From the Globe and Mail: Hiding in plain website.
Killers from Columbine to Dawson College have broadcast their intentions online long before going on their murderous rampages. One criminologist thinks mass school shootings can be averted with cyberspace sleuthing
Teenagers who discover a fondness for The Cure (or whoever today’s version of The Cure is), prepare to be patted down.
[tags]columbine, dawson college, kacper gradon[/tags]
From the BBC: Al-Qaeda accuses Iran of 9/11 lie.
Al-Qaeda’s deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, has blamed Iran for spreading the theory that Israel was behind the 11 September 2001 attacks. In an audio tape posted on the internet, Zawahiri insisted al-Qaeda had carried out the attacks on the US.
So let me see if I’ve got this straight…Al Qaeda are pissed at Iran for trying to steal their terrorist street cred and give it to Israel? I have now, officially, seen everything.
I wonder if it occurs to Al Qaeda that they’re indirectly criticizing Iran’s anti-semitism…
[tags]al-qaeda, iran[/tags]
Last night we watched our third documentary, Dance With A Serial Killer (hot docs) at the ROM theatre. Quick note about that venue: don’t watch any film there featuring subtitles. It’s practically impossible to read them over/around the person sitting in front of you.
Now then: the documentary. Very interesting, considering it was a 20-year-old case. A woman is murdered on a beach, in broad daylight, with lots of people around, but no apparent killer. The documentary follows the thought process of detective Jean-Francois Abgrall as he ran every lead in search of the murderer. Eventually the investigation focuses on one man, who all but confesses but continues to elude arrest. Finally, after a few years (and another murder) Abgrall gets the man to confess, and he’s eventually convicted of nine killings. Because he only partially confesses to crimes (drawing elaborate, detailed pictures of murder scenes police don’t even ask him about, but then professing not to have been there) and is now very heavily sedated in prison, there’s probably no hope of ever confirming the extent of his killing. Abgrall believes him guilty of fifty, perhaps more.
Remember, this was 1989, so Abgrall wasn’t using computer searches, DNA evidence, fancy-pants CSI labs or anything else. Nor was French law enforcement a great deal of help; indeed, his case would be the cause of some reforms. Abgrall didn’t get into high-speed chases or fire his gun; he used doggedness, ingenuity and a lot of luck to bring down a psychopath.
[tags]dance with a serial killer, hot docs, jean-francois abgrall, francis heaulmes[/tags]
The Canadiens took game 7 tonight, pounding the Bruins 5-0 to salvage the series win. No one expected the series to last more than five games, but Boston turned the series into an ugly scrap long enough to win three games. Tonight, though, Montreal’s defense and goaltending were stellar, and their skill just took over in the second and third periods.
Not sure yet who Montreal will play in the next round…I guess it’ll be either New York or Philadelphia. I have to say, I’d rather see them face Philadelphia; for that to happen Philly would have to beat Washington, but I like Washington and hate Philadelphia, so I’m torn. Strategically, I’ll be cheering for the Flyers tomorrow, but deep down I’ll probably be hoping the Caps win.
[tags]montreal canadiens, boston bruins, nhl playoffs[/tags]
So far we’ve seen two Hot Docs documentaries, and we’re off to see a third in just a few minutes. To date we’ve seen:
[tags]hot docs, air india 182, the last continent[/tags]
While I sat at Fran’s eating breakfast I read a few pages of Catherine Gildener‘s Too Close To The Falls. After a few pages a woman, maybe a few years younger than me, who’d been sitting across from me with (I assume) her boyfriend/husband, came over to my table. She told me she’d read the book and loved it, but had never seen anyone else reading it before. I told her I couldn’t take credit for unearthing the obscure find, that it had been recommended by my writing instructor Michelle Berry years before (who I believe had reviewed it for the Globe) and after keeping it on my shelf for six winters I was finally getting around to it. We talked about the fantastic stories Gildener told of her childhood, and wondered how such tales could be real. She apologized for interrupting my breakfast, told me she hoped I would enjoy the rest of the book as much she did, and went back to her table.
This, to me, is the real benefit of the paper book. I see no advantage to the convenience of the medium, compared to an e-book or reading online, but what I’ve found is that people will often come over and talk to me about a book, because they see it as a shared emotional experience. Normally, as an introvert, strange people striking up conversations with me is akin to getting mugged, but in these cases the conversation is about the book, not about me or them, so I don’t mind.
In fact, I wish there was an equivalent for music. Each day on my way to and from work I see hundreds of people with headphones snaking out of their bags and pockets and I wonder what they’re listening to. I assume they’re all listening to the same formulaic, familiar music that infects radio and most iPods, but what about the exceptions? For every Rainer Maria Rilke you spot in a sea of John Grisham and Deepak Chopra there must be a similar musical outsider. How great would it be to see that the baby boomer in a golf shirt is listening to the new Frightened Rabbit? Or that the punk girl carrying a skateboard is listening to Blind Willie Johnson? Or that the accountant with the CostCo briefcase is listening to T-Rex? I feel like every day I’m missing a dozen shared emotional experiences contained in pairs of headphone wires.
[tags]catherine gildener, michelle berry, rainer maria rilke, frightened rabbit, blind willie johnson, t-rex[/tags]
I’m sitting in Fran’s and looking across the street at Massey Hall. The signs outside show that three of the upcoming acts are Gordon Lightfoot, George Thorogood and Emmylou Harris. There’s a good chance that same lineup is in my dad’s stereo at any given point.
[tags]gordon lightfoot,george thorogood,emmylou harris,massey hall[/tags]
From the Quill & Quire’s blog: Mommy’s New Rack.
In the latest sign of the impending apocalypse, ABC News has posted a story about a new children’s book called My Beautiful Mommy, written by the Florida-based plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Salzhauer. The book is an attempt to explain (and to justify) plastic surgery to children.
My soul…it weeps.
“Why are you going to look different?” asks the daughter of her mother in the car ride back from the doctor’s office.
“Not just different, my dear — prettier!” exclaims the mother.
On the outside, maybe.
Actually, not even then. The wonder that is high definition has made it very clear which actors and actresses have had work done, and it just never looks good. Latest exhibit: Mary McDonnell, who’s acquired a Joker-grade rictus for season four of BSG.
[tags]plastic surgery, mary mcdonnell[/tags]
I cannot stop listening to “Floating In The Forth” by Frightened Rabbit. It’s just the kind of lovely, warming song (odd, because it’s kind of about suicide) that makes me want to cry and smile and quit my job and sell everything I own and lie in a field with headphones and sun and listen to it over and over and over again.
I know, because of the way I consume music, that by next week I’ll have moved on to something else. But I’ll come back. And, right now, it’s perfect.
[tags]frightened rabbit, floating in the forth[/tags]
Love affair of the day: The Midnight Organ Fight, the latest album from Frightened Rabbit. I loved this one right from the jump, right from song one. And when song one has a title like “The Modern Leper” and it still hooks you, you know it’s good. Go, find. It’s on eMusic, I’m sure it’s on iTunes as well.
[tags]frightened rabbit, the midnight organ fight[/tags]
