on the Red Sox, my computer is too old to download the newest Google toy, and the Prime Minister of Japan has actually stated that he hopes George W. Bush is re-elected. There ain't no justice...

All Your Base Are Belong to Us...

I'm a big fan of mangled English (some might say I'm a well-versed practitioner). I dug up the following from my archives the other day. I've lost the original link, but clearly it comes from somewhere on the wonderful site of The Korean Central News Agency of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

If Japan hastens the move to become a military power and the way of reinvasion, overheated by its ambition for militaristic overseas expansion in the new century instead of liquidating its blood-stained history of aggression on Korea and other Asian countries, it would precipitate its final destruction.

Keep up the good work boys, you'll be pounding out Shakespeare in no time.

Mind if I smoke?

According to this story from the CBC, crack addicts in Vancouver are after a safe place to smoke a few rocks. This follows the apparent success of a safe injection site for heroin addicts which opened in Vancouver last year. According to one crack addict, "It's just really high strung standing in this alley, because you're exposed not only to the cops, but to every form of violence." Excuse this aging liberal for sounding flippant, but haven't back alleys in urban centres been dangerous, for anybody engaged in any behaviour, since the world's first mugging? (No, I don' have any fucking idea when and where that was, but I'm fairly certain it happened long before crack was invented.) One is tempted to ask, well, what about a "safe-taking-a-shortcut-at-night room"? Or, a "safe-I-paid-the-bitch-now-I-want-my-blowjob room"? Hell, as a smoker (of cigarettes) I'd be happy to find a place(from past experience) in Vancouver where it was safe to smoke tobacco.
I suppose I should clear up a possible mis-understanding. For the record, I'm in favour of a safe injection place for heroin addicts (or other needle users). It's pretty simple, really. People sharing their dirty needles is a public health issue, connected to, but to a degree separable from the broader social issue of drugs (which should never be a criminal issue--see, I'm a liberal!!). Catching a cold from sharing a crack pipe is not on the same public health plane as catching AIDS from sharing a needle.
There always have been, and always will be 'back alleys'. They have never and will never be 'safe'. This is neither a good nor a bad thing. It may be a necessary thing. I would suggest that anyone who has never been in a back alley probably doesn't have a clear picture of life/reality.
(Heh, as Black Sabbath's "War Pigs" droned in my headphones, I thought I'd try out the spellcheck for this site. It suggested I replace CBC with CBS....)