You may have heard about the Giant Squid. Big, tentacled, frequently maligned as killer of sailors and bane of Johnny Depp’s nautical misadventures (Yarrrrr, the Kraken be CGI).

But what you might not know is that there is actually something bigger than a giant squid: a COLOSSAL SQUID. These bad boys feature tentacles lined with razor sharp protrusions, and an impressive 15 metre length. Fisherman caught one of these ginormous squids off the coast of Antarctica last year, and scientists have begun the task of  poking around inside its gooey bits. And possibly making the largest calamari appetizer ever.

Today’s big revelation? The Colossal Squid has the animal kingdom’s largest eye. The monstrous peeper is 11 inches across, and has a lens the size of an orange. In other words, the squid’s eye is as big as your head. Somewhere, a Lenscrafters CEO just had a coronary.

In related news, I have just found my new Super Villain name. The Colossal Squid’s superpowers include looking slimy, being slimy, and just plain lookin’. I call trump, Dr. Octopus. Trump indeed.

*Sigh*. How’s that old saying go? Something about history repeating?

The good and tragically misguided citizens of Rome have elected Gianni Alemanno as their new Mayor. Alemanno was once a neo-fascist youth leader, and his victory parade was chock-a-block with straight-arm Nazi salutes and cries of “Duce! Duce”. ‘Duce’, you’ll recall, was the official title of Benito Mussolini, loyal ally of Hitler and coiner of the term ‘fascism’. A touching tribute, especially for a man that the citizens of Rome killed and hung on a meat hook. Also, if you say ‘Duce’ with a vague Italian accent, it sounds kind of like ‘Douche’.

And the far-right fun doesn’t stop there. Celebrating his countries dramatic shift to the right, newly re-elected Italian PM and epic slimeball Silvio Berlusconi called his compatriots “the new Falange”. The Falange was the name of the Spanish fascist party, the same one that unleashed 34 years of dictatorship on Spain. That’s certainly not something I’d like to be associated with, but it looks like Berlusconi has chosen his side.

Italy is also bringing back some good ol’ fashioned brown shirt thuggery. Umberto Bossi, Berlusconi’s closest political ally, claimed that if the Centre-Leftists didn’t go along with his political plans, “I have 300,000 men always on hand.” Oh yeah. Government by intimidation. That takes me back.

All of this raise one question: Italy, what is it you think you’re doing, exactly? You, more than (almost) everyone should know the dangers of opening the doors to these anti-democratic thugs.

Michael Geist, all around Internet good-guy, has flagged this summer as the potential release of new, updated Canadian copyright legislation. If you recall, the Harper Government tried to release some very bad, industry driven, non-consultative legislation last winter. It was all about crushing fair use and helping record companies save their doomed industry. Thanks to Geist and a groundswell of popular support, this bad news bill was canned.

But, it’s coming back. It will probably be a little watered down, but still not the best option. Watch this space for updates.

Just when I think I have my personal finances all sorted, something like this happens.

Yes, the iPhone is coming to Canada, abd only ten months late. Rogers has confirmed that is will be carrying the nifty little gadget, which we more or less new anyway since Ted’s little corp is the only one with a compatible GSM network. This means we can look forward to monopoly pricing and trademark Roger’s Craptastic™ customer service.

Which doesn’t matter. Because like any good craven Apple fanboy, I would buy the iPhone even if it were covered in poison and only played ‘Gigli’.

Sad news if you like airports, cool buildings, history, or some combination of the three: despite a campaign to save it, Tempelhof Airport failed to win a referendum to stay open.  It will close later this year to make way for a new, more central Berlin airport.

Why should you care?

Well, it’s the second oldest airport in the world (it opened in 1923) and has a spectacular building. Built by the Nazi administration (boooo…) to be the gateway of Hitler’s fabled ‘Germania’, the simple scale of the place is staggering. And it has this giant canopy that lets a plane taxi up and drop off its passengers without exposing them to the elements.

Also, it’s pretty darn historic. During the early days of the Cold War, Tempelhof was the primary airport for Western cargo planes during the Berlin Airlift. The tarmac at Tempelhof received a total of 278,228 flights delivering some 2,326,406 tonnes of supplies, keeping Berlin fed and thwarting Stalin.

It would be a monumental shame if Tempelhof were demolished. I hope at least they will preserve some of the buildings as a museum. Lord knows, they’ve seen enough history.

This is gold. Kudos to the creator.

Via Spacing.

Well, the douchebag TTC union finally pulled the trigger and went on strike. This despite the fact that union head Bob Kinnear recommended last week’s tentative deal. Apparently, 65 per cent the TTC staff didn’t agree with his rosy assessment. Oh, and as a fun bonus, they waived their ’48 hour notice’ pledge, leaving a bunch of people stranded. Good thing Kinnear doesn’t work in PR. Oh, wait.

I hope they get nothing more. In fact, I hope they get less than what they were offered in the original deal, and get their surly mugs legislated back to work. I think the fine men and women of the TTC need a little dose of reality. There is no way you should make more than 60K a year to drive a bus. Or a streetcar or subway, which more or less drives itself anyway. If you wanted to make more than that, you should have gone to college or university or learned a trade. Oh, and the technology for driverless subways totally exists. Just sayin’. Maybe the TTC employees should thank their lucky stars they have jobs at all.

Annoying. Looking for public support, TTC? Look somewhere else.