http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs Fearless. Thoughtful. Witty. Canadian. And Opinionated. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:06:56 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I'm Jesuspenis and I'm taking over for Chantelle today because she is sucky and heartbroken still. Grrrr.* I'm an expert on anthropomorphism and Twitter because I am both a four pound yorkshire terrier and a Twitter identity. So I get used phatically all the time on Twitter by Chantelle. Some examples of ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/11/19/mirrors-edge-with-jesuspenis/ Lynda Barry visited Toronto recently to speak at a book festival, and to teach her class on creative writing, "Writing the Unthinkable." In her lively festival talks — which felt more like happenings than your typical button-down, staid author's reading — she presented excerpts from her latest book, What It ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/11/17/a-conversation-with-lynda-barry/ How do you patent indigenous knowledge? Most pharmaceutical companies have stopped trying. People often think of indigenous tribes as being backwards or ignorant, but they know a lot of amazing things that we don't. Instead of English Lit or Poli Sci, they get fast-tracked into a far more challenging major: How ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/11/17/theres-gold-in-them-there-trees/ Exam testing informs every aspect of life in South Korea, and it doesn't stop even after you've finished university Last Thursday was test day in South Korea. Traffic stopped. Airplane schedules were altered. The military was told to shut up. The best rice cakes in the land were distributed, consumed, and ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/11/17/this-is-not-just-a-test/ Microsoft's Live.com just relaunched as a social network. It was very easy, all they had to do was copy Friendfeed badly. Commenter Edwin Khodabakchian summed it up when he wrote: Interesting move. At least they are trying. But Live.com's reinvention has given me a great idea! What if I took my favourite ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/11/13/goats-now-they-are-a-social-network/ The purpose of this blog is to allow me to do what I enjoy doing more than anything else in the world. Let me describe it briefly for you. I take popular culture — both past and present forms — and use it as a lens through which to contextualize electronic ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/11/11/behind-the-blog-curtain/ As yesterday's informal National Post poll showed, Joseph Boyden is the smart-money choice to win this year's Giller Prize tonight. (Update: Huzzah! I was right.) And for good reason — his new novel, Through Black Spruce, is a methodical study of our relation to the land and each other, marked ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/11/11/qa-joseph-boyden/ Most textiles and clothes are made in Asia, sold to the West, discarded in the West, and donated to charities who have too many dresses to know what to do with them. Then the charities send them to Africa. For example: Fictitious Original Owner: Cindy Showalker’s 8th birthday party in Miami, ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/11/10/little-girls-in-pretty-dresses/ "We love our King," proclaims Kingal, a Bhutanese man I am chatting with.  I have heard this sentiment throughout Bhutan.  The people here keep pictures of him in their homes, in their businesses; they say prayers for him.  It is as if he is a part of their lives, and ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/11/10/we-love-our-king/ Desperate for exercise, I spent half an hour yesterday jogging around Liberty City. My cousin wanted me to steal a police Hummer and shoot innocent bystanders. Instead, I ended my relaxing run in an Emergency Room with grenades that put all us invalids out of our collective miseries. Usually after a run ... http://www.walrusmagazine.com/blogs/2008/11/09/invalid-20/