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castigat0r
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Name: Stephen
Country: Canada
State: Ontario
Metro: Toronto
Birthday: 9/5/1979
Gender: Male
Interests: Politics, Sports, Music, Science, Technology, Machines, Film, Photography, Art
Message: message me
Member Since:
8/10/2004
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| Nose To This GrindstoneOk, so I haven't posted in forever. Not that anyone notices or cares, but that's par for the course.
I'm sitting in the Canisius College Bowhuis Library in Buffalo, NY typing this before my class in Adolescent Literacy. I know that last term seems oxymoronic. Perhaps it's just moronic. Either way, I'm working out ways to teach Math to adolescents and enhance their literacy levels at the same time. Perhaps by including segments of Freakonomics, stuff about the history of Math, or even just newspaper articles on how the guitarist from Apples in Stereo uses his knowledge of Calculus to figure out his scales on their most recent album, I'll be able to turn kids onto something interesting.
Oh - and if you haven't already figured it out, I'm in Teacher's College working towards a Masters in Education in Adolescent Mathematics. I'm going to be a high school math teacher, which is relatively exciting and/or scary depending on whether or not you want me lecturing children.
Either way, the people here at school all seem very nice, if not amazingly well informed. My introduction to literacy course was less than spectacular. Needless to say the fact that I disputed with the professor over the mark on my final project, and when I resubmitted it with corrections she lowered my mark, I was less than pleased. Perhaps we could say there was a negative correlation between effort and results. Hopefully that isn't par for the course in education in general.
Hope everyone enjoys reading meaningless rambling yet again. Talk to you all soon...
Oh and by the way, you can also check out my musical discussions at http://www.indiemusicfilter.com and my hockey discussions on http://www.hockeyanalysis.com . I contribute to both fairly regularly.
Adios Amigos.
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| Keeping The Homeland Secure Leaves Lots Of Time For Child Porn
"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A deputy press
secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was arrested
Tuesday at his Maryland home on charges he used his computer in an
attempt to seduce a child and transmitted harmful materials to a minor,
according to the Polk County, Florida, Sheriff's Office."
The man faces 23 separate charges related to
conversations he had and images he sent to a police officer posing as a
14 year old girl on the internet. One of the first pieces
of information the man passed on was that he worked for DHS, and one of
the pictures he sent her happened to display his DHS security
tag. Somehow this idiot doesn't seem too be very concerned about security,
let alone the fact that having conversations with 14 year old
girls about dirty sex on his GOVERNMENT ISSUED cell phone and OFFICE
phone might be a VERY FUCKING STUPID IDEA.
The fact that this guy made it to the level of
deputy press secretary in the DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY is both
shocking, and ironic in numerous ways. It sure would make me glad
to know that the DHS is protecting children from terrorists, so it can
take dirty photos of them to beat off to at work... which is difficult
- what with all the terrorists.
I bet if
they spent more on DHS it would have fewer idiots working for it.
HAHA JUST KIDDING! Of course they'll still spend more on it...
but that won't solve the problem. Too many assholes spewing shit
on America's head before telling them it's a safety helmet. Thank
anyone that cares that I don't live there.
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| Creating The Perfect Mix CD
It's difficult as processes go. Complicated and nuanced in a
fashion suited to what we often consider decoration. Auditory
splashes of colour that reflect our moods, thoughts, feelings, and
concerns more clearly than most of us stop to consider. Emotion
is enriched and expressed through sound.
I find it awe inspiring how something can be so dissonant and coarse
one second while being sonorous, structured and powerfully focused the
next; all in an effort to withdraw the desired emotional
response. Movement is powerful. Subtlety.
Layering. The ones that bounce or throb, the ones that make you
twitch and bop or slide and sink. Those are the ones you seek.
Uh Oh... Problem. My playlist appears to be 1 hour and 51 minutes
in length. If only I didn't want this in CD format. Ok
before I spend too much effort I think I'll enjoy just listening to it
for now... adios!
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| Mid 90's Ambient Dance Music Rebounds
Ok so, when did the advertising world decide that
taking us back to the club scene circa '95 was worth doing? I
don't object I just find it amusing how quick the recycling is taking
place these days. Moby songs, Prodigy singles re-releases, the
mid 90's are en-vogue all of a sudden as "retro" ceases to depend on
fashions from further back than a decade.
Everyone has likely seen the new Intel
commercial. The one rambling on about how earth shattering an
event it is that Apple is now using Intel processors in it's Macintosh
computers (bullshit marketing technique). The nice ambient piano
piece in the background is the track God Moving Over the Face of the Waters, off of Moby's 1995
album Everything Is Wrong. The 2nd episode of this season's
Sopranos closed with the closing track from the same album, When It's
Cold I'd Like To Die, yet another ambient piece only this one featuring
vocals. There's also a new video out for the Prodigy song Voodoo
People due to their Singles re-release. I always liked all of
these songs, I own the original releases on CD, (I actually paid for
them before download P2P networks and .mp3 files were in common
usage). I just find it bizarre that something that I listened to
in high school and university is now considered worth dredging up for
marketing to the masses again. When the rave and house music
scene in the UK and US was booming in the mid 90's kids everywhere were
tapped into it but it hardly ever made a pop culture appearance aside
from stories about kids OD'ing on random drugs, or perhaps the
occasional movie or television reference. The music itself seemed
to sit on back-burners when it came to advertising, major corporate
support and genuine mass appeal resultant from radio and video airtime.
Now that it's being used to sell me products I don't
want or don't need, I'm sort of laughing at it all because the marketing
industry must respect my peer group enough to warrant spending that
sort of money on my tastes. I guess I'm a prime retail/media
target these days; which is in a sense gratifying. If the world
moves in a direction pointed at me? Who am I to complain.
You might also note that I'm listening to one of the masters of ambient
music right now - Brian Eno actually has been doing
soundtracks and audio production for major releases for years so I
guess that wouldn't be all that shocking if you'd ever listened to much
David Bowie, or seen the movie Dune.
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| Canada Stands Alongside China According To Morrissey!
Ok this is getting a tad ridiculous. It's nice
that rich famous people want to pick a cause they believe in and
support it using their public voice, but they only hurt themselves by
making idiotic statements such as the following:
..."Aside from not including Canada on his upcoming tour, Morrissey asked fans to boycott Canadian goods.
"It WILL make a difference. As things stand, Canada has placed
itself alongside China as the cruelest and most self-serving nation,"
he wrote."...
CANADA HAS PLACED ITSELF ALONGSIDE CHINA AS THE
CRUELEST AND MOST SELF-SERVING NATION?????? WHAT THE FUCK???
Ok - let me list off a number of possibly self
serving nations that it might actually hurt Morrissey to suggest
boycotts of. 1. America; 2. France; 3. Russia; 4. Iran; 5. North
Korea; 6. Israel; 7. Australia; 8. Japan.
America is the only developed western nation to
still practice Capital Punishment. It also has made numerous
attempts to control the world oil industry through warfare and
bullying. France is the EU member nation that basically refuses
to reduce farming subsidies and hence is blocking serious improvements
in world trade tarriff agreements, continuing to damage developing
agrarian economies the world over. Russia basically turned off
the flow of Natural Gas through the Ukraine to heat European homes in
the middle of winter because they disliked the political direction the
Ukraine was heading in. Not to mention the Chechnyen wars.
Iran's president has been publically promoting wiping Israel off the
map and rethinking the whole concept of the Holocaust. North Korea
threatens South Korea constantly and is one of the most repressive
dictatorships on the planet. Israel has constricted the
Palestinian state into one of the most pathetic examples of a broken
society in the modern world. Australia has refused refugees and
broken international laws and treaties to exclude foriegners.
Japan continues to enflame longstanding animosity by celebrating war
crimes against the chinese during the 2nd world war. It also
continues to hunt whales in opposition to international laws.
If anyone can explain to me how Canada, which is
not breaking any international laws through it's seal hunt, and not
injuring any other political groups or human beings, is remotely close
to standing alongside China, let alone any of the above listed nations
for it's "self-serving" and "cruel" behaviour. There are
kill limits on the hunting of Harp Seals in the gulf of the St.
Lawrence river and the overall animal population is not endangered in
the region. This basically amounts to animal lovers defending
"defenseless" creatures from hunters. Personally this begs the
question of why Cattle, Sheep, Chickens, Pigs, and any other animal
killed for it's pelt, food, or any other reason lacks "rights" such as
those apparently deserved by Harp Seals. I'm fairly sure the
reasoning is along the lines of how Harp Seals are cute, and thus
shouldn't be killed.
If you're not endangering the animal population
and hunting of them remains profitable the idea that it should be
halted over a perception of cuteness is rather absurd. That
statement is one of the most moronic things I've ever read in print. I
like Morrissey's music, but I really wish he'd stick to making music
and avoid political debates. The scarier part to me is that
people might actually agree with his point.
PEOPLE ARE STUPID.
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