the arcade fire live

Over at bradley's almanac, you can download a whole Arcade Fire show from Cambridge. The files include a David Byrne cover which they performed at a show in New York after hearing that Byrne himself would be in attendance. And David Bowie came, too. My goodness.

giant killer bullfrogs devour large birds whole in british columbia

The Globe and Mail has published a timely warning to B.C. waterfowl (none of whom are known subscribers) on the subject of "hungry killer bullfrogs" that will eat a duck in one ugly mouthful. Says local naturalist Clyde Burton, "A small duck doesn't stand a hope in hell. They are like alligators. I'll tell you, boy, don't put your fingers over the side of the boat." (Full story)

The giant killer bullfrog and its actual size relative to the common duck, inset (click for larger image)

never bring your assumptions to a knife fight: advice from "no-one important"

The Traceless Warrior is a blog written by a man named Mushtaq Ali, who has been teaching "an obscure martial art that has its origins in Indonesia called Pencak Silat" for twenty-five years. It's only been online for a few days but it has already started intriguing me. I especially liked this post about a spar in which he schooled some cocky young guy:

"How do you overcome the limitation? Free your body and breath, balance drills with sparring with an uncooperative opponent, learn to let breath power movement, live at the level of constant suprise as often as you can so that you can learn to be comfortable with it."

this week in comics

Momentous thing are happening in some internet comics lately. Cornelius Bear got shot over at Achewood, the two dots from Death to the Extremist have a baby, and Wigu's dad is finally getting to use his escape plans. Why not go have a look?

momentous, a.
Of a thing or an event: of moment; of great weight, consequence, or importance.
(Oxford English Dictionary)

an equal marriage discussion

As mentioned, the Canadian House of Commons will be voting on Bill C-268 on November 26th. After sending a form letter to all MPs via the Canadians for Equal Marriage website, I got an automatically generated response from a Mister John G. Williams, Member of Parliament. Rather than let his ridiculous reasoning slide, I decided to answer his email. To read the full text of our conversation, click here.


The Discussion

I'm writing to express my opposition to Private Members' Bill C-268, which would restrict civil marriage to opposite-sex couples. This bill is unconstitutional and un-Canadian.

Canadians overwhelmingly support Charter values like inclusion, human dignity, mutual respect and freedom from political or social prejudice.

For many Canadians, both gay and straight, marriage is a profoundly meaningful way to demonstrate love and commitment. Denying anyone that choice is simply not fair. Same-sex couples should have the freedom to marry in a civil ceremony and to have that marriage legally recognized, and religious communities should have the freedom to perform or not perform such marriages.

Please let me know where you stand on this human rights issue.

Sincerely,
Chris Brown



Thank you for your email and I appreciate knowing your perspective regarding same-sex marriage.

Since time immemorial all societies have recognized the union of a man and a woman, celebrated the union and called it marriage. In modern society, where anything goes, a relationship does not need to be defined as a marriage. I believe, however, the institution of marriage should be preserved as the legal and religious union of a man and woman to the exclusion of all others, and if people want to enter into some other kind of relationship they can find some other name to call it, but it is not marriage.

The decisions of a number of provincial courts to re-define marriage to include gay and lesbian couples ignores a decision of Parliament in 1999, when Members of Parliament voted 216 - 55 in favour of a motion holding that marriage should remain the union of one man and one woman. Jean Chrétien, the Prime Minister of the day, Martin Cauchon, the then Justice Minister, and Paul Martin all voted in favour of the motion at the time, although all three changed their position to endorse same sex marriage.

The Liberal Government made a grave error in judgment by choosing not to appeal recent court decisions that legalize same-sex marriage. As a result of the failure by the Liberals to appeal the court decisions redefining marriage to include homosexual couples, gay marriage is now already the law in Ontario and B.C., and may soon become the law in most of Canada.

The most recent proposal by the Liberal Government to refer draft legislation to the Supreme Court of Canada does not negate the fact that the Liberal Government has abandoned the democratic process and allowed an unelected, unaccountable court to define marriage, when that decision is the purview of Parliament alone. Any subsequent promise by the Liberals of a "free vote" in Parliament on that legislation, does not in any way change that reality. The proposal to hold a "free vote" in Parliament is only a communications exercise to try to hide the fact that they have allowed un-elected judges to make the laws of our country.

My Conservative colleagues and I are also disappointed that several months' worth of work done by the House of Commons Justice Committee on the issue of same sex marriage has been rendered irrelevant by the Liberal Government's failure to appeal the recent court rulings. Although the then Justice Minister, Martin Cauchon asked the Justice Committee to travel the country and hear representations on same-sex marriage from all walks of life, he did not wait for the committee to produce its report before making a decision on this matter. The voices of Canadians who submitted briefs and made oral representations to the committee have effectively been silenced by this un-democratic process.

Canadians should be outraged by the Liberal Government's slight against democracy, and the failure by this government to keep its promise to Canadians to preserve marriage as the union of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others. The Conservative Party will continue to call upon the Liberal Government to keep its promise to Canadians to preserve the traditional definition of marriage.

I appreciate your perspective that a majority in society should not trample upon the rights of a minority. However, I do not agree that it is an issue of human rights since a human right is an inalienable right for all people, at all times. For example, no one should be discriminated against because of their colour at any time, at any age, or under any circumstances. Protection from discrimination because of one's colour is a human right.

Marriage is not a human right, because there are many people in this country who would want to marry and who have no recourse to the law in order to do so. We also do not allow young people who are under the age of majority to marry. We do not allow siblings to marry. We do not allow parents and their children to marry. Therefore, marriage is not an inalienable right and therefore it is not a human right.

I believe that it is appropriate that we have some other words to define the relationships that are emerging and acquiesced to by our society, other than putting it all under an umbrella of marriage.

Yours truly,

John G. Williams
Member of Parliament



Dear Mr. Williams,

Although I am pretty sure your email was an automatically generated response (necessitated, perhaps, by the number of emails you must receive on this issue, and appreciated nonetheless), I would like to take a few moments to address some of the points it raises.

First of all, to claim that "since time immemorial all societies have recognized the union of a man and a woman and called it marriage" is not only wrong, it is almost totally irrelevant to this discussion. Slavery, misogyny, racism and xenophobia have also been practiced in most societies throughout most of history, but that lends them neither credibility nor moral goodness. These practices are also comparable to marriage in that their continuity is incomplete: unions between men and women have taken countless forms, and have been given countless names. Polygamy, for example, has been widely accepted throughout the
centuries, and is still practiced in some countries today, and yet it is illegal here in Canada. So even if your claim were true, it would still have no bearing on whether or not Canada should allow gay
marriage.

Secondly, I would like to address the comparisons you made between gay marriage and marriage between minors or family members. You might very well have brought up the fact that we do not allow people to marry goats: the reasons for one have no relation to the reasons for the other. We do not allow minors to marry because they would become legally bound to an agreement which our society believes they are too young to make decisions on; we do not allow family members (and goats) to marry because of genetics, societal taboos, etc.

Your arguments against gay marriage are weak, Mr. Williams, and they do not address the actual reasons you have for fighting against such a worthwhile cause. If two adult human beings are in love, why would you want to deny them the privilege of being recognized as "married" - a privilege they would hold if they were heterosexual?

As I said, I appreciate your response. I do not, however, appreciate the values you are fighting for when you oppose gay marriage: homophobia, discrimination, and intolerance.

Sincerely,

Chris Brown
Montreal, QC

kevin sites' open letter

Kevin Sites is, in his own words, a "freelance solo journalist currently on assignment for NBC News in Iraq." He also happened to be in the room, with a video camera, when a U.S. Marine shot an injured, unarmed Iraqi in a mosque in Falluja on November 13th. After Sites released the footage to the video pool, it got aired around the world.

Aside from reporting for NBC though, Sites is also running a personal blog (kevinsites.net) with dispatches from the front lines in Iraq, and his most recent post is titled, "Open Letter to the Devil Dogs of the 3.1". In it he offers his perspective of the events of that day and explains to the soldiers with whom he has been travelling why he released the footage. It is not easy to read, but it provides extraordinary insight into at least the difficulties of war reporting.

"So here, ultimately, is how it all plays out: when the Iraqi man in the mosque posed a threat, he was your enemy; when he was subdued he was your responsibility; when he was killed in front of my eyes and my camera -- the story of his death became my responsibility.

The burdens of war, as you so well know, are unforgiving for all of us."

u.s. election update

I am well aware that you are sick of hearing about the U.S. election, but I am posting a link to this Globe and Mail article anyway. It sums everything up pretty nicely:

"No one cheated (but they could have)", Nov. 22, 2004

The U.S. is rife with rumours that George Bush stole the election. There is no hard proof, reports ALAN FREEMAN, but electronic voting is like 'Russian roulette'

a new threat to equal marriage

Canadians for Equal Marriage (website) has informed me that on November 26th, the Canadian House of Commons will be voting on a new bill to define marriage as "the lawful union of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all other persons", which is a big shame.

If you go to their website, you can find out some handy ways to help convince MPs to vote against this bill, which was tabled by some Conservative guy from Fundy. And dang, but doesn't he deserve a kick in the pants! Email your MP, or give her/him a call, or show up on his/her doorstep with a bouquet of roses*, and let them know that Canadians do not want to see this bill get passed.

* The roses should contain bees. Or bribes.

See also this article from The Toronto Star:
"Same-sex issue back on agenda", Nov. 16th, 2004

i left my wallet in el segundo

Why not check out the biggest digital photo ever made? It's a panoramic image of the city of Delft, Netherlands. Although it may not be as beautiful or majestic as the one I took, it certainly sports more pixels: a hefty 2.5 billion of them. If you're really bored, I'd suggest trying to find the "floating torso". (Link)

who's the boss

Your friend and mine, Ed Staples, has started up a fun new site called "Who's The Boss". Each day, a new "who would win in a fight" pairing is posted, readers leave comments to vote, and the votes are tallied the next morning. The winner is the one with the most votes.

"There are 128 original participants. After a round of preliminaries, the 64 remainers will be put into four brackets based on their 'genre', and pitted against one another. From there, the battle will continue until only one entrant remains."

(Link)

bush to visit ottawa

Did you know that Bush is planning to visit Ottawa on Nov. 30th? If you live in Ottawa, or within bussing distance to it, you should come on out and help us all huck eggs at him protest his policies. Check out We Vote No for futher information.

scrapatorium

Already, Blogger is proving itself to be superior not only in functionality but also in content: a brief glance through the most recently published blogs here show a decrease in stupid blogs of at least 80%! Here's a neat one I found called Scrapatorium, where some guy from Texas posts a new digital collage art piece every day. I liked "Worldly" (above).

comic awesome

Have you ever seen The Perry Bible Fellowship? Don't be fooled by its title, which hints at the religious: it's not. Here's one of my favourite strips. (More precisely, it's one of the strips which you are not likely to be offended by.)

four more years

1. Bush has just announced that White House legal counsel Alberto Gonzales will take John Ashcroft's place as US Attorney General. BBC says that although Gonzales claims he does not approve of torture, he once described the Geneva Convention (GPW) as "quaint". In a 2002 memo, he urged the president to declare the war in Afghanistan exempt from the provisions of the GPW.

Update: Link to New York Times article with two excerpts from Gonzales' legal writings. Use "smallflightless" as Member ID and Password.

2. Colin Powell has stated that Bush will continue to pursue an "aggressive" foreign policy in his second term. (Link to BBC story) Thank god though: now that the election's over, the Bush administration can take a bit of a break from freakin' out the populace.

3. The attack on Falluja was held off until after the U.S. election, so that no unsuspecting U.S. citizens would be tricked into believing left-wing radicals' claims that the whole Iraq situation is still pretty awful.

breaking news

Sprinter Defies Laws of Probability, Gives 110%

non-break-dancing non-robots

Rather:

Speegle will do a Google search for you, and then read out the results in one of those creepy monotonous computer voices, like the one from that one Radiohead song that I always skip over. Exempli gratia, all your base et cetera.

This click-and-drag spider will creep you right out, this ping-pong game will make you feel like you're playing ping-pong, and this recent McSweeney's piece will distract your eyeballs.

And, lastly, the oft-requested chalkboard wall is back. [Shown: displacement calculations for a particle with charge q and mass m with initial perpendicular velocity v in a uniform electric field (above) and a uniform magnetic field (below). Buddhism-themed "Handloom Batik" calendar not included.]

break-dancing robots

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
ooooooooooooooooooooooh my goodness.

(thanks ODK)

this happened

And dig this t-shirt, by the creator of the webcomic Wigu.

my final election post

Haha, just kidding. There'll be more.

To summarize the current political situation: Kerry conceded the state of Ohio to Bush, because he is down by 136 483 votes. There are still between 155 000 and 250 000 "provisional ballots" to be counted there, but the election officials can't start counting them, by law, until November 13. This law gives them enough time to check each of the ballots; provisional ballots are given when there is uncertainty of one kind or another. Many of them will not be counted, because of spoilage or voter ineligibility. So a huge majority of the remaining provisional ballots would have to go to Kerry for him to win, which is very unlikely.

Oh, and Ohio was using a bunch of Diebold Inc.'s voting machines. On an unrelated note, the chief executive of Diebold Inc. said, in 2003, that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president," as quoted here.

Update: An Ohio voting machine accidentally gave Bush 3 893 extra votes. Oops.
(Link, login "smallflightlessbird@email.com", password "1small")

Either way, Kerry won in Ohio, according to this article. Greg Palast writes that the reason for the discrepancies between the exit polls (which favoured Kerry) and the counted results is that there were 92 672 discarded ballots, and most of them (as well as most of the provisional ballots) would be Democrat votes.

And BoingBoing, as always, sums things up nicely.

Also look to Jared's blog, junkyardjew, for an interesting post about Naomi Klein's opinion of the future of Iraq.

the life aquatic

Woot! The new Wes Anderson [Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums] film stars Bill Murray! And Bud Cort is in it! And it's due for release this Christmas! And if you go to this website, the trailer will start playing automatically!

My goodness. How interesting. How bizarre.

In other movie news, Martin Freeman (Tim from The Office) is going to play Arthur Dent in a new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film (official site). Ford Prefect will be played by Mos Def, who is a rap musician.

thanks

I read a post from another blog today which read, in part, "So, Bush has won fairly, and Kerry bowed out gracefully, and we were saved the indignity of being labeled again as foolish." I couldn't resist answering.

If you really think you have been "saved the indignity of being labeled again as foolish", consider: your country knowingly re-elected one of the most dangerous political leaders in recent history. More than half of the U.S. population looked beyond his blatant lies, his catastrophic mistakes and his corrupt administration and saw instead a short, smirking gunslinger in a cowboy hat.

Foolish! My god! No, no-one thinks you are foolish now. The world is breathing a sigh of relief. The citizens of Iraq are settling down for a night's sleep, secure in the knowledge that the future holds at least four more years of safety. God himself is looking down on the U.S. and smiling.

Thank you America! Canada thanks you! The Earth thanks you!

Update:
At least twelve people have died in Iraq since Tuesday's election. Five of them were Iraqi civilians, including a woman and a child, three were UK soldiers, one was a translator, and three were Iraqi guards. (Link, link and link)

Update:
Read the Globe and Mail article, "World dismayed as voters give Bush 2nd term"

Update:
America has officially apologized.

unintended double intenuendres