Plus then you hear about these attacks and how sharks are out of control, etc. Which means people will decide to kill and maim sharks and I hate that.

There's two things that bug me deeply about shark attack stories -- one, they are sensationlistic as hell because shark attacks are holding steady, or are in slight decline, so it's really trying to manufacture story where none exists.

Two, shark attacks were all the media could talk about during the summer of 2001, despite the fact that Isreal and the Middle East were boiling over with tension and violence that, while probably not readable as a warning for the wake up call we got, were still alarming enough to warrant news coverage over fucking shark attacks.

So basically shark attack stories will now always be read by me as manufactured news meant to distract us from the far more alarming real news that we should be paying attention to.

How does Canada shake out? Australia? China?

In Canada, it is pretty much an East (liberal/old style conservative) v West (jesusland) thing, with the middle being most liberal, generally, driven by the big urban centres of Toronto and Montreal. Our west coast is odd, politically, not to put too fine a point on it. In spite of the very cosmopolitan (read: stoner-friendly) presence of Vancouver, BC politics tend to lean towards whatever is the most nutbar option. Sometimes, that's sort-of lefty, and sometimes it is freak-ass religious-righty (see Bill VanderZalm, etc.) Because most of the votes live in the middle of the country, the religious extremists have so far been held back, but only by the narrowest of margins in the last election, due to a corruption scandal dogging the centrists.

Sean, bless you for some happy-making politics today.

Hee! I've still got pseudo-political media paranoia by the truckloads....

Plus then you hear about these attacks and how sharks are out of control, etc. Which means people will decide to kill and maim sharks and I hate that.

The worst part? Sharks with fricking laser beams on their heads.

"I have taken nature's perfect killing machine, and needlessly turned it into a robot."

The worst part? Sharks with fricking laser beams on their heads.

If the wealthy and large corporations were not allowed to donate so much money to sharks, that wouldn't happen either.

Plus they're all hopped up on fishballs.

Sean thinks shark attacks are Orange alerts, pass it on.

Kee-rist. I just don't get people. Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one who looks around and thinks "Not even anarchy, but chaos."

Honestly, I try to be accountable. I try not to make promises I don't follow through with. I feel like the most avoidant person ever, but man, it doesn't hold a candle to some behaviour I'm seeing.

I mean, when I start peppering my emails with "Please advise by XX/XX/XXXX" and "If responding by XX/XX/XXXX is not convenient for you, let's officially put this on hold until a better time for you" and my favourite -- asking multiple choice questions "Will you be done by tomorrow, or will we be completing day after tomorrow" instead of the open-ended stuff that seems to get ignored.

I am professionally pissy today. But tomorrow I get to fall off a surfboard repeatedly.

Sean thinks shark attacks are Orange alerts, pass it on.

But... sharks don't eat oranges.