Huffington on drugs

America's Other Costly, Counterproductive, Under-Reported War

It's about goddamned time. Too long have people been thrown in prison for insignificant drug possession violations. If Bush manages to implement these changes I might actually find something complimentary to say about his administration.

Enough with the anime

My kids love anime, and I have to admit I can't stand the stuff.

I love traditional and modern Japanese art and culture, but I find anime to be nauseatingly sentimental. The crudely drawn figures with garishly oversized (and usually moist) eyes, the simpering voices, the coos and whimpers of female characters, the dorky bravado and machismo of the male characters, set my teeth on edge.

The very youngest female characters flash disproportionately elongated legs under impossibly short skirts, hair in pigtails, eyes wet (of course), and trembling with whatever emotion they are conveying, while they communicate with little whimpers and cries of surprise. It smacks of pedophilia porn to me.

I don't understand the western interest in anime at all, particularly with young people. What makes it so attractive that scores of young women decorate websites and blogs with anime characters? How can they identify with these characters, and why would they want to?

I've waited a long time for this fad to die out.

Bob the Mind Bomber

I moved to Toronto in October 2001, and my husband used to keep CityTV's BT (Breakfast Television) on in the mornings to listen to the traffic and weather reports before work. I don't watch a lot of tv, but I'd watch friendly suspender-clad Kevin Frankish doing a run down of the day's top stories, we'd both laugh and wink at each other when Mika the sexy transit reporter came on for a few seconds, mute the tube when Liza Fromer, the station bimbo giggler came on and didn't pay much attention to anything else. Then came the day I caught a glimpse of this old hippy in a kimono bathrobe scanning a stack of newspapers with a highlighter on a segment called "Papercuts", so I turned up the volume and gaped.

That was my first introduction to Bob Hunter, and I became a devotee. Bob, with his receding, ponytailed hair, sporting the groovy bathrobes and reading through and commenting on a variety of reports from the morning papers, is responsible for enlightening me on a wide variety of subjects, including the Kyoto Protocol, global warming, oil supply politics, activism, nuclear power issues, eco-journalism, as well as internal Canadian, US-Canada, and global politics. I watched Papercuts for many months before googling Bob's name, and was amazed to discover that he was a co-founder of Greenpeace, and largely responsible for the organization's media savvy. He is noted not only for his eco-activism, but for his journalism. To read some of Bob's articles, check out his contibutor section on Eye.net. He has authored many books:

Erebus; The Enemies Of Anarchy; The Storming Of The Mind; Greenpeace; Greenpeace III: Journey Into The Bomb; To Save The Whale; Warriors Of The Rainbow; The Greenpeace Chronicle; Cry Wolf; On The Sky: Zen And The Art Of International Freeloading and 2030 : Confronting Thermageddon in Our Lifetime

I had noticed that Bob's Papercuts segment had disappeared from BT's daily broadcasts, but I was stunned to hear that he had passed away on May 2nd after a fight with prostate cancer. His funeral is set for May 15th, and I hope the media covers it to the hilt so that the world will know what kind of hero we've lost. He was one of a kind, and meant a lot to me.

Apocalypse Bob

Strangers I Call Friends

"If random bloggers can evolve into a community of people who trust, respect, and are intimate and united with each other this says a lot for the human condition. People are tired of the segregated, separatist reality of countries, cultures, races and religions. These group blogging sites, or collective on-line journals as I now like to think of them, are symbolic of the future connectedness of all of humanity." Jesse S. Somer

I value the internet friendships I've made in the 6+ years I've been online. I started out poking around on MSN and soon discovered a group of philosophy junkies hanging out in the chats and communities there and began to collect of group of kindred spirits that I interacted with on an almost daily basis. Eventually my IM list grew to be ridiculously large, and I started a closed community of my own and invited my inner circle to join and meet one another. It has been quite successful, and many of those who've met through the community have continued to develop friendships with one another. It has continued to grow through invitations and referrals, despite my lagging participation. It has grown into a thing beyond me, with a life of it's own.

My first interactions with 'net people were very positive, for the most part. Any adult with common sense and perception can discern who is sincere, and as Confucius said, "Have no friends not equal to yourself." I don't trust lightly, but I've learned that my gut instinct about someone is usually dead-on, online or in r/l.

I quickly regained confidence in myself and came out of a not-quite-self imposed isolation. I found a few exceptional friends who allowed me to be myself and provided a mirror through which I could gain some perspective on my lifestyle, and unhealthy relationship I was in at the time. It was through these friends that I found the strength within to make significant changes and start over fresh.

I met my (now) spouse online when it was still considered an irresponsible and dangerous thing to do. We kept our friendship - and then the developing relationship - private, fearing (or not wanting to hear) what family and friends would say. After a year of many hours spent online through IM and cam, enormous international phone bills, we met in person, and married 6 months later.

Internet romance gets a lot of flak, but I think it can be an excellent way to see beyond the physical and get to know the person behind the screen in a way that is difficult to do face to face. Word to the wise, though: International romance isn't all it's cracked up to be. If we had known how much grief (and money) would be involved in the immigration process I doubt we would have gone through with it. I've been here for almost 4 years and still don't have legal status, though my residency papers should come through in early summer. :knock wood:

Recently I've made a couple of new friends online playing NationStates, and the odd thing is I met both independent of the other, and then later found that they had both been friends with each other for quite a while before meeting me. Eerie.

I make acquaintances easily, but true friends less often. The few who stay forever-unblocked on IM know who they are, and they are loved and greatly appreciated.

This post goes out to.. Tightspiral, Bonghit, Robon, SimonSays, SONAR, Solitude, myystery, Blackwolf, Adyndril and a couple of others who would kick my ass if I mentioned their names. ;)