My new project

If you are still faithfully subscribed to this blog, I really appreciate it.  I will get back to it eventually.  But if you are at all curious about my latest project I invite you to follow my personal story here.

As for my opinion, there will be plenty to come what with the Tea Party bullsh%t and the coming election.  Stay tuned!

Socialism is the new GOP tactic!

Call me crazy, but I think the GOP just turned to socialist measures!

GOP Senators Refusing To Work Past 2PM, Invoking Obscure Rule

Is it just me? Random angry musings...

As I sit and watch the world slowly go insane, I am filled with random thoughts that just never seem to find an outlet.  But living in my beloved small, French-Canadian town makes it hard to find anyone willing to engage in an angry debate concerning the re-writing of US history by Christian right-wing fanatics who have taken hold of the Texas department of education.... 

It has been suggested by many a therapist that you must vent your frustrations in a healthy way.  Thank you blogosphere for this outlet!  Therefore I am starting a monthly feature called "Is it just me?" in hopes of some how improving my own sanity by pointing out the world's lack thereof.

• Does any true Christian really believe that Jesus would vote against universal health care?  Really?
• On what planet must you be born to think that you can obtain a photo ID with a hood (or niqab) over your face? (local Canadian political issue)
• What kind of world leader goes on live TV to discuss his March Madness basketball picks while almost 200 thousand young men and women are in the line of fire for him?  (@manofbird - De Gaul playing petanque?)
• I think Stephen Harper prorogued parliament so he could spend 3 weeks at the Olympics... And man did he make that black Team Canada jacket look good.
• Why does FOX News seem to have such a hard time finding seemingly intelligent, rational and knowledgeable commentators?
• Marois and Charest? Is this really the best we can come up with?  (local Quebec leadership issue) A woman who claims to deeply care about the poor and underprivileged while she drives 2 (yes 2) Porsches and lives in a multi-million dollar mansion with a staff?  A man who looks like Bozo the Clown out of makeup and cannot seem to make a decision on the most simplest of issues without looking at his popularity numbers?

And last, but not least, my biggest frustration of the day:
Texas education reformers have taken measures to rewrite history textbooks for the entire state.  Amongst the edits and changes they have imposed:

• Replace the word "capitalism" at every instance with the words "free market system."   WHY?  And Sesame Street will be changing the name of Grover to "hairy blue monster who talks funny."
• John Calvin replaces Thomas Jefferson in many instances relating to the founding of the country.  WHAT? Calvin was leader of the US church reformation and propagator of modern "evangelical" thinking, but he didn't write the mother-f-ing declaration of independence dawg!  This is blatantly banishment of Jefferson because he was a secularist...
• They also stripped the emergence of hip-hop as a cultural movement from curricula on American cultural history, have moved to systematically deny that numerous Hispanics died at the Alamo, and removed important passages relating to the Ku-Klux-Klan and the plight of the American Indians. 

Has Texas decided they weren't turning out enough ignorant people from their school system?  That must be it...
Stay sane out there people - it is an insane world.

Discalimer

Saw this today and couldn't get enough of it.  Enjoy!

It's not about you, America...

Surprise, surprise...Americans disapprove.

After laughing wholeheartedly last night at the humourous, witty and tongue-in-cheek display that was the Olympic closing ceremonies, I can't say I am overly surprised at the comments and reactions of American voices on the web this morning.  Below are some excerpts of the crap I have seen spewed this morning on the Huffington Post community and for fun I have included some of my responses.  But let me start you off with the quintessential defense of Canada's attitude during the Olympics posted by BritishColumbian, who I am taking the liberty of quoting:

     "...the swelling of national pride in Canada has nothing to do with America. It began when then torch relay began and proceeded to get stronger as more and more Canadians came out to cheer the flame and the runners on. What spurred the reaction in our 2nd largest country in area and small population was a realization that people across our nation felt the same as we did. Thus, a chance to share our emotions.
     Why Americans think that they have the right or obligation to say anything about it and actually think that they have the right to criticize how we feel about our country, how we should express ourselves and how we should act is over the top."

For those who don't know, amongst its many achievements VANOC put on the longest torch relay in Olympic history:  106 days, 45,000 kilometers, 12,000 carriers, touching over 1000 communities in all 13 provinces and territories.

Here is some of the piss out there today:

“I couldn't help watching these games and not be distracted by the amount of attention Canada placed on Canada, and this feeling was reinforced by the self-conciousness of the Closing Ceremonies.”

 “…it seemed very much like a pro-Canada spectacular, not an international event, at the very end.”

My response to the above:

“Boy are there a lot of sore losers on this board...
Canada proved they are better than the US at more than just hockey

- we know how to be light-hearted and laugh at ourselves
- we know how to overcome adversity without dragging everyone else down with us
- we are capable of positivity under all conditions
- we inspire peace and gratitude in all who visit or associate with us
- we lose with as much pride as we win
Americans would struggle to equal any of the above...” 

To which I received:

 “You forgot "humility." Oh...right, you covered that by being supercilious.”

 Which merited a swift retort in the form of:

 “And is humility something we should be learning from you? haha! Why don't you go cry into a tissue made from the recycled "Mission Accomplished" banner...”

 Then an even better fight developed when another yank on the board claimed that our patriotism was mean-spirited: 

“…It’s being said with the worst kind of mean spirited nationalism…”

The fact that any American would have the gall to say such a thing is pretty incredible, but I couldn’t let it lie, so:

"Actually let me correct you - the above was said not with "mean spirited nationalism" but rather the kind of disdain inspired by a bad neighbour - the kind of neighbour whom you lend your lawn mower, who never brings it back and then makes you feel like a prick for asking for its return.
Frankly, if anything, the Canadian patriotism that we all witnessed (trust me, Canadians are just as surprised as anyone else to have witnessed it) was most likely amplified by the frustration of having spent the past 9 years living next to Homer Simpson.
And the day Ned Flanders finally stands up for himself instead of just saying "Okily-Dokily" inevitably is the day Homer chooses to point out our poor attitude.  Quite typical of an American...”

On that note, enjoy the hangover Canada – we earned it!

 

Why the iPad matters more than anyone understands. (except for Bill Gates)

Many are indifferent to yesterdays news that Apple has launched its long-awaited tablet computer. Many more are having a poo-poo party claiming the product it a bust, a failure, an unnecessary toy that no one will buy... I have read multiple blogs and tech articles discussing the fact that it's too big to fit into your pocket but too small to use effectively as a laptop replacement. Others complain that it is just a giant iPhone and that it's useless because of the virtual keyboard not being as good as the real thing.   Where's the mouse?  How do I hold it?  Does it have a CD-Rom?

I am telling you right here, right now, that Apple's iPad will cause an irreversible shift in the technology zeitgeist.  And ironically it was predicted by none other than Steve Jobs' arch-nemesis, Bill Gates.

Bill Gates has been carrying a tablet computer everywhere he goes for eons, and in fact, back in 2001 Gates told CNN, "...within five years I predict it (the tablet PC) will be the most popular form of PC sold in America."

Now while his timing may have been off by a few years, he was right. Sadly for him, the platform that would make the revolution finally stick was not to be PC/Windows based - Steve Jobs has again taken the cigar out of Bill's mouth and dropped it into his brandy snifter...

Truth be told, the launch of the Apple tablet was not yesterday at all - it was launched in June of 2007 under the name iPhone/iPod Touch. While Apple had already successfully revolutionized the way people buy and consume music thanks to the original iPod franchise, iPhone and iPod Touch opened the door to the idea of pocket-mobile software, games, movies and television.

Just 30 short months later Apple has sold well over 100 million iPhone/iPod Touch units.  Over 125 million iTunes accounts are open and 3 billion Apps have been downloaded from the App-store.  While touch-screen multi-touch interfaces were unproven and new, Apple executed the technology perfectly, stylishly and delivered it to the masses.  And more significantly,  their faithful community backed it up with innovative and limitless content in the form of media, software and games.  (Light-saber app anyone?)

And this is the key to the importance of the iPad - iPad is not a "gadget," but like iPhone it is a platform - a whole new realm open to developers and designers.    And just as important, it will once and for all break through the conventional thinking in UI (User Interface) design.

Hard to imagine a world without mice and keyboards?  Get used to the idea...  

The coming years will be alive with incredible new ideas in the form of software apps, peripherals and accessories that we never imagined possible.  Minority Report-style interfaces powered by pico-projectors and word processing  powered by voice recognition are surely not far around the corner. The content will evolve just as rapidly as the interfaces making the marriage of man and machine more natural, more human.

And while iPad is busy introducing all kinds of new ideas and experiences into our living rooms, cars, offices and public transit systems, it will inevitably influence the way humans interface with all machines.

I sure hope Bill Gates sends a thank you note to Steve for finally getting the message out about tablet computing...

That's my opinion, should be yours too.

(PS - I missed Michael Pollan on Oprah today...sure would be nice if I could just grab my iPad and log into my cable provider to download it...  think my next blog will be completely devoted to the long overdue demise of the traditional cable-TV distribution model)

Direct from Haiti

Carel Pedre is a Hatian radio DJ  who has been desperately working to communicate and coordinate information about relief using Twitter as well as broadcasting locally from a table in the street.  I feel compelled to share this set of tweets with you because they are as clear a portrayal of the local sentiment as you can get. 

• carelpedre   Going to do a Five Ws (and one H) Tweets
• carelpedre   1^st W:   Who is in charge in Haiti to distribute Food/water and medical supplies to us?
• carelpedre   2^nd W:   What will the government do with the humanitarian aid?
• carelpedre   3^rd W:   When are you going to Start distributing the aid properly?
• carelpedre   4^th W:   Where can we go to get food and water?
• carelpedre   5^th W:   Why after 8 days, the president did not formally and officially address to the nation?
• carelpedre   The H:  How do you expect us to be patient when we are hungry and thirsty and we have lost everything?
• carelpedre   Done with my Five Ws (and one H) Tweets. I hope some journalists will ask them to the Prez or the PM next time they'll meet them.

I hope so too Carel.  That is his opinion, and it should be ours too.

-------

It should be noted that one of the loudest voices demanding to know why there are so many challenges with the logistical coordination on the ground in Haiti is none other than CNN’s Anderson Cooper.  If you haven’t seen his show from there I recommend you throw on CNN at 10pm – he is doing a remarkable job of reporting the situation and he is getting more frustrated by the day.   Links: Aid workers frustrated with relief effort

 

You can't eat or drink dollars...

While my expectations were pretty low having closely followed the clusterf#ck that was the US Government's reaction to Hurricane Katrina, I find myself amazed and horrified by their absolute failure to make a true difference in Haiti within the window of time required.

Barely 600 miles from Miami, we allowed approximately a million people to go without food or clean water for 5 days. Meanwhile, I watched and listened to the US media pat themselves on the back for the incredible speed with which they were able to mobilize and dispatch Anderson Cooper, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and the like to Haiti within hours of the quake. And don't get me started on the “feel-good” news story of the year – donations by text message...

While I hardly am reproaching the generosity of the hundreds of thousands of Americans and Canadians who dug into their pockets during an economic crisis to help out, (I wonder how much Goldman Sachs is sending to Haiti) I am absolutely criticizing the people who had the power to make the real required difference when it mattered. President Obama gave a nice press conference the day after the quake, but ultimately he, his secretary of state and his military commanders failed to get the job done.

Every news crew on TV stated the facts – they had 48-72 hours to search for survivors before dehydration would begin to set in. As well, it was clear by midnight of the first night that hundreds of thousands were out in the streets with no food or clean water.

Can someone please tell me how the largest military industrial complex in the world couldn't get a couple of transport aircraft loaded up with clean water, a few hundred men and some helicopters, and get them 600 miles from Miami within the first 24 hours? They couldn't get the Army Corps of Engineers saddled up with a few bulldozers and backhoes into there to open the roads and begin moving rubble by day 2?

Instead we were told that “advance teams” had been sent to “assess the needs on the ground.” Funny – the news stations seemed to know what was needed...my dumb ass sitting at home seemed to know what was needed. Anderson Cooper and Sanjay Gupta could definitely tell you what was needed.

The next day the excuses started piling in – the roads are blocked...the airport is congested... roads? Helicopters don't need roads. A helicopter with a decent pilot can take a 2-ton pallet of bottled water chained to it's winch and land it softer than a butterfly on a target the size of a dart-board. If he's has been told to do so that is. Take 4 helicopters and a full days work, and a pallet could have been dropped into every neighborhood by day 2.

So now, day 6 and the aid is finally starting to trickle from the airport into Port-au-Prince. I guess the “advance teams” have finished their work. Time for the photo ops of Hillary Clinton handing out biscuits....

On a more positive note, I am truly proud to be Canadian when I see the incredible numbers our small country has put up in donations to various organizations. Even prouder when I read today that Canadian Tire is filling the cargo hold of a 767 with as many tents, sleeping bags, flashlights and batteries as they can get their hands on.

I would like to highlight the organization that we donated to here at home – Médecins sans frontières/Doctors Without Borders will most likely play a larger role in this disaster than any other in their history. This due the the tragic fact that a huge number of of Port-au-Prince's medical community was devastatingly killed when their hospitals and clinics collapsed on them.

If you would like to make a donation to MSF:

msf.donorportal.ca

That's my opinion and it should be yours too.

"They don't give a damn..."

You have faith or a disease?

I have the utmost respect for people with faith, but when you need 10 radio stations, multiple bumper stickers, and a CITY of your own (called Ave Maria in southwest Florida...look it up people) you have a disease...seek treatment.


Honestly, it really seems more like you are trying to convince yourself....kind of like an alcoholic who runs around blaring he doesn't have a problem. Stick a cork in it, would ya?