New Blog

In a burst of creativity, bile and anger, I have decided to start another blog called tripe. For now it will be located at tripe-starts-here.blogspot.com until I can find it a permanent home.

This blog will concentrate on urban planning and development issues, mainly focused on Toronto. I'm sure there will be much bitching about politics and hippie-type green space lovers.

I will still be maintaining this blog as a personal bitch fest. Yes I realize that "maintain" means one bitch per month....but you know.....I suck that way. Hopefully the new space will be updated more faithfully.

Polo....In Bike Form

This Sunday I had the pleasure of participating in my first round of absurdist Bicycle Polo. Unfortunately it will be the last, as Tristan will be passing the torch and branching out to Bike Regattas. At least this one went out with a bang by spontaneously being featured in a video. I should be getting a copy , and will post it for anyone that may ant to see and bunch of punk kids dancing around with some guys in tweed riding bikes with mallets.

So Wrong....Yet So Good

This is possibly the best, yet worst thing I've ever seen. On the one hand, ya really gotta love someone that would kitty up the Vadder....however....you know what I mean.

I really want to see that outfit out by the pool in Mexico though.

God Is a Giant Magnet

I just watched an amazing talk by Dr. Michael Persinger, of the Behavioral Neuroscience Program at Laurentian. He proposes some really interesting evidence that al feelings of presence can be duplicated in a lab setting by exposing different regions of the brain to electro-magnetic field patters. The thing that I found most fascinating is that if the right temporal lobe is stimulated a presence is felt and the experience can be controlled by modulating the frequency and if the left is stimulated the subject can be made to feel a linguistic interaction. If you get the chance to read any of these papers do so. As this research progresses we could have hard scientific proof that religious experiences can be the result of patterns created by the earth's magnetic field.

http://www.laurentian.ca/neurosci/_people/Persinger.htm

Pig and a Pancake

This is by far the best picture of a Guinea Pig that I have ever seen. I had to post this. It made my day.

Land of Delusional Politics

Monday (Boxing Day) at about 5:00 in the evening a girl was killed and four injured when to groups of kids started a shootout at Yonge and Dundas (on of the busiest corners of the city). This of course has the media up in a spin along with the five million action groups.

There has been a large out cry as of late to stop the escalating gun related violence in the city, and with good reason since guns had been used in 52 of the 78 homicides this year. Although I agree with the fact that something needs to be done, you have to be out of your skull to think otherwise, someone needs to give the local politicians a big fat kick of reality.

So far this year I've heard two solutions that have been coming to the forefront from a mix of politicians and action groups. They go something like this -

From the political arena we have the "we need to crack down on the ownership of handguns". OK. Fine. That's all good, however I can't seem to recall the last time Tom's legally obtained and registered handgun was used in any kind of gang related crime - unless Tom was an idiot and didn't provide a proper lock-up for it. (I admit this does happen so don't flame me on that one, and my immediate solution to that would be to keep the handguns at the gun club people) I also don't seem to recall the last time a gang member purchased his sidearm from the Sotherby's auction of prestige weaponry. With that said, how about this fellas - When these kids get arrested for popping someone in the head put them in jail and KEEP THEM THERE. The reason these kids run around acting like 50 Cent is the fact that every time they get arrested they get a month of community service. I don't give a rats ass if your fifteen - if you kill someone your going in for life just like everyone else. Plus your going to a real prison so that you can get real close with Bubba and Guido.

On the other side we have the action groups, who in my opinion wield way too much political influence (but we'll leave that till another day). These are your standard purveyors of the "Think of the children" school of thought. Of course the thinking seems to come to a halt when you ask them for an actual plan. The thing that they're preaching right now is that all of these disenfranchised youth are turning to gun crime due to the fact that they are poor and have no jobs. The solution proposed is for - wait for it - more funding to community programs to build the esteem of the kids and give them job training. Hmmm....Let's see here. Do you really think that all of these kids that are skipping school to go out and pop someone in the head, are going to go to after school programs at the local community center to "build their esteem and get job skills".

These kids don't give a rats ass about the fact that they're poor. They do it in part because they have it in their heads that this lifestyle is cool and it'll get them the girls, and the fact that there is no punishment when they actually do something that they're not supposed to. The only real way to stop this is to actually get someone to smack them on the head and pound some reality into them. I would think it would be the parents, but apparently telling your kid that they've done something wrong can land you as a parent in jail.

I'll end the rant now, because I could get into a whole lot of other stuff, with one last thing. You can put up as many social programs and gun restrictions as you want, but until you start to look at the real issue this will continue to happen. Any society with no fear of authority falls apart.

Move It!

December is supposed to be the most hectic of months. Christmas is rapidly approaching and everyone is bustling about and beating others on the head trying to get the last Xbox 360.

So why is it that everyone that occupies the same space as me as I haul my ass too and from work everyday managed to keep the pace of a sloth on demerol?

Over the last week I've seen a massive increase in the overall stupidity of the general population that it has left me in awe. From people rocketing along at the blistering pace on 2 feet per minute (and doing so right in the middle of the side walk mind you) to my favorite, the getting off at the top/bottom of the escalator/stairs and deciding to stop and take in the scenery.

Merry Christmas.......I hate you all