CURIOUS TIMES: Truth is stranger than fiction
October 14, 1999
BATTLE THE CORPORATE GOLIATH
Perhaps you saw the 12-foot
high Grim Reaper and his pals parading near the Vancouver
Art Gallery two weekends ago. That was the Resist World
Trade Organization Roadshow,a prelude to the World Trade
Organization (WTO) summit to be held in Seattle November 29
through December 3. The Seattle based Direct Action Network
hopes to crash the party with tens of thousands of
protestors transforming the summit into a festival of
resistance. In their words: "these people (the WTO) have no
right to make undemocratic, unacountable, destructive
decisions about our lives, our communities and the earth."
Network with local activists through the Vancouver
Grassroots Alliance at http://vga-van.tao.ca/ and plan your
own rain for the WTO parade.
CRASH THAT DAMN EAVESDROPPING SUPER-COMPUTER
For years now there
have been persistent stories that a global computer spy
network ("Echelon") scans every telephone call and email
transmission on the planet, searching for keywords that
trigger the system to record conversations involving
drug-running or terrorist activities. In response,
cyber-activists have planned "Gag Echelon Day" for October
21, a day on which everyone is urged to pepper their
telephone conversations and emails with words such as
heroin, cocaine, assault rifle, assassination, terrorism
and AK47 in order to overload the spy system. Try sending
this email to all your friends: "George Bush smuggles
crack, rapes terrorists, and assassinates anarchist
drug-running satanists." That oughtta do it.
A THIEF WITH BALLS
Toronto police have arrested 35-year-old
Michelle Helen Lawes for pickpocketing over a dozen elderly
men by asking for a cigarette, then distracting the men by
squeezing their genitals with one hand while extracting
their wallets with the other. Now tell me what man wouldn't
fall for that one? (Reuters)
HEIL HAIDER
Israeli
president Ezer Weizman has called upon Austrian Jews to
immediately immigrate to Israel, following Austrian
parlimentary elections on Oct. 3, which saw the
far-far-right Freedom Party win second place, running on
the platform of anti-immigration. The party's leader is
Jorg Haider, a Nazi-sympathizer who likes to hang out with
SS veterans. He intends to freeze immigration and reserve
child support for Austrian families only. Political
commentators are shocked, given Austria is Europe's third
richest country and has one of the lowest unemployment
rates. Nevertheless, the Freedom Party's slogan of
überfremdung (overpopulation by foreigners), once used by
Joseph Goebells, has attracted popular support. The Israeli
president warned "Austrian Jews should draw the proper
conclusions, and the sooner, the better."
BARCODES FOR BUYERS
U.S. Patent Number 5,878,155, granted on March
2, 1999, is described as "a method for verifying human
identity during electronic sales transactions...A bar code or
a design is tattooed on an individual...Before the sales
transaction can be consummated, the tattoo is scanned with
a scanner.... Once verified, the seller may be authorized to
debit the buyer's electronic bank account..." (U.S. Patent &
Trademark Office)
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Copyright 2000 by Andreas Ohrt
(604) 803-7485
Email:aohrt@hotmail.com
Website:www.curioustimes.com