Author: Toren

I surf the web for fun and education:

Wal-Mart bashing.

Do with these reported facts what you will. They are taken from a PBS documentary.

Musicians are at the mercy of Wal-Mart’s stringent content rules, forcing many to create “sanitized” versions of their albums specifically for the discount chain.

The rapid turnover – 70 percent of employees leave within the first year – is attributed to a lack of recognition and inadequate pay. The majority of its employees with children live below the poverty line. The health insurance package is so expensive (employees pay 35 percent – almost double the national average) that less than half opt to buy it.

“Buy American” banners are prominently placed throughout its stores; however, the majority of its goods are made outside the U.S. and often in sweatshops. By taking its orders abroad, Wal-Mart has forced many U.S. manufacturers out of business. In 1991, labor inspectors found labels for Wal-Mart brands being made in Manhattan’s Chinatown. There, 16 and 17 year-old Chinese immigrants without permits had been working for one month without being paid.

I thought of another good band name: The Invisigoths.

Kids, if you’re ever on Fir and 7th, there’s a really good French restaurant on the northwest corner. Kitty corner to the Diane Farris Gallery. Poutine and hot goat cheese salad for all.

Yesterday Marlo, Mr. Chris and I went to Opus to buy art supplies. I went to the till twice inside 10 minutes and was served by the same clerk – she didn’t recognize me. In fact, inbetween trips, she mistook me for Mr. Chris. I deem her an idiot. Hmmm. that could be a good ESL dialogue. I bought pencils and paper and some really neat pens. After we got back we played Scrabble. Then I went to Coquitlame to enjoy late night swimming with Ang Hold and then I raided her fridge. She drove back and we played Conquest Beyond.

You know…for fun!

I think I have finally caught Mr. Chris’ cold. The good news is: I am a cute girl – KISS

Mr. Chris AKA Stewie AKA my roommate got the Firefly complete series on DVD yesterday in the mail FOR FREE! He also got free movie tickets in the mail today. I’m waiting for him to open the envelopes to see what movies they’re for.

I think everyone should be like me: when you pay $5-13 to see a movie, and you’re sitting in the theater, and then they start rewarding your patronage with Coke and car commercials, close your eyes and stick your fingers in your ears and go LALALALALALALA.

Or better yet throw things at the screen and yell BOOOOOO!

I think if everyone yelled BOOOOOO during commercials they’d stop showing them and our quality of life would improve. Or we could go on hunger strikes.
Well, not me, of course. But you guys could.

We have cable again! I learned something from the cable guy today, the wisdom of whom I shall pass along to you. You know those coaxial cables that come with VCRs (the black ones) that you don’t need to screw in, you just push in? They have weak shielding that allows interference on channels 17-22 (the frequency of which is used for ambulances and police). So if you like your channels clean, don’t use them.

Did anybody see that weak, alarmist news article in the past 10 days or so about the return of bedbugs?

Speaking of news: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California proposed cutbacks in therapy for the mentally disabled and in AIDS and poverty programs. Administration officials let it be known that President Bush has decided to back down and repeal his illegal tariffs on foreign steel in order to avoid a trade war with Europe and Japan. President Bush showed up in Iraq for Thanksgiving wearing an Army tracksuit; Bush stayed in the country for two and a half hours, the same amount of time spent by President Lyndon B. Johnson in Vietnam, in 1966. It was revealed that the Queen of England often eats cornflakes for breakfast out of a Tupperware container and that Prince Andrew loves to play jokes on the servants, especially by hiding a puppet called Monkey in a different place every day. U.S. forces fought a major battle with guerrillas in Samarra and killed up to 54 Iraqis; American officials said the casualties were members of the Fedayeen but local residents said that most were civilians who fought back in self-defense. Neil Bush, the president’s brother, has admitted to enjoying the sexual favors of strange women who simply knocked on his door while he was visiting Thailand; Bush said he didn’t know whether the women were prostitutes but noted that they did not ask for money. Georgia’s new rulers, who overthrew Eduard Shevardnadze because they were tired of living in one of the most corrupt nations on earth, began hiring their friends and relatives for important government positions. The Bush Administration approved a research project to develop low-yield bunker-busting nuclear weapons, or “mini-nukes.” American security consultants were using Iraqi guerrillas to test nonstandard “limited-penetration” ammunition that punctures steel but shatters when it hits “soft targets” and creates untreatable wounds. Advanced Digital Solutions announced that it has developed a system to use subdermal implants to make credit-card payments using radio frequency identification, or RFID. Privacy advocates were not amused: “If we establish a robust credit-card network based on RFID chips implanted under the skin,” said one, “we are also creating the infrastructure for potential government surveillance.” A Wal-Mart shopper in Orange City, Florida, was trampled and knocked unconscious during a stampede at a Wal-Mart Supercenter; the stampede occurred at the 6 a.m. opening of a big sale. The victim, who was first in line, was found clutching a DVD player. [The sale offered $29 DVD players. One of the stampeders was heard to say “I’d kill for one of these!”-T] Astronauts on board the international space station reported hearing a weird noise, and scientists figured out how to make trees grow faster. Researchers in Australia were preparing to test a new ultra-convenient female contraceptive spray, and infectious-disease experts suggested that Alexander the Great died of West Nile fever. A serial horse rapist was on the loose in Bigfork, Montana.

Where is Georgia (the country)?

Circa 2nd Century A.D. Deep blue-green in color, the large twenty-sided die incised with a distinct symbol on each of its faces

“Several polyhedra in various materials with similar symbols are known from the Roman period. Modern scholarship has not yet established the game for which these dice were used.”
http://www.christies.com/LotFinder/search/LOTDETAIL.ASP?intObjectID=4205385
I guess it’s true what they say – no original ideas.

“The ground rule is, if you want to enjoy the luxury of being able to buy books anywhere other than Chapters in the future, you must exercise these alternatives now” – Rowan

I didn’t buy anything but a bus transfer on “Buy Nothing Day” (yesterday). As it turns out it had nothing to do with activism, I just didn’t have anything else to buy that day.

Dancing is Funny

I took the skytrain out to Coquitlam to go swimming with Anghold last night, but when we got to the Aquatic Center, there were too many kids, and it was $5 instead of $2 (as we were used to) so we called it off. We played Scrabble instead. Then we went to pick up Hoolie (Ang’s mom) at a Save-On-Foods Christmas Party that was quite something to see. Ang dragged me onto the dance floor and I did the robot. After we dropped off Hoolie at the Hold Home we drove back to my place and rolled up Ang’s D&D character. She decided on an aranea. Should be interesting.

I kind of sort of helped Slater move today. I didn’t get to his place until, oh, 2:30ish or later, I guess. That’s what happens when you don’t go to bed until 6:30am. I thought I’d be too late – and I was too late to help load the couch – but there was a great deal of stuff that wasn’t packed up. Slater had I think a total of 2 boxes, so almost everything was loose: small lamps, dragon incense burners, printers, etc. The big pile of plastic grocery store bags in the living room was a nice thought but ultimately futile. Nevertheless, we managed to tie up the elevator in a most satisfying way and soon we were on the road in the big Budget van. Some SUV smacked into and broke the driver side mirror and traffic was so bad that by the time we got into Langley, I had to go. So Slater rode all that way scrunched up in the cab between the two proper seats for nothing. Darcey kindly dropped me off at the skytrain and I was off to play Mutants and Masterminds at Theo’s. Here’s a brief rundown of what happened in M&M

Luke Cage (Son of Thunder), Indigo & The Red Skrull were transported to a magic-heavy universe where The Mandarin had conquered North America, and mutants were elves/fey. Dr. Strange asked us if we’d go ask Fenris for advice on how to defeat Mandarin and his ally, Fin Fang Foom. (You know all your Marvel history – right?) So we travelled to Nordheim (Norway) where we were greeted by frost giants and Fenris told us that he had recently eaten Magneto (as an aside) and that we had to travel into his belly to collect a magic sword that would help us against Foom. So we did that, and now we’re on our way to…I forget.