From Media Life:

Disgruntled reality writers taking networks to court

Reality TV has writers. Oh, and the tooth fairy isn’t real, either. A group of 12 writers filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles yesterday against four production companies they say broke a bunch of California labor laws. The plaintiffs hope to get it certified as a class action suit. Among other things, the writers, all veterans of Mike Fleiss shows like “The Bachelor,” “The Will” and “The Real Gilligan’s Island,” claim they were overworked and underpaid, sometimes putting in 80-hour work weeks without overtime compensation. The Writer’s Guild of America West, which is considering a union for reality writers, is providing assistance to the plaintiffs. The suit includes as evidence a pay stub for an assistant story editor on “The Bachelor” who earned $800 per week . The editor worked 84 hours that week, which works out to just $7.41 an hour, 66 cents more than California’s minimum wage.

"The Bachelor" has a writing staff working eighty hours a week?!?!

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Today's Local Weather Was: Sunny except for that single dark cloud that spewed hail just before lunch.

• [x] America
• [x] Britain
• [x] Spain
• [x] Australia
• [_] Canada
• [_] Italy

And before any Canadians say that we're safe because we're not in Iraq - these attacks had nothing to with Iraq. It takes years for these terrorist groups to put together the men, the materiel, and the planning to carry out a multiple bombing. Basic arithmetic will show that the idea, the inspiration, the desire to kill Australians, Spaniards, and Britons occurred before Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Arrogance and complacency are a lethal combination.

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Today's Local Weather Was: Cloudy.

Will they be donating their newly-found profits?

Increased record sales for Live 8 performers, compared with sales last Sunday, were good news for "iconic acts" including Pink Floyd, according to HMV's Gennaro Castaldo.

"Even allowing for the relative nature of this exercise, where back catalogue sales of the more established acts are being measured from a fairly low base, this snapshot shows that Live 8 is having a marked effect on sales - just like its predecessor 20 years ago," he said.

Mr Castaldo added that the effect would become more pronounced during this week.

LIVE 8 STARS' ALBUMS BOOST

1. Pink Floyd - Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd - 1343%
2. The Who - Then and Now - 863%
3. Annie Lennox - Eurythmics Greatest Hits - 500%
4. Dido - Life For Rent - 412%
5. Razorlight - Up All Night - 335%
6. Robbie Williams - Greatest Hits - 320%
7. Joss Stone - Mind, Body and Soul - 309%
8. Sting - The Very Best of Sting & The Police - 300%
9. Travis - Singles - 268%
10. Madonna - Immaculate Collection - 200%

Source: HMV

Oh the irony. Twenty bucks to buy a CD from a Live 8 performer? Or donate twenty bucks to a charity after watching/listening to Live 8? Hmmm. What to do? What to do?

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Today's Local Weather Was: Wear a jacket and its sunny. Leave the jacket at home at it rains!

The following was taken a week ago in Banda Aceh.

Its a power barge - as in an inland waterways floating barge with a power plant on it. Five kilometers inland.

What's my connection to these photos. I might be designing some wood-framed homes for the tsunami victims, provided the Indonesian government and the non-governmental agencies get their collective acts together and do something other than talking and meeting and discussing.

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Today's Local Weather Was: Rain then sun. Lots of sun.

Seems the Premier of Alberta is thinking out loud:

Alberta Premier Ralph Klein has suggested that his province may get out of the marriage business altogether in the wake of the passage of same-sex marriage legislation in the House of Commons Tuesday.
[...]
Instead, Klein proposed that the province might withdraw from sanctioning marriages and just recognize civil unions, leaving marriage to religious orders.

''We simply wouldn't be involved in the solemnization of marriage,'' he said.

There is hope for a rationalised government in Canada. We're almost there!

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Today's Local Weather Was: Cloudy then sunny.

Vancouverites must be an exceptional rowdy and rambunctious lot because Vancouver City Council has refused to allow fireworks for Canada Day celebrations at Canada Place. At 7PM, yah gotta find your own party.

Its too expensive to police 60,000 revellers the Vancouver Special Events Manager says. Its too dangerous with the nearby construction sites Vancouver Special Events Manager says. My God. Let's hope the Jazz Festival isn't cancelled due to traffic concerns/noise pollution/crowd control expenses/drunkness behaviour.

Its kinda sad when the City of Surrey (which has a certain reputation of a negative nature) can have B.C.'s biggest fireworks display for Canada Day but not the "world class" City of Vancouver.

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Today's Local Weather Was: Sunshine all day.

Via Quotulatiousness comes the World's Smallest Political Quiz.

Now, to figure out what to think of Zimbabwe's "Drive out rubbish". Should Canada do something? Can we do something? Or is this an African problem requiring an African solution.

That one sounds good to me.

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Today's Local Weather Was: Sunny delight.