The Yes Men played another one of their usually very funny jokes yesterday on the BBC. It was the anniversary of the Bhopal disaster [inlink]terry,267[/inlink] which killed (and is killing) thousands in India, with so far no restitution offered to the victims. The Yes Men have operated a site mimicking Dow's (something like this one ) for a while (and even talk about it in their movie), but apparently one BBC reporter hadn't heard of it and went looking for Dow's comments. Well they got the Yes Men's Andy Bichlbaum online who offered an interview claiming that Dow had decided enough was enough and were going to liquidate assets in order to provide compensation to the victims of Bhopal. Now enough people believed this that Dow's stock price actually plummeted which is funny. What's not so funny is the poor people in and around Bhopal who also heard the news and had their initial elation turned to tears of disappointment and rage.

A jokes a joke, and I'm all for giving it to the corps. but this one seems to have caused more harm to first the victims themselves and second to the reputation of a news organization that does seem to give at least a slightly impartial slant to its news. So go on, and have your fun Yes Men but try to keep your real targets in sight.

I spent hours today talking to strangers on the phone (and anyone who knows me can tell you just how much I love talking on the phone), looking for a home.

Aber Erfolg!

Well not in finding a place but in setting up a battery of apartment showings, and yes (e:Ajay), thanks to the kind ad placed in Artvoice by Bing (who wouldn't want a landlord named Bing?), we will be upstairs from you at 2:30 on Saturday.

We will also be viewing 6 other places on Saturday, and 5 more on Friday! Fun Fun Fun! And if after 14 apts. if we can't find one we like then I guess there's always that cozy little niche under the bridge in Delaware park (just me and my echoes...).

According to a new study smoking marijuana during early adulthood increases the user's chances of developing "psychotic symptoms." Watch out you pot-head mofos. Makes sense to me. Makes your mind free and such, you think of different things along different pathways. But who's defining psychosis anyways? What if you hear a voice and it tells you where a pot of gold is. Are you psycho only if the gold really isn't there?

sidenote: we're moving, anyone have any suggestions of where to?

As of yesterday 4:00 I became officially laid off. I am seasonal so it's not a horrible thing and wasn't unexpected. Now I sit back and collect my unemployment for a couple months. This is the first time I've been laid off for the whole winter though, I'm not sure what I'm gonna do with myself. Today I slowly let the hours waste away. Played some video games. Made some food. Left the house to take Paul to work. Left the house to get Paul from work 5 minutes later cuz he didn't really have to be there. Responded to some long overdue emails. Exhausted my Bookmarks. Ate some more food. Well I guess you get the picture. In summer I would have at least wandered around for awhile or gone on a bikeride. But it's cold and raining now, and oh god this is inevitably turning into a fuck-it's-winter-in-Buffalo entry, sorry.

Gotta pick up my crocheting. And when it snows I'll start skiing. Cooking has already started coming back to the foreground (yay for hungry-tummies).

What am I doing tonight? The BIGGEST PARTY NIGHT OF THE YEAR!!! Will probably be out and about somewhere. Maybe I'll see some of yall. Have fun, and remember you have to be out of bed by noon to go and get stuffed.

Went to this funny rave-thingie sat. night with (e:paul) and jesse f. [inlink]paul,2438[/inlink] Danced my heart out. Yes, and if you look at those pics you will notice that we were on average 5-10 years older than just about everyone there. But, I say let the kids have their fun. And I'm still a kid right? Well I danced and danced and danced some more (decided that I really do like to dance, though I try to pretend I don't). It really is tremendous exercize if you really do it for a while (especially the type of freako-rave dancing that we were doing (ask (e:lilho) to demonstrate some time)).

Alas, it seemed to work backwards. I came back and noticed I had gained about 50 pounds. Not sure how it happened. Maybe the strange thing that was slipped into my drink had something to do with it... maybe not eating at McKeyD's...maybe not doing those handstand push-ups...who knows. So if you see me rolling through town, take it as a word of caution against extreme exercize. And get yo fat ass some double arch surprises.

by beat box fiendsters
by empty ice cream
left upon the chair
melting as are we

coops still a coop
made from lively fowl
chicken little runs
and republicans beware

three toilets to choose from
beeboppin on the roof
mary ari jarel
maarijarel

buddha does as buddha is
lies atop his bosom buddy
sleepy stroking
halfelt tickles

remember the jazz
forget your friends
remeber the friends
forget the jazz

someone is watching over
maybe with a microphone
watchout don't eat those brains
stewarts here, look what i can do

I am so louche today! (said with the voice from that funny WTF movie, or Ali G's Borat or Brüno. It has suddendly become chorenight at 567. Got (e:matthew) and (e:lilho) gettin' jiggy wid da dishes and vaccuum respectively ((e:paul) is here too, doing the difficult task of drying the dishes). I am trying to not be drawn in. I took up a broom for a bit, watered the plants, and rearranged things slightly. Now I am hoping no one notices me here in the corner typing away. Thank you elmwoodstrip, take me away <zooooooom>.

Here is the Schedule of Service Impacts for B&ECPL Patrons Under Erie County's Proposed 2005 Red Budget:

Last day to borrow and renew materials
Tuesday, December 7, 2004

Return all B&ECPL materials by
Tuesday, December 28, 2004

All book drops will be closed after
Tuesday, January 4, 2005

Tell your elected officials how important YOUR library is to YOU. Without your support, public library service could end in Buffalo and Erie County! The Erie County Legislature has announced its schedule of 4 public hearings on the proposed 2005 Erie County Budget:

Monday, November 22, 6 p.m.
Lancaster Middle School Auditorium
148 Aurora, Lancaster

Tuesday, November 23, 6 p.m.
Erie Community College City Campus Auditorium
121 Ellicott, Buffalo

Monday, November 29, 6 p.m.
Erie Community College South Campus Room 5101
4041 Southwestern, Orchard Park

Tuesday, November 30, 6 p.m.
Clarence Public Library
Three Town Place, Clarence

Join advocates from across Erie County in a collective effort to keep OUR public libraries from closing in 2005!

Anyone else in da' house mucho impressed by (e:paul) and his awesome spellcheck?!? Over time it has been perfected until it is quite possibly the most user-friendly and least inconvenient spellcheckers I have ever used. It lets you see the misspelled words and then simply click on the correct suggestion to have it automatically replaced in your entry. No typing on your part... a handy list of suggestions if the closest one just isn't it... and a nice colorful interface to boot.

I told (e:paul) maybe it's time to market this baby. I decided to look around for other comparable services to see what was to offer. Hotmail didn't even offer spellcheck (unless it's something you have to pay for). Livejournal has one, but it sucks muchissimo. Take a look:



Crappy, eh? They highlight the misspelled in red and then give you a list containing the words and suggestions. No handy little interface. No clickable suggestions. You actually have to type your own words in, how uncivilized... So if anyone else has praise feel free to share. And, of course, (e:paul) is always available to hear concerns/bugs/suggestions from any of you lovely peeps or peeps-to-be.

sidenote: I just wrote a rant about an hour ago, so take a looksee...



this


way

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Do we have to ask over and over again why non-corporate interests are under-represented in the corporate media? [inlink]jason,37[/inlink] Our media today only exists with the financial backing of interested parties. Basically 80-95% of local bandwidth (TV, radio, etc.) is broadcast by companies. What is a company? It is a profit-making enterprise (with the exclusion of some non-profits) whose main (sole?) goal is enriching its stockholders. They operate under a corporate charter which was originally only granted by the states to companies to "serve the public good." This definition has slowly lost that original value, and now just about anyone can apply to be a company, after of course the obligatory fee ((e:Jason) you're a corp. right, how hard was it?).

So back to the top with this, we have most of our easily-accessible media controlled by groups of individuals who are mostly concerned with lining their own fat wallets. They are ostensibly policed by the FCC, whose mandate it is to monitor the respective airwaves for any breaches of broadcasting. They are the arbiters of media justice. Normally they sit back and make sure nothing "offensive" is aired (read: Janet's boobie) at least that's what they'd have you believe . In actuality they are in control of a lot of what you and me can see/hear. The appointed (not elected) group just recently raised the amount of media that can be owned by one interest in any given region. Which allows more local/independent outlets to be outbought, though one might ask when our airwaves became commodities (much like our land and resources which are sold to the highest bidder, or the only bidder in most cases), but I digress...as usual.

(e:Jason), (e:Paul) just gave a link to a new local station [inlink]paul,2405[/inlink] which offers many progressive programs, like Democracy Now! which is the Left's answer to the News Hour, if you haven't listened I highly recommend.

You say that you'd like to hear the two sides slamming it out through media, which is surely highly amusing, yet I fear perhaps distracting. We need media that actually gives credit to the profession: observers of the world who report back what they see without slant (or minimized through the harshest of standards). The news should give us information, and then if we want to listen/watch the others bash it out we can. Today everyone is on a side, and few will tell you what's really happening, both on the right and left. And it's simply unfair/unreal to make everyone become a student of media scientists simply to decipher the reality of the world around them.

...I wanted to write about a neat book I just finished (from the soon-extinct library)...but soon