The milk producers of America don’t want things like soy milk and rice milk to be called milk. Lactating animals only please. So what should it be called then?

From the atrocious things to say bin, Johan Schlüter, a Danish anti-piracy lobbyist addressed a seminar in Stockholm in 2007. In his speech he expounded on his fondness for child pornography:

Child pornography is great. It is great because politicians understand child pornography. By playing that card, we can get them to act, and start blocking sites. And once they have done that, we can get them to start blocking file sharing sites.

The speech was only translated into English on April 27, but has since made a ripple on English sites. It’s amazing that there are smart, educated people in the world who think like this. Why must manipulation and misdirection be an accepted and expected way of conducting politics?

And I realize Schlüter is just trying to be controversial here, but what kind of clouded, short sighted mind could think it’s a good idea to publicly extol on the positive side of child pornography?

Yikes

To be filed under: Things I never knew existed. The above image is the flower of none other than the Marshmallow plant. The “shrubby herb” is native to Africa and is often used for its medicinal properties. Who knew?

I’m loving these photos of storm troopers on flickr. Stéfan took a photo every day for a year of these two storm troopers involved in various scenarios. They’re so well done that initially I didn’t realize they were toys. I chose a photo to display here that makes it a little more obvious so no one else needs to go through my embarrassment. [via wildammo]

Stephen Hawking wants us to stop looking for aliens, in fact he thinks we should keep our head down and hope they don’t notice us and I for one agree.

Basically the argument is that chances are, contact with extra-terrestrials would not be a friendly meeting. Rather, a race advanced enough to be travelling throughout the universe is probably not on a galactic search for new friends, but more likely resources. And what reason would we have to believe they would have any interest in living in harmony with us? Are there any examples, any at all, of colonialism on earth where the colonizers wanted to share? Of course not.

Perhaps some kind of inter-galactic governing body will exist some 10,000 years down the road, but only after hundreds of years of wars and galactic genocide that this planet will certainly not make it through.

This may seem like paranoid rambling, albeit with the endorsement of one of the smartest men on the planet. But the point is, why take the risk. The probability, and potential for, literally, astronomical earth-shattering disaster is far too high.

Also, while we’re on the subject, can we please stop trying to invent robots that are smarter than us? Has no one seen The Terminator? Again, why would a robot that is smarter than me do anything for me? Why would it serve me? And again, are there any historical examples of a smarter, stronger, better educated race being enslaved by their subordinates? Of course not! We’re manufacturing our own demise!

Of the three songs they’ve released off Forgiveness Rock Record so far this is my least favorite, but they kill it here. It’s enough to move it into second place, though I’m not sure anything will dismount this as tops.

So, just say back in 2001, instead of buying that first generation ipod for $400 you took that money and bought yourself some Apple stock instead. Just say you resisted temptation and just left it there until say .. right now. Well, Apple stock is sitting at an all time high right now and Kyle Conroy has created a table following all of Apple’s releases since 1997 and what that money would be worth today. Pretty cool, just think, you could have $330,000 right now instead of that outdated Powerbook G3, ahh regret.

Today, One Will Come To Me: Volcano edition!

First off: Pronounciation. Personally, I have trouble even reading the word “Eyjafjallajökull” much less saying it. This seemingly random collection of letters is actually a literary ménage à trois, combining the Icelandic words for island(eyja), mountain(fjalla), and glacier(jökull). The name is actually representative of the glacier above the volcano, not the volcano itself, which is creatively and simply titled Eyjafjalla.

To assist in this very difficult pronounciation, here is a quick Youtube lesson, complete with catchy folksong. [via boingboing]

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On this, April 22nd, 2010, Earth Day turns 40 and while the very best way to celebrate earth day is probably to watch the David Attenborough narrated DVD masterpiece on an organic solar powered television, the next best is probably to click on links about interesting earth related things. Voila:

1. First, this crazy story about Mt. Toba, a volcano that used to exist in Northern Sumatra until it exploded some 78,000 years ago. Yes, that’s right–exploded! All that is left now is an enormous lake.  Mt. Toba didn’t just erupt when it went off, it went out with a very literal bang and nearly caused the extinction of the human race, barely before it began. [via eyeweekly.com]

2. About a year or so ago I went to see Werner Herzog’s Encounters at the End of the World over at the revue. It was an absolute awe inspiring experience and immediately made Antarctica a desirable destination. It was a perfect mix of desolate beauty and breathtaking humanity, a place where society’s brilliant outcasts congregate in their search for meaning.

That interest was sparked anew with Maggie Koerth-Baker’s feature on Boing Boing about the continent. While much less epic than Herzog’s masterpiece, it’s full of lush photography and features one of the best/most unique layouts I’ve come across.

3. Over at Gawker they’re celebrating the day with a photo gallery as well, the theme: places in the world that have yet to be fucked up by incessant human greed. Lovely.

4. The nexus of Earth Day operations, earthday.org, is asking the public to submit their own “acts of green.” So far they’re collected over 31 billion vows from people to make small changes in their lives for the benefit of the planet. I like this. I much prefer the promotion of ongoing “green” activities and real personal change than initiatives like Earth Hour that, in a way, promote the attitude that “if you turn out your lights for one hour, you’re doing your part to save the planet.” Environmentalism is about being conscious of your behaviour all the time, not just an hour a year. So kudos to Earth Day for encouraging ongoing environmentalism.

5. And finally, a little love for whale poop.

Now that my internship is totally finished, I’m excited to have more time to devote to my career. I’ve been looking forward to the end for some time, I loved the time there, but I’ve been excited to get my feet wet by doing some actual writing for actual money.

While I am vaguely looking for full time work, freelance is much more interesting to me. I realize to eek out an actual living is tough, but I’ve got a great side project to keep me afloat. Anyway, as part of this new plan this site needs to take on a more important role. A daily role. I’m looking to get into a routine here. I’ve realized that writing an essay every day just isn’t going to happen, so instead I’d like to do a more casual link round-up style post every morning.  Starting today.

1. The story of Poland’s fallen President has taken on a soap opera-esque twist this morning. The Washington Post is reporting that the leader of the opposition party is none other than former President Lech Kaczynski’s (evil?) twin brother!! dum dum dum…[via @mhousley]

2. Word came in this week that I got my press acreditation for NXNE this year, which I’m pumped about. The Stooges are slated to play a free show at Dundas Square, as are X. Also at the festival are Les Savy Fav, Mudhoney, Wavves, Japandroids and Sloan.

3. And as much as I’m excited for NXNE, I have to admit the line up for Cisco Ottawa Blues Fest is Bananas. Arcade Fire, Crowded House, Metric, Iron Maiden, Great Lake Swimmers, The Flaming Lips, Levon Helm, Weezer and Woodhands and many many more.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful for he NXNE’s valiant effort, but they’re just not keeping up. What’s going on? Is it the lack of corporate branding that’s keeping the likes of Iron Maiden away?