CEO of Massey Energy, Don Blankenship, and the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster

I think Don Blankenship should be tried for 29 counts of negligence in the workplace causing death.

Blankenship is the CEO of Massey Energy, one of the largest coal producers in the United States. Coal, of course, is one of the most significant sources of energy in North America.

On April 5th, 2010, one of Blankenship’s coal mines experienced an explosion (believed to have been cause by the presence of a methane), killing 29 people.

In 2009, Blankenship received a fine of $382,000 for serious violations for lacking ventilation in the mines, among several other safety concerns.

—Three Hundred and Eighty-Two THOUSAND Dollars!—

-Blakenship received two citations THE DAY BEFORE the explosion for safety violations.
-In the month leading up to the explosion, Blankenship received 57 citations for safety violations.
-In the previous five years, Blankenship has received citations for 1,342 safety violations.

In his defense, he said “Anything in life has risks”.

WHAT. THE. FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blankenship is apparently known to verbally confront his employees discouraging them from forming unions. In my opinion, if a work place can operate diplomatically with minimal risks of harm to the workers, then that seems fairly acceptable. However, in a case like this.. this is unacceptable.

I feel so bad for the people who have worked, currently work, and who might ever work under his direction.

The sad thing is, in our society, I wouldn’t be surprised to this man end up walking, free of any criminal wrongdoing. After all, his company is the fourth largest coal producer in the United States.

Does this bother anyone else? I haven’t been so bothered by something like this in so long.

St. Patricks Day/eRez Marathon

I knew it was too quiet during rounds to be true!
It was so quiet.. and then.. it all started!

I'll spare you the details, but basically..
SOO MUCH EREZ!!

It's 4:45am.
I am going to bed.

Goodnight world!

Self Portrait

Matt's Canadian Musician of the Week

Jason Martin - Ambient/Acoustic Rock from Vancouver, BC

Amazing. Listen to his song "Angel". Overwhelmingly powerful.

Canadian Music

I'm in the process of making a big Canadian Music board for my floor in residence.
I've done a lot of research for this, and made a lot of connections, and I'm hoping people like it! Even if no one reads it, or looks at it, I'll know that I did a pretty good job. There's a bunch of pictures and stuff.. working on the text and how I'm gonna lay things out.

I have my interview for Sr. RA on Wednesday. Pretty stoked, won't lie. I really want to get this job.

In completely unrelated news, I got mail today. Stuff I ordered online about three weeks ago came in! WOO! It's all the copies of this zine that I'm into. Pretty stoked. The best part is, a week after I ordered the zines, I ordered a CD that came from England. The CD got here BEFORE the zines.. and the zines were coming from Toronto :P

I thought it was funny anyways haha

ANYWAYS!
I have lots and lots and lots of work to do tonight!
Better get crackin!

If you're bored, check out this website.
http://mashable.com/

Common Sense Fail

Student arrested for doodling on school desk

NEW YORK (AP) — A New York City junior high student has been arrested for doodling on her desk with a marker.

Twelve-year-old Alexa Gonzalez scribbled “Lex was here 2/1/10“ on her desk Monday at Junior High School 190 in Queens. She also wrote “I love my friends Abby and Faith.” The girl says the doodles could have been erased.

Moraima Camacho says her daughter was released several hours after she was taken in handcuffs to a police station.

Education department spokesman David Cantor said the incident shouldn’t have happened, and that common sense should prevail.

Last month, the New York Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit alleging more than 20 instances of wrongful arrests and assaults by school safety officers.

Gonzalez has been assigned eight hours of community service, a book report and an essay on what she’s learned from the experience.

———
Story:
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/02/05/12755611-ap.html

Inspiration

"See inspiration is the thing that keeps my brain ticking
If I don't feel inspired, something in my veins missing"

-'Inspiration' by Classified

I'm honestly so inspired right now.

I want to go out and shoot right now.
I can't wait to be home to go to some of these places.. It's gonna be sick!
I honestly can't wait.

Music

Music is something I used to be so involved in.. Something I would do to consume my time. I knew details about so many bands, big or small, mainstream or underground.

Let it be said, but man, I miss it.

Lately, I've been wasting my time on things that are not important.
-Call of Duty/xbox
-Facebook
-Watching CSI
-etc.. etc..

If I spent half of the time I spend on those things on getting back into the underground music, I could fully immerse myself again.

That's going to be a goal of mine.
I want to start going to shows more often. I miss it SO much!!
I miss getting to know the bands, hanging out with friends and meeting new people at shows, and just the excitement of being a part of something.

I miss the Ottawa scene, even though it died years ago.
I miss the bands that came from the Southern Ontario scene, which is also seeming to die one band at a time. *Sigh..*
Straight Reads The Line's last show in Ottawa is the 20th. Should be a good show. They're playing Mavericks, which will be sure to bring back tons of memories.

It's weird to think that I started going to shows when I was like 15, and now I'm almost 22.. Weird. Where has the time gone??!

All day today, I've been thinking about the old music I used to love. Here's a list of bands that I wish still played:
-Blue Skies At War
-The Fullblast
-The Fully Down (Ottawa Represent!)
-Seconds To Go
-Shotgun Rules
-The Soap Opera Coma (well, they're still around.. kinda)
-Broken Glass Wings
-Forty Cent Fix (Again, reppin' Ottawa)

I let the joy I found in music slip away with the bands I so desperately clung onto. Instead of letting myself discover new bands, I just gave up. That was arguably one of the bigger mistakes I've made.

I miss the show and music scene. Arguably, my taste in music has changed. I listen to bands like Arkells and Attack In Black now. But I miss the energy from the indie/rock/pop punk bands I used to like.
I miss the intensity from the hardcore bands I used to watch.

I miss the energy from the crowds. I miss everything about music.

Music is just so good.. I don't even know what to say.. When you find that song by that band that just makes you feel so many things, there's no better feeling. Whether it bring back memories, remind you of friends, or whatever.. there's no beating the power of music.

Pripyat, Ukraine

I've been thinking about places I would really like to visit, and Ukraine is one of them. Specifically, I am fascinated by Pripyat. The region was evacuated in the 1980's after a massive radioactive contamination occured, due to a malfuntion at a nuclear power plant in Chernobyl.

The city used to house approximately 50,000 people. Now, it's completely abandoned. It's a total ghost town.

I'm absolutely fascinated by this place. To many, it is a place that we associate with disaster and abandonment. To few, it is a place of beauty, full of artistic potential.

I would love to photograph Pripyat, as have several others, like Robert Polidori.

One day, I'll get out there, seeing this place that absolutely fascinates me. I can't wait for that day to come.

No Promise of Safety

I wanna go exploring soon, hopefully Saturday.

I also want to buy a fish-eye lens so that if I ever happen to find myself anywhere similar to this with my camera, I can get a super wide shot without attempting a pano.. even though pano's are epic.
































This Photo came from the website "No Promise of Safety"

http://www.nopromiseofsafety.com/

Check them out.

So today, I woke up around 8:15 to get up and meet up with Hilary for breakfast. Then at 9, we had class where we took turns "constructively criticizing" each others images. It was good. Really.
Class ended around 2:30 or so. I went back to my room for a quick breather and attempted to find an article on my course website which just isn't there. The funny part is I have a presentation about it next week. But!! Alena, Sarah and Gen saved the day! Nice!

Before I met up with them to discuss our presentation, I had an interview with one of the writers for the school newspaper. She interviewed me about the benefit concert I organized. I'm excited to see if it gets printed or not!!

After the interview, I went and met up with Sarah, Alena, and Gen! We broke down who would do what for our project. Exciting! I'm pretty stoked to get it out of the way. I was also very relieved to see they had managed to find the article I needed.

After that, around 4 or so, I came back to my room and got to just chill out for a little bit! Definitely welcomed at that point in the day!

At 5, I headed to the caf to do sign ups for the Leadership Institute/Snowboard Trip/Sell "Hope for Haiti" T Shirts. We sold lotsss of shirts. A girl who was running for Ms. Teen Canada wanted a picture with us. It was kinda neat I guess? lol

After I finished up at 7:45, Chuck and I ran over to the mall to try and get a new copy of Modern Warfare 2. His disk got mega-scratched and we had a guarantee on it, so we figured it was a safe bet to think EB Games would have copies of the best selling video game in recent history. Apparently we thought wrong :P We're now expecting a call when their new shipment comes in! Woooo!

When I got back at 8:30, Jacqui and I did rounds til about 9pm.
Then it was chill time/CoD time against Chuck (who borrowed Jacqui's copy for the time being).
I played for about an hour then did rounds again til about 11. Then I played CoD for a bit, tried to sleep, talked with Ash on the phone, then tried to sleep more. Well, sleep didn't happen! Then, before you know it, Holy Eff! I said I would bike from 3-5am for our 24hr Bike Fundraiser. By this point, its about 1:30. Not much time to sleep!!

So I'm trying to sleep and FINALLY I do (at around 2:15 or so). Then, my alarm went off at 2:30 and it's time to start waking up for biking :P

So 2:56am rolls around and I finally drag myself out of bed. Off to the caf to ride the stationary bike by myself til 5am. Let me tell you - that seat was not comfy. AT ALL!

Time went by pretty quick. Pumped some Fully Down, Ten Second Epic, Thrice, and Ataris to pass the time. I also watched the sports highlights several times.

All in all, it's been a good day! I'm super tired and feel I more than deserve the sleep I'm about to indulge in.

Then, come 10am, it's up and at em for another fun-filled day! I have to polish off my job application for next year and submit it. Then, class at 12:40-3:20. Then sleep/relaxation :)

Sorry this is so long.
That's what he said?

Photos from urbex sesh with Hilary coming soon.

-Matt.

Inspire Yourself

Check out this Brooks Reynolds project, "Carpe Noctem".


The song will inspire you.
The images will drive you.

It's powerful.

Newest Additions To My Walls

I bought these posters today. The first one looks way better at full size (obviously). It has a quote from Bono at the bottom:
"Where you live should no longer determine whether you live".

Classified concert next Monday at 8. Can't wait! Hope I can make it.

Today was a good day.

hello.

Meet Jacques Young.

Shooting

Today was a good day.
I woke up early, went to the gym, then played ball hockey with some of the res guys for an hour and a bit. Definitely a good start to the day!
Then, Hilary and I went to the old Kodak factory and got some shots for a shoot we have to do for our Human Figure class. Shots look good so far. Can't wait to get a chance to edit them.

All in all, today was a good day!
Hoping to get lots of homework done tomorrow.

On a brighter note, by a random coincidence, I asked one of my friends if he wanted to go to Las Vegas to see Emancipator. Turns out the day I asked him is his 21st Birthday haha So we're gonna do our best to make it out. Can't wait!! Emancipator in Las Vegas - Epic.

Safe In The Steep Cliffs

The new Emancipator album dropped today, and I admit myself impressed. Douglas Appling set the bar high in his debut album, but didn't bow down from the challenge. His unique style and vision of rhythm, melodies, and composition come together beautifully in his sophmore release.

Trying to find words to describe Appling's music left me searching in the realm of such words as 'epic' and 'flawless'. Tracks like "Black Lake" fuse various genres of music together into a unique and bone chilling listening experience. The soft melodies inspire and create vivid illusions, almost like walking through heavy fog towards a mysterious source of light.

The music is mysterious, intriguing, and nothing short of breathtaking. The expectations for Emancipator's new album were very high, especially given the nature of "Soon It Will Be Cold Enough". The new album "Safe in the Steep Cliffs" will be sure to satisfy fans of the debut Emancipator album and welcome new listeners to a wonderful world of beautiful music.