Jazzlife - because all of life is jazz

Bollywoods Schwarzenegger mistaken for LA terrorist. In my view, this all bodes ill for racism rearing its ugly head…

Hollywood sinks fangs into Dracula theme park plan. The original homeland of Dracula doesn’t have the rights to use the character. How strange is that?

Lazy Sunday mornings… I’ve been able to get a few things done so far, but I could always do more. That’s the perfectionist in me…

After nearly 6 years of hosting on Geocities, they’ve now broken the last straw for me with cost cutting…

First, they eliminated free GeoPlus for Community Leaders, which meant their pop-up ads now show on any page that doesn’t already hold their Geoguide ad banner. This blocks out a lot of my design. You can click twice to turn it off, but it returns on every page right away anyways.

NOW they’ve eliminated the Geoguide, so the pop-ups appear on every page, hiding much more of my site messages.

I will now move the site, as I suspect a lot of the more net-savvy denizens will. I just have to find a free host that doesn’t put pop-ups everywhere. If you know of such a host, please please let me know.

Harry Potter to boost Bloomsbury. I need something lighter to lower my blood pressure…

I’m still stunned that a Harry Potter book won the best SF Novel Hugo this year, but it’s interesting to see how the books are still increasing literary business.

News agency receives purported bin Laden message. If this is indeed legitimate, it only serves as proof of the evil and hipocrisy of this man.

3 fundamentalists killed is a tragedy? Evil vulture… anything over the number 0 is bad, but zealots killed more than five thousand innocents in New York - and the number is rising daily!

It’s alright to murder innocents because they are American? Never!

A few hours ago, I watched my tape of the historic American Aid Telethon, which was held Friday night on practically all the networks simultaneously.

To say it was emotionally draining would be an understatement - but then, it was supposed to be. The events that led to it were beyond tragic. I still don’t have the words to accurately convey the scope of atrocity last Tuesday.

One celebrity deserves mention right here: Jim Carrey.

I’ve been underwhelmed by him ever since his debut on a special here in Canada many years ago. I don’t find him funny in the least.

I do admire him now, however, for donating one million dollars to the relief efforts. He’s Canadian, and no celebrity has ever found need to give so much of their own money - yet he didn’t hesitate, didn’t even blink here. He just saw that it would help a lot, and gave it. I wish more celebrities were as selfless.

The first steps of a War have begun: the US are sending military forces into the Persian Gulf.

With the Taliban actually trying to negotiate terms for the release of Osamu Bin Laden, I don’t blame them. Scumbag terrorists took too many human lives (anything over zero is too many); what right would they now have to dictate terms? NONE.

What I’m upset with though is the now-current trend of PC censorship. A list of songs radio stations should now cease playing because of potentially offensive lyrics has now been released. On that list is Imagine by John Lennon.

Excuse me?! A song extolling peace and unity for all mankind is dangerous? What are they smoking? Whatever it is, keep me far away from it!

I read this on a forum yesterday, and I can’t contain it anymore - ESPECIALLY with the jackals of the Taliban spreading the lies:

JIHAD IS NOT “HOLY WAR” NOR IS IT A “PILLAR OF ISLAM” ————————— JIHAD: (Striving) Although it is not a pillar of Islam but is a duty in one form or another. The most common media misconception is of calling Jihad a ‘Holy War.’ The general meaning of the term is “striving for moral and religious perfection.” The broader meaning of this term encompasses one’s life and community. The constant struggle of striving to remain on the path of Islam by observing the above five pillars of Islam (Witness, Prayer, Alms, Fasting, and Pilgrimage) is Jihad. One who Strives is Mujahid. Being a Mujahid, a striver for moral and religious perfection, involves numerous forms of public and private devotion that charaterizes the ‘practice’ of islam. This includes respecting the dietry laws against eating pork and drinking alcohol, respecting parents and elders, helping to provide for close relatives and kin, giving to the poor and disadvantaged. On the other side, theft, murder, fornication, adultery, lying, cheating, wrongly accusing or testifying are strictly forbidden by Shari’a (Islamic Law). http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~calmsa/intro.html ————————- It is of the utmost importance at this time of justice-seeking and finger-pointing that non-Muslims learn something about the religion of Islam before buying into and passing on dangerous misinformation about Islamic beliefs.(e.g. that jihad is a religious mandate to holy war). Sources of clear information abound on the web, including the FAQ at alt.religion.islam or http://www.faqs.org/faqs/islam-faq/alt-newsgroup/, and the fine longer article “The Spiritual Significance of Jihad” at http://www.al-islam.org/al-serat/jihad-nasr.htm But there are even better sources of information about the Muslim religion: your local Islamic community centers and the Islamic members of your local community. Many American Muslims are currently in deep fear of the reactions of their fellow non-Muslim countrymen; help ease their fears — and yours. Show them that America is ready to learn about their beliefs and practices from the keepers of those beliefs and not through media-driven misconceptions. Would you expect any less from others if your your own religious tradition were being questioned? America shows her best side when she shows her wisdom as well as her compassion. Let us not add Muslims to the long list of religious and ethnic groups who have suffered due to the ignorance of others or the heinous acts of the few. May the golden lamp of knowledge draw us all together and light our way in the dark days to come. “Without knowledge there is no wisdom” (Sirach 3:25)

- This shows just how evil terrorist fundamentalists are: they perverted the usage of a word signifying peace in their own faith, and convinced people of a lie that it actually represents violence.

A legend to Canadian children died today: Ernie Coombs, the man who played Mr. Dressup on Canadian television for three decades. He died of complications from a stroke at the age of 73.

How significant was his part of Canadian culture? Mike Myers listed him on his list of Top 5 things he loved about Canada - even higher on his list that hockey… and we all know how fanatical he is about that.

Mr. Dressup was a simple children’s show. The central character would draw cartoons, or dress-up to enact stories for the puppet boy Casey and his silent dog Finnegan. No explosions, no action or guns. Just a gentle half hour for kids every day.

I saw him perform live on stage when I was a child. That’ll be a memory I’ll always cherish.