StoneMtn

Hmmmmmmmm. To play Devil's Advocate, and for argument's sake: Velvet pulls back onto the highway after the nice cop let him go. Velvet causes an accident later that day, by hitting a pedestrian paralyzing that person for life. Insurance company denies coverage due to unregistered vehicle. Paralyzed person has only Velvet to go after. Velvet does not have vast sums of money to pay the claim. Paralyzed person lives with whatever money can be extracted from Velvet. Lessee here. Velvet wouldn't have been on the road if the cop had his car towed away right then, pending updating his registration. He would next be on the road when his car was properly registered and insured, so if something like this happened there would be a pot of money to pay Paralyzed-Guy, who is now living without income or any way to take care of himself, unless he pays for it. Do you think Paralyzed-Guy would consider that good policing?

... and I already offered my friend two singles for one night. He and his girlfriend want to sit together, or else not go. (They're a relatively new couple.)

Is the seat next to a seat that you will be sitting in?

No idea. Look up the Highway Traffic Act. http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/index.html In any event, it wouldn't matter. They are subject to Quebec law while in Quebec, and discretion can be exercised or not; entirely at that party's "discretion". It is very hard to appeal such a decision, normally, as discretion is generally deferred to.

Yes. The vehicle was not licensed to be on the road, therefore, it wasn't even insured. The cop had the discretion to give some time for James to remediate this, but chose not to exercise that discretion. That's the cop's choice. Short answer: Methinks the band is "S.O.L" as we say in law.

Sarahbelle rocks.

[color:purple]I am sure you are looking forward to reading this bio. I hear there's a whole chapter dedicated to you. (I also hear that same chapter almost had to be censored out for obscenity.)

I find I have so much to say about so much of this article, that I don't really know where to begin. I think I'd like to hear others' opinions, though. Link

1. Bob Wiseman - Bhopal (Driftnet Plan) 2. John Coltrane - India 3. Fareed Haque Group - Singh Song 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

I listened to it today. It's some pretty neat, out there, experimental jazz. It reminds me of John Zorn - light. At times the disc is really good, but I find the songs lack in "going anywhere". I realize it's pretty free-form stuff, but so is Pat Metheny and his songs tend to go somewhere. Truth be told, the disc I have reminds me most closely of a disc by someone who is useless to compare to, named Ken Valitsky, because no one seems to have heard of him. (Anyone who wants a copy of a Ken Valitsky disc, PT me. Maybe I'll get around to sending something.)

I have a disc from 2003 by a band called Manitoba. It's called "Up In Flames". Is that them? I don't think I ever had much interest in it. I don't even know where this CD came from, and I can't remember what it sounds like. I'll have a listen today though.

Very cool. I think the lease on my current Smart Car runs out at the end of 2010, so that sounds great! BTW, in case anyone's considering one; I love my Smart Car. If you can get away with owning a two-seater I highly recommend it.

Do people not like my theme? I thought this would be an easy one that would be finished in an hour.

I also think "Fly Between Falls" is a far superior album. I think this band is great, overall, though. They don't even use their full name at all anymore, do they? They're just "ALO" now, if I'm not mistaken. Is that right? ("Roses and Clover" doesn't say "Animal Liberation Orchestra" anywhere on the CD case, that I recall.)

If anyone's interested here's a review I wrote quickly last night.

It's weird. It's multi-media. It's lots of fun.

The Dalai Lama is the (un)official spiritual and political leader of Tibet. He has been living in exile as a “guest†of the Indian government for five decades. As you likely know, the political situation surrounding the China-Tibet issue is very explosive, and His Holiness’ visit to Canada, especially including a 40 minute meeting with Prime Minister Harper, is considered international news. (He is actually also an honourary Canadian citizen.) It was an honour to be in his presence on this visit. Our evening started with a nice surprise. We were walking from the subway station to the Rogers Centre, when we noticed that every cop in Toronto appeared to be congregated around the Fairmont Royal York Hotel. We then had the honour of seeing the Dalai Lama walk out the front door, stop and wave and bow to us (“us†being a large crowd of people, but we were directly in front of him across the road) and we stood there waving back in a weird awe. His Holiness was quickly ushered into a car, and we proceeded to the venue. We arrived to find a line-up that seemed miles long. After some investigating, we found out that we had tickets that entitled us to go to a much shorter line-up. When we arrived at that line-up, however, it actually stretched around a corner as far as we could see. It seemed pretty apparent we were going to miss the beginning … until … we learned of a third line-up; and we were inside in about five minutes. The Rogers Centre was “sold outâ€, but they obviously intended to keep it fairly empty. The crowd was a total of 16,000. I had completely forgotten, but I was pleasantly surprised to be reminded that I had 14th row centre floor tickets. Woo hoo! We were nearly at our seats when a representative of the Tibetan Canadian Cultural Society came out and made a long, drawn-out speech into the mic. He eventually built up to this cathartic moment, when he said, “…and it is my great honour to introduce to you, His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet!†… and then a long, awkward pause, followed by... “Ah, I am told that His Holiness is not coming out yet.†(long pause) “Ah, I am told I have to entertain you…†After a very uncomfortable 15 to 20 minutes or so, listening to this person painfully tell us stories in a vain attempt to amuse a crowd of people after he had already made this fantastic introduction, Lassie and I were finally sitting down in our seats and marvelling over our perfect view when His Holiness actually did hit the stage. Of course, he was in traditional Buddhist Monk attire; peach and red coloured robes with one arm exposed. He started out, by sitting cross-legged on an antique sofa. He then pulled out this goofy looking red visor that looked like something you might see worn around a poker-table, and put that on. He was now comfortable enough to begin. He made it clear that he had very little to teach us. He also thought it quite senseless if anyone in the audience who came out expecting him to have some sort of healing powers. He then explained his essential theory on life, the world, and “The Art of Happinessâ€. He explained that humans are social beings, who all come from mothers. This is different than some other life-forms, like plants or fish. In turn, this means we need affection, and are naturally interdependent. We rely on others. Further, in our ever increasing globalized world, in which we all affect our macro-environment, all of “us†(animals, planets and the sun included) are interdependent on each other. He explained that this century is one in which we have reached a point in history that we are ready for dialogue rather than war. To date, this century is the most peaceful one in recorded history, in his opinion. He seemed to see the current conflicts going on around the world as relatively minor, given that we no longer have two superpowers ready to launch nuclear missiles at each other. (He has a point.) He explained that, although he is a Buddhist Monk, he was not here to speak about any particular religion; or religion at all. Rather, he espouses a “secular ethicsâ€. He was also clear that he may not mean “secular†in the sense that some of us may understand it. He does not mean “secular†in terms of rejecting religion(s). He means “secular†in terms of being something other than (but consistent with) religion(s). He believes we need an ethics that is beyond religion, because when you involve religion in the equation you end up with a situation in which people who follow different religions disagree about irrelevant tangential differences, and the important ethic of interdependence and universal caring, which he believes is inherent to all religions, tends to get lost in the scuffle. (I think he and Nietzsche would have gotten along; as much as anyone would get along with Nietzsche that is.) His secular ethic seems fairly easy to summarize; from my simple-minded perspective… Take care of ourselves, each other, and our world/universe. After he was done speaking, he answered questions that were submitted earlier to a website. The questions were put to him verbally by his “translatorâ€, and he would generally precede each answer with a screwed up face, indicating serious thought. He was eventually asked the question as to whether he thought that if China enacted a law like Canada has, in which the Tibetan language was made a second official language in China in the way that we added French as a second language, would that ease tensions between Tibet and China? This person wanted the Dalai Lama’s views on this. To say the least, this was a touchy issue, and this answer could have gone any which way. His Holiness screwed up his face, squinted, thought about it for quite a long time, and said “That’s a great idea. Please contact my Chinese brothers and sisters and suggest it.†Quote of the Day: The concept of war is out of date.

(I was also a drunken Jesus, once, BTW.) My favourite costume has to be when I dressed as Napster; either that or when I dressed as Boognish. I also must comment on Velvet's favourite costume, which made a re-appearance only a couple years ago (along with the accompaniment of a second Santa Claus, oddly enough).

316 Songs about bad ex-boyfriends/girlfriends/spouses 1. Stupidity - I need you... like a hole in my head 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

315: Songs That Are Scary, Frightening (*but contain no references to Halloween) 1. Tom Waits - What's He Building In There? 2. Radiohead - Exit Music 3. Joy Division - Dead Souls 4. Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells 5. Blind Melon - Car seat 6. Frank Zappa - Canarsie 7. The Birthday Party - Swampland 8. Black Sabbath - Iron Man 9. Ridley Bent - Trunk of a Black Lexus 10. Celine Dion - Power of Love 11. Tom Waits - Oily Night 12. The Misfits - Skulls

Hey does anyone know details about this? I see that the doors open at 2:30, but it's scheduled for the Dalai Lama to speak at 4:30. There's no way I can be there much before 4:30, so I'm wondering if anyone knows what I'll be missing in those two hours. Anyone know? Starhead?

"Tomorrow's Hawaiian shirt day, so ... uh ... if you want, go ahead and wear jeans and ... uh ... a Hawaiian shirt."

I admire his attention to detail and genuine concern for our overall experience. (It won't bother me if his shirt is untucked, either.)

Are you sure about that?