here’s this great speech that spider-man made in amazing spider-man #135, published in august 1974 (written by gerry conway, illustrated by ross andru) — while and after he was fighting the tarantula, essentially a political assassin/terrorist/mercenary

one of my favourite quotations (it’s the last line) of all time comes up in this comic

Tarantula: Mockery? You dare mock me? Don’t you realize who — what — I am?

Spider-Man: Sure I do, buster — you’re a first class creep — a traitor to your own friends, men who were trying to free their people from a dictatorship — heroes whose boots you aren’t fit to shine!

You know something, “amigo” — it’s bums like you who give revolution a bad name.

Sick little criminals — who don’t give a hang about the cause they’re fighting for — who only care about themselves — and their own twisted egos.

Sure, I know who you are … and punk … so do you.

Punisher: That was quite a speech, my friend.

Spider-Man: Punisher…? When did you sneak up?

Punisher: Right after “heroes whose boots he isn’t fit to shine“. Do you believe all that, Wall-crawler? Are you truly that idealistic?

Spider-Man: Yeah, I’m idealistic — and I’ll stay idealistic until something better comes along.

(while he was making the “speech” he was wiping the floor with tarantula’s face)

daily dose of sanjeyan, as quoted by saqib:

ksnite says:
you know something … if you really pay attention, you can kind of notice that noaman is into spider-man — just kind of though…

nomes says:
guess who is in a class of its own
ksnite says:
i dunno, who?
nomes says:
that’s right

this story i read really moved me, i’m amazed (thanks fahad)

Humanitarian to a Nation

Starting in 1951 with a tiny dispensary in Karachi�s poor Mithadar neighborhood, Edhi has steadily built up a nationwide organization of ambulances, clinics, maternity homes, mental asylums, homes for the physically handicapped, blood banks, orphanages, adoption centers, mortuaries, shelters for runaway children and battered women, schools, nursing courses, soup kitchens and a 25-bed cancer hospital.

it struck my as almost surreal that such a person could exist, that with the limited resources he has and the atmosphere in pakistan, he could do so much

it makes me wonder if we, here in the west with so much more, are doing nearly enough (and no, we’re not — the fundamental problem is not that of wealth or resources but that of distribution, and in as far as that problem exists nothing even remotely near enough is being done)

“My religion is humanitarianism�.. Which is basis of every religion in this world”. (sic)

– Abdul Sattar Edhi

and in other news:

nomes says:
girls come and go…
nomes says:
well, they go more often than they come
ksnite says:
actually, we come and they go

ksnite says:
why do all girls maek spelling mistakes?
nomes says:
bits me

Beaucoup de mes amis sont venus des nuages
Avec soleil et pluie comme simples bagages
Ils ont fait la saison des amitiés sincères
La plus belle saison des quatre de la terre

Ils ont cette douceur des plus beaux paysages
Et la fidélité des oiseaux de passage
Dans leurs coeurs est gravée une infinie tendresse
Mais parfois dans leurs yeux se glisse la tristesse
Alors, ils viennent se chauffer chez moi
Et toi aussi tu viendras

Tu pourras repartir au fin fond des nuages
Et de nouveau sourire à bien d’autres visages
Donner autour de toi un peu de ta tendresse
Lorsqu’un autre voudra te cacher sa tristesse

Comme l’on ne sait pas ce que la vie nous donne
Il se peut qu’à mon tour je ne sois plus personne
S’il me reste un ami qui vraiment me comprenne
J’oublierai à la fois mes larmes et mes peines

Alors, peut-être je viendrai chez toi
Chauffer mon coeur à ton bois

РJ.M. Rivi̬re & G. Bourgeois, performed by Fran̤oise Hardy

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

– Robert Frost

the following is an excerpt from a conversation that took place between sanjeyan and me concerning our friend who is currently in china …

nomes: china’s communism and moral depravity is corrupting shawn
ksnite: <high five>
nomes: <high five>
ksnite: THREE CHEERS FOR SHAWN!!!
nomes: i could use more communist friends with no morals
nomes: just like stalin
ksnite: damn, stalin may not haven’t known a lot … but he could maintain a moustache like there was no tomorrow
nomes: in my books, that is a lot
nomes: that moustache is what every man aspires to
nomes: george bush
nomes: saddam hussein (who came close)
nomes: tony blair
nomes: everyone
nomes: elton john
nomes: john mayer
nomes: jesus
ksnite: i bet on good moustache days, he executed less men
ksnite: he had a heart of gold
nomes: just like jesus
nomes: yet so much more
ksnite: some consider that jesus was a little stubborn with the cross
ksnite: complaining about how heavy it was like every 10 minutes
nomes: did stalin ever complain about managing the largest country on earth? about world war two? about america’s nuclear capability? about rebellions and the immense material cost of perpetrating genocide?
nomes: no my friend, he carried that cross
nomes: and did not shed a tear nor ask for any sympathy
nomes: which is more than what we can say about jesus there, some reports allege someone else carried his cross — can you believe this guy? he’s GOD and still someone ELSE carries his cross
ksnite: i heard he was walking in all directions…couldn’t walk a straight path
ksnite: broke some vases, broke windows, snapped a few power lines
nomes: were there ever power outages under stalin?
nomes: NO! never! nein!
ksnite: he made sure to electrocute men on days when energy use was low
ksnite: he cared for his people
nomes: i think the world’s been worshipping the wrong guy for the past fifty years
ksnite: i propose we start STALINISM!!!

When people look at the options, they’re saying that Stephen Harper looks like Paul Martin in a hurry.

– Jack Layton, NDP

Tax cuts? Stiffer penalties for criminals? A return to governmental accountability? And all propped up on the myth of the ever-expanding economy. For an American who left California on the heels of George W. Bush’s bloodless coup, on the cusp of his illegal war, it all sounds very familiar. My Canadian wife and daughter and I came to Canada in 2002, expecting to find the Canada my wife left 20 years ago: Trudeau’s Canada, a place where no one’s too poor to be sick or sheltered, where no one’s too rich to be above the law. As the election looms, we can only shake our heads.

On one hand, the corrupt Liberal government and its zillionaire leader talking in whichever direction the wind blows and on the other, the Conservative leadership, finger-pointing, privatizing and apparently gaining ground by promising tax cuts to an Ontario that only months ago voted in a new Premier on the grounds that we needed to restore our public services to pre-Tory levels.

Round and round they go with the sound bytes and the tax cuts and the ducking and dodging of their own words as they go in and out of vogue, all the while vilifying and ostracizing Jack Layton, the only one of the bunch who, to me, actually sounds like a Canadian � the only one whose plans for the future of Canada actually include all Canadians.

I guess with all this going on, I felt obliged as an American to reach out to my Canadian neighbours and say, “Welcome to America.”

– David Kemker

message sent to physics department:

Dear Professor Keys (sic.),

I only now realized an incredible conflict of interest pertaining to the date of the Physics Test.

Unfortunately, the TTC’s 50th anniversary celebrations of Canada’s first Subway line also fall on March 30th.

For those of us who believe fervently — even fanatically — in Public Transit and the TTC, this is virtually a religious conflict.

On March 30th, us believers will firstly gather at the SAC office to purchase our April Metropasses.
We will then indugle in a night-time remembrance of the sacred Red Cars that, though produced in Great Britian, still reflected Canada’s … redness (in a non-communist way), through poetry and physics recitals and, of course, singing the famed TTC Subway Song.
We will then hike — above ground — from Union Station to Eglinton Station to remember the trials and tribulations that faced the people of Toronto before we were graced with the Subway.
We will then take the Subway from Eglinton to Yonge Station, and go west to St. George Station to initiate the final rite: Starting from Bloor and St. George we will take the Subway to Kipling, then go to Kennedy. From there we will back track to St. George, and go north to Downsview. Then, we will go south, do the loop (well, a U-turn, or whatever you want to call it) and go north to Finch. Then south to Sheppard, go east to Don Mills, come back to the Yonge line and come south to the Bloor line and back to St. George.

I realize that this is very short notice, but on behalf of all us Public Transit believers, I request that the test be postponed, rescheduled for another date. (Yes, we know one test is droppable, but we hope to drop one of our earlier tests due to our dismal performances there.)

(Or you could at least announce to the Physics class that March 30th also marks the 50th anniversay of the Subway, and the TTC’s official celebrations are being held at 10:30 am at Union Station.)

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
“captain nomes”
Noaman Ali

reply from physics department:

Dear Noaman,

I have read with much interest your urgent request and regret to inform you that it cannot be granted. According to the Interfaith Calendar (http://www.interfaithcalendar.org/), worship of public transit, whether of the TTC variety or of any other, is not a faith recognised by the University of Toronto. Furthermore, neither Professor Key nor I are keen to encourage fanaticism in any form whatsoever.

Let me assure you, however, that we are fervent supporters of public transit as an alternative to more private and wasteful means of transportation, such as the so-called sports utility vehicle.

May I suggest that the calm and studious ambiance of a test, so conducive to one’s contemplation of past sins and of the frailties of human nature, would make an ideal prelude to the boisterous revelry being planned for that evening.

Regards,

Pierre Savaria
PHY138Y Course Coordinator