what ?

I was looking at two news from the end of January I didn’t talk about but in my bookmarks, both from Yahoo news. I click on them: error page. Expired news. One about dropping of caribou population in Canada, one about how skin tone affects earnigs.

Very deceiving… 5-6 weeks and the page is taken out ?? Ok: it’s not fresh news after a few weeks but… I guess I’ll pick my news somewhere else. But uh… where ?

Newspapers usually charge for access after only a few days…

It leaves what ? CBC ? Some engaged news like Treehugger ?

bullshit news

I don’t know if I should call it bullshit news or garbage news. The BBC picked 12 countries and Canada stands as the most popular around the world.

Who is surprised that Canada has a better image around the world than USA (!), UK, Venezuela, Israel (!), China (!), Iran (!), Russia and North Korea (!!!) ??? There could have been some suspense with Japan (2^nd), India and France (3^rd), maybe…

But really, what’s the point of this news ? “Hey, folks, the world loves us better than North Korea ! All right !!!”

If you want to compare Canada with other countries, pick country with similar goals, cultures, foreign politics !

It would have been interesting to see if Canada’s role in Afghanistan and Harper as a PM make the Canada less popular around the world than, let’s say, Australia, New Zeland, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Germany.

what ?!?!?! snowfall in Montreal !?!?!?!

I’m always amazed how Montreal journalists always think they must speak about a significant snowfall, telling always the same thing each time ! Filming some folks with a shovel, some car stuck in the snow, telling it will take a few days and millions to take it off. Easily 3-4 times a year, each year…

How can they call it news when they always say the same stuff ?

And when you ask a journalist why they don’t speak more often about Africa, they say speaking about local and big international issues takes time and there is often no time left for Africa.

Yeah, right…

charity, again

 

I keep thinking about charity.

Wondering: should I be involved in a field where government fails ? Like alphabetization: is it or should it be the duty of the government to provide a proper basic education to everyone ? If I help this cause, do I consider that government can keep up doing a crappy job ?

But following this logic, which local issues remain ? It leads me back to an old opinion that charity is hypocrisy. Rich capitalists giving money to the people they are exploiting.

Is giving to the less fortunate admitting that they will keep being this way because nothing will change ?

What then ? Give money to a political alternative ? I don’t even know if I will vote ever again.

Find some NGO willing to change things ? Well, this is like starting all this over: for which issue ? And by which means ?

Some NGO in the media area could be interesting. But then, which ?

In the other hand, I don’t think it would be a good idea to do nothing about short-term issues. Feeding a starving kid may change nothing about his life but a starving kid needs help. So, it may be half charity donation, half change donation.

Of all philanthropist, Richard Branson is my favorite. Creativity. Determination to change. Guts. His last move: you find a way of scrubbing greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, he gives you 25 millions.

Maybe I’ll apply with my “tell these morons to stop using cars” invention.

I took a look at Virgin unite, Branson’s foundation. Qualifies nicely for charity donation.

What about volunteering ? Hum. How does it fit into my logic ? I might feel I’m not the best person to help into the change donation I most believe in. And I might feel that volunteering for charity is a waste of my time. I would prefer focus on being a better worker to earn more money and then give some more.

Does it mean I don’t want to volunteer ? Should we all be volunteering ? Without volunteers, most of charity money would go on salaries, leaving almost nothing for concrete actions.

Maybe I should evaluate volunteering options in a different perspective than donation: what I like to do. Not thinking much about results: just being helpful in some way and enjoying it. Hum. Maybe something like talking with people in palliative care.

And finally, what about helping another country ? Shouldn’t I do that as well ? In both change and charity perspective ? Maybe I shouldn’t get involved too much into changing things in a specific area where I’m not living. The White house does that already. Then, I just have to figure out which country I should give for and by which organization.

Ok, so: one quarter charity, one quarter change, one quarter time and one quarter for another country.

a fine product

I was stunned by a report from the French investigation show JE about purchase adoption of Russian kids. They were speaking about fraud problems with an agency but what shocked me so much was one sentence from one father: Russia, with Eastern Europe, is the only place left to adopt white kids.

I thought parents were choosing a country for adoption because of their adoption procedures, how much they like their culture, and the problems of this country: poverty, war, pollution, birth policy (China)… How naïve…

quebec racism

Awful, awful survey made by Quebecor network. They wanted to know more about racism in Quebec. So they figured out they should ask two racist questions (!!!).

Do you have a very good, good, bad or very bad opinion of the members of the following communities : Arab, Asian, Italian, Jewish, Latino, Black.

Generally, do you think that the members of the following communities are working more, as much or less than French Quebecers : Arab, Asian, Italian, Jewish, Latino, Black.

When you have an opinion about other communities as a whole, you are racist. Around me, I hear a lot more “they are” than “let’s not generalize”.

This “they” is a big problem. What’s the point of getting all these immigrants in if we can’t include them in a big “we” ? Do we need taxi drivers that bad ?

nice move, man

There is no field as competitive as stupidity. There are always strong moves, excellent candidates doing their best every day.

Last Saturday, at a college football game, a local TV analyst decided, when a fight in the sideline between the two teams, to cheer the fight on from a television broadcasting booth and even threatened to join it.

The move itself isn’t THAT stupid, but doing it in TV opened up a marvelous opportunity to get fired.

And he got fired today.

bullshit moment of the week

Some 102 pounds 15 years old kid talks about Kimveer Gill on the same website than him and says he could do better and wants to do it. What happens next ? The police come over at 5 am to arrest him for death threats.

Is the police overreacting ?

Just because you say something on the net doesn’t mean you’ll do it. Hey, everyone, I will lose 5 pounds this month.

Furthermore, it’s a kid. Go check for weapons, scare him, talk with his parents, put some social worker or a psychologist into it and warn the school security.

But a trial ?

That’s some political bullshit to impress the folks.

bullshit moment of the week

Some 102 pounds 15 years old kid talks about Kimveer Gill on the same website than him and says he could do better and wants to do it. What happens next ? The police come over at 5 am to arrest him for death threats.

Is the police overreacting ?

Just because you say something on the net doesn’t mean you’ll do it. Hey, everyone, I will lose 5 pounds this month.

Furthermore, it’s a kid. Go check for weapons, scare him, talk with his parents, put some social worker or a psychologist into it and warn the school security.

But a trial ?

That’s some political bullshit to impress the folks.

shit storm

I think the CBC chairman Guy Fournier sets the bar for everyone: if you make public comments about bestiality and defecation, you’re gonna get fired.

the purpose of internet

Google trends is so cool. You can compare the popularity of any keyword. This way, we can fix issues like “Are Beatles really bigger than Jesus ?”. No.

We can compare the popularity of ketchup, mustard and relish.

Or see if Paris Hilton is more popular than Nike.

We also can see which countries seeks more for specific keywords. When you want to know who seeks for boobs, you learn Pakistan and India are huge boobs fans. Canada comes third, in front of USA even if we have 10 times less people here.

What about lesbian sex ? Norway and New Zeland are big fans, ahead of India. When you want to know which specific cities seek for lesbian sex, you learn that Irvine, California is ranked number one. Irvine has only 200 000 people (map). You can figure how many fans you need out there to beat a city like New York ?

And what about foot fetish ? It’s seems like a Mediterranean thing with Greece, Turkey, Israel and Italy in the top 10. Awkward, Irvine is the second city in the world where people seek for foot fetish. What kind of people live there ?

A last one: necrophilia. Philippines and South Africa are really into it. Fortunately, Irvine is not in the top 10 cities. The top two cities are Tampa and San Francisco. I guess that’s one way to end a perfect day at the beach.

Now I guess a lot of creepy people will get in my blog… Uh… Hi, citizen of Irvine…

the purpose of internet

Google trends is so cool. You can compare the popularity of any keyword. This way, we can fix issues like “Are Beatles really bigger than Jesus ?”. No.

We can compare the popularity of ketchup, mustard and relish.

Or see if Paris Hilton is more popular than Nike.

We also can see which countries seeks more for specific keywords. When you want to know who seeks for boobs, you learn Pakistan and India are huge boobs fans. Canada comes third, in front of USA even if we have 10 times less people here.

What about lesbian sex ? Norway and New Zeland are big fans, ahead of India. When you want to know which specific cities seek for lesbian sex, you learn that Irvine, California is ranked number one. Irvine has only 200 000 people (map). You can figure how many fans you need out there to beat a city like New York ?

And what about foot fetish ? It’s seems like a Mediterranean thing with Greece, Turkey, Israel and Italy in the top 10. Awkward, Irvine is the second city in the world where people seek for foot fetish. What kind of people live there ?

A last one: necrophilia. Philippines and South Africa are really into it. Fortunately, Irvine is not in the top 10 cities. The top two cities are Tampa and San Francisco. I guess that’s one way to end a perfect day at the beach.

Now I guess a lot of creepy people will get in my blog… Uh… Hi, citizen of Irvine…

the weakest link

One reason I would feel free to leave Quebec tomorrow. It’s in French but it’s pretty clear, I think.

shame on you, mel

Making such a big deal about the arrest of some big star with alcohol problems shouting against Jews seems a convenient way to hide the slaughter in Lebanon from the US citizen. Just like the O.J. Simpson trial occulting the Rwanda genocide. It seems there will always be a star ready to sacrifice to make sure most of US citizen won’t hear about genocides going with the passive consent of the White House.

their war

Surfing in the Opinions sections of Yahoo news, I saw a strong title about Lebanon and Israel: It’s our war. Hum. Some columnist from some Washington’s magazine telling it’s the USA’s fault if this war occurred ? Right on. But why ? USA has been too weak and should bomb Iran and change political regimes there and in Syria (!!). Yeah, that’s exactly why this country faces so much hate around the World: too much weakness. It’s time to bomb them good. Why not a good nuking on Tehran ? They would see what it cost to play with nuclear technology.