Everybody loves Canada!

Funny how people can believe in any stereotype that they hear. Apparently, the rest of the world views us as peace loving, maple syrup and beer swigging, Canucks. Eh? In reality we're not that much different from our southern neighbours, we just don't pull out our sidearms as often. But seriously, many immigrants come over to find a new and better life and even find out what snow it. Apparently, many will get tired of shoveling snow after their first winter and also realize that they're paying way too much for health care. Still, it's a small price to pay for all the freedom and rights that you don't get in many other countries. Sure, we don't have the political influence or presence that the US has and we'd be screwed if they ever attack us but who cares? Nobody hates Canadians!

Tazer death

After watching the video of the Polish man getting tasered, I must admit the the police may have used too much force. There could of subdued the man and beatted him into submission or even shot him, preferably at a non-lethal spot. Both methods won't give visitors a very good image of Canada but then again, he could have been alive had he not been tasered. While my condolences go out to Dziekanski family, the way he acted was completely out of line. It wouldn't matter if he was in Vancouver, Los Angeles, or Abu Dhabi, he should know that airports are places of high security and aggressive behaviour like that will incite the same response, regardless of what airport in the world he's in. So don't go placing blame on our airport security because they were doing their job. A little patience and goes a long way.

No men allowed

Personally, I agree with the article for the most part. One of the most annoying things in life is logging into MSN and hearing that Britney dropped her kid again or Lindsay caught with possession. Apparently, there is a large audience that finds it appealing to read about every single thing that goes wrong in a celebrity's life, especially the women stars. I frankly feel that this isn't fair. It's hard enough being rich and famous, but it must absolutely suck having the paparazzi follow you around 24/7. Now I'm not going to claim that I know how it feels like being in the celebs' shoes, but it must cause a great deal of stress, possibly enough for normally funny people to attempt suicide (I'm looking at you Owen Wilson!). Hey, if their lives are so tough, I'm willing to make a switch! I can guarantee that there will be no paparazzi following me around, for they will be following me and invading my privacy. Sounds like a fair trade to me.

State of the industry

Ever since the internet caught on with the mainstream masses, information and data has become widely accessible to anyone with a connection. One of the most controversial debates is the downloading of music and movies off the net. As everyone knows, access to free music and videos via sharing networks is extremely quick and easy, due to the widespread availability of broadband internet. Record companies and film studios especially like to claim that they lose millions of dollars annually due to piracy and people downloading their properties in general. Yes, I admit that I too download MP3s without paying but I believe it's justified because I never had any intention of paying for them in the first place. So technically those companies can't be losing money from me. BUT I do fully support the movie industry since I go to the movies once a week or so, mainly because I can't stand the quality of the downloaded films. The music industry is changing and one day, CD will completely make way for MP3s. The big record companies on't be happy due to their reluctance to change, but it's a future that I feel is inevitable. Oh yeah, the following video is an extreme example of why you shouldn't download music online.

China: Investing in Africa

China has been a contraversal country as of late. One of the most controversial incidents involved China making poisonous toys/toothpaste, etc. Understandably, many people were outraged that the Chinese were putting dangerous products on the market. Apparently, China is investing large sums of money in Africa and doing other things such as forgiving debt. I'm not entirely sure how this is a bad thing but apparently several countries are concern over China's neo colonialism. I really don't agree with the tone and view of the article. They made it seem like forgiveness is a bad thing. Especially debt forgiveness, which I can attest that it the nicest thing anyone can do for anyone else! These African countries are poor enough as it is and a little money goes a long way regardless of what the ulterior motives are (as long as they're not evil). With first world nations such as the US spending trillions of dollars on their military, the author of this article has no right to paint China in such a negative image. But seriously, you shouldn't be putting toys (lead paint or not) in your mouth or swallowingtoothpaste. And no, I'm not Chinese.

Robosex, destined to doom us all.

After reading the article about robotsex and robot marriages, the author gave me the impression that robot-human sex will be the norm by 2050. Levy seems convinced that it will happen, starting with Massachusetts and spreading its way from there. From what I could gather from the article, Robotsex will be more convenient, accessible, safer, practical, and possible more fun than the real thing. Which brings up the question: Will real sex become obsolete?Will we become extinct because of our own doing? While becoming extinct is a scary thought, I can see where Dr Levy is coming from. Robot sex has a lot of things going for it. It can prevent the spread of aids, never become tired or grow tired of you, never criticize your performance, comply with outrageously kinky requests, and will be available anytime, any day of the week. I can picture in the future if you're still a practitioner of old fashioned, organic sex, you can practice your new experimental moves with the Sexinator before trying it out on a real person. This is probably one off the boons that Robotsex can offer person! As for robots demanding rights, I think it's ridiculous! The main reason why robots were invented so that they can do all the back breaking, sweaty, manual labour (sex), so that we can have more time to enjoy ourselves. If they receive rights, it'll severely hinder our ability to abuse them, thus rendering their existence pointless. Then again, not too long ago, we felt the same way about people whose skin colour isn't white and homosexuals. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Liberals in power again...and I don't care!

Another election has just recently ended with a victory for the Liberals and I did nothing to contribute to the democratic process. Which is quite ironic considering that my program of study is Political Science. Honestly, I could be studying chemical engineering, quantum physics, or Yiddish and I would not care for the result of this election. It seems to me that pretty much every party in question makes all sorts of promises in order to get into power. Improve health care, cut taxes, create new jobs, lower tuition, legalize this, outlaw that, etc. Since I still live with my parents and don't get sick too often, the issue that's going to impact me the most are tuition fees. Every party promises to reduce tuition yet it is increasing every year and shows no signs of decreasing. If it ever decreases, I'll be long done school and will be busy paying off OSAP before the interest kills me. So yeah, I'm indifferent to the whole election process. Not that I have anything against our government, it seems to be doing a good enough job without being too corrupt/evil. I just don't care much for elections since it doesn't do much for me. And I'm not alone either, apparently this year's election was an all time record low at 52.6%. (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ontariovotes2007/story/2007/10/11/ov-turnout-071010.html)

Halo, forever changing perceptions on entertainment

I remember not too long ago when video games were considered an entertainment median for children. This was way back in games were composed of simple 2-D sprites and the soundtracks were composed of simple synchronized beeps. I was not quite old enough to start playing video games during the Atari days but I started with the generation after that, the 8-bit Nintendo era. Back then and even up to the Playstation era, no one could have pictured the median to evolve to its current form with 1080P Hi-Def picture, 5.1 surround sound, etc. Now videogames have mass media appeal and terms such as Playstation and Xbox have become household names. With all the money that halo 3 has generated, videogames have become a staple form of entertainment that's here to stay whether you like it or not. Some people even thought that videogames were merely a child/immature adult's fad that will surely die off as folks lose interest. Yeah, kind of like the people who thought "automobiles" and the "internet" would never catch on.

Me? Worry?

After reading through the article about Canada signing on to a rival emissions pact, I came to a conclusion: People worry far to much about environment! Yes, we all know that the polar icecaps are melting and our global climate's average tmeperatur is rising at an unprecedented rate but I believe that this concern will be pointless in the future. Hundreds of thousands of years in the future, another ice age will occur, the temperature will plumment, ice will cover most of the earth, millions will die, and the rest of the survivours will migrate to the equator. Many scientists believe that another ice age is inevitable and I think we should we should leave the issue of global warming to our distant future generation. In fact, I think that global warming will protect us or at least lessen the effect of the coming ice age, thereby potentially saving more lives! What's the point of signing on to environmental treaties when a clean slate awaits us in the future?

The shape of things to come...over my dead body!

We live in a shallow society. The media puts a lot of pressure on people to look a certain way. I personally don't see a anything wrong in trying to emulate a certain style or physique. As long as you set realistic and healthy goals for yourself, I don't see a problem. Currently, mainstream media is portraying men with large pecs and washboard abs and women who are skinny and have large breasts as desirable. I don't see any problem with this since cultural views such as this is infinitely more desirable and healthier than that of the days where your social status is proportional to your weight. Nor do I believe that people should stop eating just to look like their favourite celeb. People should have a healthy diet and stay active regularly. I myself frequent the gym often. While I may not get 50 cent's ripped abs or well defined biceps, I have a physique that I'm happy with and don't consider myself too thin or fat. Fashion trends change and so do peoples' tastes. As long as the magazine cover on the left never becomes a reality in my lifetime, I don't give a damn what the latest look is!