I was at a toy store today for the first time in ages, and saw one shelf with the following toys:
- Scarface Action Figure (complete with machine gun, sunglasses, and briefcase full of cash)
- Moses Action Figure (with a stone tablet inscribed with the 10 Commandments)
- Geek Man (with a pocket protector and glasses)
- Jesus Action Figure (100% Pure Bible Action!)

Signs of the times… if the toy industry is supposed to respond to the whims and desires of children, this paints a very absurd picture. The question is then, are toys designed to respond to what children want, or are they designed to control what a child wants? During my childhood, GI Joe was clearly a clever propaganda tool to raise a new generation of Americans that would conveniently hit adulthood at the dawn of the Patriot Act.

So what does a kid conditioned by Mafia dolls and Jesus toys grow up to become? How do you reconcile geek culture with gangster culture? Absurd.

Snapple: Not all it was cracked up to be.

Tech firms compete to conquer the globe

I loved this line:
“Terrorists can use cars and cell phones and books and pencils and go to school.”

Hurry, get rid of the pencils!

Quebec private schools must allow hijabs, skullcaps: human rights commission : “Private schools in Quebec must accommodate students’ religious needs, including the wearing of Muslim hijabs or Jewish skullcaps, the Quebec Human Rights Commission ruled on Wednesday.”

Banks find ways around Islam’s ban on interest

CBC News Indepth: Nortel