"Judaism, Christianity and Islam have mythical origins..."

Interesting article in today's Toronto Star about a Muslim scholar who says that according to his research all 3 of the big religions have mythical origins - including Moses, Jesus & Muhammad.... (and don't forget the Holy Trinity of the Toothfairy, Easterbunny & Santa Claus).

(God) Money quotes from the article:

"God doesn't write books. All the various sacred books are the product of human minds and experiences."

"Religion should never contradict reason," he says. "I could never accept any doctrine or belief that goes against my rational mind."

Amen to that brother... Should be good fodder for some riots and death threats somewhere....

Photopalooza 1...

All photos taken by me.

Photopalooza 2...

Shot of the moon from my driveway....

Some old abandoned docks up the road from my house....

Bricks.... I like this shot for some reason....

Photo taken through pay-per-view binoculars on the observation deck of the CN Tower....

All photos taken by me.

Photopalooza 3...

Sunsets from the end of my street....









All photos taken by me on walks by the lake.

2,700 year old Shaman pot...

Interesting article in today's Toronto Star about the oldest known dope stash found in a Chinese tomb.

Some chronic quotes:

Stash seems to have been intended for buried shaman to use in the afterlife

Researchers say they have located the world's oldest stash of marijuana, in a tomb in a remote part of China. The cache of cannabis is about 2,700 years old and was clearly "cultivated for psychoactive purposes," rather than as fibre for clothing or as food, says a research paper in the Journal of Experimental Botany.

The entire article is here.

Bad animals...

Heard a great interview on CBC Radio One's The Sunday Edition with Farley Mowat a couple of Sundays ago. He referred to humans as bad animals in that we treat other species and the environment so horribly. Very engaging, humourous, in-your-face interview. Also read a piece on him the Toronto Star where he touches on that subject again with the following quote:

"I am absolutely sure that the human species has not very far to go, in terms of lifetime on Earth...And I couldn't care less. Life will continue on after we're gone. There have been lots of evolutionary mistakes. What's one more?"

I'm looking forward to reading his latest book Otherwise.

I hope I'm as ornery as him at aged 87....

The Macallan...

...Nothing like a Sunday night drunk on Macallan.... 

Thanks Gabriele....

NIN again...

Forgot to mention here that last Friday night in Hamilton at Copps Coliseum, for the 3rd time on their  "Lights In The Sky" North American tour, I saw Nine Inch Nails live. Took my daughter, her girl friend and my youngest son. It was a spectacular show. Huge crowd that was totally into the band. And the band was really on. NIN is such a great band to see live. 2+ hours of pure intensity. 

So this marks the 5th time I've seen them live, the 4th time my daughter has seen them and the 2nd time my son has seen them. 

We're one big happy NIN family....

No, this is not photoshopped...

Amazing architecture in Sopot, Poland. It's called The Crooked House. Imagine seeing this when drunk or high... First picture in a series from the Village of Joy blog entry entitled 50 Strange Buildings of the World.

Lest we forget...

Would that make us kin?...

Two good ole boys in Keswick were sitting around talking one afternoon over a cold beer. After a while the 1st guy says to 2nd:

"If'n I was to sneak over to your place Saturday & make love to your wife while you was off huntin' and she got pregnant and had a baby, would that make us kin?"

The 2nd guy crooked his head sideways for a minute, scratched his head, and squinted his eyes thinking real hard about the question. Finally, he says:

"Well, I don't know about kin, but it sure would make us even."

Proverb...

Marriage.... Once is a mistake. Twice you're a masocist.

California fires...

Amazing photo once again from the BBC's In Pictures - (#5 of 8 photos)....

In Sylmar Vallery, the flames sent people fleeing by car from their hillside homes. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency in two of California's counties.

400 > 150,000,000?!?! WTF???...

Interesting, in an obscene kind of way, letter from Michael Moore about the US bail out:

The richest 400 Americans -- that's right, just four hundred people -- own MORE than the bottom 150 million Americans combined. 400 rich Americans have got more stashed away than half the entire country! Their combined net worth is $1.6 trillion. During the eight years of the Bush Administration, their wealth has increased by nearly $700 billion -- the same amount that they are now demanding we give to them for the "bailout." Why don't they just spend the money they made under Bush to bail themselves out? They'd still have nearly a trillion dollars left over to spread amongst themselves!

A political conversation...

A recent conversation between me and my 15 year old son:

Son: Dad, who are you and mom voting for in the upcoming election?
Me: Not really sure yet. Haven't thought about it much.
Son: In other elections who did you vote for?
Me: Hmmm... Probably either NDP or Green Party.
Son: Fricken' hippies....

My favourite t-shirt...

I first saw this t-shirt at Lollapalooza and instantly wanted one. My all time favourite t-shirt design....

BBC Day In Pictures...

Striking image of Hindu woman praying from the BBC's Day In Pictures (image #1)....


From the BBC text:

Hindu women pray before taking a ritual bath in the Bagmati River in Kathmandu at the end of the Teej festival, in which women fast and pray for the good health of their husbands.

Open letter from Michael Moore to Caroline Kennedy...

Interesting open letter from Michael Moore to Caroline Kennedy asking her to be Obama's running mate in the upcoming U.S. elections. I actually think that Moore may be on to something. The supposed short list of 3 candidates are either all old school U.S. politcians or nobodies. Good luck on getting her to agree though....

The Future...

No one today can make better use of the English language than Mr. Leonard Cohen. I am just taken away when I hear his songs. Especially The Future....

The Future

Give me back my broken night
my mirrored room, my secret life
it's lonely here,
there's no one left to torture
Give me absolute control
over every living soul
And lie beside me, baby,
that's an order!
Give me crack and anal sex
Take the only tree that's left
and stuff it up the hole
in your culture
Give me back the Berlin wall
give me Stalin and St Paul
I've seen the future, brother:
it is murder.

Things are going to slide, slide in all directions
Won't be nothing
Nothing you can measure anymore
The blizzard, the blizzard of the world
has crossed the threshold
and it has overturned
the order of the soul
When they said REPENT REPENT
I wonder what they meant
When they said REPENT REPENT
I wonder what they meant
When they said REPENT REPENT
I wonder what they meant

You don't know me from the wind
you never will, you never did
I'm the little jew
who wrote the Bible
I've seen the nations rise and fall
I've heard their stories, heard them all
but love's the only engine of survival
Your servant here, he has been told
to say it clear, to say it cold:
It's over, it ain't going
any further
And now the wheels of heaven stop
you feel the devil's riding crop
Get ready for the future:
it is murder

Things are going to slide ...

There'll be the breaking of the ancient
western code
Your private life will suddenly explode
There'll be phantoms
There'll be fires on the road
and the white man dancing
You'll see a woman
hanging upside down
her features covered by her fallen gown
and all the lousy little poets
coming round
tryin' to sound like Charlie Manson
and the white man dancin'

Give me back the Berlin wall
Give me Stalin and St Paul
Give me Christ
or give me Hiroshima
Destroy another fetus now
We don't like children anyhow
I've seen the future, baby:
it is murder

Things are going to slide ...

When they said REPENT REPENT ...

Sharkwater...

Sharkwater is an absolute must see movie. The majestic beauty of these misunderstood animals is awe inspiring. The way and numbers in which we kill them for their fins is sickening. In the time it took to watch the movie more than 15,000 sharks were slaughtered worldwide. Makes me ashamed to be human to see what we have done to decimate sharks and countless other species of marine and wildlife in the name of profit. 

We are definitely "primates out of control"....

Sharkwater is also affiliated with the web site savingsharks.com. Go there and become informed.

27 days, 14 hours...

My main computer is my nearly 4 year old Apple 12" G4 PowerBook laptop. It has been an absolute workhorse for me and still runs all the current software I require (OS X 10.5.4, Adobe CS3 Design Suite Premium, Office 2008, etc.). Apple pushed out a system software/security update for it last week that required a reboot after install. Prior to rebooting the machine had been up and running problem free for 27 days, 14 hours...

Pretty impressive in a geek kind of way...

UPDATE: Nov. 24, 2008, I must have jinxed myself with this post. In the first week of November my beloved 12" PowerBook's on board video card died; needing an entire system board replacement. Apple charges more than the computer is worth for a new system board so I opted for one of the new all aluminum 13" MacBooks. And so far I'm completely impressed in every way with the new computer. I really like being able to use Parallels - I have XP & Ubuntu virtual machines up and running. Hopefully this is the beginning of another long run with this laptop. As of this writing the new MacBook has been running for 5 days, 1 hour and 13 minutes....  

Rural living...

One of the things about living in the country is wildlife. And I don't mean the people. I forgot to close my garage door last night so around 11:00pm I went around locking up the house and went into the garage through the house. Staring at me as I walked into the garage was a skunk chowing down on the remains in a pizza box the kids threw out. I backed away slowly and flicked the lights on and off a few times. The skunk gave me a dirty look and slowly waddled away. I closed the door and was thankful not to be sporting a new cologne....

Hurry up and wait update...

Well, after making an appointment to see the Doctor about the lymph nodes flaring up again they subsided on their own. By the time I saw the the Doc everything was normal again. His take on it is that whatever it is that causing these flares up is not serious. If it was serious it wouldn't go away on it's own like it did. He gave me another prescription incase they flare up again. Since the last time though everything has been good. Even my blood pressure is back to normal.... Strange....

Nine Inch Nails in Toronto...

Two days ago.... Here I was back in Toronto with less than 3 hours sleep as our buses from Chicago & Detroit were somewhat late and crowded but never mind all that - NIN was playing at the Air Canada Centre Tuesday night and I was taking my youngest son for his 12th birthday. No camera with me this time as I wanted to just watch, listen and totally enjoy the show.

The show was much that same set list as at Lollapalooza but with the addition of the song God Given, which just rocked the place. My son was completely blown away but the sounds, lights and just sheer magnitude of the performance. He repeatedly told me that it was "sick". We were on the floor about 50-60 feet from the stage. I watched him sing and clap along and throw his fist in the air. I love being able to share these kind of moments with my kids.... Not to mention helping foster what I consider to be excellent taste in music....

Personally, I'd go see NIN on every stop of thier tour if I could. Since the early 90's I just haven't been able to get enough of the band. This show was my 4th time seeing them live. Their music just touches something deep inside me and allows me to believe that everything will be alright....

Highlights of the night for me were Letting You, Piggies, Gave Up, the Ghosts material and In This Twilight. Songs from every NIN cd were played and the band was really into the show.

Thanks NIN!!!

Lollapalooza day 3...

This was a slow day for us as we really only wanted to see Saul Williams and Nine Inch Nails in the evening. First up was Saul Williams in the afternoon.


Saul Williams.


Saul Williams.

Saul is a spoken word/poet/metal guy whose latest album was produced by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. While watching Saul play a smoking set I noticed that 20 feet away from me to my right, behind a fence, was Trent himself. I waved and smiled and he smiled and nodded back to me. I snapped a few pix. My daughter and I were both pleased at that little encounter....


Trent Reznor.


Trent Reznor.

Nine Inch Nails, my favourite group since about 1992, put on a spectacular show. Musically and visually is was nothing short of stunning. Just before the show started I somewhat reluctantly agreed to let my daughter disappear in the throngs on NIN fans as she really wanted to get up close. After the show we met at the pre-arranged meeting spot and man, she looked like a drowned rat. She was beaming happy though as she made it to front row.


Nine Inch Nails.


Nine Inch Nails.


Nine Inch Nails.


Nine Inch Nails.


Nine Inch Nails.


Nine Inch Nails.

Over all it was one fantastic trip. Several times my daughter told me it was the best weekend of her life. As a parent I guess you can't get much better than that. And then after a good night's sleep at the hotel we headed out to the bus terminal for our trip back to Toronto. And I was already getting psyched up for seeing NIN at the next show on their tour in Toronto at the Air Canada Centre with my just turned 12 year old son. It's his first time to see NIN and his birthday present. The Toronto show will be my 4th time catching NIN live and each time it gets better. More on the Toronto show in another post....

After both my daughter and I having such a great time it left us wondering who's going to be on the stages for next year's Lollapalooza....

Photos taken by me in Chicago.

Lollapalooza day 2...

This is the day we were waiting for. Rage Against The Machine tonight!! Long time favourite band of mine and my daughter's. The band only plays one or two festivals a year now so getting an opportunity to see them is pretty rare. And they were the main reason we traveled to Chicago. The fact that Nine Inch Nails was playing there as well was just the icing on the cake....

Before heading to the park though we stopped by another Chicago park - Millennium Park, to the see The Bean - also know by it's official name Cloud Gate.


Cloud Gate - "The Bean"

We spent most of the afternoon checking out different bands. My daughter went to see an emo band she likes - Brand New while I went to see an incredible Canadian talent Serena Ryder. I managed to be front row against the stage and got lots of photos and videos of her playing. She played a 45 minute set and she rocked!!


Serena Ryder.

Another band I saw but didn't take any pix of was a New Jersey based group called Steel Train. They were really, really good. Sounded like an updated Bruce Sprinsteen on steroids. Great set.


Waiting for Rage Against The Machine.

Rage Against The Machine was without a doubt the most intense, crowed, wild show I have ever attended. Lollapalooza boasted a complete sell out this year - first time in its' history. 75,000 per day. Well, on Saturday night more than 50,000 of those people went to see Rage. It was pretty scary at one point as all movement was at the mercy of the crowd. The band even stopped the show midway through the 3rd song, People Of The Sun, imploring people to move back 10 steps as people were passing out and getting injured up front. There were 2 or 3 more stoppages during the set as the crowd was fucking nuts for these guys. Even the head of security for the whole event came on stage to talk to the band and audience. He said if we didn't move back and stop pushing they would have no choice but to end the show.

Below is a crowd shot of Rage courtesy of the Lollapalooza web site. I added a small red x to the left of the sound tent to show where my daughter and I were in the crowd.


Official Lollapalooza Photo by Dave Mead.


Rage Against The Machine.


Rage Against The Machine.

In the end it was all good and my daughter and I were both just over the moon that we finally got to see Rage in concert. After the show the crowd spilled out on the streets of Chicago taking over completely. It was amazing. And in the most crowed subway car I've ever been in the entire car spontaneously broke out singing a bunch of old R&B songs. It was a total blast....


RATM fans taking over the streets of Chicago.

Photos taken by me in Chicago unless otherwise noted.

Chicago, Lollapalooza day 1...

Got to Chicago way early, 4:00am, as the bus changed routes last minute and didn't stop at a couple Cities. Hung around the bus terminal until places were open and then went out and explored downtown Chicago. Had a great breakfast at Lou Mitchell's - advertising the world's best coffee - I don't know about that but it was damn good. Then wandered around some more and went up the Sears Tower to the 103rd floor observation deck. Took lots of photos and just enjoyed exploring somewhere new to us. Man, Chicago is one big ass city....






Sculpture inside the Sears Tower honouring Engineers who designed the building.

After checking into our hotel and catching a shower and a nap we headed back into town and to Lollapalooza. Grant Park is great place. Huge park nearly 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from end to end. In the afternoon we caught a bit of the Racontours but quite honestly, we found them to be boring. We walked around the park just checking the place out and people watching. Radiohead was playing in the evening so we chilled out on the grass and listened & watched the show. Great light show they put on. Fairly mellow almost ambient music.






The Racontours.

Met some funny drunk guys from Quebec and instantly got into a Leafs versus Canadiens hockey discussion - much to the chagrin of the two American girls with the guys. It was all good though. We were all laughing and found that we were all there mainly to see Rage Against The Machine on the next night. Must be a Canadian thing as we met another couple from Toronto in the Rage crowd who came just for Rage as well. Good musical taste north of the border I guess....




Radiohead.

Photos taken by me in Chicago.

Lollapalooza bound...

Just getting ready to head out to catch the Greyhound bus to Chicago and Lollapalooza 2008. Looking forward to seeing Radiohead, Rage Against The Machine and my favourite Nine Inch Nails. Lots more to see I'm sure once we get there. 130+ bands, 7 stages, 3 days.... 

Lets just hope we don't get decapitated on the bus ride there.... 

I can't have a bitch for a boyfriend...

A couple at staying at my neighbours' place last night were very intoxicated, very angry, and very loud. Randy & Diane, as we heard them call each other, went at it from around 1:15am to 2:00am and again an hour later. They were sitting in the kitchen which faces the street and the windows were wide open. They were in-your-face loud in an area that is very quiet at that time of night. 

In her own drunken, stupid way Diane was giving Randy such serious shit, just bitch slapping his sorry self. Every now and then he'd pipe up with some stupid defensive insult in a completely slurred whine. Sample conversation:

Diane: You are a total loser. I don't know why I stayed with you this long. You're a crackhead, unemployed whining bitch. And I'm not going to pay your bills.

Randy: (very slurred) You're a fuckin' loser...

Later on....

Diane: You never once bought me any little trinket to say you love me. Not a single gold trinket to say you love me. Not a single silver trinket to say you love me....

Randy: (very, very slurred) You know why I never bought nothing? 'Cause I got you high. Uh huh.

And a little later on....

Diane:You know what your problem is? I'll tell you what you problem is. You're a whiny fucking bitch. That's all you do is bitch and whine all fucking day. And I can't have a bitch for a boyfriend....

Randy: (very, very slurred) You're a fuckin' crackhead loser....

My S.O. and I couldn't help but listen as they woke us out of sound sleeps. So listen we did. And laugh. It was like having our very own private Jerry Springer show. My S.O. was surprised at just how stupid and mundane these people were. She didn't think people like that really existed.... Unfortunately, I wasn't surprised at all. But I'm cynical.... 

And I laughed my ass off at Diane's "bitch for a boyfriend" comment. Still chuckling this morning. Even the kids thought it was funny.

Seems the old adage is updated: Hell hath no fury like a women drunk....

Hurry up and wait part II...

I posted a few weeks back about swollen, painful lymph nodes and other symptoms I had been experiencing. Well, all seemed to be tied to a bacterial infection of some kind that was cleared up with antibiotics.

Or so I thought....

Since Sunday past the lymph nodes under my left arm have swelled up again and are even more painful than last time. So I'm off on vacation after work today and first thing on the vacation agenda is a trip to the doctor's office. At this point I don't care what the problem is I just want it cleared up.

Hurry up and wait - motto of my place of employment and my health issues.... Bleh.

How many drummers does it take to change a lightbulb?...

Interesting article from the BBC about a study that found rock n' roll drummers "requires the stamina of a Premiership footballer...."

Seems footballers (soccer for North Americans) play approximately 40 to 50 games over 12 months and rock drummers can play over 100 concerts 90 minutes in length over the course of a tour. Rock drummers heart rates, averaging 140-150 bpm during a concert (and peaking at 190 bpm), and the amount of calories burned per show, 400-600 are very impressive considering all the hype around sex, drugs and rock n' roll....

Not to mention the plethora of drummer jokes out there...

Insomnia sucks...

Going on two weeks now that I haven't slept past 4:00am - no matter what time I crash at. My sleeping patterns seem to go through fairly regular cycles of change but I could always count on a week at most of sleeplessness and then things would go back to normal. Things would stay that way for a month or so and then begin the cycle again. But not this time so far....

This so sucks. Tried all the regular remedies to no avail. Tried some prescription sleeping pills that had zero effect - even when I took 3 of them at once.

I'll have to try Insomnia Tip #32 from the page noted above....

I hate insomnia....

Bleh.

Why so serious?...

If you are in any way a Batman fan go see Batman The Dark Knight. Best movie yet of the Batman franchise. The Joker is truly one of the best big screen-psychos I've seen. Thoroughly enjoyed the film and plan on seeing it at least once more on a big screen...

Memorable quote from Alfred:

Some men just want to watch the world burn.

Photos from Official Bat site.

Alien birth scene...

Great image from Today's Toronto Star. Peter Howell, movie critic, picked the alien birth scene from 1979's Alien as his favourite movie moment...



If you were in one of the original audiences seeing Alien first time around then you will surely agree with this quote:

Everyone had been caught completely by surprise. We were all scared out of our minds.

Great movie.

Photo from Toronto Star.

What happens when...

What does one do when in a position of seemingly haven gotten everything one asked for, but then begins to realize that what was asked for isn't really what is wanted after all?

BBC Day In Pictures...

Nice image from the BBC's Day In Pictures (photo #6).



From the BBC site:

A man appears to be wading out to sea to welcome a tall ship as it approaches Liverpool, England. The figure is actually part of sculptor Antony Gormley's Another Place installation.