The transcripts of the Senate debate on the recently-amended drug bill are pretty amazing:
Hon. Claude Carignan: People often bring up the hypothetical situation of a youth who gets sent to jail for passing a joint to a friend. This bill has nothing to do with situations like that. Have any of you ever seen a three-kilogram joint?
Senator Comeau: That would be huge!
Senator Carignan: It would indeed be a huge joint.
A year after 15-year old student Alexandros Grigoropoulos was shot and killed by police, the streets of Athens are again blanketed by tear gas. Nearly a thousand people have been detained by Greek authorities, and schools have been occupied by anarchists in protest of the violation of academic asylum.
Anarchist flag waving over the Propylaia of the University of Athens. (gmesthos)
Protests in memory of Alexandros Grigoropoulos (apαs)
Protests both peaceful and violent have been taking place across the city over the past few days, and no immediate end is in sight.
Marches against state terror unleashed in the last few days against the movement took place in Athens and Salonica on Tuesday 8/12 amidst government lies and bragging of its ability to detain more than 800 citizens out of which 13 have been charged during the marches in memory of Alexandros Grigoropoulos.
In Athens the protest march called at Propylea at 19:00 found the university asylum grounds once again blocked by long triple chains of riot cops in utter breach of the 16th article of the constitution.
After several people were seriously wounded by a motorized police charge, Civil protection minister Michalis Chrisochoidis responded to criticism of brutal tactics by stating that “Police detentions, when justified, are not illegal in a democratic society. Neither is it illegal for judicial officials to press charges.” He added, “Vandals and hooligans have nothing to do with democracy.”
(Background, previously.)
Empire Magazine is celebrating its 20th anniversary by recreating old movie scenes with new photoshoots:
Went looking on Craigslist for a Technics 1200 dustcover, found this instead:
Hello!
As an avid foodie, I am always looking for tasty culinary experiences.
I am looking for a pregnant woman (preferably due around christmastime so that I can offer to my xmas guests) to sell me her placenta! I plan on using it to make a few dishes, and will probably braise some of it to make a bourgignon-style stew, turn some into a stuffing for ravioli, dice some up into a tartare and slice the rest very thinly to be cooked in a Vietnamese-style soup. If you are interested, you and your partner would be very welcome to join in this gastronomical adventure.
It would be an easy way for you to recoup some of the medical costs associated with pregnancy. You could even spend the money on the baby! If you wanted, I could give you a gift card to Toyz R Us or wherever you wanted to shop.
I would prefer if you didn’t have any blood-borne diseases, but this can be discussed.
The carvings at the new headquarters of RJW Stonemasons here in Ottawa are stunning:
Is there any place as universally disliked as a hospital? Sure, no one loves a dentist’s office, but the pathos of an intensive care waiting room can’t be compared to anything else.
The last time I was in an ICU, I wasn’t visiting. I woke up with no idea where I was, or how I had gotten there. Now, I can’t help but feel helpless when I hear the machines and smell disinfectant. I was not prepared for how shaken the visit left me.
…
Back in the real world, I’m slowly getting decisions made for the next iteration of my work’s website. Our daily traffic numbers are six digits long, so I’m taking my time with these.
I really love nerdy problems.
Are you a Republican? Libertarian (ha-ha!)? Did you feel emasculated after Obama won? Maybe you feel a little less virile, a little less of a man?
The present study investigated voters’ testosterone responses to the outcome of the 2008 United States Presidential election. 183 participants provided multiple saliva samples before and after the winner was announced on Election Night. The results show that male Barack Obama voters (winners) had stable post-outcome testosterone levels, whereas testosterone levels dropped in male John McCain and Robert Barr voters (losers).
Wired has an oversimplified assessment of the study’s results, but the findings are clear:
Male voters exhibit biological responses to the realignment of a country’s dominance hierarchy as if they participated in an interpersonal dominance contest. [...] Moreover, since the dominance hierarchy shift following a presidential election is stable for 4 years, the stress of having one’s political party lose control of executive policy decisions could plausibly lead to continued testosterone suppression in males.
Gothtronic reviews A Bright Cut Across Velvet Sky:
Ad·ver·sary is the powernoise/IDM project of Jairus Khan. In 2008 he made quite a name for himself with his album ‘Bone Music’, which was available as regular cd edition on Tympanik Audio, but could also be downloaded for free in high quality. [...] A very good remix album. Although some songs get remixed three times, all the tracks have a reasonable different sound, so it doesn’t get repetitive. Together with the addition of a couple of new tracks this is really an album you should have in you collection!
I agree with this man! You should download the album (it’s free!), or pick up a CD (on sale now!) from Tympanik.
restraint.org is a loose collection of writing, links, ravings, photos, news, fiction, and bad poetry by Jairus Khan. This website has been here (off and on) for ten years or so, and was around in various other forms for three or four years before that.
I spend most of my off-hours working (in Ottawa, Canada) to promote underground music, arts, and media, and trying to keep independent music from being smothered by the hopeless anachronism known as ‘the industry’. I DJ and promote concerts/festivals regularly, make occasional beep-beep noises in an industrial-metal band, and recently released a CC-licensed debut album for my own industrial-slash-experimental-electronic project, Ad·ver·sary.
When I’m not working with, promoting, listening to, or writing music, I design very angry websites, flyers, book jackets, and the sort for various arts projects. I supplement my music/design income (roughly enough to buy a pocketful of buttons a month) by developing counter-hacking courses and moonlighting as a web coordinator for the man.
I also bake very tasty cookies.
