Run Oscar Run!
Oscar Pistorius is a double-amputee sprinter from South Africa who holds Paralympic world records in the 100, 200, and 400 meters.
His times have been close to those of able-bodied athletes. So close in fact that he has run against top-level competition at major meets in Europe. Pistorius has had a goal of competing in the Beijing Olympics but that dream was squashed when the I.A.A.F. ruled against his wishes last November. After subjecting himself and his special prosthetics to rigorous testing, a scientist determined that the prosthetics actually gave him an advantage since they retained and generated energy with little to no loss.
Pistorius protested the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and just found out today that he will be allowed to compete for a spot on South Africa’s track team.
That’s some cool-ass shit.
Celtics vs. Lebron
I love basketball. I’ve played it all my life and I’ve even scheduled work around March Madness and the NBA playoffs.
one of my favourite podcasts is the Basketball Jones. JE Skeets and Tas are two of the most knowledgeable and funny-assed dudes around.
but they really outdid themselves with their last podcast. peep the highlight song here. It’s a faux diss of superstar Lebron by perennial Boston benchwarmer Brian Scalabrine.
that’s the hot fyah right there.
is John Chow BTJ?
that’s “bigger than Jesus” for you acronymically (new word!) challenged.
John Chow is a Vancouver-based blogger who founded a site called The Tech Zone that has been a success, generating 200,000 hits/day. impressive but that’s not the reason why I’ve got my cyber eye on him.
John Chow has found a way to make money off his blog. shitloads of it. he documents his earnings and if his figures are legit, dude’s averaging $30Gs a month.
30,000.
I could use 30,000/month. that’s a number I could live with.
so I’m going to apply some of his techniques - not all, I don’t want my blog looking like a catalog - and I’ll see what happens.
Did the Associated Press take another staged photo?
international news agencies Reuters and AP have on occasion, had a dubious record of having some of their photographers taking photos that were obviously staged and in some cases, even Photoshopped.
with the coverage of the cyclone tragedy in Myanmar/Burma, it appears that they are at it again.
before I go on, let me state that I am a design professional who’s worked in the media industry for over a decade for some of the industry leaders and I’ve also used every major graphics package since the early ’90s.
now take a look at the image below:
the caption reads:
Homeless children, whose homes were destroyed in the devastating cyclone, look on while taking shelter May 8, 2008 in a monastery in Kaw Hmu village, about 100 kilometres southwest of Rangoon, Burma. The United Nations World Food Program’s first flight carrying aid landed in the country, also known as Myanmar, after the military regime gave clearance to send relief material to cyclone victims.
I don’t doubt that the kids are homeless and no doubt traumatized from their ordeal…but something didn’t add up to my trained eye.
check the breakdown.
1. note how the children only appear to have dirt on their faces. It’s not in their hair, on their necks or anywhere else.
2. check the kid in the lower right. he has three distinct oval prints that appear to be made by fingers. hold your hand up to your face and pretend you’re wiping something on it. note where your middle three fingers land.
3. look at how clean their clothes are. even more noticeable is how the kid on the left has a clearly pressed shirt - see the sleeve?
now why stage such a photo? my guess is that the orchestrator wanted to show grubby homeless kids as a way of amping up the sympathy quotient.
I can’t say that the AP photographer is the perpetrator, but if this person were properly trained they’d be able to see up close what I was able to discern half a world away.
random acts of awesomeness
NIN has just wrapped up their latest album called The Slip. they’ve also decided to have an early online release before the big commercial push in July.
oh, um….did I mention that the online release is free?
that’s right, no dolo at all.
as for the album review? keep it posted.
the iPhone’s a-coming to Canada!
time to drink that Koolaid like I was in Guyana in the ’70’s.
no question I’m gonna get one. it’s the only reason why I still have the old-ass phone that I do. I was waiting to get that beeyatch off contract.
and now the Jesus-phone is here. well, almost here. a year later? c’mon telcos! it’s like how Jamaica (land of my peeps) used to be with music. you’d hear a song drop up here only to become the new hotness back a yard 9 months later.
well it doesn’t matter now, the iPhone is here for me with it’s cold, sweet, metallic love….
get better haiku
hiro the cat is sick
gotta nurse him back to health
good karma is sought
Weekly WTF - The Toronto Star loves stairs
In what may be the dumbest article to ever grace their pages, Rosie DiManno columns notwithstanding; Toronto Star feature writer Bill Taylor penned a story about stairs.
Stairs.
*cough*
Not any famous stairs, like those belonging to the Great Wall of China, the Eiffel Tower or even the CN Tower; just regular run of the mill stairs. Read the effluvium here for yourself.
I used to work in the media - not too long ago either. This kind of reporting is what is used as filler on a slow news day. But even this story strains the limits of why peeps actually go to J School.
So once again, like Lazarus, I resurrect my old post outlining the rules for a slow newsday. Enjoy.
Earth Hour is your friend
so unless you’ve been - pun intended - living in the dark, you know that the latest world wide social phenomenon known as Earth Hour is happening today. the easy as pie requirements for eager acolytes is this: turn out your lights for 1 hour.
that’s it.
and by doing so you help to reverse the shrinking polar ice caps, the hole in the ozone layer will disappear, and countries will stop fighting thinly veiled wars over diminishing fossil fuels.
*cough*
created by an Aussie ad exec for the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour has gotten a big Kumbayah-type of feel in only its 2nd year of existence. will it make a difference? well maybe temporarily. it might even spur some peeps to adopt more eco-conscious ways of living. will it save the planet? probably not until the average Giuseppe and Giovanna stop electing and supporting power brokers who rule by strife and disinformation. but I suppose it’s a good “just add water” method of making people feel involved.
so go ahead and turn out your lights at the appointed hour today. just don’t feel smug about it the next day as you hop in to your SUV.
beatbasement.com
yeah I know, I’ve talked about this internet radio station and their site before (still booty), but they keep dropping some of the illest shit to reach your earwaves. from the early-90’s to 2000 and now hip hop that overall is ill. from dope NYC underground and sub-surface level cats to Cali backpackers, the best are represent here.
two slight beefs? on occasion they will play one too many nerdcore-type emcees..you know the ones that rap about how much they love their girl’s armpit hairs? yeah, those dudes. and sometimes the rhymes from some of the lesser known cats are weak, which is why they’re lesser known cats.
overall it’s not a bad station to listen to while you’re in the office.
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About
I'm a little bit Hip Hop, a little bit Funk and Soul. Throw in a few informed opinions and this is what you get.
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Miscellany
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