....and that's the way I saw the world this week

Ken Wolff Final Assignment

2007-12-12T22:15:00.000-05:00

In a bid to enter the E-Book market, Amazon has launched its own E-Book reader called the Kindle.

It only took 5.5 hours for the Kindle to sell out on its Nov 19 launch. Over 50 000 orders were taken by online giant Amazon.com. The main selling feature of the gadget is its ability to connect to the internet through the cellular network. The system is called EDVO and bypasses the need for wifi hotspots that most wireless connections go to. Normally this would cost you $60-80 a month from a cellular company.

The Kindle hasn’t gone without some criticism. On Amazon’s website, it has only gotten 3/5 stars and that’s with over 800 reviews. One reviewer wrote,

“I do not want something to replace my paperback novel which is cheaper, more durable, has infinite battery life, and I'll be able to read 20 years from now.”

People have also been turned off by the $400 price tag and some compatibility problems with PDF files. You also have to pay for every subscription you have with newspapers and blogs. A lot of this content is already online for free.

CBC technology analyst Jesse Hirsh praised the Kindle for the awareness it could bring to open source information like blogs. In answering the problems with selling free content Hirsh says,

“a lot of people don’t know the blogs are free and people will buy it just because its on sale. Plus the stats show a lot of people don’t read blogs.”

He also mentioned there are bound to be problems with the first launch. Things will improve with later additions. Sounds kind of like what Windows Vista hopefuls keep saying. Hirsh’s thinking is that it will take more than just Amazon to make the E-Book Reader popular.

“The Kindle is not yet at the point to go beyond its niche. For that to happen it will need to go beyond its current design with something like the touch screen of the IPhone.”

Hirsh saw a lot of cool features coming out of partnerships with companies like Google. Teaming up with cellular companies could make the all-in-one thing people are looking for. The Kindle could be your book, phone and ipod. Before something like that happens, don’t expect to see people with their Ipod in one hand and a Kindle in the other.

See a video of Hirsh discussing the topic with CBC
http://www.cbc.ca/video/popup.html?http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/news/features/hirsh-invu071120.wmv

My Apologies for the delay folks, our flight will be leaving shortly from terminal 2

2007-04-24T12:27:00.000-04:00

Yes I am still alive and to prove it, I'm typing this to you right now! Ok so what has happened in the last month? Well I saw Ben Folds at the Koolhaus on April 8th which was such an amazing show. It would have to go on my top 3 of concerts and as I realized not too long ago, I've been to almost 20 of them. Other than that, I (put off) worked on school work and finished my very last essays and assignments at Guelph. Exams came and went without the ominious feeling of doom related to failure which would inevitably keep me enslaved to the University of Guelph. Speaking of enslaved...I still need to pay my library overdue fines...

Exam week can be more often characterized by just how many times I hit refresh on the main facebook page in hopes of someone doing something that I could lay a witty comment on or atleast receive a chuckle over. Never disappointing, Facebook provided the goods, Matthew Good even. Apart from that, the always entertaining relationship status reports kept on trucking along. The change in format was really annoying though. Am I still talking about facebook? Ok enough of that.

Sadly, I did not get into any Teacher's Colleges. I have the double cohort to thank for that. *On a side note the monitor at the computer I'm working at is really wiggly!*
My plan for the fall = ? I really have no idea at this point. I could apply to somewhere international for Teacher's College, take some outdoor education programming stuff, work, travel somewhere(but with who?) or sit on my ass.

All things considered and despite the fact that I feel like I have no future, things are going pretty well for me at the moment. I'm going off to camp for the next 4 months probably for the last time. Alot of great friends of mine are still coming back and I'm really looking forward to seeing them. Oh and I'm still going steady! Jess and I were really good at not doing work at the end of the semester. I've gotten her 'slightly' hooked on hockey (no pun intended!).

Well I think that is a fairly decent update. They won't be too frequent in the near future due to camp swallowing me whole. Oh and from May 15-28th I will be in Scotland! I am beyond excited for that. I'll certainly have a long post after that.
I'm officially a University of Guelph grad as of June 11 after Pamella Wallin gives me that all important piece of paper.

Alright I think that is all for now. I would like to wish you all a pleasant stay here on le blog and a great day as well.

The "I am really tired, but am currently not sleeping for some reason" post

2007-03-27T00:45:00.000-04:00

'allo cyberspace! I guess it is the top of the morning? Sooo...what was I going to say again?

Oh right: I'm going to organize this post into a good things and bad things list

Good

I've got me a 'steady'! Have I even mentioned this on here yet? *le gasp* Her name is Jess. She makes me happy. I quite fancy her. I'm resisting the urge to make this post simply about such matters...

It was 18 degrees outside!

I have a ton of new music!

There are only 2 weeks of classes left!

The NHL playoffs start soon!

I actually did work today!

Lost was crazy good!

I owe far fewer people rather large sums of money!

Bad

Veronica Mars and Heroes still aren't back from hiatus :( Ok so I should mention that the bad section is not necessarily in any specific order...

I should have done more school work/actually be focusing a lot more on it in general

I should be asleep right now...

I had to spend 30 minutes getting my bank account re-activated after already spending 45 minutes with the BMO people getting my stolen money situation sorted out.

I should be thinking of a contigency plan should next Monday not yield friendly results re: Teacher's College Applications AHHHHH

I should write more creative type stuff and get my guitar fixed...again.

Ok I think that is where I should say goodnight.

Yours Truly,

Eeanne

My day has come!

2007-03-23T09:42:00.000-04:00

To give this post the weight it deserves, I must give you a little background information...

There are two foods I hate more than any others: 1. Olives and 2. Pickles.
Not to mention I have OCD about eating food. I don't like my food touching and I have to eat it in a specific order.

Then the truth of the true evil of olives was exposed via CBC news! Oh sweet justice!

olives are evil

Ian's 'Editorial' Section:

I got robbed! My bank account was cleaned out by someone who managed to get my PIN # and made a copy of my card and withdrew all of my money the day after my parents made me not broke. So all of you, be very careful with your bank transactions, because they are watching you. I thought I was being careful, but I was wrong. It could happen to you too! 10 people in the Guelph area have been cleaned out this way in the last 2 weeks! Scary? Yes. Be careful? YES!

Sports Section:

Oh and for anyone who enjoys hockey, who else feels really sad for the Edmonton Oilers? That 8th spot in the East sure is heating up! Montreal had a key win last night.

Business Section:

University of Guelph is broke. Tuition is going up. Vote yes for retrofit. Today is your last chance.

Arts and Entertainment Section:

I got a poem in the Ontarion! I swear it had nothing to do with the fact that I'm dating an editor of the school paper...
Last King of Scotland was a FANTASTIC movie! Everyone should see it. There are a few very graphic scenes towards the end as a heads up. Whittaker blew my mind. He deserved best actor hands down, kick his ass. I would argue that this should have taken best picture. Definitely in the top 5 best movies I've ever seen.

Oh and the new Andrew Bird album Armchair Apocrypha is absolutely fantastic! Go and buy it like I did? I will eventually I swear. You should too.

Comics Section:

This made me almost lose my coke everywhere in the library! Amusing.
funny times

International News:

The Iraqi PM is said to be in surgery and in a 'non-stable' condition after injury in a suicide bombing.

That's all the sections I can think of. I should really get to work, although I quite enjoyed this post and hope you do too.

Amazing what you can see and do in the A.M.!

2007-03-21T08:47:00.000-04:00

So after a slight change in plans and a just a little sleeping in, I'm at the library(like ever really left?) Atleast it is just over 8 hours since I was last here...Anyway, the first thing I see today is Guelph's cannon set up as a dick in a box! The engineers graced us with all the fixings. Highly amusing at 8am. Apparently they also have all the good news reports on cbc right now as well. Check out this gem: dog poo! Oh and I'm seeing Last King of Scotland tonight, which I'm quite excited about. Hopefully I can afford to eat? :( I got denied when I tried to take out 20 dollars yesterday.

Anyway, I should really get to work now. Less than one month of undergrad to go!

To all the blog readers out there, good morning!

This made me laugh!

2007-03-19T16:29:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine introduced me to an artist by the name of David Shrigley who happens to be from Glasgow(maybe I'll see an exhibit of his when I go there?!) Enjoy!

Pubic Hair

The world spins and no one notices

2007-03-14T14:58:00.000-04:00

So what happens when you look up procrastination on wikipedia? Chances are you are at the lowest of lows in terms of actually doing something useful with your time. Right now I feel like I did at the end of Gr 12 when I could have tried really hard and gotten some kind of decent scholarship, but instead, I decided to do virtually no work. I'm so close to be done University that I find it difficult to care. I feel restless. I feel inept. I feel tired! I feel trapped.

In sum, I'm so very unmotivated, but it stresses me out at the same time. I can feel the anxiety raising my pulse to new heights and making me useless at just about everything. Must...relax...

In other news...I'm seeing the Shins in THREE days!!!! Very exciting.

My other musical addictions of the moment include: Camera Obscura(go Scottish music), Josh Ritter, new Modest Mouse, new Arcade Fire, Peter, John, Bjorn(go Swedish music)

Things to be excited about that I haven't mentioned yet in order of date:

1. Snow Patrol, March 31
2. Ben Folds, April 6
3. Last exam of undergrad, April 20
4. April 30, Spring Camp
5. May 15, SCOTLAND!!!
6. New House?

Miracles can sometimes happen

2007-03-05T14:37:00.000-05:00

So as a recap of recent events, a rather brutal storm shut down most of Eastern ON including Guelph, the school that NEVER closes closed for a day and a half! (it has closed once or twice since I've been here) Never fear, I didn't use any of this extra time on school work. That would be foolish! On the weekend I saw The Departed and Half Nelson, both were excellent! I need to see Last King of Scotland to see Gosling's performance be topped and I won't be easily convinced that it will be.

Still recovering from the bronchitis. The extra effort for breathing is really waring me down today.
Expect a longer and more thought provoking post in the near future. In the meantime I leave you with this tidbit:

Say what you mean, and mean what you say.

Blargh

2007-02-28T09:47:00.000-05:00

I think I might have bronchitis...I refuse to fall too behind on my bloggings so I have for you a poem I wrote.

Universe

A solar system is not made up of planets

Countless little hearts are in orbit

Gravity pulls them apart and brings them together

Without regard to mathematical formulae

The collective beating is deafening

As if there was a limit to being heard

The laws of attraction disputed and praised by eager mouths

Words hidden on lips forever

Lost among twinkling eyes in the sky

Truth and beauty apparent

But only when the lights go out

Every so often

Hearts collide with each other

Gravity struggles to maintain order and balance

Every so often

Hearts find harmony

Orbiting each other so closely

It is difficult to distinguish

One from the other

Infinity caresses the dark red

Pulsing as if trying very hard to say

One word

Catching up Part #2 Entitled: Reading Week

2007-02-23T00:03:00.000-05:00

The following is an account of my reading week. Ride the ups and downs with me! It's like a roller coaster of life? Ok maybe my life isn't actually that exciting, but just imagine with me then.

Guelph was determined to hold on to me for Reading Week as I found much to my chagrin...They ran out of ISIC cards which are nice for making VIA tickets cost only slightly astronomically too much. I stayed a few nights at my roomate Andrew's. We went to this rather classy place downtown T.O. called the Beer Markt? It had some strange spelling from what I remember. I was wearing my toque and they actually had the audacity to say that it and its pom pom glory was offensive to the patrons and that there was a dress code in effect so I should remove it! You have BEER in the title of your establishment and you are JUDGING me?! In other news they had nicely sized 25 oz glasses of Hoegarden White which has a delicious cinnamon aftertaste. (so good I had to have 3) I somehow "acquired" one such glass for myself. Andrew and I met up with some of his CN Tower friends at Jack Astors where I clearly ordered another Hoegarden White which did not come in the cool glass, but a very tall awkward glass that claimed to also be 25 oz. So we challenged the waiter to prove it which after he spilled part of the beer on the floor and ended up with extra left over in the actual 25 oz glass, proved my point. I felt like a huge dick afterword though, but you should have seen the difference in glasses! We also checked out the Auto Show which was full of shiny cars!(unsurprisingly) I forgot how much I like shiny cars...They had one of my favourite cars there (1967 Mustang). Needless to say I took many many pictures.

I then went on a trip to Barrie for copious amounts of skiing, or so I thought...I ended up with a rather bad fever the first night we were there on top of what is most likely a sinus infection of some sort. On Day 3 after lying around in bed hopped up on drugs, I finally hit the slopes, and a small tree. Ok well it wasn't entirely my fault. I managed to miss the path that people I was following were taking so I thought I saw this other way of joining with the path except when I got there, there was kind of a 90 degree drop of several feet so I turned at the last minute and got stuck in a tree. A little kid asked me if I was alright and then proceeded to ski down a slightly less steep portion. That got my "confidence" up and I followed the kid and survived. Coincenentally, the anti-sinus, fever, cough medicine had worn off at this point. By the time I got back to the snazzy chalet type place we were staying at complete with a jacuzzi!/, I collapsed into bed suffering serious chills for about 10 minutes...It was worth it though! I love skiing!
Oh and never trust car navigation devices. Always have an old school list of directions and a good map.

Now I'm at home in Verona. I had a near collision on the road today as it was really slippery and people don't know how to drive. On the other hand, I watched the coolest episode of Myth Busters ever! It was about 3 men, Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin who escaped Alcatraz on a raft built from 50 rain coats that they inflated with air and make-shift paddles. The Myth Busters looked at part of the raft that was recovered and built their own using the same materials the prisoners would have had available and successfully used the tides to paddle 3 miles to the Golden Gate bridge just so they wouldn't be swept out to sea proving that they could have escaped! So cool. The bodies of the escapees were never found and they were never heard from. It is a big mystery. OooooOOoooo!
I also saw Pan's Labryinth today! I was expecting more animation and stuff just from the way it was promoted and from being sadly uninformed, but it was a really powerful and amazing movie! I definitely need to see it again. I recommend all of you see it. I can't really do it any justice through this blog. I should use more pictures and colour! I feel so drab...

The rest of the week will be skiing with my dad tomorrow! my mom making me my favourite meal! partying with friends I haven't seen all year! and getting driven back to Guelph for free! and then probably partying some more! and using more exclaimation marks! I'm tired!

Love you all

Ian 'Gilly' Thomson

I'm so behind! Catch up Part #1 Entitled: Memory Snapshot

2007-02-22T23:45:00.000-05:00

Ok I meant to talk about this last week, but have been rather busy/sick of late. I think it was last thursday, but I had a really memorable moment in time that I will attempt to describe.

So I was walking home from school since I had forgotten my student card in my room (aka no bus taking for me). The wind was blowing snow all around me and I just had my headphones on, listening to the new Frames CD. It was probably about -20 or more and I could feel my face begin to numb. The swirling snow and the sun made dazzling sparkles furiously dance before my eyes. A long night of laughter and music, a long afternoon of talking with someone I had not spoken to for far too long plus this beautiful display along with new music made me laugh out loud and smile despite losing the sensation in my face. The people walking by me while shivering must have thought I was a lunatic. In that moment and time, I was so happy, so full of life. I couldn't help but realize just how great it is to be alive!

Up and down

2007-02-16T03:06:00.000-05:00

I'm experimenting with some new blogging features and stuff...Hopefully things will be improved! Stay tuned...

Another entry already?!

2007-02-12T02:40:00.000-05:00

Please ignore the fact that every post I seem to make is 2am or later! I do truly appreciate those of you who keep up with my seemingly sporadic blog updates. I do intend to post more regularly. So that's that. Let's get you lovely people thinking about something!

Have you ever had a moment where you were really sure about something, only to find out that you never understood it in the first place? That realization can either be a really amazing eye opening experience, or make you feel like a total idiot. Sometimes you aren't even really sure which one it is right away.

To give you a really dumb example of this...I thought the word 'definite' was spelled 'definATE' for the longest time! The damn spellchecker tried to correct what was clearly in my mind to be the correct spelling of the word. Sometime last year, it was brought to my attention via a friend proofreading my essay that it was in fact spelled 'definite'. I might have even looked it up on wikipedia to be sure. Sadly, I was wrong.

Why is it so hard to admit when we are wrong anyway? There is so much we don't know about one another, the world around us, even ourselves that surely it must be more likely that we are wrong than right to begin with! Then there is that small issue of the relativity of truth. Based on exactly the same information, someone might look someone else in the eye and say "this is how it is!". The other person might see what the person's point was, but say "well, for me it is like this..." Who is right and who is wrong? Does it really matter?

I guess it comes down to whether or not the two individual truths in this scenario are ultimately conflictual with each other. If a person shares a similar viewpoint with another, they are less likely to feel as passionately about the acceptance of one truth over another. Then again, due to any past experiences the two individuals have shared, truth might become part of a larger context that has little to do with the current circumstances. The acceptance of one truth over another could become more important, more conflictual then the isolated incident itself.

Where people draw the line between examination of the dispute of truth within the current context versus an influential past experience really determines the strength or weakness of someone's character. If the past experience is simply too strong for whatever reason, fear of its repitition through the current debate of truth will probably mean the person is unable to accept that current situation. You could either view this as a rather selfish self-defense methodology that excludes past bias, or a strong upholding of one's convictions and recognizing a need to move away from the past experience through refusing to submit to similar future confrontations.

Settling simple differences in opinion is something that most people are not very good at(myself included). So what do we do? One solution could be the acceptance that there is no ultimate truth; to submit to the rule of truth's relativity. In the process, we must give up the idea that our truth can be held above anyone else's. Not an easy thing to do! It also means that everyone's construction of truth could be considered equal. This is extremely dangerous for obvious reasons. It is a slipperly slope that leads to the possible justification of truly terrible things: such as the greatness of STATS.

Another possible solution could be the partial universalization of truth(much like the idea of universal human rights. Handy dandy connection there eh?) As per usual, there are also oh so many limitations to this idea as well. Who decides where relative truth should be deemed inappropriate in favour of a universal truth? You have to truly question the existence of such a position of power. In the wrong hands, we are pretty much fucked. You could also say that maybe people have too much control over the conceptualization of truth. Given the heartbreaking events that occur daily(AIDS crisis, genocide, STATS, etc) The world might benefit from a little less freedom of thought.

I guess that explains why people often just can't get along. It's hard enough to figure out how that would actually be possible. I mean, how scary does "The world might benefit from a little less freedom thought" sound? Reminds me of the idea that you can only do so much to protect people from themselves. I think that people will never really learn about truth, unless they experience its conceptualization, free from any outside interference, but I mean is that really possible? All we can do is try and reconcile viewpoints that differ from our's. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, that just can't be done.

...but hey, I could be wrong!

A little late night poetry

2007-02-06T02:05:00.000-05:00

The Storm

Lightning strikes and thunder booms

Jarring everything to life

Flashes light the room

Glimpses and shadows you no longer recognize

Holding out your hand

Reaching for something that is at once appearing and disappearing

What you find surprises you

A mirror reflects a blurred Image

The person looking back

You have never seen before

Sizzling from outside

The Old Oak Tree with the tire swing

Comfortable and familiar

Taken away by the Storm

Beautiful Beast

2007-01-27T23:36:00.001-05:00

I thought the title of this entry was appropriate to talking about the media. Today I attended an Environmental Symposium at the University of Guelph, so what I will be talking about stems from what I picked up there. I would like to bring your attention to the banner below...

Clicking this link/entering it in manually if it doesn't work... will take you to an online petition sent to several major Canadian news agencies that says that the Green Party leader Elizabeth May should be included in the next televised party leader debate. With the increased importance of the environment in the minds of Canadian voters (it has significantly overtaken healthcare as the primary concern of voters), it seems only part of a wider trend that the Green Party should gain more of a stake in the mass media's reporting of Canadian politics.

The speakers at the Symposium, which included Bruce Cox, the director of Greenpeace, Thomas Homer-Dixon, and Elizabeth May, touched on many key issues on the shortcomings of mass media in Canada related to the environment(the general theme of the event itself). The discussions presented of a "balanced" approach to evironmental reporting was an extremely important issue in my mind. The idea is that mass media reporting seeks to incorporate both sides of a debate through the use of "legitimate spokespeople", regardless of the reality of the divisions within the discipline on the topic itself. For instance, with regard to climate change, there is very little scholarly debate over whether or not climate change is a problem; debate centres around the importance and magnitude of a wide variety of causalities and solutions.
As a result, there is much confusion in the way information is given to the public involving environmental matters. Major newspapers do not include sections dedicated to such issues. By presenting two sides of an argument on climate change is to do the subject matter complete injustice as there is really no dispute to present on the basic argument that things are bad and things need to change. Often, the "bad guys" can be generalized to be paid off professors and scientists that are looking to make a buck. You really have to look beyond anything in the first pages. One speaker mentioned that upwards of 84% of the public get their infromation from mass media(newspaper, radio, TV). Clearly this cripples civil societies ability to make informed decisions about environmental issues, let alone appropriate act on fears associated with them.

Part of the reason for this, is that due to huge corporate ownership of almost all forms of mass media, there is a vested interest for reporting to pay lip service to the issues of "balanced" reporting. Bruce Cox suggested that increasing corporate accountability could have a kind of spill over effect in that mass media content umbrellas could be given more freedom to be objective. Or in other words, to perform an essential function in promoting a more accountable, participatory and informed democratic society.

I will add more to this discussion in a few days. Ponder the role of the media over in your minds and remember to question everything that you read, before you take the word of an "expert". I for one do NOT claim to be one!

Good Day.

Saying goodbye to an old friend

2006-12-22T14:21:00.000-05:00

Zak: 1996-2006

Today will be the last day there will be a wagging tail in my house. My dog Zak is being put down, because of a brain tumour. The timing is not the best, but we didn't want him to suffer any longer. Zak was not the smartest of dogs, but he was always very friendly, especially to people he had never met before(those of you who met him, would know!). The only time he would bark was when someone went to the house across the street from our's. Some watchdog! It will be a little extra quiet this holiday season in our house as we have lost one of our own family members. I can only hope he is in a better place, ideally a huge field full of tennis balls for him to play with. Losing a pet is always harder than you expect. They really are the best listeners and seem to know when you are feeling down and will come to visit with you.

Goodbye Zak. I will miss you.

Broad Horizons and Bleak Landscapes

2006-11-23T01:58:00.000-05:00

I appologize for the apparent lie of my earlier post, but low and behold I have found some "inspiration" as of late.

So in case anyone else who is in 4th year of University is going through this, I'm going to relate to what I like to call the "Early Life Crisis".

When you are in your 4th year you encounter the rude awakening that your time at University could be only a matter of months away. All of the people you know and love at the place will soon be going their own separate ways, much like Grade 12 all over again. If you have a significant other, you may wonder where either of you will end up depending on what Post-secondary decisions you make. Making those decisions sucks as well, because you may have been like me and not taken school very seriously until your last year or so...The bare minimum seemed like a good idea at the time. Also at this time, there may be the occasional old high school buddy that ends up getting married along the way. Not only does this make you feel old, but it makes you think of when you want to tie the knot or if you want to at all. Will you have a good career around when the kiddies need all sorts of money? Are you even going to like what you have been working towards for the last 4 years? Uncertainty is the worst of all evils in my opinion.

Notice that all the major decisions you have to make also happen to fall on the busiest days of the school semester. For example, teacher's college applications are due Dec 1st which leaves me about a day or two to get them done at this point. Why didn't I work ahead? Probably because I had 3 4th year classes sucking out my will to live and all the "free" time I used to have. You actually have to do the work now that in a 4th year seminar all sorts of smart people are spouting out smart sounding things for participation marks. If you haven't done the readings, than not only are you dumb in class, but you lose marks as well. What happened to just sitting in the back and hoping the Prof couldnt see you? Or the annoying kids who always put up their hands would answer all the questions? Sadly those days are now long gone.

Who wants to be an adult? Who wants to have all that additional responsibility? You have to pay for EVERYTHING! Taxes? Piss right off! Staying up late? Forget it! Even now I am so tired that I usually dont stay up past 1am. That is if the drunken people with their obnoxiously loud "music" underneath me don't keep me up all night. You see? I'm already sounding like my parents. I dont like it one bit.

Birthdays are starting to get less fun too. Usually I have too much to do to get trashed like I used to. Getting one year older after 21 doesn't make you any more legal either! So what good is it? I can vote, buy pornography, drink legally in pretty much any country I want...The term halfway to 40 should be banned, although I'm going to be halfway to 44 in less than two months.

If you are feeling any/all of these symptoms, then you are like me and suffering from
an Early Life Crisis. I'm pullin for ya, we're all in this together. That show isn't even around anymore :(

Adieu

Ian

The blog isn't completely dead!

2006-09-05T01:24:00.000-04:00

Ok so I'm kinda tired and don't want to do an entirely new post right now, but to anyone who periodically checks up on this, the blog isn't dead. I plan on working on it throughout the school year. Being at camp kind of eliminated all forms of free time and being able to think about things beyond the camp world. So stay tuned.

A new post at last

2006-04-30T23:18:00.000-04:00

Ok folks I've got a few things for people to ponder. First thing, Stephen Harper and Afghanistan. Ok so setting aside the fact that I don't really like the idea of Canadians being in Afghanistan in the first place, his banning of media attention and refusal to honour the deaths of the four soldiers dying there recently really disgusts me. I don't even understand his reasoning behind his decision. How does it avoid politization of their deaths by our Prime Minister turning a blind eye to it and completely flying in the face of the traditional role of the Prime Minister showing compassion to families whose sons have died in the name of Canada? Not only has this only given fuel to the opposition, but also reflects badly on us as a nation. I don't think it's a coincidence that the United States also restricts and manipulates the exposure of the death of American soldiers. Factor in the already immense impact of the deaths of the soldiers on their friends and families and the continuing politization that was supposed to be the key issue avoided here, it's just ridiculous and shameful behaviour by the Conservative government. No matter how you cut it, it only destabilizes the political climate surrounding the budget vote. Is it really that hard to lower a flag?

The recent push on raising awareness on Darfur also interests me. There have been over 2 million ethnically based killings (twice the number in Rwanda) and yet no substantial action has been taken. The UN has cut its food supply program to the largest refugee camp in Sudan to a half from underfunding. The conflict has been going on for over 3 years. The protest done today should have been that large 3 years ago if people really cared enough for something to happen. It shouldn't take George Clooney to motivate people...I mean he was batman at one point, but still! Anyway, you can draw your own conclusions, but the fact is that the world's governments are not interested in sub-saharan Africa in general and they have no cause to be unless foreign aid to the region becomes a key political issue. The Conservative government surprisingly enough is supposed to be raising our foreign aid commitment. It will be interesting to see how minimalized it is by the end of the budget negotiations.

Ok on an upper note, I am starting spring work at RKY camp tomorrow and I'm very excited :) In other news, I am also going to see The Stokes on May 6th and it should be really good. Ok so I hope that satisfies the masses for a little while.

Adieu

An Update on my "exciting" life

2006-04-13T18:23:00.000-04:00

Ok folks so things are very busy with the semester winding down and those pesky exams. I'm off to work pretty soon at RKY which I'm really excited about! I'll attempt to make an interesting post before then. Until then, I got nothin' really. Good luck in life and love to everyone who is reading this. I'll try and keep it real and yeah something interesting soon. I promise.

Poetry

2006-03-19T11:19:00.000-05:00

Endless Midnight

A turtle may hide in a shell

Where it is dark and safe

A chameleon may change its colour

To disguise itself

Fear changes identity

Clouds how you shall defend yourself

For there will always be something to fear

Is it bettter to be dark and safe?

To give up the warm rays of the sun?

A lover's touch?

To hide in a carapace of distortion?

Get only what is close and easily gotten?

Slipping down a slope towards a life without trust

Without companionship,

Freedom, justice

If truth is to be feared

Is it better to cover your ears?

Pretend, lie, ignore?

Truth and lies speak with the same voice

The same volume,

Longevity,

Emotional responses and motives

Choose that which minimizes fear

Shedding disguises

Basking in the light

Living, loving, hurting

Dying

Knowing why and who

You chose to be

Chuck Norris Facts!

2006-03-13T00:59:00.000-05:00

Ok jumping on the internet popularity bandwagon, my friend Brandon and I thought up as many funny facts as we could. Enjoy!

The sun sets if and only when Chuck Norris says so

Pain is just weakness leaving the body caused by the fact that you are not Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris never uses cutlery. He simply wills that the food be in his stomach

God created the world in 7 days, but Chuck Norris created God in 7 seconds.

When Pandora opened the box, Chuck Norris stepped out

The dinosaurs became extinct after pissing off Chuck Norris

Cloning is illegal because of fears that a Chuck Norris clone would fight the other for world supremacy, destroying the Earth in the process

Before Chuck Norris, there were only bears. Now there are Grizzly Bears

Human failing is defined by everything that is not associated with Chuck Norris

The pope asks Chuck Norris when its alright to consult the bible.

I think, therefore I fear Chuck Norris

The character Jack Bauer, was modeled after Chuck Norris

Chuck Norris brought down the Berlin Wall with a single roundhouse kick

Sweat is caused by the body's resistance to the will of Chuck Norris

An atomic reaction can be stopped by one shake of Chuck Norris' fist

The universe is infinite only so long as Chuck Norris remains content

A volcano erupts everytime Chuck Norris has heartburn

Buffalo Bill was once a nickname for Chuck Norris' old cowboy boot

Cancer is nature’s attempt to beat Chuck Norris

Neo would never have died if Chuck Norris hadn't hated Keanu Reeves

The happy meal was never the same after Chuck Norris action figures with roundhouse kick action killed the World's children

Chuck Norris killed algebra. Now one plus one is Chuck Norris.(Brandon)

When Ali Baba came to the secret hideout, he said "open sesame", but quickly added, "in the name of Chuck Norris". (Brandon)

Chuck Norris quickly discovered this, and roundhouse kicked all the forty thieves. He spent the entire fortune on beard grooming improvement and karate outfits.(Brandon)

Evolution exists because Nature tries to resist Chuck Norris(Brandon)

Chuck Norris once ordered peking duck. When it arrived, the duck was undercooked. Chuck Norris squinted his eyes, and cooked it with his mind. When he was done, he roundhouse kicked the waiter, chef, and China. Now nobody eats duck without asking Chuck Norris. (Brandon)

Chuck Norris shook a man’s hand. An Atomic reaction was caused by the grip (Brandon)

Chuck Norris stays away from mirrors. His reflection is almost as deadly.(Brandon)

Chuck Norris doesn't ask for favours. He issues opportunities to serve.(Brandon)

Gravity is Chuck Norris' way of slowing his enemies down(Brandon)

Chuck Norris doesn't drink water. He eats ice (Brandon)

To learn how to make balloon animals, Chuck Norris practiced on real animals.(Brandon)

Chuck Norris never needs a map. Everything is where Chuck Norris wants it(Brandon)

Chuck Norris has never had a surprise birthday party. Nobody can surprise Chuck Norris(Brandon)

Chuck Norris doesn't use coupons. He writes a price on a post-it, and that's what he pays(Brandon)

In the stone age, men lived in caves because Chuck Norris was wild(Brandon)

The MCNorris as pulled from the menu, because no man could stomach a sandwich of iron and rubber, with a pesticide sauce(Brandon)

New Post Coming Soon...

2006-02-28T20:32:00.000-05:00

Busy week, but expect new post in the next few days. In the meantime here is an amusing picture.

What's this? A miracle!

2006-02-16T07:46:00.000-05:00

Guelph, the school that never closes(kinda like a 7-11 University style) has closed! Could this be too good to be true especially since I never went to bed in order to study and get an essay done for today?! Stay tuned...

Worst few days ever?(great reading for those needing to comiserate)

2006-02-16T02:42:00.001-05:00

So you know the saying "everyone has bad days now and then", well isn't that supposed to pertain to individual days spread out over time? Sometimes I get the feeling that I've offended a higher power of some sort and he/she/it is giving me some quality wrath. Now I will relay my student history in a short story in the 3rd person, like any good blogger does.

Once upon a time...there was a professional slacker named Ian Thomson and he coasted along through high school, got an early acceptance to the University he wanted to go to and things were good. So he gets to University and, hey! It isn't so hard. I can coast through this too! Except twice a semester I have all these essays and mid-terms to do. No worries there, late penalties are only 0.5%-2%/day max! Ian was overjoyed that he could continue his coasting ways. Then a particular idea struck him...maybe I should start caring about my future and that the bare minimum and getting low 70s with ocassional I can be bothered to acts of brilliance may not be such a good approach.

Silly questions such as "are you working towards a career of some kind" increasingly began to bother Ian, so he decided finally in his 3rd year 2nd semester to try what people like to call "working ahead". At first this "working ahead" approach seemed to make sense to Ian. He felt less stressed that he had two in-class essays to do in African history in two consecutive weeks, followed by a "memorize all of the colonial/post colonial African continent including major lakes, rivers and islands" mid-term on thursday Feb 16th. He also brilliantly studied ahead in Hobbes for his philosophy mid-term also on Feb 16th. Research was also begun on an essay also due on Feb 16th. This all on last weekend, and then this past weekend is where the story begins to go wrong.

A persistant ear ache that began on Friday, turned into a I can't sleep on my left side or I wake up from too much pain ache, so it became time on Tuesday after being unable to concentrate on anything on Monday, to waste over 2 hours at the on-campus walk-in clinic where Ian was unkindly subjected to an aqua jet 9000 to both ears to clean them. Minus a layer of skin in each later, the pain in Ian's head persisted despite the best efforts of extra str tylenol and the most soothing music possible. Sleep also became increasingly difficult. Quickly, Wednesday arose and Ian was quickly overwhelmed with the realization that all previous work was now in jeopardy as his assignment was far from completion and reading incomplete for one of his mid-terms. It then became apparent to Ian that only one action could be taken...the all-nighter

The all-nighter began as most do, with obscene amounts of coffee consumption and several hours at the library until it closed. Then upon returning home, it was obviously time for more coffee. Sadly, coffee had its own evil agenda and a far too full of coffee mug with a lid stupidly forced upon it, angrily objected by spurting out hot coffee on Ian's face and all over surrounding kitchen appliances. He then felt he had to laugh a little, as after confirming there was no burns to his face, that it was kind of funny. He then felt it necessary to write a blog entry in hopes of getting his mind back on track to the greatness that is the inner functionings of the World Bank.

The End.

Create your own radio station on the blog!

2006-02-11T01:49:00.000-05:00

In case you haven't heard of it already, there is an amazing site called Pandora.com and they have compiled thousands and thousands of artists that you can organize into radio stations. How it works is that you pick an artist: let's say Louis Armstrong, and so a station will then be created that plays a variety of Louis Armstrong songs and songs of similar Jazz artists so its a great way to find out about new music that you will probably like and listen to the stuff you already know you like.

Economic issues in the growing global economy: Part 1

2006-02-07T01:55:00.000-05:00

I've decided to break this down into two different posts to spare you from things getting too long. If you find it hard to follow in anyway let me know :)

Free trade is the concept that governs how the world does business. The eventual goal of the developed world is to have a global market completely free of any form of tariffs to maximize the amount that all will inevitably gain from its introduction. People do gain from free trade, but with the level of inequalities in wealth all over the world, we can no longer naively put faith in the market itself to determine comparative advantage. We must give the market a human conscience and influence policy makers and corporations to put people and not profit first.

Almost any action performed through the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, or World Trade Organization (WTO), serves to keep subsidies down in less developed countries, ensure strict patent protection and effectively maintaining a balance of power sharply inclined towards the developed world. The political motives behind aid are questionable as the United States is known to have a strong influence on the actions of the World Bank.

It is difficult to find anything remotely resembling free trade in today's global market. Tariffs between Canada and the United States may be dropped for the majority of exports/imports, but high tariffs await any poorer nation trying to sell anything other than raw, non-manufactured materials. Free trade then is an exclusive club whose doors are firmly shut in the face of the developing world. As a result, not only do developing countries lack the means to modernize without paying extremely high prices for the technology and manufactured materials necessary to build up their industries, but it is not profitable in any way for them to do so.

Huge domestic subsidies in richer countries also means we are able to export goods cheaper than poorer farmers are able to sell their goods domestically. Meanwhile, we make conditions dictating that there must be extremely low subsidies in developing countries before we will have anything to do with them. It is not surprising that there are huge famines in Africa when producing your own food is not profitable in any way and that you are completely dependent on the developed world for feeding the population. Redistribution is also a problem. The world produces enough food to feed everyone with a surplus, but it isn't getting to the places where it is needed.

But aren't we helping the developing world? Well...sorta, but there are strings attached at every turn. Tied foreign aid requires poverty stricken states to adhere to stringent structural adjustment programs that demand what at first seem like beneficial democratic values(this is mainly through the IMF, World Bank, although other international regimes outline similar fine print). The problem is that a state unable to feed itself, is far from having the means to reorder itself in order to receive foreign aid. That would sorta be the reason it was asking for aid in the first place! Doesn't make sense? Sure it does. This, is just one demonstration of how the developed world wants to keep the extreme inequalities of the world intact, because it is a highly profitable endeavour. Not only is the developed world able to import raw materials extremely cheaply, but it can export the manufactured products at a higher price into markets that lack the means to produce anything of the same quality and have no choice, but to purchase them, while richer countries benefit domestically as well.

Issues at stake in the growing global economy Part 2

2006-02-06T15:45:00.000-05:00

Patent protection is another huge issue. This is where all those lovely pharmaceautical companies come in. Drugs are all patented by massive multinational corporations with profits that I can easily say are when amassed together, are comparable to the GDP of all of Africa. So, what has been happening, is that these corporations have been buying up as many patents has possible which may not seem to be that bad a thing at first look. I mean, don't we want companies we can trust to have these patents rather than Osama? Well, first off these companies aren't exactly reputable. It is not unreasonable to assume that like the United States, pharmaceutical companies are exporting let's say the more "questionable" aspects of their business. For both it means torturing for information. Now, if the United States can get away with it, why couldn't a multi-billion dollar corporation? There are so many people dying in Africa that no one would notice a few more dying while testing a potential cure for AIDS or TB. Ok so this last bit is mainly from the book/movie Constant Gardner (both excellent by the way), but it didn't seem far-fetched to me at all that it could be happening right now.

Another problem with patents is that those who own them do the pricing and there isn't really anything anyone can do about it. In an ideal world, lovely NGO's without evil profit agendas would own all the patents and big corporations would have to ask nicely for the rights to create such and such and the NGO's would be able to maintain a hand in the process of testing and administering the safety, distribution and affordability of the such and such. Sadly, this is not an ideal world and a single corporation has pretty much free reign on all of these aspects. Unsurprisingly, basic drugs that we use everyday like Tylenol will cost several times more in Brazil or Nigeria than here in North America. The AIDS/TB joint epidemic that is devastating Africa is a huge market. If one company was able to produce a drug that could cure TB...I'm not sure what to tell other than it would either save hundreds of millions of people who would later die of starvation when the cost of the drug completely destroys the functionality of the state, or there would be enough control over the company that they would have a conscience saving people at a price that can actually be managed(preferably at the cost of the developed world...)

I know this is all rather doom and gloom, but at the moment we are all content in our consumerist ways. I guess I'm a dependency theorist, although I'm not entirely sure how I can view the world and not be.

So I've decided I'm going to try and raise awareness about African news in general, possibly on an entirely new blog; I would keep this one going on other things I feel are interesting and important. Anyway, let's be thankful we all have full stomachs and think a little of those who don't everytime we have a nice meal.

The music obsession continues!

2006-02-02T16:34:00.000-05:00

Ok I thought I'd list off some music that I've been listening to ALOT lately and some music I have recently discovered and have really taken to.

In no specific order:

Jenny Lewis + Watson Twins/Rilo Kiley

Ok that's alot of names, let me break it down for you. Rilo Kiley is a band where Jenny Lewis is the lead singer. It's along the same lines as Metric, although with a less punk feel. Jenny Lewis just came out with a soloish project along with the Watson twins who are associated with folkish/gospelish music. Very chill. Rilo Kiley was just signed to major label Warner Bros, so it has been quite a successful time for them. She has a really nice voice and her lyrics are engaging and are bound to strike a cord. It's tough to beat Go Ahead's "if you want to settle down and plant roses at my feet, than go ahead".

Previously mentioned Metric

This pic is actually from their 2nd last album, but I've been listening to it alot along with Live it out(the latest). The music incorporates a lot of distortion and electronic effects so it has that characteristic indie "new age" sound to it. Its a kind of love or hate band and I'm in love :)

The Decemberists

I found out about these guys from a high school buddy of mine(thanks Chris!) and I have to say that I'm hooked. They are pretty mellow most of the time and tend to stick to a story telling approach to songs. By that, I mean that the lyrics will follow along with each other for the majority of a song, instead of individual verses that may or may not relate to an overall lyrical meaning of the song in general.

The Ordinary Boys

Some good 'ol British boys provide some catchy tunes reminiscent of The Smiths and the Kinks. It's toe tapping goodness. Nuff said.

The Frames

A quality Irish rock band. This entire album is fabulous. Sideways Down is my new favourite song by them. Lay me down is a nice chill song that everyone will like. They also do a really good cover of Joy Division's Love will tear us apart. Definitely a band to watch out for when they inevitably break into the North American market.

Castle Project

Last, but certainly not least, from Vancouver we have Castle Project. My friend Sarah sent me the song Apologies and I was hooked. Visit their site to download a few tracks. Also, check out the music video for the song Airwaves. It is really great. For you lazy people I will give a quick synopsis: A little girl wants to buy a teddy bear from this guy, but she doesn't have enough money and is told to fuck off. The teddy bear then escapes from the evil salesman and runs to get back to the girl. Good stuff. It's also a great song. In Frustration is also good if you can find it. Their album is seemingly only available online which is unfortunate.

Ok so that is a few bands that I've been hooked on lately. There are a lot more, but I will end it here for a now and let you soak in the musical delicousness of these artists. Until next time...

To and fro

2006-01-30T21:52:00.000-05:00

So a minority conservative government? I guess I can live with that. The opposition will likely be strong enough to prevent anything major from happening, but what else is new in our government? Anyway, let's move on from that topic. Today I'd like to talk about a few things. First of all, music or more specifically, the growing popularity of indie label music.

The main question that comes to mind concerning the Indie scene is why now? I think a lot of it has to do with all the crap that is out there right now. This hip hop girls shaking their asses, and the guys with their bling bullshit has got to go! I mean sure the beats sound good on the dance floor, but lyrically and imagery wise, society is shooting itself in the foot by perpetuating this "music".

Anyway, back on topic.
Most people don't realize this (myself included), but a lot of indie bands have existed in their current forms for atleast 5 years. Death Cab for Cutie is a good example of the new trend within the music scene. They have been together since 1997 and have released 7 full-length albums, but I certainly hadn't heard of them until 2 years ago. Now they are signed to Major Label Atlantic and Plans, their latest album (Plans) was #4 on the best-selling list in the US. It's also nominated for a Grammy. All this within the past year when only a few years ago, they were virtually unknown. Similar acclaim is going to Indie groups in Canada, in particular Montreal's The Arcade Fire. Toronto's Broken Social Scene and various groups associated with it: The Stars, Feist and Metric, have also had quite a bit of success in Canada. So if this style of music has been around in various forms for about a decade, there must be something more to get the ball rolling...

Exposure has been a big part of it. It has become profitable to feature a less main-stream experimental approach to music as opposed to musical marketing of the past which has always depended on classics. Commericials are definitely a big part of this growing market for new music. Off the top of my head I can think a commercial for Nero/Sol drinks that features The Dears(Canadian Indie band out of Montreal). The OC also features a lot of indie talent like The Postal Service (featuring Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie), The Walkmen, Modest Mouse, Aqualung, Ivy, Jeff Buckley and Ok-Go just to name a few. I'm sure you can think of several others. Alot of movies feature similar songs on their soundtracks with alot of them being the "main" track or theme track to the movie. Garden State features music from Iron and Wine, Postal Service, The Shins and a few others in the actual movie which is great for exposure.

I personally think it is a great thing to see this. The rock scene has been needing a new look and its getting it in a big way. Bands like Radiohead have been pushing the envelope for years on creativity and making a real effort to go back to the drawing board for every new album that they make. Any band can make an album or 5, but it takes a talented band as Radiohead has shown, to create their own identity and make it successful and that is what many indie bands that we are listening to on the radio, hearing mentioned in movies and watching in commercials have accomplished. The race is on now for major labels to pick up as many bands like Death Cab for Cutie as possible in order to get the edge on this new indie "mainstream?" Alot of people who are long time fans of indie bands are upset when they feel the band has "sold-out" like Death Cab's going to Atlantic or Modest Mouse signing with Epic after over 10 years on an indie label. I feel that if signing to these labels interferes with the creative freedom of the band and their enjoyment in making music together, then such fans are correct. I would hope that if this was the case that these bands would be able to overcome the thrill of the spotlight to revisit the value of music they experienced in the past. A long-term successful band may say its all for the fans, but if they can't enjoy what they are doing for themselves, then what is the point? That is the bottom line.

Ok so, that is a quick synopsis of where music seems to be heading. I'd love to hear what you think of the increasingly popular "indie" scene. Can we call it that anymore? Any favourite bands you want to mention? There is nothing I love more than discovering new music.

New pictures on Flickr and post later tonight/earlier tomorrow

2006-01-29T17:39:00.000-05:00

Stay tuned soon for some new stuff.

A little extra note...

2006-01-23T13:57:00.000-05:00

Ok I couldn't even read my own post for awhile which was really annoying. If you are having trouble viewing the entire thing then might I suggest the firefox browser? I've always been to lazy to download it, but it fixed whatever stupid problem I had.
Here is the link

Firefox

Canadian Indecision 2006!

2006-01-23T11:36:00.000-05:00

Ok I'm going to be honest with you, my interest in Canadian politics is on par with television in general: About once a week it offers up something the holds my attention for an hour or two, but if I missed something, life would go on. It comes as no shock to any of you reading this that the candidates are less than inspiring. The electoral system itself hasn't seen any significant change since we were nice enough to give women and Natives the right to vote. The size of ridings, the power of the senate or lack thereof, majority governments being elected with 25% of elgible voters, the shunning of the Green Party from the national debates, the lack of any real proportional democratic voting and people wonder why we have such a terrible voter turnout.

But if you get one thing out of this post...let it be this. Don't vote strategically! You may feel like you are throwing your vote away, but last time I checked (despite the negative advertising!) an election is based around voting IN a party that supports a platform that you likemindedly approve of. It's easy to reduce this election to a "lesser of two evils" mentality and that is all that there will be if we continue a shift towards a a more American style politics with no discussion of ethics or rights whatsoever.

On a short note about the Toronto shootings, I watched a news covereage of it one time and they were actually wondering if it was something that could be solved just by a police crackdown. I think it's a little late to be realizing that it is social inequalities that are largely responsible for any form of violence be it gang or drug or otherwise. Banning all handguns is simply turning a blind eye to the huge investment of time and money it would take to SLOWLY rectify the terrible conditions in which the so-called "black gang members" live. Pardon my sarcasm, but whether they are in a gang or not, they are still people and I highly doubt they are all black by any means. You see several hundred homicides in cities like Seatle, Washington, Detroit and many others because just like us, they simply reduce it to a gang and drug culture related problem. Well like it or not, it is still the popular culture that created these sub-cultures in the first place! Notice it wasn't until a white girl was killed shopping, that people really began to take notice? It was just as terrible when a man was killed while attending a funeral of someone else killed in the same way.

Also, I'm no economics expert, but a party that plans to reduce the GST AND cut taxes is just plain stupid as hell. For that to not spiral the economy into a brutal recession as investment continues on dramatically lower taxation as the debt grows a couple of 100% within the 1st year or two of implementation, it would take the discovery of a heck of a lot of diamonds and oil in the north and an electric crisis in the US plus a global water shortage on the side to keep us from totally going under. So think of that before you simply cast your ballot for the Conservatives just to spite those dastardly Liberals. Atleast Paul Martin doesn't say Q-pon instead of coupon.

A little note on the military: Ok most people hear the word military and the first word that pops into their head is WAR! Remember that sense of pride we used to have in our military for keeping peace? Well in case the media conveniently lacked to mention this, 3rd world nations like Bangladesh are the 1st to comit troops for peacekeeping missions, because no one else wants to. These troops may lack the expertise and resources that our troops have, but they answer the call nontheless. Now the motives behind that answer are far from altruistic, but that is more than we can say now isn't it? It is time that politicians decide either to completely abolish the military which in its current crippled state is not only an international embarassment, but its neglect is a downright slap in the face of our troops and their families. When you ask someone to risk their lives, but are unable to provide them with the best equipment and training of today, then what does that say about our government's comitment to its troops? As far as I'm concerned, if a soldier dies in Afghanistan or elsewhere because of anything related to eqipment, that is blood on the hands of the Canadian Government. As it stands right now, I'd have every single Canadian soldier safely back in Canada until we properly modernize our military services. As it stands right now, we simply should not have the right to ask them to risk their lives.

They should also make it much clearer to students on how to vote. My riding happens to be 4.5 hours away or a $100 train ride. Now I heard from another student that I can possibly change to this riding by simply providing two things associating me with a Guelph address and ID. It would have been nice to have been told this when I was asking about it earlier...I'll give it a try and see what happens. If you are able to vote you should do so. If you hate every candidate don't tell me, or your friends or your family, tell your country and indicate that you are not voting for any of your local candidates.

Well best of luck everyone in your voting or just plain interest in the election itself. I hope these entry wasn't too daunting. I've gotten behind in my musings!

Stay Tuned...

2006-01-10T00:21:00.000-05:00

I'm still alive over here don't worry. Just having to get re-organized and back into a school routine over here in the Great White North. Upcoming discussion about the shooting in Toronto and that election I keep hearing about.

New Poll

2005-12-20T01:03:00.000-05:00

Out of curiousity for what people are up to this holiday season I thought I'd make a new poll for you guys and gals to have fun with.

So still working on bringing some streaming audio to the site so maybe you can tune into some tunes?! That would be cool. I don't have my usual computer at my disposal so it might be a little tricky, but you may see some additions in the next little while.

Hope everyone will soon be able to sit back with a cold one and watch Frosty the Snow Man.

Best Regards,

Santa

Religious non-specific break time!

2005-12-18T17:37:00.000-05:00

Hello again there to those who visit this little slice of internet pie. I have been extremely busy what with Toronto adventures, a Sarah Slean concert, Narnia and Syriana watching, and girlfriend hanging outing. So lots of interesting stuff to talk about.

I strongly recommend you catch the Daily Show with Jon Stewart during the coming days because he commentary on the Christmas season is just great. "Every time you wish someone happy holidays, an angel gets AIDS!" Oh how great is that?(terrible I know but appropriate in response Bill O'Reilly material) It is just plain ridiculous how everyone is being caught up in the terms associated with this time of year. Can't we just enjoy a little time off together? Well poking fun at it is good fun no matter how you feel about it!

Ok so first I stayed at my good 'ol buddy Andrew's place in Thornhill. We went for some eats with some of his friends at the Pickle Barrel. Then we caught some quality jazz music at the Rex where Andrew saw one of his psychology profs! How random is that? Our housemate Rob went for coffee with us and we caught the Fantastic 4 which exceeded my extremely low expectations. Good times.

Then I met up with my girlfriend Kathy and former friend Kelly(just kiddin') Now Kelly and Rob are pretty much the biggest life savers possible. You see...I had this surprise Sarah Slean concert for Kathy, but I actually managed to forget the tickets in my university residence room which was now locked and the keys handed in. So I had to spend 5 hours off and on the phone to allow Rob to get them from my room and give them to Kelly. It all worked out in the end though and we got to hang out with Kelly and watch The Office with Steve Carell(40 year-old virgin) in it. So funny! Highly recommend it! We also went to see Syriana which was really good, but intense and confusing. I will have to see it again before I can give a better interpretation of it save that it was a very good commentary on the nature of the Oil business, corporate values and its effects on foreign policy and potentially the entire population of a country.

Sarah Slean puts on an amazing live show. Kathy and I saw her at the Harbour Front Centre in Toronto and I must say that it is a really great venue. Very small seating maybe 500 people? So nice and close and intimate feeling. So Sarah had a string quartet to accompany herself and the grand piano she played. Words cannot describe how great it was, but here is a try... The music was so beautiful and well done that it actually at times could bring tears to your eyes. So there you go. Her tour in Canada is wrapping up, but I will see her again.

As if this wasn't already an amazing couple of days, I got to spend saturday with Kathy in Cobourg and meet some of her friends plus see Chronicles of Narnia which I really liked.

So its been a tough early december with exams, but the last week has made me forget all that stress type stuff. So now I get to chill in the middle of nowhere...in the snow! Yeah white christmas.

Until next time...

Ian

Poetry Time

2005-12-07T03:08:00.001-05:00

Exam time...boourns, but here is a poem a wrote not that long ago.

Day to Day

Floating up and up

Laws of nature unwritten

Trying to fill an infinite cup

Ending up completely smitten

The sky knows my name

It calls me when the sun sets

The colours are never the same

After capture by night’s dark nets

Lights fight their way through the sky's covering

Gleaming from far away

Dazzling with countless offering

Making wishes should they choose not to stay

As time fades into twilight

The water as clear as the purest crystal

The second world comes back into sight

First words are written in nature's beautiful epistle

Ian Thomson

SEX!!!

2005-12-03T21:19:00.000-05:00

Ok so now that I have your attention, here we go! The moment you have all been waiting for...the sex discussion. Now I know everyone has been looking for some

porn

on the side so here you go! I'll expect to see a lot of comments on this one. Ok now that we have that satisified, onto the sex.

Ok now I hate to complicate things (ok I don't, but ha!) I think its important to look at how sex is portrayed in popular culture. In my opinion the actual word sex as we conceptualize it has unfortunately become a dirty term. I mean you've got your silicone injected porn stars and other celebrities and I'm not going to get into the ethics behind that now, but needless to say if you turn on entertainment tonight or a "pornographic movie" you see unrealistically beautiful people with boobs hangin' out in order to promote themselves. Now I've got nothing against people looking hot (as long as they aren't suffering from an eating disorder, fake, insecure about themselves, etc/Scarlett Johansson is hot, Paris Hilton is gross), but it's just hard for the rest of us to look so good ya know? Our expectations are totally messed up by all these images we get. People don't actually look that good. Look at some of them before make-up time and you might be like, wow I do look goooood! I think that would be a really nice reason for why "sex sells".

So what is hot then? I think anyone who is comfortable with their own image can be hot, yes that is right anyone! Sure it may be more attractive when someone shows off their umm assets...but that doesn't help start a conversation after a one night stand. Everyone has their own preferences (boobs, buns, legs, feet?!) but in the end what makes a person happy? You could be dating the most physically attractive person you know, but if you can't even have a conversation with him/her, then I think you need to ask yourself if this is what you really want. For me that wouldn't be enough.

Sex in relationships appear to be an inevitible side-effect of attraction to someone according to almost any movie I've ever seen , but is that actually true? Well yes and no. I like to think of it this way...are you having sex because you want to or because you love the person? You see, I think sex is really a beautiful representation of how you feel about someone. It isn't the only way you can show someone that you love them, but that doesn't take away from its power. If you look at it this way, sex isn't the end all of a relationship, but it also isn't unimportant. You can also see that if you feel you are only able to show your love through sex with someone that you really don't understand your feelings for the person outside of the act of sex itself.

The cooperation surrounding sex is also important. It demonstrates that you feel comfortable enough with your partner not only to discuss whether to have it or not, but if you decide to, you are both willing to take the risks associated with it despite the use of birth control (possible pregnancy and levels of responsibility along with it). Having sex without talking about it will likely lead to one or both people being hurt. Now I know some of you may be against pre-marital sex, but I think we can agree that no matter what stage a relationship is in, this type of attitude towards sex can only be beneficial to the physical and emotional well-being of those affected.

Can a relationship survive without sex? Yes, in certain cases, but it is not something to take lightly whether a couple is able to sort something out or not. I think its pretty common that there is one person who wants it more than another for what ever reasons (stereotypically guys yes, but not always so!) If this is the case, then there will always be a level of animosity surrounding the issue. There will be times when the issue is too much for the relationship to survive. I certainly don't think this has to be the case. I'm a firm believer that 95% of things can be worked out by people who are comitted to each other. Both people have to be able to give up things that they want and whether its sex or something else, if its constantly one person who feels they are getting the raw deal, then they have a legitimate complaint. In an ideal world, you could just calmly talk things through. You are going to fight about it, whether you like it or not. But you know what, if you really love that person, then it was all worth it.

The link is quite harmless by the way and is actually pretty interesting. Wikipedia knows everything! Well I hope you enjoyed this discussion. There might be a part 2 at some point.

Ian

Coming soon!

2005-11-28T03:38:00.000-05:00

Ok I'm hoping to have enough time to make a podcast. I have no clue how to do it yet, but it sounds fun! So be on the lookout for that. I'll probably try and add some personal touches to the layout too.

Oh I had another idea. I'm taking requests for a post topic. Suggest whatever you want and I'll see what is the most popular/appealing to me. Sound cool? Leave a comment and then it will be really cool!

Also check back in the next day or so for a sex entry whoaaa scandalous...

How did it get to be 3:30am? Oops. Good morning.

New features!

2005-11-27T14:22:00.000-05:00

My extremely limited abilities with html and associated programs are slowly but surely expanding! I've got some pictures posted on Flickr now. There will be more added every once in awhile(free acount syndrome). Enjoy!

That guy that does the blog

Buy Nothing Day

2005-11-25T20:53:00.000-05:00

Hey how's it going everyone? Ok haven't done a big post in awhile so here we go!

So today was *see title* and I thought it was appropriate for a shpiel(sp?) on consumerism and to a lesser extent capitalism as they are intrinsicly linked.

Capitalism is not in itself evil, but it perpetuates a way of life(consumerism) that is destructive to every aspect of ourselves and the world around us. I think we can all agree on this fact. Ok moving on...Consumerism is bad in a number of ways. First off, it tends to triviliaze many parts of our lives by reducing our aims in life towards material gain. For example, one part of this is the mentality "I have a problem, I need to buy something" The more the better. When a tragedy occurs in the United States, the first thing the President tells you is to go out and BUY something! Remember when the 'War Against Terror' first started and everyone bought like 10 rolls of duct tape for their families?! That is ridiculous! If you are that scared about something, buying something is the LAST thing you should be doing. You should be reassuring your family that you all love each other and will get through whatever tough times ahead by sticking by one another. Wallmart can't buy that reality for you at a lower price than simply being a moral human being. Now how many people actually thought that way? Probably some were able to think outside the box of corporate goods for a moment and don't get me wrong, I'm not a cynic saying people are inherently this simple minded and uncaring. That fact is created by the fake world that we live in.

Which brings us to the next related section: Advertising. Any and every time of our daily routine is bombarded by outside messages trying to get us to be a certain way, buy a certain thing or think about life in the way most profitable to a company selling a product. Advertisers are geniuses, they know exactly how people think and how best to manipulate them. Studies are done to analyze such things as nagging of children related to the buying of certain products advertised for children on T.V. or other mediums. If this fact interests you I suggest you watch the documentary called The Corporation. It is very well done. Magazines, billboards, people on the street, banners, radios, newspapers, pamphlets, even boxes of products you already own all serve to trigger a response in the back of your head telling you that you need something. Do you even know what you really think you need anymore or are the images and messaging floating around in your mind a non-stop interference in your own personal identity? A scary question with an even scarier consequence if true even to an extent!

Who advertises and sells these products we see and hear about everywhere and what kind of people are they? Well bluntly put, it doesn't matter. Everything about our society is determined by a cost-benefit analysis model. Cows in a farm are no longer animals, they are 'production units' (also stolen from the Corporation. So good I know) Something the film doesn't really talk about that much is what this really means. The distinction eliminates any feeling of moral responsibility for these 'production units'. We can do anything we want to them in order to increase their productivity because that is what will best suit the capitalist system and our own right to material gain. Selling medical supplies to a indebted nation at the same price we would sell it to anyone else says something. People are becoming production units just as much as a cow is. We are no longer subject to our own universalization of rights, because the economic model we live under does not subscribe to such a belief (unless it provides a profit of course).

The mentality I've outlined here will never allow for an effective United Nations, Free Trade Agreement, AIDS crisis response, making poverty history, or feeding the billions who do not have enough food. Like I've said before, we can't put a price on human life, but that is exactly what the capitalist mode of production demands of us. If we want the environment or homelessness to be first on the agenda of a politician, then we have to make it the first on OUR agendas. The people we elect will be exactly who they need to be to get elected, nothing more and nothing less. If we demand that our approach to life must change and that a politician must emulate this belief, than you will see a change. Until then, I wouldn't hedge my bets on a strong Green Party any decade soon.

So this christmas think about why you are buying something for someone else. Does this person really need this? Is it because it will show them that you love them? Or did you just hear that somewhere...

2005-11-21T21:47:00.000-05:00

You scored as Xander Harris. You're quite the character. Though you tend to over react you're never one to back down when something needs to be done. You are however quite the slacker, but you're loving, caring heart more than makes up for it.

Xander Harris

67%

Dawn Summers

58%

Anya

54%

Willow Rosenberg

50%

Tara Maclay

46%

Buffy Summers

42%

Rupert Giles

42%

Spike

42%

Which Buffy The Vampire Slayer Character Are You Most Like!?
created with QuizFarm.com

Ode to Missing Someone

2005-11-17T03:24:00.000-05:00

A Walk Into the Night

A cool breeze sends shivers down my spine

The street light indifferent

My mind wanders as I go

In the night, I can hear a voice

Calling out from just beyond the next corner

By the time I reach it

I am too late

For the image is safe in my head

Yet still it calls from just beyond

As if trying to escape its' non-corporeal form

My own mind seeking to reconcile with reality

The spirit of longing

The great builder

Shadows holding eachother in a deep embrace

Eventually swallowed by the light

Hope you enjoyed it.

Ian

Problems of Motivation

2005-11-17T00:42:00.000-05:00

So you would think me being in University for my 3rd year now would have taught me to procrastinate less. I'm not so sure that is the case. In my program(with a few exceptions) they are very lenient when it comes to late penalties. Par example, my Politics paper due this friday only penalizes me at a rate of 0.5% per day! How is that supposed to encourage me to get it done on time? Well I know avoiding that very life ending 0.5% and sheer satisfaction of having it in on time might do it for some people, but not so much for me. The way I see it is that I could get done tomorrow. I've done some research on it. It would be a decent paper, probably low to mid 70s. Or I could after relaxing most of the next 3 days and I am leaving Sunday open to work on it if I have to and only lose 1.5% by handing it in on Monday. What have I lost in this delay? 1% of my final mark. Now you can even think in terms of how good a paper it would be if I spent all of tomorrow AND part of the weekend on it. The loss of 1% of my final mark from the late penalty would pale in comparison to the 3 or 4 percent increase in my final mark. You see how good my brain is at coming up with these excuses? All because of that measly late penalty. My Russian History paper turned out to be 10% a day and so my previous reasoning didn't quite work so well, but you know what? I got it done on time. So I would say that professors who think they are doing us a favour by having low late penalties, are just making well me atleast very lazy! Well time to eat this late night pizza mmmm!

Cheers

Ian

Humanity or the UN: Which is More of an Empty Vessel?

2005-11-14T14:27:00.000-05:00

So I just finished reading Romeo Dallaire's Shaking Hands with the Devil. An amazing read. It took me a rather long time to get through, not exactly the best night time reading. You should get a copy of it though. It will open your eyes to the way the world does business.

The whole is only as strong as the sum of its parts. Nothing could be more true about the United Nations. The majority of peacekeepers in the last 10 years have been not from the 'West'(especially not Canada and let's get that straight we are not #1 or even in the top 10) They are mainly from the 3rd world. Places that have neither the infrastructure or resources to effectively manage a highly dangerous and increasingly multi-faceted world of conflict. Many of these countries have already been torn apart by civil war, extreme poverty, cholera epidemics, uncontrolled AIDS outbreaks, corruption and complete dependence on the '1st world'. In many cases it will take a nation like the United States less than 1% of its annual budget to save millions of lives(many of them children). When will the issue of peacekeeping move from being an option to a necessity? When will hesitation become action? When will indifference be replaced by true upholding of Universal Human Rights?

The circumstances in which we live are NOT commonplace. We are the minority of the population living in luxury. North American and European countries on average have per capita incomes 1000s of times higher than 9/10ths of the world's population. No one is in more of a position to help the billions of people who live in poverty. Worse than that is that we can't even reduce poverty within our own countries. Before we start exporting Democracy and Capitalism we had best take at what image we actually portray, because it certainly isn't anything I'm proud of. Should we just accept that there will inevitably be inequalities in any economic or governmental system? Absolutely not. Whether the person is just lazy or disabled in some fashion or addicted to drugs, or a minority should NOT determine their worth to society. Human lives are priceless and how dare we put a price on someone's freedom and very ability to live out a full and meaningful life as they see fit. Instead with strings attached, we extend a hidden hand to impoverished people of the world and we have the nerve to ask for something back! I'm ashamed.

The next time you go to insult the UN or question its role and power in the world, remember that it represents the attitude of the International World. The security council is simply a reminder to the world of the vain self-interested approach the 'great' nations of today take. While cost cutting measures are debated and debated...reassed and debated, people die. While France, the US, UK, Russia and China decide how to best promote themselves through a mission, people die. While oil, diamonds uranium and gold are secured, people die. Red tape in the UN institution is a direct result of the mentality of the West. Any failure by the UN is a failure of the Developed world. The UN is simply used as an excuse and means to escape responsibility by those who have put a price on life. For every American soldier that has died in Iraq, 1000s of children of already starved to death for freedom. Try and put a price tag on that one.

Romeo Dallaire makes an excellent point about conflict and humanity. Rage he says originates from the absolutely horrendous conditions in which people must live. Take the children of Rwanda for instance. 300,000 were killed in 100 days, but even more than that is that 90% of the surviving children witnessed someone they loved die. The consequences of this are unfathomable, but are by no means unique to Rwanda.

This next part deserves its own paragraph. Let me give you a real clear demonstration of the contrast between our lives and the rest of the world...This is from the Canadian Forces Peace Support Training Centre that Dalliare mentions. Think of the entire world's population represented by 100 people. 50% of the world's wealth is in the hands of 6 people(all American), 70 people cannot read or write. 50 suffer from malnutrition. 35 do not have access to safe drinking water. 80 live in inadequate housing. 1 person has a University education. What will it take before we unite and change the world with simply the satisfaction of making a difference?
Experts will warn you about some Global Crisis that is looming in the near future that the entire world will have to face. There are multiple global issues right now as I've already put in clear english. I guess it's our move.

Life or something like it

2005-11-08T01:41:00.000-05:00

Ok there are some loose ends I'd like to fix up on the previous post, but that will have to wait until another time. Right now I want to give you an outlook on life.

So I just finished watching movie Garden State for the 5th time or so, but I hadn't seen it in about 4 months. The timing will only matter to one person who might be reading this. I think I had lost touch with a few very important things and the movie acted as a splash of cold water to my face. Alot of my philosophy will be coming from the movie which if you haven't seen, I highly recommend. Sure it may be a little cheesy on the romantic side, but the messages it sends out are some of the most inciteful ideas you will ever hear.

A good starting place I think is the idea of not crying over spilt milk. In the time it took to shed those tears over but a moment of minor non-life altering conflict, you could have been smiling or laughing or smelling the world around you. That may have seemed trivial so let me say it another way. The moment in time in which you read this current sentence will never exist again. It is gone forever and there is not a single thing you can do about it. So asking yourself what you could have done differently with that moment or the next one that is now lost is a fruitless exercise. The decision has already been made. You have already lost another moment in your life in the questioning of your previous actions. The best thing you can do now is enjoy this next coming moment and the one after that and then the others that follow. At the very least, think about how you would want to enjoy this next moment in your life. Now what if that was your last? Would you really have wanted it to be one of conflict with yourself or others? You can solve conflict while being happy. You can laugh after you cry. You can smile after you've shouted. You can open that door you just slammed. If you hesitate just for a moment, that person just behind the door could be gone forever.

The idea of home comes up a lot in the movie as well. Zach Braff says that one day your idea of home will be gone and that you can never get it back until you create a new sense of home. He also goes on to say that a family may just be a group of people missing the same imaginary place. Yet through the formation of your own family you may achieve a new place to call home. I think we conceive of many different senses of home through out our lives and that each serves as an essential part of our lives in a given time frame. Right now I have a very fragmented view of home. While I would consider the townhouse room I am writing this in right now home, I also call my house in Verona home. On top of that I would also call RKY Camp(where I've worked the last two years) home. All three of these have certain attributes in common. They are places where I feel safe and not just from physical harm, but to express myself, to work, to play, to love. They are places I feel accepted at, full of people I admire and like to be around. There may be conflict in these places, but I am never alone. They are also places where I can heal, mentally and physically from the outside world.

As REM says, everybody hurts sometimes. If you can't admit to your own failures, your own faults/weaknesses than you will never be able to move from the state you are in right now into a more preferable one. Anyone can improve themselves, they just have to be willing to listen to what they themselves have to say. Not admitting to your own strengths can be just as dangerous as you will always settle for less than you are capable of and lack self-confidence. A smart person once reminded me that if you want something bad enough, you will always do what is necessary to achieve that goal. You will never achieve that goal, however, if you do not admit to your own industriousness and ability to achieve. If someone you know well tells you they respect you or think you are something special, they may be trying to flatter you, but they are also telling the truth. Everyone in the world is someone special, that fact that you need to hear it from someone else only tells you that you yourself must let it be a reality.

Does true love exist? No. The belief in one person, one love will only ever leave you wanting more. A person you may love right now or in the future will never be perfect. You either feel strongly enough for a person to make things work, or decide that your current situation in not beneficial either personally or mutually and you end it. What if that person was your true love?! Every person afterward will now be inferior. You are now doomed. What a useless way of looking at the world. Why can't you just look back and say yes I shared in something with that person, I learned, I hurt, I healed, I moved on? People change and so does love. You are naive to say the first love is the deepest. The first love may end in happiness for some people and that is awesome, but for most people it doesn't work out and that is probably a good thing. In a lot of ways I feel like you learn a lot more from your mistakes than your successes. People certainly make you aware of something they don't like about you, but if nothing gets said does that mean all is well? You can never be sure. The closest thing to true love is when you are willing to make the sacrifices necessary to ensure your own happiness and that of the person you love. This means are you attuned to each other. Give and take! If you shoot down dinner plans twice in a row, you better have something good to offer up in reconciliation later! People are selfish. They want you to put down whatever it is that you are doing and pay attention to them. It is to what extent we can repress this selfishness that allows us freedom to love in a relationship. Take that day to just distance yourself from your partner or hang out with the guys/girls. You will never be that person's everything. That is not healthy for the relationship. So be honest with each other next time and don't be afraid to live your own life, but don't forget to compensate for that selfishness.

"We may not be as happy as you always dreamed we would be, but for the first time let's just allow ourselves to be whatever it is that we are". This is such a good quote I don't even know where to begin with it. Well here it goes... Everywhere around us there is a certain mentality that exists that tries to combine with our own ideas and beliefs; our very own conception of the world around us. Commercials tell us to buy this, the billboard says to look like that, I say ask yourself why. Why does the commercial want you buy whatever it is trying to sell and why should you look like the hot body on the billboard? Are you doing it to satisfy your own mentality or are you trying to satisfy the fabricated world around you? In the end you have a decision to make. To alienate yourself within a society by denying the dominate image, mentality, demand, infrastructure or to remain happy within your own ideal world while existing in another. I choose the latter and if you do too, than we are no longer alone or alienated. Question everything! Absolutely everything. Just don't expect an answer that will ever totally satisfy you. Fabrication can only survive through further fabrication. There need not be a single reason or person or idea behind it. Consumerism is WRONG. I want to deny all that is associated with it, yet it has created the person I am. My ABILITY to deny consumerism stems from consumerism itself. Ironic is it not? I want to fight against it and I don't know how. My denial of consumerism may not change the world outside of my own, but in my home I am safe. That is what matters.

So what are you waiting for? Let yourself be whatever it is that you are. You can do it, if you want to...

Let's get this ball rolling shall we?

2005-11-06T20:43:00.000-05:00

Ok so let me sum up the general tone most posts will take from now on. The way we think of our society today(in Canada/the West/top 10% of the world in terms of wealth), whether it be abortion, religion , racism is completely shallow, self-centred and ethically flawed in almost every respect. I'll start off with racism for tonight. The previous post will act as a introduction to one angle of the whole problem which I will elaborate on. Hopefully I will convince you and if not atleast make you rethink your convictions just a little after this. If I haven't then say so and I will rethink mine.

I think we would all consider our society one of tolerance or aspiring to it, but at the very least have achieved some semblance of it. Now by tolerance I mean we are past the point where someone who walks down the street will be afraid of discrimination based on the colour of their skin or can be free to get a job where they are on an equal playing field to be considered on their merit and not their resemblance to Osama Bin Laden. They can have the same education I can have so long as they can pay in money which they can earn just as easily as I can. Hundreds of studies have been done and will continue to be made on how true statements like these are. Well I think they are all completely useless!

Everything I've just said may be important to understanding racism and its extent in our society, but in the end it doesn't matter. You want to know why? They way we understand mankind is completely WRONG. Tolerance is not whether I say hello to a black person instead of someone from Beijing. Tolerance is not I get the job over a gay Asian man, cross-dressing woman Latin American, or a perfectly non-threatening Egyptian man. Tolerance IS when I get the job over another human being because I earned it and they didn't. Tolerance IS when race is not a box to be checked off when they file a police report. When you enter a country, you do not become predetermined to be on a certain list of human beings from an area of the world generalized to be terrorists.

True tolerance is when all lines that divide people of certain religions, races, heights, weights, ages, sexual expressions, clothing are forever blurred into one continuous category: people. The study of differences of any of these becomes a waste of time because everyone may be unique in their own way and in an unlimted amount of ways, but that does not make them any less human. It does not make them any less sick when they have the flu. Does one person's colour tell me everything I need to know about them before I even get to know them? No. Yet we seem to have the illusion that understanding why I am white and someone else is not is somehow important to who each of us is. I really fail to see what that will ever accomplish except to always judge myself in relation to someone for all the wrong reasons. This is why racism still exists. The term itself is loaded in saying that races should even be important at all. I have yet to see a study that can convince me that it can be taken universally and encourages true tolerance. A person should be proud to be alive, not proud to be of a certain colour. Religion also factors alot into this discussion, but I will save that for another time.

So if you want to help eliminate racism, first you must elimate the term itself. Only when we reach out to another human in need in Africa, instead of a black man, can we ever hope to change the world. So there you have it insofar as I've figured it out to this point. I don't claim to know everything folks. I just tell you what I think so that you will think. That is the best part.

*here is a little more on the subject, thanks Brandon for your great comment!

-I would add that a diverse and expansive Global Culture( another term I'm not satisfied with, but will have to suffice for now) has forever fragmented all expressions of that individual culture.
You are quite right by saying pure racism cannot exist for there is no such thing as a pure race; free of any influence from any other racial influence be it cultural or religious or anything else deemed pertinent. I don't claim that a Global Culture can easily answer questions of identity or promote movement towards 'indifference', but the main thing here is that no one person can lay claim to a cultural set of beliefs. The ability to control the expression of culture is gone.

There is more in the comments but I thought I'd summarize a bit of it for you here.
Feel free to suggest whatever you find works best!

Ian

Comments

2005-11-03T13:58:00.000-05:00

Ok so I changed it so everyone should be able to comment. I'm hoping I can keep it like this and that this won't lead to lots of spam. The only thing is the word vertification thing. Just copy in the stuff that appears on the screen in that little bar towards the bottom of the commenting screen. Also, please leave your first name(if not a blog member already) by clicking 'other' or just post your name in the actual text. I like to know who I'm talking to :) Let me know if you have troubles.

Ian

The Rioting in Paris

2005-11-03T12:21:00.000-05:00

When you think of France, you probably think of 'the city of love' or lights, Paris. Now I've never been there so I can be the first to say that I used to buy into that stereotype of a simply beautiful city. Just like any massive city, there is always a darker truth behind its composition. Simply put I'm talking about the ghetto. The causes and characteristics of ghettos have not changed one bit in the last 200 years! The bottom line is the often desparate situation that people(typically immigrants) live in. The reason I point out that they are immigrants is not because I feel that is important in that they are somehow inferior or to be thought of differently than the majority. Of course that doesn't stop people from doing so. The point I want to make here is that it shouldn't! matter. In a rich nation such as France, equality of opportunity should be available to anyone even if they are primarily Black as is the case in the impoverished neighbourhoods entering their 7th straight day of rioting in Paris. This link provides a brief update on the situation: http://www.cbc.ca/story/world/national/2005/11/03/paris-riot051103.html

I'll develop this idea a little more in the future, but I would bet just about anything that if rioting like this occurred in any richer area of Paris, the government wouldn't have waffled for over 7 days on what to do about it! Is it a question of race you may want to ask? Maybe. More importantly it is a question of opportunity or lack thereof in this case. Economically these people are inferior to the majority in France and therefore, take a backseat in all aspects of the country. The double-standard still exists folks. Not only is the gap between the rich and the poor growing dramatically and consistently all over the world, but so is the gap between the middle class and the rich. Think about the implications of this for a moment. You may be reminded of the abandonment of New Orleans in the terrible wake of Hurricaine Katrina. I'm reminded of the most guarded secret of my country, Canada. This post is getting overly long so let me summarize it all with one word... Kashechewan.

2005-11-03T02:46:00.000-05:00

Gord Downie, poet, rocker, Canadian icon.

This might be cool?

2005-11-03T02:17:00.000-05:00

Hello there sports fans! I'm not sure who the heck reads these random sorts of things but I'm kind of bored with livejournal and I don't feel like sleeping quite yet so let's give this a go shall we? I've been all philosophical and political lately so I will hopefully get around to making some interesting posts for you(whoever you are!) Maybe I will even post pictures? Or maybe I won't even use this at all and you fell for my clever ploy! Muhahaha. Ok so I'm crazy. Get used to it!

Cheers

Ian