2006-11-30

9/11 Mysteries (Full Length, High Quality)

This is a brand new public domain 9/11 Truth documentary about the controlled demolition of the World Trade Center complex. It's excellent. Pass this link on!

World Trade Center WTC twin dowers controlled demoltion thermate thermite explosions 9/11 911 9-11 september 11 11th truth conspiracy theory theories theorist george bush dick cheney donald rumsfeld paul wolfowitz doctring PNAC project for a new american century NORAD FAA FBI CIA NSA cutter charges molton steel WTC7 building 7 larry silverstein pull it BYU physics professor steven jones loose change alex jones NIST pentagon flight 77 missile flight 93 shanksville PA lets let's roll put options gold emma e. booker elementary jersey girls

SANTA'S WORKSHOP - Inside China's SLAVE labor toy factories

*ONLY A SHORT SEGMENT IN THE BEGINNING HAS ENGLISH SUBTITLES, THE REST IS SPOKEN ENGLISH*

SANTA'S WORKSHOP takes you to the real world of China's toy factories. Workers tell us about long working hours, low wages, and dangerous work places. Those who protest or try to organize trade unions risk imprisonment.

Low labour costs attract more and more companies to China. Today more than 75% of our toys are made in China. But this industry takes its toll on the workers and on the environment.

The European (and American) buyers blame bad conditions on the Chinese suppliers. But they say that increasingly hard competition gives them no option. Who should we believe? And what can you do to bring about a fairer and more humane toy trade?

[PLEASE WATCH THIS INCREDIBLY INFORMATIVE DOCUMENTARY REGARDING SLAVERY OVERSEAS]
walmart, wal-mart, cheap wages slave labor, monopoly, corporate pollution, slavery

2006-11-29

Ceramics

Imagine over 2.3 million plastic bottles are thrown out a day and less than 5% are recycled. A frightening reality for the environment but a great thing for the petrol chemical industry. I heard this on CBC radio yesterday and I thought what a great statistic for those of us in the ceramics industry and furthermore the research and development of the ceramic water filter. This statistic combined with the recent rains and flooding of the lower mainland resulting in hundreds of lower mainland residents forced to either boil their water or buy bottled water is further evidence of the immediate need to support alternatives to plastic water bottles. I hope one day that the stupid consumer whom demands their light weight plastic water bottle as opposed to a ceramic or stainless steel receptacle will eventually wake up one day and make the change. I believe that it is about power to the consumer because if the consumer stops buying it no matter how appealing the ads are the companies will be forced under.
 
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2006-11-20

One year ago ....

One year ago I started this blog and it is now into it's second year. I always wondered how old is the oldest blog. Every blog I have seen has been only 2 to 3 years old with one blog going back to 2000. Ofcoarse I have yet to seen any extremely facinating blogs so far.

2006-11-18

The Iroha Project

The Iroha Project has under gone some major design changes and is still not quite finished. The Iroha Project is an image-audio dictionary arranged in categories in order to facilitate foreign language learning. The site contains nine categories in two languages. You are first asked to choose a language from the main page. On the second page, the categories will be on the left side of the page for you to select with the corresponding images on the right. Click a category and then click and listen to any image you like.
 
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2006-11-12

Charcoal firing

Next week I hope to do a firing with charcoal providing that it isn't too windy. I have built a small kiln a couple of years ago but because of the dry weather in the Okanagan I have not had a chance to fire it up mostly because I'm only around for the summer. I think that dry areas like these are not really suitable for wood firing kilns. I was about to buy the supplies for the kiln but I decided that I should prepare the pots before I prepare the kiln. Seems that the last time I prepared stuff I didn't get a chance to fire so today I spent the day hand-building in preparation for next week's firing.
 
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2006-11-08

Manufactured Landscapes

I watched Edward Burtynsky's documentary film, Manufactured Landscapes. Very powerful film with excellent photography. The film shows how the industrialized countries use the developing countries as overseas garbage dumps. I have always knew that most of the world's ships when they retire get shipped to India and Bangladesh to be ripped apart and it's scrap gets used over there. You may think oh great they are recycling the metal but what are these workers subjecting themselves too, toxic chemicals and oil leaking into the sea for years to come. The movie makes an interesting point that most used computers from industrialized countries end up in China somewhere to be disassembled and every bit of available metal taken out to be re-used. Again you may think oh great they are re-cycling the material. Think again, what are they doing to their health? Better put what are we doing to their health? What they are doing is taking a soldering iron and un-soldering the IC borders and anyone who has done this knows first hand of the stink of melting solder and plastics. Well if you have not tried this I suggest you try it first hand and then imagine what 1 person multiplied by a 100 or 1000 what the entire city must smell like. The film mentions that these fumes can be detected as you are approaching the city.
 
Most of the film is set in China with some footage taken in Bangladesh because as the director said he wanted to film and photograph an extreme example of environmental destruction although it is happening everywhere in the world. I found it amazing that people walking out of the movie theater maybe thinking well that is China. Maybe so but in reality it is their own junk that goes there and the Chinese are the ones who are trying to clean it up with whatever limited resources that they have available and then make more products from this junk to be sent back to the industrialized countries and so on the cycle continues. So who are the real victims? I believe the Chinese and other developing countries are the ones who are suffering at the expense of the rich industrialized countries whom are the criminals. There may be no argument now but in 50 years form now I am certain that this could be a case of  environmental destruction committed by industrialized countries leading to mass genocide more tragic than any war and the holocaust combined.
 
I wonder what would happen to the United States and other industrialized countries if the workers of all the factories and call-centers of China and other developing countries all of a sudden stopped work for a day. I would love to see it and the more I think about it the easier it would be to organize in a country like China because they have only one time zones - hey lets all call in sick on November the 9th! As for me I will be heading back to China to work later this year.
 

2006-11-04

First Snowfall

Well November 2nd was the first snowfall of the year. Cold and wet the precise recipe that spells out I-want-to-get-out-of -here. Not that Canada is a bad place but when you have been living in the tropics a light snowfall is not even tolerable. I went out for a bicycle ride yesterday but just could not take the cold. It was not terribly cold as I remember cycling for 11 months of the year in -30 degree weather in Edmonton. I wonder how did I do it? I must have been dreaming or something.
I cannot get my hands into the clay to make anything so I sit at the computer and learned a few more interesting techniques on Adobe Photo shop CS and Macromedia Flash MX Pro. That was rewarding but the question is, how long will I be able to retain it before I forget and have to re-learn it again? It is always a problem with these kinds of software. If you do not keep using it you forget it.
 
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