Hey, I’m just posting this for the use of those planning to attend the Dec 17, 2008 protest. Hopefully (if I’ve done this right) they will find attached a poster and a flyer that they can print and distribute around town to publicize the event.
PosterFlyer/Info to hand out
Better on ink poster
Protest materials December 4, 2007
Disregard last post April 21, 2007
I’ve removed most of the last post because I realized it was just stupid complaining about junk.
It could have been more aptly summed up in:
Classical theory is difficult and I’m getting tired of it.
That’s all.
Arrrgh April 9, 2007
Has anyone ever noticed how sociological dictionaries can be altogether useless at times?
Random Poll March 18, 2007
Quick: Who’s your favourite theorist and why? And, if you hate theory altogether, why? 
… And if you hate the question and wished I’d asked something else… What’s your favourite question?
People in Leth drive like crap March 13, 2007
How much frost was there on the road this morning? Not too much, sure it was icy but it’s not like we were in the midst of a January snowstorm. And yet people don’t know how to drive…
Do you know how it feels to have somone slide sideways in front of you into your lane? And then when you need to put on your brakes to escape hitting them, your own car starts sliding? Four times this winter, I swear. Something is trying to kill me, I feel like I’m in one of the Final Destination flicks.
It feels like your entire body has been hollowed out; like your bones have been replaced with icy cold air. And only after the fact, when you’re still breathing, do you realize that’s what intense fear feels like.
Frig.
Shameless Plug February 28, 2007
Okay well, I know it’s pathetic but I’ve resorted to putting something with an “A” in the front of my blog name so that it, hopefully, shoots up to the top of the RSS list and people start reading it more. I know this may seem desperate but my witty jokes, fun cartoons, gold-mine of YouTube vids and thought provoking COLOUR pictures of people like Micheal Moore and Madonna have not yet helped. In that case, I shall keep trying but, like Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan, I will stop at nothing to get your attention! I will even talk about…
SEX!!!
Just joking, well sort of. I ended up watching Avril Lavigne’s new music video on YouTube the other day. From that statement, the first question is always WHY, why would anyone who is not a 13 year old girl with identity issues subject themselves to something like that? Well, simply because I could. I don’t have cable, in fact I would have to pay quite the satellite fee to get MTV or MuchMusic so I don’t come into contact with other music videos and heck, they’re free on YouTube. Secondly, because I knew it was going to be bad, I knew there would be something (or a few things) about it that would make me recoil at how I dressed up like Avril for Halloween when I was in junior high and she was still enjoying her debut (and, for the record, my halloween costume was ‘cool’ and no, I did not get beat up). Third, the last factor that pushed my clicking over the edge was the fact that it was on the ‘most viewed’ page for the day and so I am only as weak as the masses.
So all I have to say about the video itself is… rap. Rapping angsty ‘punk’ Avril. Yup. It’s like Fergie meets Green Day and it’s not good at all. I think Avril has pulled out all the stops and made herself into a conglomeration of what made her famous along with what has made every current female pop star famous these days. Ergh. When will it stop?!
For your viewing pleasure:
And frig, what did that guy’s girlfriend do to deserve that? lol Sad. And the greasy blonde hair is just.. um.. scary.
Sensationalism February 14, 2007
NOTE: This post is pertaining to what we discussed a couple of classes ago and has been sitting in my “drafts” file because I ran out of time to finish it. If you’re looking for something more relevant to this week, keep going to the next post. Thanks!
Alright, well I’ve been meaning to get around to this all week but…you know how it goes. Here’s my post about that “To Catch a Predator” episode I heard about.
Just some background: Having grown up in Lethbridge, I am very familiar with the radio stations. I am also a very light sleeper and cannot think of anything more painful to start my day with than the BLEEP BLEEEP BLEEP of an alarm clock. So I set it to the radio and first I was waking up to Celine Dion all the time (courtesy of the River) then Nickelback (Rock 106) and Shakira (the Bee) and I did not even try stomaching the country station. So I have set the dial to CBC as one last, desparate attempt. This has had a strange byproduct. The morning show on CBC is The Current where they usually talk about very relevant, interesting issues. So now, instead of waking up and hitting snooze as fast as I can, I wake up and end up listing to the radio for 15+ minutes until I can drag myself out of bed. Sometimes this backfires; once I was in a deep sleep and woke up to a report on that serial killer guy in BC, no matter how fast I got to the snooze button, the next ten minute of my sleep was pretty gory! ugh. So yes, the day I heard this report on Dateline, my alarm had just gone off…
So the version I heard was that “To Catch a Predator” was tracking this guy who was the head of police in some city in the states. However, they only had records of inappropriate conversations that had been happen with someone using the computer in his house. So, since the show hadn’t really made any progress, they decided to actually come to this guy’s house and confront him there (let it be noted that at this point he had not physically done anything and all they had were records of his internet activity). When he wouldn’t come to the door, they called a SWAT team who broke into his house and just as they did, he shot himself.
There are two hypotheses: One is that he was really guilty of horrible things and could not stand being caught so he ended it. The other, proposed by his sister and other people who personally knew him, was that he was such an upstanding citizen he could not stand to have his good name tarnished like this.
Either way, two points were brought up on the radio show. One was that a show like this that makes such a spectacle violates the premise that somone is innocent until proven guilty. And the other was that, even if these people are guilty, such a sensationalized way of catching them really leaves no room for the possibility of rehabilitation.
Here is a news version of the story.
Here is a more involved and interesting article on the whole case and different factors.
