Currently on CNN, there is only 1 article in the spotlight. It reads "Guiliani: We need George W. Bush". Normally CNN has a headline article, along with about 10 articles beside the main article. Once in a while you'll see only 1 feature article, this is typically saved for events like when the war began, September 11th, when Regan died, etc. Well today, it's one big huge Republican propaganda article.

Over the last 4 days or so, President Bush has had a few slips of the tongue, and nowhere on CNN will you see these articles printed. Last Thursday, Bush had an interview with the New York Times, and he acknowledged that he "miscalculated" post-war conditions in Iraq.

When I first saw this article (On Yahoo News), I went to CNN to find the same article, but it was nowhere to be found. I guess they didn't think it was "newsworthy". Today Bush was asked about the war on terror: "Can we win?" and his answer was "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that the - those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world". Bush has long contended he will win the war on terror. So now he's biting his tongue, and his White House spokesman Scott McClellan was struggling to attempt to clarify the president's comments. "He was talking about winning it in the conventional sense ... about how this is a different kind of war and we face an unconventional enemy."

I just refreshed CNN, and almost every link within the viewable main page area is links to information on the Republican National Convention. They also don't mention anywhere the number of protesters that were swarming the streets of Manhattan to protest President Bush. There was somewhere around 50,000 protestors in New York City, one of the most pro-democratic cities in the US.

When I scroll down the CNN page, I see some other interesting articles consisting of Bush propaganda: "Global War casualties decline",

"Bush twins attend 'R: The Party'", and "On the Issue: Share your thoughts - What does President Bush need to do to win your vote?" (There’s also a picture of George W. beside the article with that goofy smile of his.) Not to mention an article on the main site under the “Business” category entitled “Bush stocks take lead”.

1. Firstly, park your car in the right lane on Queen Street West
2. Peer through the driver's side mirror
3. Wait until subject is within 10 meters of the automobile
4. Take your left hand and begin pulling the door handle to open your door
5. Take your right hand and secure a firm grip on the door
6. With one swift motion, push the door open 5 inches, and then stop the motion thus making the appearance of a door fully opening.
7. Don't waste another second, make sure to look through your window at the subject's ghastly face
8. Sometimes the subject will swerve out of control and crash anyway
9. Other times, the subject may make a fist and wave it at you as he continues to ride
10. If the subject places his hand near his rear, the soiling was successful.
11. If not successul, close door, and wait for subject #2

Here is an interesting article about what happened to the influence and power that the Arabs had in the world a thousand years ago and an explanation of some of the causes of the decline of Arab world influence.

Link

This morning at 8:10AM, a gunman had shot a woman in the head across the street from my work. He then took a woman hostage and held a sawed off shot gun to her head. A police sniper working for the Emergency Task Force (ETF), which is basically the equivalent to the SWAT team in the US fatally shot the man after 30 minutes of negotiation failed.

When I was travelling to work, I didn't know what was going on, but I did see an Ambulance racing to the scene at about 8:40AM, and I could see the crowds of people in the distance. A co-worker got off the train at Union station and walked up to the crowd of people to see what was going on. He could see the man holding a gun to the woman's head. The police still hadn't arrived yet, but they pulled up shortly thereafter, and he said there was a cop about 30 feet away from the gunman aiming his gun at him. He then proceeded to go to work, and 30 minutes later, the gunman was killed.

Another person I spoke to today was driving in the area as the cops were racing up, and he said the cops pulled a U-Turn just like in the movies, he cranked the wheel, tires squeeling, and raced to the scene. He didn't know what was going on, but we all heard after what had happened.

It's pretty crazy that this happened so close. These aren't things you expect would happen in the Financial district in Toronto. Apparantly the woman who was shot by the gunman was his wife. It sounds like she will survive, and thankfully the woman that was taken hostage was unharmed.

As it turns out, the day after I replied to the person requesting to have my Jeep shipped to Holland, he disabled his email address, and I never heard back from him again.

My theory is that there's a possibility that he was attempting to do the deal as a way of laundering money. He would issue me an anonymous cashier's cheque for $10,000, then he would get me to wire $2800 to a friend of his (Drug dealer?) - Then somebody would pick up the Jeep and re-sell it? I suspect he was probably local, but made up this story in order to get me to wire the $2800. If I was the one wiring the 2800, the paper trail would lead back to me.

Or on the other hand, maybe it was just a joke. A strange joke indeed. Maybe one of my buddies is laughing about it right now.

I've finally made up my mind. I was looking to take a trip this fall, and I wanted to do something adventurous, but not too expensive. I decided that I'm going to strap on a backpack with a sleeping bag and a tent, and ride my Dual-purpose dirt bike 1600Km's across Eastern Canada to explore the East Coast all by my lonesome.

I'd like to ride the scenic routes around Nova Scotia, PEI, New Brunswick, etc. I'm going to pitch my tent wherever I can, whether it's the forest along side a highway, or a camp site. I'm going to stop in the towns to check out the East Coast pubs, and then after I'm done my touring, I'm going to head back another 1600KM's and come home to Toronto.

It should be quite an adventure. I hope my dirt bike doesn't break down on me (knock on wood), but that would just make it more adventurous ;) Selling my dirt bike for parts, hitch-hiking with my backpack, and catching a flight back home. Very exciting.

I'm in the process of creating a list of items to bring. If anyone has any suggestions for me of places to visit, let me know. I'm told to go to Cape Breton Island. I've estimated a very low cost of $48 in fuel to go each way (based on 1600KMs). You can't beat the 225cc Yamaha Dirt bike when it comes to fuel efficiency.

I received a strange request yesterday regarding the purchase of my Jeep. The person emailed me and told me that he wants to buy my Jeep. He said he's on business in Western Africa, but he wants to get it shipped to his base in Holland. He told me his client in the United States will issue me a cashier's cheque for $10,000. ($7200 plus $2800 for shipping). I am then to issue a money transfer via Western Union to his shipper as soon as I receive his cheque, and his shipper in Nigeria will come to pick up the Jeep on a specified date to be shipped to Holland along with 3 other cars he purchased.

Very strange, but hey, if it goes through, it works out good for me.

I just finished getting the transmission rebuilt in my Jeep, and now it's time to sell it. If anyone is interested, let me know. jim_schwartz9@yahoo.com Here are the details:

1995 Jeep YJ 4x4, red with grey interior, 156,000 kms, 2 door, standard transmission, 2.5L 4cyl, new exhaust, new radiator, rebuilt transmission, seat covers, 3 inch lift, 31" tires, bike rack, cd deck, overhead sound bar, hard and soft tops included, certified. Great condition, won't last long. no gst. Asking $7,200 obo.



I'm selling it because the insurance is too much money in Toronto, and I don't need a car since I have my feet, my bicycle, the Subway, and my motorcycle to get me around the city.

I just returned from quite the roller blading experience. I was roller blading through High Park (West Toronto - about 500 meters from my house), and I bladed down a very steep hill in the middle of the park. I'm pretty sure at the peak of my velocity; I was going approximately 30-40KM per hour. Near the bottom of the hill, I spotted 2 older people and a dog. There was a relatively small opening (4-5 feet) between the people and their dog, and the dog was facing the people. I decided to give it a go and try to shoot between the people and their dog. I lined it up, everything was looking good, until the dog had the same fear as me and started walking towards the people to try to get out of my way. So now the dog and I are headed right in the same direction, all I can hear is "Oh my god" (I think the lady might have had a heart attack). I'm now inches from running over the dog, and the dog and I both make miraculous moves. The dog goes hard right and gets really low to the ground, anticipating the worst. I lift up my left leg to avoid hitting the dog, and I jump up in the air just to make sure. After I pass without an incident, I breath a heavy sigh of relief and I didn't bother looking back to see the likely ghastly look on the people's faces. I comment to some bystanders that it was a close call, they concur.

On my way home from the park, I was roller blading along the boardwalk along Lake Ontario. I was passing 2 young girls with a guy (approx. 18-19 years old), and they comment on how cute my dog is, and they inquire as to whether they can have my dog. I said they could, but it would cost them. As I'm blading away they inquire as to how much it would cost. I respond "10 dollars". As I'm blading further away, they ask if they purchase the dog, do I come with it too. I yell back, "That will cost you $20" and I blade away to the sound of giggling. Girls are so funny sometimes.

We have a native lady in our neighborhood that likes to make it a habit to steal flowers from people's flowerbeds on my street. Today was the third such occasion that I have observed her with the freshly picked flowers. I saw her walking with the freshly stolen flowers in her hand, but I had no proof that she stole them, so I didn't make a mention of it. Plus she called my dog cute, so that helped to dissuade me from saying anything.

I just returned home to Toronto from my very first canoeing/portaging trip. It was quite an experience. There were 8 of us on the 4 day trip to Algonquin Park in Ontario (Near Huntsville), and fortunately, all 8 of us made it home in one piece.

My buddy Tim and I totaled 4.76KMs of portaging, and I would estimate approximately a total of 30KMs of canoeing. The longest single portage was 1.2KMs, carrying our 2 person canoe through a narrow hiking trail with steep hills, and being unprepared for this portage due to a lack of planning left Tim with approximately 30 mosquito bites on his back and arms. He didn't bring a shirt or shoes with him, so he was carrying the canoe through a dense forest in his bare feet. We really should have looked at the map before setting out on our trek. We learned our lesson the hard way ;)

There was a very friendly chipmunk at our first campsite on an island that was brave enough to approach us and eat food out of our hands. We managed to play a little joke on the little fellow and give him the experience of a lifetime. We set our canoe paddle strategically on a rock and piled some nuts on the end of the paddle. When the chipmunk was lead on to the paddle, we pushed down the other end of the paddle, sending the chipmunk through the air. Twisting and turning through the air like a runaway tire wobbling down a hill, the chipmunk reached a state of bliss that no chipmunk has ever experienced. To complete the superman move, the chipmunk gracefully landed on top of the plastic tarp we intentionally hung about 6 feet in the air. I'd say that chipmunk easily cleared 10 feet, maybe even 15 feet in the air. He came back for more immediately after the event.

The above chipmunk flight was caught on video, including our enticing of the chipmunk to stand on the paddle. The link will be posted shortly.

One thing this trip has done for me is made me realize how easy we have it in the regular civilized society. In our every day lives, we don't need to spend hours searching for and chopping firewood, boiling lake water to make it drinkable, bathing in a lake, or defecating in the woods. We really do have an easy life here in Canada. Eating dried fruits, smoked meats and granola bars in the woods for 4 days made me realize how many luxuries we have in our every day life that we take for granted.

Well, my next trip is in 2 days. I'm driving down to New York City for 5 days. I'm going from one end of the spectrum to the exact opposite. I'm going to enjoy all of the simple luxuries that New York City has to offer, and upon my return, I'll write an entry about my trip to the big apple.