Masturbating in your own home a public act?

You be the judge…from CBC:

The Supreme Court of Canada has reserved judgment in the case of a B.C. man caught masturbating in his own apartment living room. Canada’s top court has to decide whether Daryl Clark of Nanaimo should have been convicted of committing an indecent act in public. Clark was sentenced to four months in jail because he could be seen from the outside through his windows.

He was in his own house. He didn’t mean for anyone to see – when caught, “Clark then jumped back from the window.” He was doing something in what he thought was the privacy of his own home. Granted he could have closed the curtains, but still.

If anyone should be prosecuted it should be the woman that immediately called the police when she saw him. My first reaction would be to laugh. My second reaction would be to remember that porn sites make a lot of money. No where in my thought process would “call the cops” register.

Read: CBC News

Arafat's Health Suffers Setback

Just checking the news during the last part of my economics class. Three hours is just too much! Looks like the day after George Bush won the election, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s health has gotten worse:

Yasser Arafat’s health has suffered a setback at a French military hospital where he is being treated but his life is not in any immediate danger, Palestinian officials said. Leila Shahid, permanent Palestinian envoy to Paris, gave no further details on Wednesday on the condition of the 75-year-old Palestinian president — for decades a symbol of the Palestinian struggle with Israel for a state.

“There is a setback in Abu Ammar’s health. The doctors are carrying out tests to try to explain why this happened,” said Shahid, using Arafat’s nom de guerre.

Coincidence? Probably – but interesting nonetheless!

Read: Reuters

John Kerry Concedes; Bush Wins

Posted on CNN at 11:13 AM EST (like two minutes ago):

Sen. John Kerry calls President Bush to concede presidential election, CNN has learned.

Story should appear later today, and Bush should speak very soon.

Give it up Kerry/CNN

CNN is still reporting the results as 254 electoral votes for Bush, and 252 for Kerry. MSNBC howevever, shows Bush with 269 and Kerry with 221. Both NBC and Fox are predicting that Bush is going to win Ohio, and thus, the election. I know CNN wanted to be extra cautious this year, but even the network’s James Carville is saying Bush has won.

Kerry’s camp will probably drag Ohio out for weeks, but it looks like Bush for now.

Special Report: Election Day 2004

Looks pretty safe to say that Bush is going to win the election. He has been leading pretty comfortably all of the result counts for a number of hours now, and I have been tracking CNN, MSNBC and CBC. I just posted a special episode of Blogosphere News covering some of the news items affecting the blogosphere on election day in the United States:

In this special episode of Blogosphere News, host Mack Male takes a look at some of the blogosphere related news items surrounding the U.S. Election, complete with updates on the results as each segment is recorded.

What I did was record a segment at a time, so that I could update the election results as the show progresses. I think it is quite a unique podcast, as I haven’t seen anything similar anywhere in my travels. Anyway, check out Blogosphere News Special Report: Election Day 2004, and let me know what you think. We’ll have a couple more shows this week on the election, including a new Blogoversial episode where we’ll highlight some of the post-election reaction in the blogosphere, so stay tuned!

LISTEN NOW!

I love eggnog! Jon Stewart is LIVE!

Just a quick personal update in the midst of all this election stuff. Took Kimmi to the orthodontist today, and afterward she “highlighted” my hair. Turned out to be more of a dying, but I rather like it. Thanks Kim! Also picked up a poppy today, make sure to donate and get yours!

Went to Starbucks tonight with Grandma, and was very pleased to see the Christmas drinks are back! That is the only part of Christmas that I don’t mind starting right after Halloween. Needless to say, I am currently enjoying my Eggnog latte and watching Jon Stewart’s LIVE Daily Show on CTV.

US Election causing Internet attacks?

The polls have started coming in south of the border, and Kerry currently leads with 77 electoral votes to Bush’s 66 (CNN). Bush currently has 57% of the popular vote, however. Tons of websites are covering the election, as you might expect, and tons of them are under attack.

Aaron Bailey reported earlier today that a number of “conservative” bloggers sites have been under attack, and many are down, like VodkaPundit, Powerline and Malkin. The site I have been using, http://www.electoral-vote.com, is also down. Only its 8th mirror site seems to be working, and very, very slowly at that.

Both the candidates websites experienced larger than normal traffic on the eve of the election, with both more than doubling daily averages. Both sites remained working, however. Something needs to be done to help out the little guys. We can’t let people attack free speech and bring down entire blogs or websites.

More to come later tonight when I post a special Blogosphere News podcast on the election.

Bettman says NHL player dissension no big deal

Maybe NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman is enjoying the player dissension. Seems to me that would be a more likely scenario than him being upset about it:

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman isn’t taking signs of dissension within the player ranks very seriously. “I view it as a part of the process,” Bettman told TSN in an interview broadcast Monday night.

As for the chances of hockey this season:

Bettman said it was unlikely the 2004-05 season would take place. So far, 127 games have been cancelled to date. “It’s very difficult to negotiate over solutions to problems that everybody in the world except union leadership believes exists. I think this is a union that is deadline hunting; unfortunately, I think the season may slip away without a deadline,” Bettman said.

Just bring back the hockey!

Read: CTV

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! To celebrate, here is your Halloween MSN Messenger Display Picture!

Ever wonder what the origins of Halloween are? I did. So I searched Google and found a number of pages with varying descriptions. Almost all the pages say that the holiday can be traced back to the ancient religion of the Celtics. There are also some pages dedicated to taking information from the Bible to explain its origins (don’t ask me why). I like this one:

Originally, Halloween was commonly celebrated as a religious holiday meant to scare evil spirits away. People used to dress up as goblins, witches, and ghosts in order to celebrate All Saints’ Day without a visit from the evil spirits. Other customs associated with Halloween that can be traced back in time include the Jack-O-Lantern. Irish children used to carve out potatoes or turnips and light them for their Halloween gatherings. The commemorated Jack was an wicked Irish villain unwanted by either heaven or hell. Jack wondered the world endlessly looking for a place to rest. Once in America, the Irish began to use pumpkins to celebrate Halloween with a Jack-O-Lantern because pumpkins were easier to carve and could be found in abundance.

Anyway, enjoy your last day of freedom. Freedom? Well you can count on seeing Christmas everywhere starting tomorrow. You won’t be able to escape the red, green and gold decorations, holiday music, and Christmas trees. New Years won’t come soon enough!