Samsara Shmamsara

Somalia And Other Hells On Earth

2011-07-31T12:19:00.007-04:00

Here we go again: another disaster, another round of appeals, campaigns, fund raising events, newspapers and TV showing pictures of dazed mothers holding emaciated babies with dying eyes and bloated bellies.

Somalia is starving, yet again. It's the Somalis' turn, after the Haitians, the Ethiopians, etc.. The reasons for any human disaster are common and well known:

. Mother Nature: drought and/or other climatic catastrophies. No rain for months or too much rain, causing flood, mudslide; earthquakes; volcano eruptions, etc..
. Man-made disasters: overpopulation; infrastructure failures; armed conflicts, etc..

In the first case, most people are sympathetic and are quite willing to give money, food, clothes, etc.. out of solidarity and compassion. In the second case, however, there is less sympathy, especially if they have been hearing the same appeals for charity over and over again. Compassion fatigue and desillusion over misuses of donations set in. Cynicism is unavoidable. Here are some answers (in parentheses) to frequently asked questions about the Somalia tragedy:

. The drought was foreseen, why wasn't anything done to prevent the hardship? (There is presently no functional government in Somalia).
. Local rebel forces are preventing humanitarian aid to reach the starving populations, so why help at all? (Some forms of help can still reach them, such as medical services provided by Medecins sans frontières. Some areas are not controlled by the conflicting armed groups and refugees there can be assisted).
. Why do they keep having children if they cannot feed them? (Most of the population are illiterate and uneducated. There is no functional central government. Women have no say in the mostly muslim population: they have no control over their reproductive functions and no access to contraceptives).
. Why don't the other oil rich muslim countries help the Somalis? Why is it always up to the Western countries? (Other muslim countries do send help. The Red Crescent is cooperating and coordinationg their assistance with the UN and/or other international non-governmental organizations. But the neighbouring muslim countries are looking at the situation in Somalia as a political problem, and not so much as a humanitarian problem).

There are of course many more reasons one can think of to explain the origins of the suffering of the Somali population*. Somalia has the misfortune of not having oil under its soil, so it doesn't present much interest to you-know-which-country**. Same fate as Tibet, I guess. For us, simple citizens of the world, however, the main question would be: Should we help? and the answer is: Of course, we have to help. If you see another human being starving, or even any sentient being starving or suffering, wouldn't your first instinct be to help?

As for me, I am sending my donations to organizations that I trust, i.e. Unicef (https://secure.unicef.ca/portal/SmartDefault.aspx?at=1209&gclid=CO3Ur_iPrKoCFcTe4AodMhlGXQ) and Médecins sans frontières/Doctors without Borders (http://www.msf.ca/?gclid=CLrS5puQrKoCFQLf4AodCD7uXg). You may have your own favorite charities, so go ahead and donate to them. DONATE!!!! NOW!!!

* If you want to know more about the history of the Somalian plight, this is one of many sites explaining how Somalia used to be a prosperous food-exporting country: http://antemedius.com/content/pirates-somalian

** Actually, there could be oil waiting to be stolen. According to Wikipedia: "Due to its proximity to the oil-rich Gulf Arab states such as Saudi Arabia and Yemen, the nation is also believed to contain substantial unexploited reserves of oil. A survey of Northeast Africa by the World Bank and U.N. ranked Somalia second only to Sudan as the top prospective producer. American, Australian and Chinese oil companies, in particular, are excited about the prospect of finding petroleum and other natural resources in the country. An oil group listed in Sydney, Range Resources, anticipates that the Puntland province in the north has the potential to produce 5 billion barrels (790×10^6 m3) to 10 billion barrels (1.6×10^9 m3) of oil. As a result of these developments, the Somali Petroleum Company was created by the federal government."

Recreation of Favorite Viral Videos

2011-07-29T17:18:00.003-04:00

White People Dancing

2011-07-29T16:41:00.003-04:00

With apologies to my caucasian friends, may they live long and prosper.

Musical Interlude: Special Michael Bublé

2011-07-28T00:57:00.003-04:00

My Son, The Computer Fixer

2011-07-25T12:03:00.001-04:00

SuperDog

2011-07-19T09:29:00.001-04:00

Obama meets HH The Dalai Lama

2011-07-18T16:41:00.003-04:00

Dalai Lama to Obama: "The Nobel Committee sent me. They want their Peace Prize back."

(from The Crawdad Hole http://crayfisher.wordpress.com/)

14 Juillet!!!

2011-07-14T18:51:00.001-04:00

À mes cousins de Paris et à mes amis français!

My Next Project

2011-07-13T08:43:00.006-04:00

Confession time: I love durians. Love, love, love. Today's edition of the Washington Post has an article about Chang Teik Seng, aka Durian Seng, and his durian orchard in Penang (http://alturl.com/3b9ga). Mr. Chang has converted his home into a "durian paradise, with a back patio, a pool and two rentable bungalows looking out onto the verdant valley below".

So here's my next project. The durian season in South East Asia is July and August. I will go to Durian Seng's orchard during that period and stay there for a week to try all the varieties of durians unique to the island, "such as Ang Bak, Red Prawn, Hor Lor and D-11, with flesh color ranging from the most common yellow to white, orange and red", living only on satays and durians until I die of a sugar overdose. But what a glorious death it would be!

P.S. "To eat the durian, take out the pods of fruit. Form your lips into an “O” shape and suck on a durian pod, taking in the first wave of fragrance. Once the membrane breaks and the pulp comes out, a second, stronger wave of fragrance emerges. When you swallow, you’ll smell as well as taste the third helping of bittersweet fragrance. Good durian should leave an aroma in your mouth for several minutes after you have eaten the fruit." And if there's any left (doubtful, but who knows), one can also make mooncakes with durian filling.

U2 in Montreal

2011-07-12T21:13:00.000-04:00

Hi There Kitty!

2011-07-10T01:22:00.003-04:00

I have a weakness for Hello Kitty. If you don't like kawaii, skip this post.

(From: Geekologie http://www.geekologie.com/2010/06/girl_you_lookin_good_hello_kit.php)

One day, I have to show you my Hello Kitty shoes.

Crazy Cat Girl with Music

2011-07-08T18:15:00.003-04:00

You remember the Crazy Cat Girl, right? The one with the baby voice, who cries just thinking about cats? While making a video for a dating site?

Anyway, the Autotunes People decided to cast their magic on her video and here's the result. Me like.

Songify your life!

If You Still Have Any Illusion...

2011-07-07T12:05:00.002-04:00

For Son B-Boy, Who's Thinking Of Getting A Tattoo

2011-07-06T14:26:00.001-04:00

ID in Singapore

2011-07-05T10:07:00.002-04:00

Son B-Boy just got back from his tour in Singapore with Cirque Eloize. Here are two video clips from the show called "ID".

I can hardly wait

2011-07-04T23:17:00.001-04:00

Origami Wonder

2011-07-03T23:17:00.002-04:00

Dollar Koi by Mizu Kami

The Power Of Love

2011-07-02T23:50:00.015-04:00

Have you noticed...?

Prince Albert of Monaco, 53

Prince William, 28

Conclusion: Being a Prince makes you lose your hair.

But not to worry, there are plenty of zillionnaires who found true love with beautiful women who care not one whit about how their men look. Such is the power of love! Examples abound.

How to please everybody

2011-07-01T19:31:00.001-04:00

Miss Cellania, last one, I swear...(for today)

How To Irritate Everybody

2011-07-01T19:26:00.004-04:00

More from Miss Cellania (I'm lazy):

Take The Advice

2011-07-01T18:22:00.001-04:00

(via Miss Cellania)

Long Live Wikileaks!

2011-06-30T08:18:00.002-04:00

What Does it Cost to Change the World? from WikiLeaks on Vimeo.

(via Patrick Lagacé de La Presse)

Questions To Ask At A Beauty Pageant

2011-06-29T13:17:00.005-04:00

This is a continuation of a general theme I'm pursuing lately on my blog, i.e. Americans are getting stupider, organized religions make people stupid and beautiful people are generally not too smart.

Should Evolution be taught in schools? (Real question and answers)

Should Math be taught in schools? (Spoof, but ... not that we can tell)

Dogs rule, every other species drool

2011-06-29T00:57:00.008-04:00

Blogger.com, who's hosting my blog, assures us bloggers that we can upload gif files but obviously, this isn't working. If all you see is a photo and not a movie, please click this link: http://i.imgur.com/npuFh.gif. Sorry! (And thank you, Neb!)

For Khôi

2011-06-28T14:14:00.001-04:00

Traditional Vietnamese Wedding (with explanations)

Canine Little Helper

2011-06-27T16:18:00.000-04:00

(Gracias, Ana!)

US's Turn To Kowtow To Their Chinese Overlords

2011-06-26T15:39:00.006-04:00

From an article by Michael Snyder in Black Listed News (http://alturl.com/dbkf8)

"In 2011, America is for sale and the communist Chinese are eager buyers. The Chinese government is using sovereign wealth funds and Chinese state-owned enterprises to buy up economic assets and huge tracts of land all over the United States". This is a phenomenon that is happening all across the United States, the most recent instance being in Texas: State-owned Chinese energy giant CNOOC is buying a multibillion-dollar stake in 600,000 acres of South Texas oil and gas fields, potentially testing the political waters for further expansion into U.S. energy reserves.

From the Cannonfire blog (http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2011/06/china-says-buy-american.html):

"The Chinese want to build a city -- a big city, nearly 50 square miles in size, near the Boise, Idaho airport. It gets worse: The Chinese will be allowed to import labor to work in the businesses in that city. Yep, they've finally figured out a way to "outsource" domestic retail jobs!

So how do you promote "Inward Foreign Direct Investment"?

Well, you do things like offer massive tax breaks to Chinese state-owned companies and you actively encourage immigration from China.

The following is a quote from an article on the New American website and it explains how a visa program known as EB-5 would help facilitate Project 60....

Specifically, “The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service administers an immigrant investor visa program called EB-5. The program grants foreigners permanent U.S. residency in exchange for helping create U.S. jobs.” This prong will facilitate the immigration of Chinese nationals into the United States for the purpose of establishing a Chinese industrial beachhead in Idaho, under the guise of creating U.S. jobs.

In fact, the state of Idaho is actually touting the EB-5 program on their website that promotes Project 60.

Yes, Chinese state-owned companies would probably hire a small number of Idaho citizens. But as I have written about previously, the idea would be for "special economic zones" to be set up inside the United States that would be very similar to the "special economic zones" inside China.

We are being colonized. One can only hope that our Chinese overlords will allow us to build railroads and run laundries".

2011 World's Ugliest Dog

2011-06-25T10:08:00.004-04:00

This year, it's Yoda, a 14-year-old Chinese crested and Chihuahua mix. The 2-pound dog was found abandoned behind an apartment building by Mrs. Schumacher who first thought the pooch was a rat.

I don't know... To me he looks kinda cute. Especially compared to 2005 winner Sam, another Chinese Crested, who was so ugly that even the judges recoiled when he was placed on the judging table.

B-Boying in Singapore

2011-06-23T02:29:00.002-04:00

My son B-Boy is on tour in Singapore. He sent me a short video extract of his performance. Enjoy!

Énergie nucléaire = Épée de Damoclès

2011-06-22T08:54:00.001-04:00

(Merci Bernouille!)

An Ugly Affair

2011-06-21T09:02:00.005-04:00

The Guardian online (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/20/shrek-virus-beautiful-people?INTCMP=SRCH) reported today that due to a software malfunction nicknamed Shrek, 30,000 ugly people managed to join the dating website Beautiful People. Normally all applicants to Beautiful People are vetted by a panel of already Beautiful People and, if they are ugly, they are not allowed to join. But due to a "disgruntled former employee", ugly people managed somehow to join. Luckily, the mistake was caught on time and now the uglies have been thrown out and the Universe is whole again.

Some are saying that Shrek is a stunt, although Beautiful People deny it. Golden Goose PR looks after Beautiful People, and in 2009 they arranged for Beautiful People to expel 5,000 members for getting fat over Christmas. The campaign was called Festive Fatties. The result of Festive Fatties was that 48,000 idiots applied to Beautiful People within 24 hours, and Golden Goose won best global public relations campaign at the CIPR Excellence Awards in 2010.

Now the most obvious question is: why would anyone want to joint an elite club and risk the heartbreak of being rejected? To me, it sounds like a masochistic attempt to relive the painful episode of one's youth where one was not allowed to sit at the Cool Table, or hang out with the Popular Kids, or join the cheerleaders or the top fraternities/sororities, etc.. Apparently, the rewards are worth it. Members of BeautifulPeople.com enjoy:

- Glamorous parties and a jet set global network
- Access to the most beautiful people locally and from around the
world
- Approaches by leading film and TV companies
- Potential contracts from top modeling agencies
- Extended professional networks, through partnerships between
BeautifulPeople.com and leading businesses.

Dog-Lawyer Stoning Story Is A Hoax

2011-06-20T22:35:00.004-04:00

Late last week, international headlines were made with the sensational story of a dog being stoned in a Rabbinic court in Jerusalem after a judge realized it was a deceased lawyer reincarnated.

The Israeli newspaper Maariv was the first to carry the story that alleged that a stray dog wandered into a "Beth Din" financial court in the extremely Orthodox area of Meah Shearim, and refused to leave the courtroom. The piece stated that at this point a judge "decreed" that the dog was the reincarnation of a secular lawyer who has been deceased for 20 years. The report continued, stating that the judges then "ordered" the local children to stone the dog to death, which the children attempted to do before the dog managed to escape.

Every major news media outlet in the world ran this story which prompted extreme criticism, not only of the court and the alleged partakers in this horrific event, but of Israelis and Jews in general. It was all re-posted thousands of times on facebook and twitter, and was even the "most read" story on the BBC. This prompted thousands of comments, many of which stated the opinion that dogs are better than Jews.

Well, after all this uproar, we learn that this story is false and did not actually take place.

What in fact happened that day in the ultra-Orthodox courtroom was that a stray dog wandered in, (much to the delight of the children present), and the city dog catcher was called upon to remove the stray.

That's the big story.

Maariv has since run a retraction and apology, which most news outlets have not reported on, despite the mass amount of attention the initial false claim garnered. It is safe to say that a large percentage of the millions of people who read about this story are still under the impression that "Orthodox Jews stone reincarnated men disguised as stray dogs".

Maariv stated: "On 3rd June 2011 we published an item headlined 'Meah Shearim: A Bet Din (religious court) instructed that a dog be stoned.' In the article it was reported that a complaint was made to the police by the Israeli animal protection society against the Rabbinical Court for Monetary Matters in Jerusalem.The article also brought a categorical denial of this accusation from the head of the court, Rabbi Yehoshua Levin. According to him, workers from the municipal authority collected the dog from the court. The headline of the article did not reflect the full story and we apologize to the court and its members for the distress caused."

An official statement from the court said: "There is no basis for stoning dogs or any other animal in the Jewish religion, not since the days of the Temple or Abraham. The female dog found a seat in the corner of the court. And the children were delighted by it; there were hundreds outside the court. They are used to seeing stray cats but most have never seen a dog before. The only action we took was to dial the number of the Jerusalem Municipality to get the people in charge to take it away."

"There was no talk of reincarnation, a lawyer has never been mentioned, either now or 20 years ago, and there was no stoning. Such inventions are a kind of blood libel, and we wonder why the inventor of the story did not continue to describe how we collected the blood of the dog to make our matzah."

The blood libel refers to the anti-Semitic notion that claimed that Jews attacked Gentiles to use their blood to make bread during the Jewish feasts, a claim that has been a major cause of anti-Semitism throughout the ages.

One onlooker did state that when the dog refused to leave, a judge asked some kids to chase the dog away. The man confirmed that "they didn't issue an official ruling." The man claims that some of the kids outside were asked to throw something at the dog to make it go away. While this is not an animal-activist's dream, it is certainly not on the same level of the initial claim which portrayed the court members as demented, superstitious and vicious towards animals.

Reports indicate the dog is fine and has not been harmed.

Riches et communistes

2011-06-20T10:12:00.003-04:00

Pékin — Les idéaux révolutionnaires de Mao Zedong en ont encore pris un sacré coup cette semaine. Un club privé réservé aux riches a été découvert à l'intérieur de la cité interdite de Pékin, sur les murs de laquelle est accroché le célèbre portrait géant du président défunt. Selon la presse chinoise, au moins un «banquet nocturne» du club a été organisé, à l'abri des regards, dans le «palais du bonheur achevé», un superbe pavillon soustrait aux regards des millions de touristes qui visitent l'ancienne cité impériale chaque année. Les 500 membres de ce club privé devaient s'acquitter chacun d'un droit d'entrée d'un million de yuans (152 000 $).

À un moment où l'écart des revenus entre les riches et les pauvres n'a jamais été aussi grand depuis la fondation de la République populaire, l'affaire a fait scandale. Elle a été dévoilée, la semaine dernière, sur le microblogue d'un présentateur de la télévision officielle CCTV, avant de faire le tour de l'Internet. «La cité interdite qui naguère appartenait au peuple, est devenu un repaire de riches», s'indigne un internaute.

Après avoir démenti pendant plusieurs jours «ces rumeurs infondées», la direction du Musée de la cité interdite a admis hier l'existence de ce cénacle de nantis qui dégustaient des mets de souverains sous les charpentes ornées du dragon impérial. Des photos sur Internet montrent des membres du club en goguette vêtus d'habits princiers. Ces libations se seraient déroulées à l'insu de la direction, assurent toutefois les responsables du musée.

Cette initiative n'a toutefois rien de singulier. Dans un pays ou 60 % du PIB est concentré entre les mains de 0,03 % de la population selon le Bureau national des statistiques, les clubs de millionnaires foisonnent. L'un des moins connus est tout simplement l'Assemblée nationale populaire (le Parlement chinois). Les 70 députés les plus riches (sur un total de 2987), disposent d'une fortune combinée de 493,1 milliards de yuans (plus de 80 milliards de dollars), révélait en mars le Hurun Report. Cette colossale concentration de milliardaires est d'une ampleur sans commune mesure. Aux États-Unis, les 70 membres les plus fortunés du Sénat et la Chambre des représentants cumulent quant à eux à peine 4,9 milliards de dollars... soit 16 fois moins que leurs «homologues» chinois.

(via Le Devoir/Libération)

Father's Day Anthem

2011-06-19T14:10:00.001-04:00

Father's Day Special: Best Dads In The World?

2011-06-19T13:56:00.001-04:00

L'oeuf ou la poule

2011-06-18T23:50:00.006-04:00

(Via: Slate,fr)

Un tribunal rabbinique de Jérusalem a condamné un chien errant à la mort par lapidation, rapporte le site israélien Ynet. Les juges soupçonnaient le chien d’être la réincarnation d’un célèbre avocat laïque qui les avait insultés 20 ans auparavant.

Selon le site Behadrei Hadarim cité par Ynet, le chien avait pénétré dans le tribunal rabbinique en charge des litiges économiques du quartier ultra-orthodoxe de Méa Shearim, effrayant les visiteurs du tribunal et refusant de partir malgré les efforts de ces derniers.

Un des juges s’est alors rappelé qu’un célèbre avocat laïque qui avait insulté le tribunal il y a 20 ans avait été maudit par les juges, qui avaient fait le vœu de voir son esprit se réincarner dans celui d’un chien, considéré comme un animal impur dans le judaïsme traditionnel souligne BBC News. L’avocat en question est mort il y a quelques années. L’AFP souligne que certaines écoles de pensée judaïques croient en la transmigration de l’âme.

L’un des juges, qui n’a toujours pas digéré l’offense, aurait donc condamné l’animal à la mort par lapidation, et recruté des enfants du quartier pour exécuter la peine. Mais le chien a finalement réussi à s’échapper.

Le responsable du tribunal, le rabbin Avraham Dov Levin, a démenti avoir appelé à la lapidation du chien, mais un membre du tribunal a confirmé l’information à Ynet:

«Elle a été ordonnée par les rabbins à cause du tort qu’il avait causé au tribunal. Ils n’ont pas rendu de décision officielle, mais ont donné l’ordre aux enfants du quartier de lui jeter des pierres pour le faire partir. Ils n’ont pas considéré cela comme un acte de cruauté envers l’animal, mais plutôt comme un moyen approprié de «se venger» de l’esprit qui avait pénétré le pauvre chien.»

Toujours selon Ynet, un membre du conseil municipal de Jérusalem a envoyé une lettre au ministre de la Justice pour qu’il «s’occupe des criminels». L’organisation de défense des animaux Let Animals Live a déposé une plainte à la police contre le rabbin Levin. Peta, une organisation similaire américaine, a déclaré dans un communiqué cité par l’agence de presse israélienne Ma’an:

«En condamnant un animal innocent à une mort douloureuse pour une raison aussi absurde, le tribunal rabbinique s’est non seulement complètement décrédibilisé, mais a également violé un des principes les plus importants du judaïsme qui interdit d’infliger une souffrance à quelque créature vivante que ce soit.»

Question: Ces hommes étaient déjà cons et la religion a renforcé leur connerie, ou ces hommes étaient normaux et la religion les a rendus supercons? L'oeuf ou la poule?

Lapidé!!

China: The Next Superpower

2011-06-15T18:33:00.002-04:00

How Some Jokes Cannot Be Translated Into Another Language

2011-06-15T17:54:00.008-04:00

We all know the joke (By we, I mean: cool people): The Dalai Lama is walking in New York and seeing a hotdog vendor, stops to order lunch. He asks the vendor: "Make me one with everything". /LOL/ /LOL/ He gets his hotdog, eats it, pays and waits for his change. He asks the vendor: "Where's the change?". The vendor replies: "Change comes from within." /Badaboum//LOL/ /LOL/

Funny joke, right? Guaranteed success if you tell it to a Buddhist, right? Some Australian TV anchor managed to screw it up.

Tip 1: It's never a good idea to tell a play-on-word joke to a person who's not fluent in the language of the joke. Even if he gets it, it will never be as funny to him as it is to you.

Tip 2: It's worse when you laugh at your own joke.

Opening Number of the 2011 Tony Award Ceremony

2011-06-14T22:31:00.001-04:00

Yo Yo Ma And Lil Buck

2011-06-13T21:00:00.001-04:00

The Exorcist

2011-06-13T11:29:00.000-04:00

(Merci, Bernouille!)

Why Some People Can't Find A date

2011-06-13T07:52:00.001-04:00

Answer: Cause they're nuts.

That's Why My Phone Is An Android

2011-06-07T23:04:00.003-04:00

and not a Blackber..I mean a Blockbar..uh..not an iPhone.

(From stupidest.com)

Dark Girls

2011-06-05T17:19:00.000-04:00

Violence Is Always The Solution

2011-06-05T01:28:00.006-04:00

In reaction to this act of rebellion, an "Iqal Campaign" has been organized on Facebook (an iqal is the black cord used to hold in place the traditional headscarf worn by Saudi men): men are invited to stand along the itinerary of the women who will participate in a driving rally planned for June 17th, to intercept them and whip them with iqals. After all, like they say in Saudi Arabia, a woman driving a car is like a fish on a bicycle*.

And if that doesn't work, I suppose the next step would be to stone those uppity women. That will learn them!!

* Just kidding. Actually, female fish are not allowed to ride bicycles in Saudi Arabia.

Arrêtez les balles sur votre téléphone mobile

2011-06-05T00:54:00.005-04:00

A l'occasion de son 50ème anniversaire, Amnesty International propose une application/jeu de Mobigame pour iPhone et iPad, appelée Bulletproof. Le jeu, vendu 0,99 $ sur iTunes, consiste à arrêter les balles tirées par un peloton d'exécution sur un prisonnier.

Vos téléchargements contribueront à aider Amnesty International à préserver son indépendance financière et donc à continuer sa lutte pour la défense des droits humains.

Pour télécharger l'application, disponible en allemand, anglais, espagnol, français et italien : http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/bulletproof /id431368009?mt=8

The Danger of Cellphones

2011-06-02T16:02:00.004-04:00

Extract from Pharyngula: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/index.php?page=2

The World Health Organization had a recent meeting in which the feeble data suggesting a possible link between cell phones was reworked and massaged, and have now come up with a press release in which they announce that maybe possibly cell phones could increase the frequencies of certain kinds of cancers. My doubts are massive. My willingness to accept this conclusion is not helped by arguments like these.

"What microwave radiation does in most simplistic terms is similar to what happens to food in microwaves, essentially cooking the brain," Black said. "So in addition to leading to a development of cancer and tumors, there could be a whole host of other effects like cognitive memory function, since the memory temporal lobes are where we hold our cell phones."

Is anyone out there really chatty? Could you call up my microwave breakfast burrito and yak at it for a while? How long do you think it will take, I'm getting hungry?

That is simply sensationalistic nonsense. No, your cell phone doesn't cook your brain. When was the last time you saw someone with a cell phone burn on their face? "Cooking" has rather more obvious effects than the kinds of subtle, difficult-to-detect, epidemiological results the press release describes. There could be a real effect — you are, after all, holding a small transmitter of electromagnetic radiation right next to your skull — but previous studies have been all over the map and lack any consistency, but generally fall on the side of no observable effect. People have done things like stick cell phones on top of petri dishes of cultured human cells, and nope, the cells don't cook, they live and thrive just fine, and most studies report no change in cellular activity (some have reported a slight increase in activity).

Maybe this one, representing a coalition of many researchers in many countries gathering together to share data, has finally found a smoking gun? I don't know. One problem here is that all we've got is a brief press release, no data, with a promise of a scientific paper to be published in The Lancelet Oncology in a few days. Here, almost nothing is reported: they have a one paragraph conclusion.

The evidence was reviewed critically, and overall evaluated as being limited among users of wireless telephones for glioma and acoustic neuroma, and inadequate to draw conclusions for other types of cancers. The evidence from the occupational and environmental exposures mentioned above was similarly judged inadequate. The Working Group did not quantitate the risk; however, one study of past cell phone use (up to the year 2004), showed a 40% increased risk for gliomas in the highest category of heavy users (reported average: 30 minutes per day over a 10‐year period).

"Limited" and "inadequate" are the strongest words they use to describe their own data. They mention one study with the strongest effect…in other words, they highlight the outlier. That's odd and makes me instantly suspicious.

Also, I recognize those numbers: this is a reworking of the INTERPHONE study from last year, in which the final conclusion was that there was no credible evidence of a cancer risk. What happened? Why has their assessment changed? There is no explanation. That study had methodological problems that an epidemiologist for Nature summarized this way:

"There are standard criteria for assessing whether data from epidemiological studies show causality or not," says Swerdlow. "The results for this study don't get close to passing the standard tests for whether the results show causation."

I'm going to agree with Orac on this one: not very likely. Show me some new evidence, maybe I'll change my mind.

It wasn't Me!!

2011-06-01T14:40:00.001-04:00

Saturday Night at the UN

2011-05-30T23:37:00.005-04:00

An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Welshman, a Gurkha, a Latvian, a Turk, an Aussie, a German, a Yank, an Egyptian, a Japanese, a Mexican, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Swede, a Finn, an Israeli, a Romanian, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss, a Greek, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian, a Libyan, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Buddhist, a Zulu, an Indabele, a Xhosa, an Afrikaner, and an Ethiopian walked into a bar.

The bouncer said, "Sorry, I can't let you in without a Thai."

(From Miss Cellania)

Latest SNL Justin Timberlake & Lady Gaga Sketch

2011-05-23T17:13:00.002-04:00

Daniel Radcliffe on Broadway

2011-05-23T17:00:00.001-04:00

What a great number!

N'importe Quoi

2011-05-22T16:36:00.002-04:00

Great mash-up of two memes: Princess Beatrice Moose hat and The Situation Room

Hitler reacts to Cannes Festival banning of Lars Von Trier

2011-05-21T11:51:00.005-04:00

Context: Filmmaker Lars von Trier had been declared "persona non grata" by the Cannes Film Festival after making some unfortunate comments about his understanding of Hitler. Apparently not everyone likes his "joke" ("OK, I'm a Nazi"), especially in France, a country occupied by Nazis during WWII.

Mais la journée n'est pas terminée pour Hitler!! Il a aussi rencontré Dominique Strauss-Kahn, l'ex-patron de la FMI, qui est actuellement en libération conditionnelle à New York, pour une agression sexuelle présumée contre une femme de chambre de son hôtel.

About that Rapture thingie

2011-05-20T23:41:00.002-04:00

The world is coming to an end tomorrow.

Or may be not.

Anyway, since I will not be among the saved, and neither will you, I'll see you at Kam Fung Restaurant on Sunday, noonish, for dim sum. The crowd should be much smaller, now that all the righteous ones would have been raptured away. See you on Sunday!

Cruelty to Animals

2011-05-18T16:18:00.004-04:00

(Merci, Patrick!)

Stoopid, Part 2

2011-05-11T10:25:00.002-04:00

This is a viral video made and uploaded to YouTube by a 14-year old boy living in Ottawa. The backlash has been predictably ferocious: publication of his name, address and other personal info, death threats, the family had to change their phone number, etc.. You know the drill.

I just wanted to add this clip to my list of stoopid people, this one belonging to the category of morons caught spouting racist rants and getting all surprised and devastated when the bomb they set explodes in their face. I know, I know, he's only 14 years old. There was also that 18 year old girl in the States who made a viral video ranting against Orientals ("ching chong", she said to imitate them. Classy, right?). I wonder how many more of shitstorms like this before people - young and old - realize that if you don't want your life to become a living hell, YOU DON'T MAKE A VIDEO OF YOURSELF BEING AN ASSHOLE AND PUBLICIZE IT FOR THE WHOLE WORLD TO KNOW!!

Sheesh!

Stoopid

2011-05-09T16:51:00.003-04:00

This is one of innumerable examples of human stupidity. In this specific case, the victim is not particularly to blame because he's only 7 years old, and one has to wonder where was his accompanying adult, but I'm sure you've heard of many cases of drunk young males climbing into lions, tigers and bears cages, often on a dare, and getting deservedly mauled.

One has to ask oneself: what is it, in this day and age where news are spread almost instantaneously all over the globe and one can no longer plead ignorance, what is it, I say, that makes some people willfully and blindly make the same mistakes that other people have already made before them with disastrous consequences?

How often did you read about these incidents and slap your forehead, saying to yourself: "What were they thinking?"

- Kids playing and getting shot with parent's loaded guns, left lying around or in unlocked drawers.

- People riding skidoos on frozen lakes and sinking in frozen water after the ice cracked. It happens every spring when the ice begins to melt.

- Caucasian women marrying Iranian, Pakistani, Syrian,etc. husbands, then acting all surprised and devastated when beaten up by husbands, when finding out husbands have many other wives, and/or when their children are taken away from them by husbands.

- Old Vietnamese retirees going back to Vietnam to find a young wife/mistress and acting all surprised and devastated when their sweethearts go from "love you long time" to "no money no honey".

- All these people who still believe in Nigerian letters offering them millions of free money (Nigerian is used here as a generic term to identify all these strangers writing identical tales of family misfortunes and/or deadly sickness in hilariously quaint English).

Happy Mother's Day

2011-05-08T11:00:00.003-04:00

Oldies but goodies:

The Sequel

The Situation Room Photo

2011-05-08T09:55:00.004-04:00

This is a famous picture showing the Obama Administration key players watching on a screen, in real time, the raid on Osama Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.

A lot has been said about Mrs Clinton's reaction, her hand covering her mouth apparently indicating her fear and horror. The usual political analysts concluded that Clinton's demonstration of fear/repulsion is due to the fact that she is a woman , while all the manly men in the same room only showed interest and concentration. To ward off any potential accusation of sissyness ("Women are too weak and sensitive to be part of an administration at the highest levels"), Clinton's cabinet promptly issued a denial, explaining that she was actually repressing a sneeze due to spring allergy.

This is all nonsense, of course. Maybe some men also expressed horror but no pictures were taken then, maybe Mrs Clinton was repressing a yawn, not a sneeze, because this happened in the middle of the night, etc.. Who cares, really.

What's more interesting, in my opinion, is the fact that President Obama seems to be cowering in the corner, sitting on a low chair on the side, while a military man is occupying the central executive chair. Obama looked like a child at his parents' dinner party: he just sneaked in the living room, undetected, to listen on the grownups' conversation. His presence is ignored, at best barely tolerated.

I don't know what to make of it, but I remember an episode of the Fox TV show "Lie To Me", where one of the characters, Dr. Gillian Foster, can detect the real leader in a group, by watching the order in which each member enters a room (spoiler: contrary to popular belief, the man who enters first is not the leader). It would be interesting to have the Lie To Me team analyze the picture.

Update: 8th May, evening
(via Salon: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2011/05/08/hasidic_paper_hilary_edit/index.html)

There are two women visible in the photo: Hillary Clinton sitting in front at the table, and Audrey Tomasen, standing in the back (she's a counterterrorism analyst whom the media had never heard of before). A Brooklyn-based Hasidic newspaper, Der Zeitung, decided to photoshop the two women out of the picture. Apparently, "the religious paper never publishes pictures of women, as they could be considered 'sexually suggestive'."

Here is the doctored shot in Der Zeitung, as captured by the blog Failed Messiah:

Does anybody need more proof that religion makes people stupid?

It's official: I'm smart!!

2011-05-07T14:17:00.001-04:00

Your IQ is 164

Congratulations! You're in the top 0.001% of the population in terms of intelligence, the exclusive 99.999th percentile.

Take the quiz on BuzzFeed.com

If it's printed, then it must be true.

21 years of The Two Ronnies

2011-05-06T15:12:00.003-04:00

We never get tired of them, do we?

This is only Part 1. You can watch the rest at http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2su6w_21-years-of-the-two-ronnies-part-1_shortfilms

And a little bonus:

President Bush announces the Death of Ordilah The Gopher

2011-05-04T13:46:00.001-04:00

President Bush Reacts to Osama Bin Laden's Death with Will Ferrell from Will Ferrell

Derren Brown vs Faith Healers

2011-05-02T14:41:00.000-04:00

In case You Missed It

2011-05-02T13:37:00.000-04:00

Scenes from The Wedding

2011-05-02T09:21:00.008-04:00

The angry little bridesmaid

The antler hat

Who wears it better? Queen Elizabeth II vs Jim Carrey in The Mask
Results of vote: QE: 2% - JC:90% - Undecided: 8%

The wooden plank has been made into a boat*

2011-04-29T13:40:00.002-04:00

* Vietnamese expression. Don't ask...

Bragging

2011-04-29T05:49:00.002-04:00

I bought tickets, months and months in advance, to see famous choreographer Edouard Lock's new work (called "New Work"). And now it's finally coming to Montreal.

Lock's opus premiered in Amsterdam. Here's the review (from The Gazette):

La La La Human Steps began its fourth decade auspiciously in Amsterdam this week with the world premiere of Edouard Lock's latest major work largely involving new dancers, a distinguished guest artist in the person of Diana Vishneva of Russia's Maryinsky Ballet, and, most significantly, choreography of great depth, subtlety, range of movement and emotional resonance. Publicized rather oddly only as "Edouard Lock's New Work," the 95-minute piece could well be his finest creation.

On Thursday, throughout the second performance of the three-day Amsterdam run, there was evidence that Lock pushed beyond the parameters that he established in Amelia (2002) and Amjad (2007), works that emphasized brilliant duets for men fiercely gesticulating and women on point spinning like tops.

Never fear, the new work had plenty of gesticulation and fantastic spinning by both the women on point as well as the men -the 12-member cast outfitted in familiar La La La black was a marvel. But at times for purposes of dramatic contrast, Lock allowed body lines to become looser, more relaxed, without the relentless tension seen in the earlier works. Instead of extended clinches, couples in duets separated for longer intervals and at a farther distance on the big Het Muziektheater stage (comparable to Salle Wilfrid Pelletier's).

Lock also unusually had his dancers often sprawling on the floor. Indeed, after the on-stage four-member band played an overture of Gavin Bryars' music (his pseudo-Baroque score was a highlight throughout the work, with a particularly poignant saxophone), the curtain rose on the floor-bound arched figure of Talia Evtushenko, her arm raised plaintively. Regularly the floor came into play during intense exchanges between couples.

Each time that the dancers came together after separating or rose up from the floor to find each other, there was dramatic, emotional reconciliation (frequently followed immediately by another breakup -these were people bound by an emotional vicious circle). Lock is the most unsentimental of choreographers, but his work nonetheless regularly shows people trying desperately to make connections with other people, however brief or in vain.

This was certainly evident in this latest piece, which was inspired, according to the publicity, by two classic tales of love, Dido and Aeneas, and Orfeo and Eurydice. Lock took not their plots, but their evocation of passion and poignant awareness that all relations, not matter how intense, are slaves of human mortality. At intervals, two large vertical screens were lowered in parallel showing a pretty young woman on one side in a touching visual conversation with a version of her old self on the other. Aging and its ultimate end were inevitable, and no amount of spinning or vigorous movement, the entire work implied, could delay one's fate.

The final statement on this came in a closing duet with Vishneva and veteran company member Jason Shipley-Holmes, the coolest and most reliable of partners. With a lyricism unusual for Lock, the two calmly bid an extended farewell, Vishneva demonstrating the relaxed ease, fine line and expressiveness that make her outstanding as Giselle and Odette-Odile. The last image of Vishneva alone on the ground, her body arched over her one extended leg, patently evoked the Dying Swan, a coy but highly effective little homage from Lock.

The participation of the world-famous artist came after she searched for some high-profile choreographers to prepare pieces for her in a one-off show. Lock was considered. Although the two were unable to collaborate on that show, Lock felt there was potential to work together.

Vishneva spent an intensive month in Montreal preparing her role. Rehearsals regularly lasted until midnight. Though she was accustomed to memorizing big parts (she's performing three large-scale classical ballets this year including La Bayadere with the Maryinsky in Ottawa in February), Lock's work was demanding even for her.

"This feels like ballet for the 21st century," Vishneva said in a back-stage interview after the show. "After this, classical ballet feels like slow motion."

Almost everything connected with the rehearsal was a challenge.

"First I learned the steps slowly, but then I was having sleepless nights wondering how I could ever perform them fast the next day. And we rehearsed without mirrors or music. Never had I worked that way! I heard the music for the final duet just two days before the premiere. But Edouard asked me to trust him, and I did. I danced through his eyes."

Vishneva will dance in selected cities on the company's European tour and also in Montreal in May (but not in Toronto). Undoubtedly Lock will fiddle with the work before it gets to Montreal, hopefully adding a slow duet for Vishneva that was dropped because of an injury to her partner. But the performance this week showed unusual polish for a Lock premiere.

Equally up to the challenge were the splendid company members hired last year -Diego Castro, Mi Deng, Sandra Muhlbauer, Marcio Vinicius Paulino Silveira, Grace-Anne Powers, Alejandra Salamanca Lopez, William Lee Smith and Kai Zhang. Statuesque veteran Zofia Tujaka rounded out the formidable cast.

And here's a first peek of some of the pieces, performed in New York:

Edouard Lock's Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Édouard_Lock

L'homme aux ours

2011-04-27T15:34:00.000-04:00

L'homme aux ours du Nouveau-Brunswick.

Angry Bird Snack

2011-04-27T01:04:00.004-04:00

If you're the type who likes to sew your own clothes and prepare cute little bento lunch boxes for your kids (Full disclosure: I'm not that type), then you can make this angry bird for a snack with the babybel cheese they sell in a net.

According to the author of the web page (http://www.cutefoodforkids.com/2011/03/babybel-cheese-angry-bird.html), it's easy.

"This Angry Bird is made from Babybel Cheese, Swiss Cheese, Cheddar and nori (seaweed). It's not difficult to make, but it takes time to cut all the little parts".

They take time to make, but they probably will be wolfed down in two minutes. Like dim sum.

Origami

2011-04-27T00:40:00.003-04:00

Brian Chan is a master origamist. When I have some spare time, like waiting for a big document to print, I like to go to his website and marvel at his skills : http://web.mit.edu/chosetec/www/origami/

Here's a video clip showing you how to fold Wall-E. Easy peasy, right?

To My First Born, With Love

2011-04-25T12:54:00.002-04:00

2Cellos - Smooth Criminal

2011-04-23T01:31:00.002-04:00

New Viral video: 2CELLOS Luka Sulic and Stjepan Hauser playing Smooth Criminal by Michael Jackson

Knit Your Own Royal Corgi

2011-04-22T22:17:00.003-04:00

This will be my last post related to the British Royalty Wedding Thingie.

Here are the instructions to knit this cute little corgi (via: The Guardian online).

Material:
10g (1/4oz) or approx 10m/11yds of ochre DK yarn
Small amount of cream DK yarn
Very small amounts of black and purple DK yarn
A small star-shaped purple button for the collar
5g (1/8oz) polyester toy-stuffing
Use size 3mm (US 2 or 3) knitting needles throughout unless stated otherwise, and a size 3.25mm (US D-3) crochet hook.

Instructions:

Body and head
Side 1:
• Cast on 15 sts in ochre.
• Next row: K2, inc1, K6 then turn, leaving rem sts on needle.
• Work on 10 sts just knitted only.
• Next row: P to end.
• Next row: K2, m1, K8 then turn, leaving rem sts on needle.
• Work on 11 sts just knitted only.
• Next row: P.
• Next row: K2, m1, K to end (across all sts on needle). [18 sts]
• Next row: P.
• Next row: K2, m1, K to end. [19 sts]
• Work 3 rows in st st beg with a P row.
• Next row: K17, k2tog. [18 sts]
• Next row: Cast (bind) off 10 sts pwise, P to end. [8 sts]
• Next row: Cast on 5 sts, K to end. [13 sts]
• Next row: p2tog, P to end. [12 sts]
• Next row: K.
• Next row: p2tog, P to end. [11 sts]
• Next row: Cast (bind) off 2 sts, K to end. [9 sts]
• Next row: p2tog, P to end. [8 sts]
• Next row: k2tog, K to end. [7 sts]
• Next row: p2tog, P to end. [6 sts]
• Next row: K.
• Next row: p2tog, P to end. [5 sts]
• Cast (bind) off.

Side 2:
• Cast on 15 sts in ochre.
• 1st row: P2, inc1 pwise, K6 then turn, leaving rem sts on needle.
• Work on 10 sts just knitted only.
• Next row: K to end.
• Next row: P2, m1 pwise, P8 then turn, leaving rem sts on needle.
• Work on 11 sts just knitted only.
• Next row: K.
• Next row: P2, m1 pwise, P to end (across all sts on needle). [18 sts]
• Next row: K.
• Next row: P2, m1 pwise, P to end. [19 sts]
• Work 3 rows in st st beg with a K row.
• Next row: P17, p2tog. [18 sts]
• Next row: Cast (bind) off 10 sts, K to end. [8 sts]
• Next row: Cast on 5 sts, P to end. [13 sts]
• Next row: k2tog, K to end. [12 sts]
• Next row: P.
• Next row: k2tog, K to end. [11 sts]
• Next row: Cast off 2 sts pwise, P to end. [9 sts]
• Next row: k2tog, K to end. [8 sts]
• Next row: p2tog, P to end. [7 sts]
• Next row: k2tog, K to end. [6 sts]
• Next row: P.
• Next row: k2tog, K to end. [5 sts]
• Cast (bind) off pwise.

Front bib – make 1
The bib is knitted from the bottom to the top.
• Cast on 4 sts in cream.
• Work 2 rows in st st beg with a K row.
• Next row: K1, m1, K2, m1, K1. [6 sts]
• Next row: P.
• Next row: K1, m1, K4, m1, K1. [8 sts]
• Work 9 rows in st st beg with a P row.
• Cast (bind) off loosely.

Back legs – make 2
• Cast on 6 sts in cream.
• Work 2 rows in st st beg with a K row.
• Break yarn and join ochre yarn.
• Work 2 rows in st st beg with a K row.
• Next row: K1, m1, K4, m1, K1. [8 sts]
• Next row: P.
• Next row: K1, m1, K6, m1, K1. [10 sts]
• Next row: P.
• Cast (bind) off.

Front legs – make 2
• Cast on 6 sts in cream.
• Work 2 rows in st st beg with a K row.
• Cast (bind) off.

Ears – make 2
• Using size 2.75 mm (US 2) needles, cast on 4 sts in ochre.
• K 3 rows.
• Next row: (k2tog) twice. [2 sts]
• Next row: k2tog.
• Break yarn and pull it through rem st.

Collar
Work a 6.5cm (2 1/2-inch) crochet chain in purple DK yarn.

Assembly
Sew the two body and head sides together, leaving a small gap for stuffing. Stuff the dog and close the gap. Seam and stuff the legs and oversew them in position. Oversew the ears in position. Oversew the bib to the front of the dog.

Using black yarn, work a small circle of chain stitch for the nose and two French knots for the eyes. To stop the French knots disappearing or looking uneven, you may want to work a ring of small chain stitches round the eyes using ochre yarn.

Work a row of cream chain stitch round the nose, then down to the top of the bib. Work a row of chain stitch from the top of the nose up the centre of the face and half way back down the face. Separate a short length of black yarn lengthwise so you have two thinner lengths of yarn. Use one of these to make a single straight stitch for the mouth.

Place the collar round the dog's neck and join the two short ends. Stitch the star button in place.

This Is Why I Do QiGong - Dr Love

2011-04-22T12:59:00.003-04:00

(via Al Simon from ChiFusion)

Weird Al - Perform This Way

2011-04-21T11:13:00.002-04:00

Weird Al wanted to write a song parodying Lady Gaga's latest hit Born This Way, asked for her permission, but was nixed by her people after they demanded that he create a recording of it so they could "hear it." According to Salon, "this was after Al already gave them a copy of the lyrics, which was definitely a dick move on Gaga's people's part: making Weird Al go through the trouble of going to the studio for a song only to pass on it". The latest development is that, faced with fans' disapproval, Lady Gaga finally said yes. The whole fiasco was blamed on the manager.

Weird Al is telling all about it on his blog: http://alyankovic.wordpress.com/the-gaga-saga/. And the update: http://alyankovic.wordpress.com/2011/04/20/gaga-update/

Easter Egg

2011-04-21T08:54:00.001-04:00

Coffee Art

2011-04-11T11:20:00.005-04:00

In the world of latte art, there are two main camps: Team Free Pour and the Etchers. Free pourers are the traditionalists: They make their designs by pouring heated, "stretched" milk into espresso, creating beautiful designs where the milk and coffee don't quite want to dissolve into one another. It's a test of how well they've aerated and textured the milk, and, of course, of how well they understand the motions and physics of the pour. Etchers, though, are the tool users: They will draw into the milk, dragging coffee into the dense foam, and boom! You have patterns, designs and the occasional portrait of Stockard Channing.

Salon has organized a Great Coffee Art Contest. The winner's masterpiece is presented above, by barrista Elizabeth Gray from New York. My favorite though is this one below, by barrista Jonathan Pascual from Atlanta :

Link to slide show of winners:
http://www.salon.com/food/feature/2011/04/11/coffee_art_contest_slideshow/slideshow.html

Good News!

2011-04-05T22:32:00.004-04:00

President Obama has officially announced his bid for re-election in 2012.

(Thanks Neb!)

Update: 10th April 2011

From: Harper's Magazine

Défense de Wajdi Mouawad et de Bertrand Cantat

2011-04-05T08:59:00.011-04:00

D'abord, l'historique. Voici les faits:

En 2003, Bertrand Cantat, chanteur-compositeur du groupe rock français Noir Désir, roue de coups sa compagne Marie Trintignant, mère de quatre enfants. Il l'assomme, puis attend sept heures avant d'appeler les secours. Elle est morte d'un oedème cérébral. Condammé à 8 ans de prison, Cantat est libéré après 4 ans.

En 2011, le célèbre dramaturge québécois Wajdi Mouawad, devenu l'ami de Cantat, annonce que Bertrand Cantat sera sur la scène du Théâtre du Nouveau-Monde, dans une création de Mouawad, Sophocle. Scandale et indignation du public.

Je résume ensuite ici les arguments de défense du choix de Mouawad et de la présence de Cantat dans sa pièce, arguments recueillis dans les blogues de journalistes et des commentaires des lecteurs, avec ma propre traduction.

1. Cantat a payé sa dette à la société et maintenant, il a le droit de vivre sa vie. Traduction: Il a fait 4 ans de tôle, ça suffit, non? Ceux qui continuent de le condamner sont des sauvages sans coeur qui voudraient sans doute le lyncher s'ils le pouvaient. Heureusement qu'on n'est plus au Moyen-Âge. Entretemps, Marie Trintignant est morte.

2. Marie Trintignant est morte, c'est affreux, mais voir 1. Traduction: Bon, OK, Marie Trintignant est morte, mais Cantat souffre aussi. Et le pardon, bordel?

3. C'était une bagarre. Ce n'était pas seulement Cantat qui donnait des coups, il a dû se défendre aussi. Traduction: Marie Trintignant est morte.

4. Marie Trintignant a reçu un texto de son ex-mari, provoquant ainsi une crise de jalousie de la part de Cantat. Traduction: Marie Trintignant est morte, mais c'est parce qu'elle a provoqué Cantat.

5. Wajid Mouawad et Lorraine Pintal, directrice artistique et générale du Théâtre du Nouveau Monde où se produira Sophocle, défendent leur choix et leur attitude compatissante et éclairée. Voir 1. Traduction: Ils feront beaucoup de sous, puisque la pièce à scandale va attirer les défenseurs du droit de Cantat de refaire sa vie, les admirateurs inconditionnels du génie de Mouawad, les voyeurs, etc... Entretemps, Marie Trintignant est morte et ne pourra ni assister à la pièce ni profiter monétairement du scandale.

Wajdi Mouawad, un auteur qui «refuse de désespérer de l'humanité»

Conclusion: Marie Trintignant est morte.

Update: 7 Avril 2011

Hier, j'ai écrit ce commentaire dans La Presse: "C’est facile de pardonner quand on ne veut voir que le côté philosophique et abstrait de la chose. On pardonne, on est compatissant et généreux, tandis que ceux qui s’indignent sont des haineux qui s’acharnent sur un pauvre type qui a purgé sa peine…à demi (4 ans sur 8). C’est facile de se donner à bon compte une réputation de noblesse d’âme quand on n’est pas proche de la victime ou qu’on s’en fout, et qu’il y a des sous à faire. Je ne souhaite pas une condamnation éternelle et rancunière de Cantat, et tant mieux pour lui s’il a pu s’en tirer après 4 ans. Mais de là à le mettre sur scène dans une pièce d’un auteur célèbre, c’est plus que le pardon, c’est une récompense. Supposons que je sois un artiste comme Cantat mais que je n’aie pas la chance d’être l’ami de Mouawad, je pourrais me dire: “I would kill to get that role”. Oops, pardon, c’est ce qui s’est passé…"

Aujourd'hui, on annonce que le Parti Action démocratique du Québec (ADQ) a déposé une motion pour s'opposer à la venue de Cantat. La motion demande que l'Assemblée nationale exige que Citoyenneté et Immigration Canada «impose les règles les plus strictes» à M. Cantat «afin de lui interdire l'entrée au Québec». Bien que le gouvernement ait refusé d'en débattre, la plupart des politiciens interrogés sont contre l'admission de Cantat.

Prédiction: À force d'en parler pour condamner la venue de Cantat ou recommander son interdiction, on va finir par en faire un martyr et, non seulement il jouera sur la scène du TNM, mais il sera accueilli en triomphe par une ovation.

Également dans la Presse, voici une interview faite en 2007 de la chanteuse Lio, très bonne amie de Marie Trintignant, qui s'est exprimée sur TF1 au sujet de la libération de Bertrand Cantat.

Lio-bertand-cantat Vidéo redactiontf1 sélectionnée dans TV/Séries

Update 2: 8 avril 2011

(Tiré de Rue Frontenac) :

Prise dans la tourmente depuis une semaine, la directrice du Théâtre du Nouveau-Monde, Lorraine Pintal, a annoncé cet après-midi sur les planches de l’institution montréalaise, qu’il « est assuré que Bertrand Cantat ne jouera pas sur les scènes québécoises et canadiennes. »

La directrice a fait cette annonce en face d’une horde de médias rassemblés avec elle sur la scène, quatre jours après avoir annoncé que Cantat, l’ex chanteur de Noir Désir et meurtrier de sa compagne Nadine Trintignant, en 2003, serait sur les planches du TNM en 2012, dans le cadre du cycle Femmes, d’après Sophocole, mis en scène par le dramaturge Wajdi Mouawad.

Si il est désormais assuré que Cantat – qui signe la musique du projet – ne sera pas au TNM ni au Centre National des Arts d’Ottawa l’an prochain, le maintient du cycle théâtral n’est pas assuré pour autant.

« La décision de présenter le spectacle sans Bertrand Cantat ou d’annuler la production sera annoncée par le principal intéressé Wajdi Mouawad, directeur artistique du Théâtre français du Centre National des Arts, lors du dévoilement de sa dernière saison, le 18 avril prochain, à Ottawa », a également déclaré Mme Pintal.

Depuis l’annonce de la présence de Cantat à Montréal, le TNM, qui se présente comme étant le diffuseur du projet mis sur pied par Wajdi Mouawad, a essuyé de vives critiques. Au plan légal, la présence de Cantat au pays serait toujours possible, mais ce dernier devrait bénéficier d’une exemption du Gouvernement fédéral, ce que ce dernier ne semblait pas enclin à lui fournir.

Par ailleurs, dans un communiqué émis vendredi par la compagnie du metteur en scène Wajdi Mouawad, le Français Bertrand Cantat a décidé de se retirer du Festival d’Avignon où doit être présenté en juillet 2011 Le Cycle des femmes, de Sophocole. Jean-Louis Trintignant avait annoncé jeudi ne pas se présenter au Festival d’Avignon en raison de la présence de Cantat. «En apprenant hier la programmation des lectures de Jean-Louis Trintignant en Avignon, puis sa décision de ne pas être présent lors du festival, Bertrand Cantat a choisi, pour des raisons personnelles et par respect pour la douleur de Jean-Louis Trintignant, de ne pas participer aux représentations de la pièce, », selon le communiqué de la compagnie Au Carré de l’Hypothénuse, repris par la presse française.

Prédiction: On va crier à la censure et Cantat sera un martyr, un artiste incompris harcelé par un public de bien-pensants hypocrites.

The President's Speech

2011-04-05T00:41:00.000-04:00

(Merci, Bernouille!)

De la moralité des guerres

2011-04-04T11:15:00.003-04:00

Je reproduis ici un article de John R. MacArthur de la revue Harper's Magazine, publié dans Le Devoir d'aujourd'hui.

La réalité de la guerre
John R. MacArthur

Pour apprécier la violente absurdité de l'intervention occidentale en Libye, il vaut mieux visiter la nouvelle exposition sur l'expressionnisme allemand au Musée d'art moderne de New York (MOMA) que de lire les chroniques d'«experts politiques». Je ne fais pas forcément référence à l'effet surréaliste (que l'on retrouve chez les artistes Kirchner, Nolde et Beckmann) de la présence de Nicolas Sarkozy «à la tête» d'une coalition de «justes» tentant d'abattre le méchant Mouammar Kadhafi qui, il n'y a pas si longtemps, était l'invité d'honneur à l'Élysée. Ni à la bêtise de se mêler d'une guerre civile (les expressionnistes ont été marqués par la révolution et la brutalité des factions à Berlin en 1918-1919) où les adversaires du régime ou leurs ambitions ultimes ne nous sont pas vraiment connues. Et même pas à l'hypocrisie d'un président Obama (l'hypocrisie morale était l'un des grands thèmes des expressionnistes), censé être l'incarnation de l'anti-Bush et qui, à l'instar de son prédécesseur, a choisi de diriger sa propre guerre — mais lui, sans même demander le consentement du Congrès.

Non, je parle plutôt de l'écart grandissant entre l'irréalisme américain et la réalité de la guerre, quelle que soit la motivation politique ou morale de l'ingérence militaire ou «humanitaire». En l'absence d'images des carnages de la guerre en Afghanistan, en Irak et en Libye — résultat soit d'une censure officielle, soit d'une autocensure de la part de médias timides et sensibles aux souhaits du gouvernement —, le grand public américain n'a plus la capacité d'établir une relation entre les actions militaires et leurs conséquences, du moins pas suffisamment pour se soucier des conséquences des millions de bombes, balles, et missiles largués sur des cibles distantes occupées par des étrangers inconnus. Aujourd'hui, alors que seulement 0,5 % de la population américaine fait son service militaire (par rapport à 8,6 % durant la Seconde Guerre mondiale), il y a peu de témoins capables de rendre compte des boucheries dont sont victimes autant des soldats que des civils et les raconter dans le foyer familial.

Moi non plus je ne connais pas la guerre de près. Cependant, l'exposition du MOMA m'a saisi par sa force viscérale, car les expressionnistes allemands, en particulier Otto Dix et Max Beckmann, ont vécu la Grande Guerre dans le pire des abattoirs, les tranchées des Flandres. Leur mouvement esthétiquement séditieux — caractérisé par un graphisme grotesque et bouleversant — n'était déjà pas gai avant juillet 1914, bien que ses adhérents aient cru, selon le conservateur Starr Figura, à la capacité «de l'art de transformer la société». Après la guerre on retrouve un expressionnisme «atrophié», explique l'historien Peter Jelavich. «En tant qu'art et mode de vie, il était trop dépendant d'une vitalité optimiste qui ne pouvait pas résister aux chocs combinés de la guerre et du traumatisme post-révolutionnaire.»

Au MOMA on consacre tout un mur à la série de gravures faites en 1923-1924 par Otto Dix, titrée Der Krieg (La Guerre). Devant toutes ces images d'horreurs — blessés hideux, crâne envahi par des vers, cadavres morts et vivants, visages monstrueusement défigurés —, on est confronté à l'impact de la guerre au-delà des dégâts physiques. Le génie de Dix est de montrer la destruction de l'être humain, de son esprit — en fait la spoliation de l'âme — qui résulte des décisions prises par des politiciens qui, eux, n'en pâtissent que rarement. J'applaudis Paris-Match pour avoir dernièrement publié une photo de corps déchiquetés de soldats/mercenaires libyens «figés au sol par l'offensive occidentale». Mais l'art de Dix dépasse le photojournalisme dans sa portée émotionnelle.

De nos jours, alors que les guerres sont souvent menées de très haut ou de très loin par des pilotes, des marins et des informaticiens qui ne rencontrent presque jamais leurs victimes, il est facile de se leurrer. Parler de frappes «ciblées»; promettre de «prendre toutes les mesures nécessaires pour protéger les civils»; dire que l'opération est «bien définie» et «limitée»; insister sur le fait que le but des tirs est d'empêcher «un massacre» et «d'horribles violences» (et non pas de renverser l'ancien chouchou de Tony Blair qui, contrairement à Saddam Hussein, s'est soi-disant réformé) — tout cela cache la saleté du conflit armé. Il n'y a jamais eu de guerre entièrement «juste» et sûrement jamais de guerre propre.

Toutefois, il reste un paradoxe dans la vie de Dix qui pourrait informer mes concitoyens aveugles et indifférents. Bien que l'ancien mitrailleur du Kaiser soit célébré pour son art anti-guerre des années vingt, Dix était ambivalent à l'égard du meurtre organisé qu'est la guerre. Plus tard, il a dit qu'il se sentait obligé de «connaître tout très précisément... Donc je ne suis pas pacifiste. Ou bien peut-être que j'étais une personne qui aimait savoir. Il fallait que je voie tout moi-même».

Lors de son discours lundi dernier, Obama a utilisé un langage similaire, mais avec un sens très différent et sans, apparemment, se rendre compte de l'ironie qui découlait de ses paroles: «Certaines nations peuvent fermer les yeux sur des atrocités commises à l'étranger. Pas les États-Unis d'Amérique.»

Voilà une formidable occasion qui se présente, accompagnée d'une justification tout à fait patriotique. Dès maintenant, le devoir de chaque Américain devrait être d'ouvrir les yeux et de voir les atrocités commises à l'étranger par les forces militaires de son pays. Pour apprendre un peu d'histoire récente, on pourrait commencer à Hanoï et passer par le Panama avant de se rendre à Bagdad, Kaboul et Benghazi, sur la côte nord-est de la Libye. Notre président érudit, ancien professeur de droit, en serait édifié et peut-être plus sage.

***

John R. MacArthur est éditeur de Harper's Magazine. Sa chronique revient le premier lundi de chaque mois.

Dancing lessons at our home

2011-04-04T10:24:00.007-04:00

My younger son, B-Boy, sometimes has a friend or two over our house to train. One friend in particular likes to ask him for lessons and/or advices. Not all sessions are pleasant or productive, however, because either the teacher isn't quite clear in his explanations or the student is stupid and/or rebellious. Here are the recording of two such sessions.

I just realize that not all of you might understand the street language used by young b-boys nowadays, so here's the translation of the first part:

Tadadadadadadada: Look, it's quite simple, you hang on to the barre and you lift your leg, like so.
Tadadadtadaadda?: How? By shaking my arm like this?
Tatadadada: (Laughs) Didn't you hear what I said? Lift your leg! Kick it!
Dadadadada: I thought I was supposed to spread my arms this way.
Dadadadatada: Nooo!!! (Laughs) Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?

etc.. you can guess the rest of the conversation.

The Latest Tarantino

2011-04-03T13:28:00.004-04:00

Nah, it's not Tarantino, April's Fool!! What? That was three days ago? April's Fool, fool !!

Can Hardly Wait!!! Takashi Miike's Latest Film!

2011-04-01T19:32:00.003-04:00

North American Trailer

Japanese Trailer

Desperado? By The Eagles? Yechh!!

How to pronounce: Miike Takashi's name: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqCkk9FYDE4

They Don't Care About Us

2011-03-31T15:33:00.004-04:00

This is old, but still great to watch (Merci Bernouille!).

The inmates from the (in)famous Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center (CPDRC), a maximum security prison in the Philippines, received a visit by Michael Jackson's long-time choreographer Travis Payne and dancers Daniel Celebre and Dres Reid, who taught them to dance a piece from Michael Jackson's video "THIS IS IT".

Chris Brown's Performance on Dancing With The Stars

2011-03-30T12:30:00.002-04:00

I know. I know. He's a coward, beating on someone's weaker than him. And he has an anger management problem. But this is a great performance.

Enough! Get Married Already And Let Us Go Back To Our Boring Life!

2011-03-30T09:49:00.004-04:00

The Londonist website is just as fed up as me about the constant drip drip of daily "news" about the Royal Wedding. Excerpt from one of their articles, making fun of other British newspapers' constant coverage of the Blessed Event:

Behind The Scenes In The Royal Wedding Kitchen, Daily Telegraph
A video exposé of preparations in Buck Pal kitchen. We hope the Telegraph follows up on the story with similar items on the Royal Shower Room and Royal Bedroom.

Kate Middleton Has ‘Quiet Night In With Friends’ For Hen Party, Daily Mail
See also ‘Kate Middleton Potters Around Kitchen A Bit, Forgetting Why She Went In There’ and ‘Kate Middleton Loses Cardigan. No, Wait…There It Is’.

David Cameron To Hold No 10 Street Party On Royal Wedding Day, Mirror
All the neighbours will be there: from George Osborne to Mrs George Osborne.

Royal Wedding: Sophie Ellis-Bextor Plans A ‘Knees-Up’, Daily Telegraph
Yeah, but who dares party on her dance floor?

Russell Grant’s Royal Wedding Party Guide
The happy-go-lucky mumbojumbosmith predicts how your mood will be affected by the Royal Wedding. Oddly, the words ennui, meh and indifference don’t feature in any of the 12 signs.

And the slightly more justifiable stuff…
As you’d expect, the big day will be marked with a special series of Royal Mail stamps (they don’t come in Second Class flavour). If you just can’t get enough Wedding in your life, how about getting hold of one of these souvenir Oyster card holders? Meanwhile, Parliament Square peace protesters will get a ringside view of proceedings, after their eviction fails to reach court in time.

My Next Project

2011-03-28T17:59:00.003-04:00

I better start right away!

One more reason why dogs are better than cats

2011-03-28T12:06:00.002-04:00

Two sequels to that clip

Terrifying Scene of Tsunami

2011-03-27T23:52:00.003-04:00

A friend (Thank you, O.) has sent me the link to this terrifying video of an eye-witness who recorded the tsunami destroying the city of Kesennuma under 7 minutes. Link: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27680.htm

Amateur footage demonstrates the frightening speed with which Friday's tsunami destroyed the city of Kesennuma, Japan.
At first a trickle of water creeps down a street. The stream quickly becomes a torrent as the 33ft-tsunami triggered by Japan’s strongest ever earthquake sweeps into the city.
Sirens wail as cars and debris are swept down the street. A few minutes later entire houses are ripped from their foundations.
Standing just 400 yards inland, on concrete steps leading to higher ground, a cameraman captures the destructive power of the wave.
The video is believed to have been shot by a resident of the port city of Kesennuma, which was formerly home to 74,000 people.

Posted March 14, 2011

Chinese Rap

2011-03-26T22:49:00.001-04:00

With lyrics for your karaoke pleasure.

Talking (Bilingual) Beaver

2011-03-26T22:29:00.001-04:00

Welcome to Canada! Bienvenue au Canada!

If Julian Assange Asks If He Can Crash At Your Apartment, Say Nooooo!!!

2011-03-23T10:46:00.001-04:00

Allegedly true story, re-enacted.

Our Family Tragedy

2011-03-20T12:51:00.003-04:00

My younger son is a (break)dancer. This is a recurrent discussion in our house.

Dad: How many times do I have to tell you? I want you to have a real job! You could have been an accountant or a cashier in a dépanneur, but nooo...

Son: But Daaad, dancing is my liiiife!

Mortal Kombat @ The Church

2011-03-19T22:54:00.003-04:00

Which kinda reminds me of this epic match:

Update: I was told that I'm an idiot, and that it's Street Fighter and not Mortal Kombat. I stand corrected. Good thing I didn't try to be clever by saying Kamekameha or something like that. Speaking of which, here's proof that I wasn't that far off. Ladies and Germs, I give you: Pastor Goku:

The Face Of Evil

2011-03-19T21:29:00.003-04:00

Sorry if you feel nauseated watching this. After her video created a huge backlash (hateful comments, exposure of her private info on the web, death threats, etc.. the usual), this person decided to put out another video explaining that it was all a hoax and a joke, blah blah. Please see my previous post about actions and consequences. Nowadays, anybody can post any outrageous video on YouTube, just like anybody can poke a wasps' nest. The funny part is when these morons act all surprised when they get stung.

BFF

2011-03-17T00:53:00.004-04:00

A Japanese TV team has found in Mito, Ibaraki, two dogs that were victims of the earthquake and tsunami: one of the dogs is injured, but the other one refuses to leave his friend behind. According to the latest news, thanks to the efforts of Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support, both dogs have been picked up and are currently in the care of a local shelter.

To donate to Japan human victims: http://www.wikihow.com/Help-Earthquake-Victims-in-Japan

To donate to Japan Earthquake Animal Rescue and Support: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Japan-Earthquake-Animal-Rescue-and-Support/207835229228979?ref=ts

PLEASE HELP!!!

Actions And Their Consequences

2011-03-16T10:37:00.002-04:00

Gather round, children. Today's lesson will start now.

First case: The revenge of the bullied.

You've all seen this clip. A normal reaction would be to applaud the bullied kid for finally standing up to himself and teaching the bully a lesson, right? Wrong! Some bleeding hearts are instead deploring the public humiliation of the bully. They say violence is not the answer, the best policy with bullies is to ignore them, blah blah... I say: F*** You!

Second case: The racist UCLA student ranting against Asians

Another viral video clip. Apparently, the girl has received general condemnation for her racist remarks, and even some death threats, and has since apologized. She's under police protection and had to reschedule her exams since her name, address, school schedules, etc. have been published on the web and the UCLA people fear for her safety. While I don't take the death threats too seriously, I can imagine that her new fame would bring all kinds of inconvenience to her life. But some bleeding hearts are shocked, shocked by the violence of the reactions against her, for what they consider a simple lapse of common sense. But if you could be fired, jailed or even killed for using the word "nigger", why wouldn't you expect the same for saying "ching chong"?

In both cases, the lesson is quite clear: Actions Have Consequences. You do the crime, you do the time.

Run along now, children.

A Great Prank

2011-03-11T23:11:00.002-05:00

This is a prank set up by some Spanish TV crew. Pretty self-explanatory and hilarious, even if you don't understand Spanish.

If I were going to my hotel room and I met her in the hallway, at night, I would also scream and pee in my pants.

Best Charlie Sheen Autotune Song

2011-03-11T13:22:00.001-05:00