Supposedly a company in Japan thinks that it will take 15 years for the resources they need to be readily available, and will take 5 years to build. With the growing population on land, they believe this will alleviate the problem (because we still need land resources, and because some places are uninhabitable).
I love this idea.... but at the same time i don't love this idea. :| CONFLICTED! While i would give to live under the sea, i have a few major concerns.
Pros:
- It's reverse Sea World. I'm willing to live in an air tank surrounded by fish. instead of going to a sea park, I'd theoretically be living with sea life and enjoying them in their natural habitat!
- Life long dream of mine to live under the sea *o*
- technically you wouldn't be stopping or solving population growth, but instead of moving people to another planet and destroying that one, we can stay here... and supposedly it's "GREEN." green energy? :o for reals? no coal or gas or oil?
"The idea is to be as green as possible, so the scientists envisage using microbes called methanogens to convert CO2 captured from the surface into methane, which will serve as a major source of power. A string of generators on the spiral will also create energy using differences in seawater temperatures, a process known as ocean thermal energy conversion. The city will also be equipped with fish farms for food and a desalination plant for drinking water."
- they also have farms for food and highspeed internet.
you can view more on the official Shimizu corp website.
Cons:
- i'm seriously doubting how "green" it's really supposed to be. are we destroying life on the sea floor for this? judging from the below diagram, how will this be built without putting debris in the ocean? WHERE in the ocean will this be built?
- what if everyone dies if this structure collapses? how far are we from the nearest land?
- this is freaking expensive... how are you obtaining your resources?
"...it won’t come cheap, and has a hefty price tag of three trillion yen ($25 billion), which Shimizu hopes to bring in from the government and private industry."
Where are you getting this money from? how is the japanese government obtaining this money? (hopefully not from the taiji dolphin hunts and the dolphin trades...)
- what fish farms? at the rate we're consuming seafood, won't they be extinct in the next few years? is it sustainable?
- there's a bunch of ways to solve overpopulation. for example, 19 kids and counting anyone? is that necessary? one or two children are ok, but stop giving unnecessary births, we don't need any more humans on the planet :|
- what are you going to do about natural disasters like tectonic plates shifting and earthquakes? what about underwater volcanoes?
- where will our human waste go? how will you manage our waste?
There's a load of things to consider. Super excited but also super terrified at the same time.
I bought this book over 3 years ago but i never got around to it until recently. I've already made it to the half way mark, and it's been pretty slow. but as it progresses you learn about the different theories about the creation myths and flood myths. It also involves the Nazi regime and the swastika as part of the sub plot.
Basically a marine archaeologist discovers Atlantis and he gets caught up i a fight for power with the chinese and german mafia bosses.
I'm a little intrigued so far because i have always believed that all the myths and stories were in one way or another came from the same source. for example in all creation myths, there's always mention of the great flood, and the only flood we know about that nearly wiped out humans was Atlantis. Since this book was a work of fiction, they decided to combine the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Holy Bible into one: they made Noah an old world shaman who practiced animal and human blood sacrifice and his shaman name was Utanapishtim. (Both Noah and Uta napishtim created large ships and housed animals to prepare for the great flood). They made his brother Enlil (shaman name Gilgamesh) a "new world priest" and he and his followers became "Human Gods" to be worshipped.
Mind was blown. I ca't give too much away, but if you like the muddling of myths, fictional history, and action, i suggest you pick up this novel and read it.
For those that don't know... Google it, read/watch the news, look on your facebook/twitterfeed.
For those that are lazy, here's the synopsis: there was a shooting at parliament hill and a soldier was shot by a gunman.
Now recently there was a discussion the View about the shooting and Rosie O Donnell made some very controversial remarks about the shooting and then making it seem like the shooter had a mental illness... followed by (what looks like) downplaying our shooting and comparing ours to their everyday shootings.
First thing's first, it was a tragedy. Shootings rarely happen in Canada, but when they so they're handled (i think) better than Americans.
Yes we are anti-gun, but if you have a license to hunt/are a policeman, you can still have one. but that's besides the point.
For one, we don't glorify the gunman/terrorist/killer by talking about him. we talk about the victims and their family (Duh, that's what gunmen want-- attention. don't give them attention, fools). Plus we have better gun control. In places like canada and singapore (loosely quoting Xiaxue on this) there is rarely ANY shootings, and that's because we don't make guns readily available for consumers, thus lowering the chances of shootings. yeah there's still knife killing but the police can easily take them down without having to worry about the killer hurting a large bunch of civilians.
Here's where it gets a bit messy with Rosie.
Quoting the Globe and Mail,
O’Donnell said, “Most of these shooters have severe mental illness.”
She went on to express support for a contentious tweet issued Wednesday by model Chrissy Teigen, who used the Ottawa tragedy to make her own point regarding gun control in the United States.
Teigen’s contentious tweet: “active shooting in Canada, or as we call it in america, Wednesday.”
When Twitter users bridled at her comment, Teigen followed up with asecond tweet, “Sorry you don’t understand that is a knock at America and our issues with gun control. No one is minimizing the Ottawa shooting.”
1) Mental illness is a serious issue. Whether he did or didn't, it does not excuse him from the fact that he (and all other previous gunmen) MURDERED people. You can't make up excuses for them and expect them to get better with meds. doesn't work like that.
However, there is no denying that his mind was twisted. what person in their right mind would murder someone they didn't know for no reason whatsoever?
2) you can't excuse the possibility that it was a pre-meditated attack.
3) Let's focus on the family and how it affected the whole nation.
4) Regarding Teigen's tweet, a lot of people were saying that tweet was insensitive. To me I think she's just acknowledging that our gun control is better than theirs. Gee thank you. BUT when rosie decided to retweet it, i feel like she completely missed the fact that violence is more accepted in america compared to canada (what up, pro-gun laws), that's why it was just "another wednesday" for her, and that's why it was no big deal for her. For us Canadians, the reason it had such a huge impact on the whole nation was because we take our shit seriously. Violence IS NOT and WILL NOT BE accepted here.
....... oh no wait this just appeared in my newsfeed.
Supposedly it was a planned terrorist attack by the government so Harper could pass an Anti-Constitutional Surveillance Law
Wtf. i... don't even know if this is legitimate.... i guess i won't talk about that because i'm not totally read up on conspiracy theories.
Anyway, for my american friends who are pro-gun, sorry i'm not sorry. your pro-gun laws are messed up. Clearly we're doing something right because we don't have shootings every single day. maybe your government should take a page from our books. actually maybe a few pages.. one regarding racism, two regarding gay marriages.
I decided to have a new blog that will be dedicated to all things Disney. Including Marvel and StarWars, and Muppets... AND anything on ABC Channel (dancing with the stars, america's funniest home videos, pll, once, etc...)
The link is posted below!
http://kittylovespenguin.blogspot.ca/
I wanted a second blog because if I wanted to talk about anything disney related, chances are, kids are probably going to read it and when i talk about Disney, i don't swear all that often. But when I'm talking about controversial stuff, I want that to remain separate from my Disney fangasming.
So all that will remain here are commentary, vulgarity, and "not so innocent" brain vomits, while the other will have a bunch of Disney. DISNEY DISNEY DISNEY. Yes.
I've already created my first post and it is a super long read, so go on over and take a look!
I came across my old music on my computer and decided to hear what "old Andrea" used to listen to. I forgot how good they were. at the same time... they were all angsty music. and ... not in English. (Regardless of the lack of English, you could always look up the translations online and follow along as you listen to the music). So i decided to share the different types of artists i used to listen to, at what time i was introduced to them, why i listened to them, and why i stopped listening to them. Oh look I've also included the music videos. :P
Enjoy!
Yugioh (Original Japanese openings)
My first brush with music was when my younger sister bought original Japanese yugioh to watch on TV. i thought the intro songs were super catchy and not super duper lame like the English dub. so i decided to buy their soundtrack in Chinatown. holy crap all their opening music was super amazing! i guess that's when i fell in love with jrock.
Gackt
I was first introduced to Gackt in grade nine by a fellow anime geek. The majority of my playlist consists of Gackt now that i think about it. he was the main guy i listened to throughout high school, and post high school. funny thing was, that same year i met Steven and he also listened to gackt... we bonded over gackt :P i listened to him even more after we met.
I kept listening to him because his music ranges from pop to rock to visual kei to electronica, to acoustic... and he is an expert in nearly all classical European instruments AND traditional Japanese instruments, and he often combines a bunch together so that they were super unique. they were super enjoyable to listen to. not to mention his music videos were like MASTERPIECES, including his live shows. it wasn't just another performance or a video for him.. he gave his 100000% in all that he did. so much that during his live shows he would faint from exhaustion backstage. that's dedication. and even though he ONLY sang in Japanese you could still hear the emotion he puts into singing his pieces. oh BTW he writes all of his songs. did i also mention he's a freaking fitness geek? he can do the splits, mixed martial arts, and has ABS OF STEEL. and in the movie Bunraku he does all his own stunts even though he wasn't supposed to... but the director caved in.
About a few years ago i stopped listening to him because he's unfortunately run out of ideas, and all of his newer music is beginning to sound the same, with recycled tunes. and he also basically made all us Canadians false promises that he would come to perform for us. I hope he realises that YFC in Europe was because we got him more international recognition at the TIFF :|
Hyde
About the same time i picked up Gackt, i also picked up Hyde because he sang the opening for FULL METAL ALCHEMIST :P he also worked with Gackt in a movie and even sang a piece with him. i shipped gackt and Hyde so much lol. he also sings in near fluent, not perfect, English because he actually studied in London for a bit. but i stopped because... well actually i dunno why i stopped. i guess i was too focused on Gackt to pay any real attention to him :|
Olivia Luftkin
This was when I fell in love with a certain someone... while also falling in love with the NANA anime. it was for a very very minor time but i remember going back to it throughout high school. she sings a lot of Japanese and well as English... BECAUSE SHE'S MIXED BRITISH. Hence the perfect English lines in her songs. She has a bunch of English songs on Youtube as well, so do take a look.
Evanescence
I started listening to Evanescence back in grade 10 after i found a CD of them in my older sister's room. And it was the second exposure to any "real" English Rock. this was during the time i began cutting so i guess it seemed appropriate why i started listening to them in the first place since it felt like they were the only ones that understood what i was going through. In grade 11 As of late I stopped listening to them because I realised the lyrics were acting as a catalyst for my two year emo behaviour (note to future bands, do not sing about committing suicide or attempted suicide). Nowadays I only listen to 3 of their songs because they sound mermaidy :|
Tokio Hotel
In grade twelve i was introduced to them through an old friend of mine. she said they were good so i gave them a shot. my first songs i listened to that night was 'monsoon', 'ready set go', and 'don't jump'.
I distinctly remember crying at the music video for 'don't jump' because that night i realised my suicidal behaviour may have been hurting Steven. i listened and followed them up until ... actually the following year when a friend of mine died and she actually was the admin of the Toronto tokio hotel street team. i met her through my younger sister and we bonded over bill. that year i also had a full blown drawing of bill kaulitz that she really loved. it never occurred to me to actually give it to her.. but now that she's gone i feel like i should have because my art made her really happy.
i stopped listening to them when they started playing tokio hotel on the PA system every morning for that whole month to honour her... because whenever i heard them, i thought of this friend and i couldn't stop crying. she was just so young and full of life and really lived every second. it got to a point where i would quickly skip tokio hotel when playing Rock Band at my friend's house because i would break into silent tears at the slightest sound of their song. It's been 5 years now since i last listened to them. And just recently they've also released new music. Maybe a sign I should start listening to them again?
The Letter Black, Skillet, and Flyleaf.
The last months of high school, I discovered Christian metal. I was still trying to find the meaning of life, especially after after a death of someone i had a connection with, and i was looking for healing. I picked them up because... well why not? i first saw all three of them on channel 9 (the christian channel) while i was flipping through channels. I thought they were pretty good. Skillet was already pretty big because their most known song "Hero" is used for wrestling. Steven would know, he's a huge wrestling geek. Flyleaf was also pretty big seeing as though they had their version of "What's this?" on the Nightmare Before Christmas album. the letter black however was super new.
Shortly after, i stopped listening to them because i wasn't religious.. and while they still sound great now as they did before, i felt like i couldn't (and i still can't) make a connection with their music.
We are the fallen
Steven introduced me to them just after the old Evanescence members recruited a member who sings and looks almost like Amy lee. they only released one album when their record company dropped them :(
Miyavi
I began picking them up jrock and visual kei again... because my friend introduced me to Miyavi. I'd never heard of him before so i said OK sure I'll go to his concert in Toronto. sure enough i fell in LOVE with his awesome guitar skills. king of slap guitar, I'm just saying. just.. just look at this, he's like a one man band:
I SAW THIS LIVE BY THE WAY IN TORONTO. HE ACTUALLY DOES HAVE MAD SKILLS.
But i stopped listening to him. not sure why :|
Kerli
I began listening to her during my first year of college. I came across her when i discovered a duet with her and Bill Kaulitz (Tokio Hotel lead singer) for the Alice in Wonderland Soundtrack. So i figured "ok well why not give new music a try." and i fell in love with her as a human being because she is so freaking spiritual and she's ALWAYS in contact with her fans online whether it was through google chat, replying to facebook messages, displaying fan art on her buzzfeed blog, and she's actually super good friends with Traci Hines, the ORIGINAL hipster Ariel! I don't listen to her old stuff anymore, i mainly listen to her newer stuff which is more electronica and pop. her older stuff was much more darker because she was originally from Estonia and her first album reflected a lot of her sadness and anger about not being able to express yourself freely because Estonia was originally part of the soviets so any form of expression was forbidden.
They're not anymore, and since then she's moved to America where she's been happier and it shows in her recent albums. tracks sound lighter and happier, and it's music you could dance to. she basically introduced me to pop music and showed me that people deserve happiness, and that it's ok to express that happiness by creating pure dance tracks, because when you're happy all you feel like doing is dancing. After listening to her i decided to give more English music a try.
That's when I also picked up Lady Gaga, Lights, Owl City, Late Night Alumni, and Kaskade.
Cold Rain
This was post high school when my brother from another mother introduced me to this anime called Rainbow. They are a Japanese band who sang the opening credits and end credits for the show. But the thing was... the lead singer is half Japanese half American and he ONLY SINGS IN ENGLISH. so I think this was the third exposure I've had to English rock. but after a short while i also stopped listening to them because only a select few of their songs were actually good.
Then i picked up everything else that i listened to now :P hope you enjoyed!
This is another post for another friend of mine who was engaged last year, and wants a purple wedding theme. She loves all things feminine, fashionable, and hello kitty.
Today I feel like this needs to be put out there because I'm ready to come out and say it. There's a lot of things in my history that I have put out there because I'm no longer ashamed of it (because fuck that, that's what make people who they are and I shouldn't be ashamed of it).
Back in high school, I was suicidal.
Shocking isn't it?
You can't tell that bullying affected me deeply because I chose to conceal it (...but now that I think about it maybe not as much, because evidently I did wear black and I looked miserable. all the fucking time.) And at the time only my partner knew about this problem and it was until maybe after grade 12 that I finally told my parents (but that didn't really go over well, they thought I was being a spoiled brat and a drama queen, but moving on).
I didn't ever really know why I was where I was, but I found myself there and I could not figure out a way to get out. When I think back on all of the events that occurred in my life I could still never figure out why until I finally broke out of my downward spiral.
Back then I got bullied through out grade two up until grade five-ish because I was "the nutcase's sister." Back then she used to be antagonized like so freaking much because she was different. Autistic, but was getting better at communicating her needs. so I did my best to take care of her at school and protect her as best I could because it was my duty as an older sister (but also because my mother told me I had to, and I was always a mommy's girl, so I obliged). I understood that the kids our age won't fully grasp the idea of "autism" and will make fun of her for it because she was different, but for some reason I also became a target of the bullying. BTW we lived in Jane and Finch, so it was probably worse because my mother also got bullied by kids our age wtf.
It got to a point where we had to move schools. I was given another chance to be something else besides my "sister's keeper."
So I became more aggressive and mean-spirited just to at least try to fit in. I still got picked on but I was able to fight back. Up until grade 8 anyway. By then I actually became the type of person I really hated.
Always envious of others, a bully... and I also became an emotional wreck and I would always come home crying from school because I lost friends too many times, and I was STILL being picked on because I was related to "the nutcase girl." Finally graduation hit and I would be gone from there and move forward, and be given another chance. And because my sister was a grade younger than me, no one would know who I am.
Grade 9 was super fun for me! I made a bunch of goof-ball friends and was befriended by a bunch of understanding 12th graders... and it was like "oh my god they treat me like I'm a human!" I was on cloud 9.
But then grade 10 hit. ENTER THE DREADED DEATH NOTE INCIDENT.
I was forced into a position where I had to protect my sister again. and once again I got bullied just for being related to her wtf. thankfully everyone in my grade and older was super understanding when I explained to them her situation, and began treating me and her like humans again. they even began being nice to her out of respect for me. unfortunately not everyone was willing to be nice to us. eventually it got to a point when I snapped at her because she was not thankful for me being there for her when all the world shut her out. I was hurt. Hurt by all the ignorance, and the intolerance, and the bigotry from people I've never even met and by people I don't even know exist, and from teachers I thought I could count on but sided with the bullies and justified their actions just because my sister and I were "weird, and socially awkward." What probably hurt me the most was that my parents think I failed trying to take care of her, AND my sister downplayed everything I did for her.
I guess that's when my decision to cut myself settled in. I just couldn't bother trying to be happy.
I was dating like normal people, I was eating, sleeping, doing homework like normal people, I had friends like normal people. But I was damn tired of everything. I began cutting and planning my funeral at the tender age of 16 years old. even though I was doing it like nobody's business, I wasn't about to let people know I was like that. I think this lasted for a few years, well after I graduated high school. It progressively got worse because three of my friends died during those years.
I have a scar from when I used to cut. Barely visible, but I can happily look at it and say I don't do that shit any more. One day I just woke up and stopped caring about what other people thought of me. Why the fuck should I have to be miserable to make them happy?
You know what? Fuck that and FUCK YOU ASSHOLES who think it's ok to hurt other people. I'll do what I want on my own terms, and if that means you'll be judging me from the sidelines, then I am going to judge you right back until you feel the need to jump off a cliff like the way you made me wanted to. Because karma is a bitch. And when you finally contemplate on which suicide method will work for you, I'll be laughing it up and working my dream job, happily married to my high school sweetheart, accomplishing my life goals, and living it up in my amazing house, while you scum of the earth remain miserable.
SO nowadays I've become a hypocritical, selfish, bitter old lady who is reaping the benefits out of other people's misery. Kinda like Regina here, but who cares :)
We got a letter in the mail this morning saying that the date was pushed due to site plan approval and service delays (also assuming weather was a factor). And for our convenience they've also sent the same letter to our lawyer :3 ...
"Our lawyer."... that's just an odd thing for me to say at my age o-o
Anyway, since the date has been pushed, that means i have to stay with the in laws longer than i have to. BUT IT ALSO MEANS I GET TIME TO DECIDE WHAT THE BASEMENT AND ATTIC WILL LOOK LIKE!
I've decided to make the basement a home gym with mirrors, and then section off a space for the sewing/laundry room. Not sure if we'll get a cold room but if we do we'll have it store our emergency food/water supply instead of underneath the stairs, and then the stairs can store our suitcases (because it never occurred to me where people actually keep them.. like where do you keep that??) We've got a few years to decide the budget and what to do.
Not sure how big the attic will be (heck it'll probably be tiny) but i'll make it work somehow. Judging from the pamphlet concept drawings, the attic looks fairly adequate. Enough headroom, and we have an end house... which means there's windows included. but since we also have a house attached to ours, we only get half the space :P
BTW.. HOW COULD I FORGET THE BALCONY??
this but smaller scale
***
Yesterday when i went home for thank giving my dad was installing ACTUAL MARBLE SLAB COUNTERS for my old washroom and my mom's master bathroom. suddenly i remembered he works at a marble and tile shop and i thought "if my dad can get me marble counter-tops and tiles, and we install it ourselves, we don't have to pay extra to upgrade." ... but it's too early to say how well he'll do it, so i'll have to wait until it's actually in to decide :P
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