I’m gone for four days…

… and the world explodes.

Currently on ye olde radar:

- The Clinton-Obama-never-ending-contest-of-doom. At this point, dudes. It’s redundant to say anything. Mostly what can be said has already been spewed out there. My adding some verbal diarrhea to this subject doesn’t do anything…

- Montreal people rioting over their home team’s win. Get this. Their hockey team wins, after a lot of tension as to whether they’ll beat the Boston Bruins, and what do they do? They torch cars, beat up police, and scare lots of people on Ste. Catherine’s. Good going, drunken hockey fans. I knew I could count on you for a good, sensible time.

- And J.K. Rowling decides that the HP Lexicon is debasing, pilfered, and badly put-together. Plus, she’s suing Steve Vander Ark for copyright infringement, among other things. I think most of this was Warner’s doing - because which super-popular fantasy series hasn’t sprung more than a few encyclopedic compilations by fans? Admittedly Tolkien is dead and Gaiman is flattered, but how much richer than disgustingly rich do you want to be? Yes, it’s her baby. But she’s used it herself to keep the facts straight during writing - which she has admitted to. I have zero use for the Lexicon, having long stepped out of that particular fandom, but if she honestly thinks fans are out to rip Harry Potter off and make money, she’s going to lose a lot of fans. (Plus, SVA has lots of loyal fanboys, as evidenced by the showing at Prophecy. Just a warning.)

And you may have noticed that the layout has changed… I got tired of the comment thread running waaaaaaaaaaay down where the sidebar ends, so I did a bit of switching around. Am self-professedly bad at this whole CSS/html thing, so it’s pretty much the original layout provided.

Exams. Ha. Do not study the night before. That is all I’m saying.

Sevenses

Don’t be too CNN

I AM LOLLING. SO MUCH LOL.

Lyrics in the original Chinese and translation below:

做人别太CNN

那天上网猛然看见了一张照片
描述的是发生在西藏的打砸事件
CNN信誓旦旦，一切真相都在里面
而我渐渐却发现，这竟是欺骗
不管世事如何变迁，沧海变桑田
周老虎和这样的照片， 我一样的讨厌
不要以为重复千遍，谎话就会成箴言
黑夜给了我黑色眼睛，我却用它寻找光明
何苦挖空心思，想要弄假成真， 做人别太CNN
你又怎么可能，让周杰伦变成李宇春？
何苦挖空心思，想要弄假成真， 做人千万别CNN
我宁愿你们， 只是很傻很天真

Don’t be too CNN

One day I saw a photo on the internet
Describing Lhasa’s violent incident in Tibet
CNN swore that the truth was all there
But I gradually found, that this was a lie
No matter how things change, and oceans may recede to reveal land
The incident of the Zhou Tiger* and this photo are equally despicable
Don’t think that lies become truth if they are repeated a thousand times
The night gave me black eyes, but I will use them to find light
Why spend so much time trying to make false things true? Don’t be too CNN
How can you turn Jay Chou into Li Yuchun**?
Why spend so much time trying to make false things true? Never be like CNN
I would prefer if you were stupid and naive…

* The incident of the Zhou Tiger refers to one hunter’s miraculous ‘discovery’ of a tiger in a forest. The local officials took this at face value and used it to get a large grant from the central government to designate that area a protected park - but in fact the photo of the miracle tiger was actually a life-size calendar of a reclining tiger taken in the woods. The local government colluded with the ‘hunter’ (actually a local farmer) to get money. Very infamous incident of 2007, at least in China.

** Li Yuchun is a super girl idol, also of 2007, I think.

I wonder how this would address the one-sided media report on all sides of the debate? Interesting and funny, but stupid people exist all over the world, unfortunately.

Anyway, this tidbit was for you, before I go off into the deep end of scholastic hell. Hopefully I’ll re-emerge.

Thanks to Pris to pointing this article out, which led me to the song. Haven’t lolled like this in a while.

And on that note, about the issues the article addresses, vigilantism is always always bad. It’s right up there with terrorism. If you have something to say, keep it civil. Don’t toss rocks at houses. The house (or the human) can’t fight back if you toss rocks…

Love,

Sevenses

Petition

Here is what the letter says:

To: CNN and Situation Room

We are truly stunned and shocked by a recent racist and hatred remark on the Chinese people by your news commentator Jack Cafferty. In Situation Room aired on April 9th, Cafferty charged the Chinese people with a highly despicable assault by saying, “They (Chinese) are basically the same bunch goons and thugs they have been in the past fifty years.” (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0804/09/sitroom.03.html)

It’s not common to witness such a blatant discrimination against an ethnic group of people with such a derogatory connotation in a national TV program. We believe his remark clearly exposed his hatred and bigotry against Chinese people as a whole. Without doubt, many people feel hurt, especially, the Chinese people, by this shameless assault.

Cafferty’s hatred speech has been recorded and uploaded to Youtube. So far the click rate is approaching ten thousand. People from around the world have left comments condemning his vile remark.

As a leading organization of legal immigrants mainly comprised of people from China, we strongly condemn Jack Cafferty’s racist remarks and urge CNN to take immediate action against him. We also demand an official apology from CNN to all Chinese people. We would reserve our right to take further actions on this matter.

Click here to sign.

I stopped watching CNN after I realized the media was just one facet of the government (see: fourth estate), but really, this level of unprofessionalism surprises me.

Sevenses

P.S. Thanks Jess for giving me more examples of public figures making a fool of themselves by jumping onto the bandwagon.

Woman Swallowed by Python

I know. I didn’t believe it either. But it’s true:

A python killed and half-swallowed a woman in south-eastern Bangladesh, according to police.

Basanti Tripura, 38, was collecting fruit with a friend in a forest when she was attacked on Tuesday, a police official said.

She was swallowed up to her waist.

The python, believed to have been more than 3 metres long, was killed and the body retrieved, the official said.

–Reuters

Um. Glad that I live in a country with polar bears, giant moose, bobcats, wolves, and the occasional homicidal seagull.

Got the tidbit from here.

Gah.

Sevenses

Vatican worried that Muslims are outnumbering Catholics

According to statistics, right now, Muslims make up 19.2% of the worlds population, beating the Catholic 17.4%.

A high ranking church official commented, “While it is known that Muslim families continue to have many children, Christian families are having fewer.” (He also said, “For the first time in history, we are no longer on top.”)

Source: The Guardian Weekly. Vol 178 No 16.

Well. That clears up a few things, don’t you think?

a) That pesky birth control issue, in which the church has always maintained a firm stance.

b) Climate change! Let’s all have babies and use up the world’s limited resources! Because, as we all know, potential Catholics deserve to be consumers just as much as potential Muslims.

c) Lalala, what xenophobia? Next thing you know, they might do population analyses based on nationality, and we all know who would win, right?

d) HIV doesn’t happen to good Catholics. God takes care of that.

Okay, enough of this concern for fellow humans. Take me to someplace where I don’t have to worry about concern. Yay for dramaland.

Love,

Sevenses