a quick follow-up to my recent post about the bomb threat at the td towers in downtown toronto, the day after the 2nd wave of attacks in london...
the following thursday, one week after the 2nd london attacks, a bomb threat was issued to the ttc - toronto transit commission, which shut down areas of the system for about an hour.
the ap (associated press) picked up the news and a new google search for bomb threat toronto now results in thousands of linked stories, including las vegas sun, and 'news from russia.'
incidentally, the globe article is still the only one listed related to the 6-building threat.
i once heard of a frog, who refused to go in the water. silly thing.
he would hop all around, the day long. all his friends were swimming in the water, protecting themselves from the sun. but not this frog. he couldn't find anywhere to hide from the sun. it just kept beating down on him, all day long.
many of the other frogs, and even some of the other animals (but not the ones who wanted to eat him) tried to pursuade him to jump into the pond in order to cool off and swim for awhile.
'after all,' they said, 'frogs were meant to go into the water.'
but he would have nothing to do with it. he steadfastly rebelled against all forms of conformity. it didn't matter that the other frogs were going in the water because they needed to, in order to survive. it didn't even matter that he would eventually have to sacrifice his life in order to maintain his rebellion. and never once did he think about why the other frogs went in - he just knew that they all did it. that was enough.
it eventually came to the point where this poor, destitute frog barely had enough life left in him to catch the occasional fly, let alone have the force of will to open himself up to the possibility of changing his beliefs. he was lying down to die.
and do you know what happened next?
one by one, all of the frogs in the pond jumped out. they just stood on the banks looking around at one another. when finally all the frogs had vacated the pond, they let out one unanimous CROAK to signify that they too had shunned the water, and would never go back in.
well wouldn't you know it, but the old, lame frog could still hear. and when that unified statement of conformity -- CROAK -- rang out, he sat up. actually sat up. and before the last echo bounced back to his ears, our sunbleached, sallow friend made his way to the banks of the pond and jumped in.
toronto, it would appear, is not immune to, if not actual terrorist attacks, the threat of them, nonetheless.
on friday, july 22nd, a bomb threat was called in to 6 buildings in downtown toronto.
"they were notified of a bomb threat at 11 a.m. and by 11:05 a.m. a message was circulated to all units within the office tower" reads the article the globe & mail posted (click here for the full globe article). incidentally, a google search only turned up the globe article, and when i searched the toronto star and the national post directly, i found no mention. the cbc website returned this result. (7/25/2005)
in fact, no other major news source was listed on the first page of results from my google search for bomb threat toronto.
what's even more disturbing, is that i know someone who works in one of those buildings, and her employer only notified her of the possible threat against the building after an hour and a half! and even then, only by phone message or email. no audible mention on the office intercom. i understand the need to prevent panic, but to me that is utter disregard.
the globe article indicates that other firms in the building didn't notify their employees either. they say specifically:
"Some busineses didn't appear to alert their employees. Two men standing outside the north entrance to the TD Centre said they were from AGF insurance on the 31st floor and hadn't heard a thing about a bomb threat until they came out for lunch and saw the crowds outside the building."
have we grown so callous, so entrenched in the pursuit of power and money, that we would even choose to stay in the building under "voluntary evacuation" when there is a credible enough threat to issue the warning in the first place?
apparently so, because many of the management-level staff at my friend's office would rather play the odds and get some extra work done, than get the hell out with a cell phone and a laptop.
up to this writing, there are no bombs reported to be found in any of the six buildings. i guess those management-folk rolled the dice and really won big. this time....
/pk
oh yea... one last thing for your reading pleasure. the only other major news story about a bomb threat in toronto, on the first page of results on my google search, was this one (click here to read). thankfully, it too was just a hoax. or the poor imaginings of an unwell person.
what would we do if we stopped selling & buying things?
i'm willing to wager that the majority of people who read my blog are either extremely in debt, partially in debt or hovering around the break-even point, living paycheque to paycheque. why is that?
we all know the stats: the top 10% of the wealth owners hold 90% of the total wealth or something approximating those numbers. and we, the little people, are the ones putting the money in their pockets. it's time we pull the wool off our eyes, give our collective heads a shake, and take back the only real control we really have in this country. it's time to start voting with our wallets.
i have a theory, and it goes a little something like this:
every time you buy something, pay attention to how you're treated. pay attention to what kind of company you're buying from. if they aren't helpful, are exploitive in any way, simply don't shop there any more.
"oh that's easy for you to say." i can hear it from here. but you know what? it's also easy to do. if you only spend your money in places that actually value you as a customer, that actually care about the neighbourhood in which they do their business, if they actually care about things like the environment and the welfare of others, the other companies will follow suit, if only to try and woo your business to them.
imagine the impact we could have. in just one year, if each person started to buy only from responsible companies, and if each of those people encouraged only one more person to do the same, and so on, and so on, we would have an economic revolution on our hands.
oh, and another thing. let's stop spending on credit. you know, if you can't afford it -- don't buy it! credit is the one system that works the hardest against the majority of canadians and americans. i know people who have even spent their credit in order to take a vacation from the job that they hate, which they have to go back to immediately afterwards in order to pay for the debt that they just incurred.
i can hear it again. "but if i didn't [go away/buy this or that/treat myself with...] then i'd go insane.
does that kind of a system sound like something that represents sanity to you?
it's high time we remember who we really work for: the banks and the insurance companies. and the energy folks too - can't forget about them.
the next time you shop at a big conglomerate store think about what you're doing. think about what in the world it might have taken for that store to be able to offer you such incrediblely low deals on their merchandise. who lost out in the process? i bet you it isn't the place with the big sign out front and all the shiney, blinking lights flashing in your eyes.
what would life be like if our knees bent the other way? i'm not the first one to think this, i'm sure. but just think about it. what would chairs look like? there sure wouldn't be any statues around of people thinking with their elbow rested on their knee. i like to think about these things sometimes.
i like simple questions that really have no answer. they make life make a little more sense, especially when there aren't any other answers coming along. thankfully, i've had some answers recently -- and to some pretty big questions. all i know is that i'm going with the flow, and right now the flow is headed west, to vancouver.
it's monumenal. momentus. magnificent.
but what if it doesn't work out? believe me... i've asked myself that more times than i can remember. what if? indeed.
i can't predict the future. sometimes, i can barely keep up with the present. but that's alright. i'm trying and, at least right now, that's good enough. in fact, it's better than enough. it's perfect.
i recently launched a full-scale attack on the wasps and hornets swarming my deck. i had enough. if you know me, you know that i abhor killing in any form. of course, i do smoke, so i'm also a two-faced hypocrite.... but i digress.
i'm also a strong believer in karma. you know -- 'what goes around comes around' and all that. it's easy to believe in karma... when it's going to happen to other people. but, as i was recently reminded, karma works to, in addition to working fro.
after launching my attack and, having utterly demolished what i felt was a full platoon of opposing wasps (about 12 in all), i was feeling confident in my position. a slight tactical error, to say the least.
on about the fourth day, the wasps started coordinating their efforts. one would try and find the unknown (to me) goodies hidden underneath my deck, while the other would dive-bomb me, distracting me from my weapon of choice (a rolled up newspaper).
yesterday, my defences were finally broken, and it has taken me this long to get over the anguish of it all. there i was, on hold with air canada (go figure!), standing and minding my own business (holding the rolled up newspaper...) when out of the blue, and all of a sudden --- WHAMO! right in the back, near my shoulder.
did i mention i'm allergic to wasp stings?
the little bugger got me, and you know what the first thought that entered into my mind was? 'fuckin karma.' then i started to laugh for a moment before i started to worry.
in the end, i didn't have a reaction, and all is (obviously) well. oh yea -- the moral of the story?
DON'T FUCK WITH KARMA (OR A WASP) AND IT WON'T FUCK WITH YOU.
i found a very powerful site today. it's called 'post secret,' and it's a place for people to share their deepest, darkest secrets anonymously.
it's amazing to me the courage that these people have shown. i encourage you to visit. maybe you have a secret you'd like to share? i won't tell, i promise.
this is one of the most truthful, compelling pieces of writing i have ever read. it was written by a heroin junkie in vancouver. i hope she is well.
In Hot Water cyyren
Posted to craigslist.org 04/22 18:43:04
I'm one of those women who get jealous for no reason, cut my hair when I'm down, and smoke in the shower, filling the room with such opacity I can't be seen naked. Willing to be no less than a flirting junkie, no more than the neighbor country's whore.
Each drag becomes soggier, the taste more bitter with each flick of ash. The drain becomes a collective, a resting place for soot, stray hairs and long ago, trickles of cum or blood, or both.
I should brush my teeth, wash my hair, coax the filth from my skin with soap and bubbles. I watch my track marks shine red and bumpy -- crossroads where my innocence, indifference, intensity and indecency collide.
I'm one of those women who lie in the bottom of the tub, steam presses into my mouth and cunt, I think of folding laundry, defrosted meat and how to slip sleeping pills in the punch. Water pelts my skin, I pull the curtain to cover my face -- never fully committed to anything.
Looking up, the enema bag hangs from the rod, a dark pink swell with rose scented innards. Suddenly afraid it will fall and headlines will howl: "WOMAN KILLED BY ENEMA" If they only knew shooting heroin makes it hard to take a shit, or give a shit.
I move to where two sprays fall directly from the showerhead to my breasts, -I swear it wasn't intentional- the divot between collarbones fills and I am reminded of a duck paddling in stagnant water and myself, a prime candidate for breast surgery or cancer, whichever comes first. I'll sit up, throw a ciggarette butt in the toilet, shave my legs for no one, and continue to regret having to be naked to get clean.
Mountains have always called my name, whispering softly, calling me home. So, home I shall go.
Not to say that I haven't had other homes, or that I never will again. Those who know me well know that "home" is where my heart beats loudest. I ache and long to see the stark mountain rising against the sky. To slide, barely controlled, down it's snowy shoulders. To smell the salt in the air. To reach out and touch the orca as we skim together at the water's surface.
Here, too, my heart lies. In these words.
I hope you will visit often, especially those I call 'friend', and discover with me the life that unfolds, moment by moment, movement by movement.
I will call to you from atop the mountain, from the shore, the trail, the sky. I will call to you from my heart. And you will hear your name ringing in the sky, echoed by the gods.
Location: West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
A copywriter, consultant & now Amazon #1 bestselling author, Paul Keetch has a knack for making complex topics easy to understand.
Paul reveals this talent in his book Make My Marketing Work: How to Win Customers & Make More Money by distilling marketing down to its few essential elements.
These essential elements are the keys to your marketing success. Using simple language and effective exercises, Paul helps business owners move beyond theory and into practical, real-world strategy and action.
His process-driven and results-oriented approach to marketing has led his clients to refer to him as The Customer Creator.
Those clients include Chicken Soup for the Soul co-creator, Mark Victor Hansen, T. Harv Eker, Christine Comaford and Libby Gill, the woman who help launched the Dr. Phil brand.
