The New Supervillain: X Kingpin
I nearly choked on my earl grey as I read The Economist tweet on this article:
http://www.economist.com/node/17309197?story_id=17309197&fsrc=scn/tw/te/rss/pe
(Edit to add: Hey, did you guys know that the English tea addiction caused a HUGE trade deficit, which led them to export opium into China? The government tried to outlaw it too, to no avail. What a short-lived bubble Eurocentrism will be…)
Can I just say… WHAT AN AWESOME NAME?!
It’s the X Kingpin!
The political cartoonists’ Xmas came early. The satirists are going to have a field day. American “liberal democrats” are going to sh** their pants as another “princeling” thoroughbred takes power through ostensibly un-democratic and therefore unacceptable means.
Voltaire would approve, much like he approved educated Emperor Qianlong -The Kingpin is a chemical engineer and boasts a doctorate in agricultural economics. Interestingly, his father was Darth Vader -killed in the Cultural Revolution for being a bit of a reformer.
The one thing I love about The Economist: not its ridiculously rightist leanings, but THE COMMENTS. Go on, read them. You won’t feel like pulling out your hair like when you read youtube comments, trust me, the 2906328590528th Justin-Bieber-small-dick post isn’t there. What a lovely public forum youtube is, a true testament to the democracy’s crown jewel of the Right to Speech. (Personally, I shudder to think that these people all have the VOTE.)
There was one timely comment I had an issue with.
Clandie wrote:
China should have some political reforms, which make other parties and average people have the rights of speaking whatever on their minds.
Really? You talk of transparency now, when America desperately tries to cover what is now popularly called their “largest leak/military breach in history”? Over there they certainly love it when the public has timely access to the gigantic military archive pertaining to matters of “national security”. Yes, because the leader of the democratic world is a true beacon of light, shedding clear beautiful truth wherever it happens to fall (over its entire sphere of influence: oh wait, who else has a sphere of influence anymore? After the implosion of the Soviet Union… isn’t the only superpower America? That doesn’t mean the entire world is at their mercy, does it?) Much like a lighthouse, it is darkest at its feet.
Americans love their democracy. Let China have their meritocracy.
Creepy bus story v2.
It’s not AS bad as last time, but still.
Friday morning.
There was a seat on the bus that no one was taking. Probably because of the extremely strange-looking old Asian guy that you’d have to sit next to.
But hey, I didn’t want to judge a book by its cover etc. and more importantly I wanted to sit and study for that English final (which was terribly hard btw…)
This guy would have topped the “Does this person look like a child molester?” charts. Shifty eyes, acne scars, thick lips, overweight, and looked around 50 y.o. I sit down and start reading my big heavy Anthology of Canadian Literature and try really hard to ignore his gaze. He’d get tired of looking at dorky glasses, no-make-up-ed me.
Wishful thinking. He keeps looking, and what’s worse, from a normal sitting position, he slowly goes gangster-style. He starts spreading his legs. I sit crosslegged and don’t let him touch me. UGH. What’s EVEN WORSE is that he has his hands on his crotch and keeps shifting and ostensibly fixing his belt. Uh huh. Terrified that he was going to pop out his stick and I’d have to chop it off, on the third time he did this I moved and sat in another seat that had just opened up.
HE WAS STILL LOOKING.
Worse than any Hallowe’en horror story, right???
An Adventurous Day. Or at least…the way home.
He yelled in my face,
“I’m going to put out this cigarette in your face.”
..yeah no thanks. But I regress.
So I bussed with Ivy, school was short and fun. I had a lovely chat with Fred the Belgian T.A. a little after discussion class. Hearing him rant about Europe in his perfectly European accent is the most amusing thing ever…”They’re annoying.” LOL. and he’s married :3 awwwwwww. He’s a young ‘un too for doing a dissertation, I’d guess him to be 25-6. I’ve got GREAT T.A.s this semester.
I chatted a little with Nick in the Dance Club Office, then headed to the bus stops. Here the adventure begins…
By this time my serious lack of sleep is catching up to me and I’m half dozing while I walk (I’m getting pretty pro at this, and I’ll soon master standing-sleep-in-bus technique. Tech-Copy!) I see a bus pull up and I half run (stumble)… at which I thought is my stop. Yeah, after 4 years of commuting to UBC you’d think I’d get it right. Anyway, I of course fall asleep right away, and the bus ends up taking me to Bridgeport Station. I have not a clue where this is. I did however see a familiar sight- the Skytrain- so I got off asap and got on the train. I again fall asleep and wake up at Waterfront…sigh. So another train later and I’m finally at VanCity Centre (amazingly I didn’t hibernate the 2 minutes between Waterfront and Granville.)
Now this is where it gets scary.
Minding my own business, I plunk myself down on the bench in front of the bus stop, and am about to pull out my Water-Babies (req reading for Hist 347), when I notice this….thing next to me.
It’s a person with big, bulging light blue eyes. The person is short, maybe around 5ft, but with a pretty solid build… and honestly, I can’t say for certain the sex. Wearing a dirty grey hoodie and VERY dirty fingernails, ugh. I’m pretty sure it’s a he, and age could range from 15 to 25, it was REALLY hard to tell.
He stares for a bit and suddenly starts ranting at me. He rants about debit and credit cards….debit??? and calls me a few names and says something about cigarettes and how if his wasn’t a butt he would put it out in my face. When I ignore him, he actually like… starts pawing at my arm, so I in no uncertain terms say,
“Don’t Touch Me.”
Well he gets even more aggressive: he turns on his lighter and starts waving it in my face. I push his arm back stand up and try to walk away, and he follows. Now I call 911.
He pushes me a little and keeps ranting. The policewoman on the line is being a RETARD… I give her street coordinates and that I’m being threatened, and she asks for MY ADDRESS??? When I tell her really quickly 3656HillcrestAve, she says “Where is that.” OMG IM IN A BIG OF A PICKLE HERE GO GOOGLE IT LATER YOU DIMWIT. Really, I wasn’t even that far from a Tim Horton’s, where I’m sure there’s at least 4 constables getting transfatted with taxpayer dollars…make them waddle over to me…..
This guy pushes a bit too much and I put a leg up and tell him I’m going to kick him if he doesn’t leave me alone. At which he finally walks away.
All this on one of the most crowded cross-streets in downtown Vancouver. I wasn’t paying attention, but I’m sure there were lots of people watching. wtf? No one helps or anything ofc, they don’t want to get knifed or something….
Poor Vancouver, breeding ground of pot-heads and psychos.
Jenn’s Adventure Journal Entry #1
Clear, Concise and Civil
Is my new motto. MUST BE CIVIL IN DEBATE. Do not: be too sarcastic, sardonic, condescending, demeaning. Definitely do not commit any fallacies.
Another long-term goal 🙂
amoraexcyna 