Put your music player on shuffle, and write down the first line of the first twenty-one songs. Post the poem that results. The first line of the twenty-second is the title.

He’s 5 Foot 2 & He’s 6 Feet 4
Crawl through the darkness, fear all that don’t, fate is a gift
You were the mother of three girls so sweet
What? well fuck you…bitch
No, no, no, no, don’t phunk with my heart.

Ooh, now let’s get down tonight
It won’t do
Pardon me while I burst
On my way up north.

Everyday all of these crimes are committed
I feel you creeping, I can see it from my shadow
Come to decide that the things that I tried
I’ve been so many places in my life and time.

The good times are killing me. Here we go!
It ain’t no joke I’d like to buy the world a toke
Well he lit you up
Pride can stand a thousand trials.

Will someone please call a surgeon
There’s another world inside of me
I pray for rain because I’m trying
This here’s a tale for all the fellas.

Kind of funny! Especially the 4th paragraph to me. Hah. What do you think? Can you name any or all of these songs?

I have urged y’all in the past to write your local MP about the CRTC and the issue of net neutrality, as well have asked you to sign the petition to dissolve the CRTC but if you haven’t done either, this website makes everything way, way easier. And isn’t that’s the beauty of the internet? Giving us lazy folks who care the ability to make our voices heard?

I am not a protester. Trust me. I think protests, walks, marches, signs, chants that say things like “hey hey, ho ho, homophobia’s got to go” are pretty much the most useless thing ever. I don’t believe they work. I don’t get involved in those things because I’ve never seen it do anything. I have never written a letter to my local MP (ha ha, despite asking you to – yes, I am a hypocrite) and I rarely sign petitions. This is because I have yet to see any of these things result in a changing of government law, social discrimination, or stereotyping.

If I saw real results, I’d see that the my efforts would be worthwhile. I’m sure there are plenty of examples out there of it happening – but I have yet to see anything. I’m cynical. I’m lazy. And I demand to have my voice heard… but maybe from the couch, and behind my ice cream?

Either way, the Campaign for Competitive Broadband website is pretty sweet as. One click, and boom: You are presented with a pre-written protest letter:

Another click and bam! Who do you want to send this to?

I honestly don’t think it could be any easier than this. Like, really. I didn’t even have to move anything except my hand. A couple of fingers. But there you have it, a well crafted protest letter sent off to four government officials. Protesting just got a heck of a lot sweeter. And my throat doesn’t even hurt from hours of chanting!

This isn’t just an issue of who the bigger telco giant is, this is an issue of letting the competitive spirit run rampant among our Capitalist system (which you may have gathered, I am a fan of). All the partners listed on the above site should be allowed to be as competitive as they want, on their terms. They shouldn’t have to be as competitive as they can be, under the conditions Bell/Telus set forth.

Let’s help. Even if it’s from the couch.

This post shows some great examples and is written very well. It says:

Sexuality in Thai ads isn’t used to sell products in the same way as other countries, perhaps because sex as a selling point is overdone outside advertising.

I probably should have been more observant when I was in Thailand this past February/March, but them’s the breaks. This post really breaks down how different the obvious prostitution in Thailand isn’t the same as the “sex” in TV spots. Well worth a read and really brought back some great memories for me. You can read it here.

Koh Chang

The petition states the following:

Dear Minister of Industry,

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) was created for the purpose of ensuring broadcasting and telecommunications systems serve the Canadian public and ensure that Canadians have a wide variety of options to create and view works of media or communicate across the country and the entire world.

We, the undersigned, believe that the CRTC has become a burden on the Canadian public and are failing to perform their duties in the interest of the Canadian public and that of a fair and unbiased telecom policy.

In the last 3 years, we have seen the CRTC give undue preference in the interest of commercial entities and their preference for traditional business models over competing models that would create competition and help ensure that new business models can be created to entice and prosper original Canadian productions.

In the case of Bell Canada vs CAIP, involving the use of deep packet inspection (DPI) on Bell wholesale clients, the CRTC ruled in favor of Bell Canada to allow them to continue the use of deep packet inspection activities on wholesale customers without their permission or consent regardless of the implications for the end user customers. We believe this action greatly impacts the Canadian public’s choices, competition in the broadband market and may violate privacy laws based on the Privacy Commissioners findings.

In the case of Cybersurf requesting to match speeds of that for Bell retail customers, the CRTC ordered Bell Canada to produce a new tariff to match speeds for wholesale customers. Bell submitted a revised tariff to the CRTC, however the revised tariff did not fulfill the requirements as set out by the CRTC in Telecom Decision CRTC 2008-117. Bell proposed to offer lower speed tiers and introduce UBB (usage base billing) in lieu of matching speeds. The CRTC decided to accept the tariff on an interim basis with no logical explanation. This is not only anti-competitive but shows a clear bias towards Bell Canada.

These are only two of several instances in the past few years that show the CRTC is incapable of upholding the telecom act and the interest of the Canadian public. We demand that the commission is immediately dissolved and a new commission created and appointed based on the following criteria:

1) The commission members must not be appointed solely based on their career history
2) The commission members must not only be comprised of ex-telecom employees
3) The commission should be more transparent to the Canadian public about regulatory issues
4) The analysts should be more involved in the regulatory process to ensure that decisions are handed down in a fair and balanced manner

We hereby request that the CRTC be dissolved and a new commission formed immediately to ensure that the regulatory process and competitive environment remain in tune with the needs of the Canadian public.

Sincerely,
The undersigned

If you feel strongly about this like I do, please go here to sign the petition. You will have to confirm your signature via email within 3 days but that is it.

At the time of signing, there were 3,613 signatures. Please help in making this number as big as possible. Hopefully in doing so, they will hear us.

So unfortunately, I think this contest is faltering in its last few days. Dan hadn’t posted on his day for almost a week I believe, so I was unable to discuss his post. He did recently add something to his blog but I’m not sure if it’s any longer part of the competition. And then the worst thing happened: I didn’t post yesterday! I was so close to the end for perfect record but life got in the way yesterday.

In any case, I thought I would use this time to promote my friend Bill, and his band, Bill Kidney and Complete Control. I’ve known Bill for years now and ever since I’ve met him, he’s been working his ass off to get this band some exposure and fame. He has written many of their songs and spends countless nights performing. I sadly haven’t seen his band play since I moved away in the Summer of 2007 but I want to wish him all the best in his journey. He’s put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into his music and if anyone deserves good things, it is him.

He recently shot a music video for one of his songs, 25 Miles – a song I have known for years and still adore. I thought I would post it here and hopefully Bill will get some additional exposure he wouldn’t have otherwise. Please enjoy.