"Perez Hilton's Blog Site"

Okay, let me just start by saying, I absolutely HATE blog sites like Perez Hilton's. I mean gossip magazines are bad enough, but to read about this trivial stuff is just uncalled for. I mean, it's SO uninteresting. And how celebrities have to be bigger than ever these days. Just. WHO CARES. It honestly drives me nuts. I really don't find why so many people need to know what so many people are doing, just because they are in the "public eye". Get a life! Read a book! Christpher Lasch said "The effect of the mass media is not to elicit belief but to maintain the apparatus of addiction", which I guess could be read that people are addicted to this kind of smut? And that the massmedia only maintains this addiction. Which is incredibly true by any means. I don't know. I guess in some ways it's fun and light-hearted, but we have to remember not to take this stuff TOO seriously, because, like any addiction, I'm sure it's easy to get really involved in, and loose sight of what is real and what isn't.

"Video of airport Taser death released"

So this weeks article is about how this Polish guy was coming back from China, and was stopped by police, and the police tasered him because the Polish man only spoke Polish and the officer only spoke English, so they couldn't understand one another. Anyway, the Polish guy DIED! Of tasering. And this guy filmed it. And he sent the film to airport offcials. And they haven't given the video back, like they promised. But shouldn't police NOT be allowed to taser people to death? Isn't there like a "dull" setting on them? Steven Pinker once said "the Constitution says, that people have certain inalienable rights, namely life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Recognizing those rights is not the same thing as believing that people are indistinguishable in every respect." someone should have told that to the officer who killed an innocent Polish traveller!

Anyway, here are some celebrities getting tasered!

"Nicolle Brown, our department's entry into the Flare.com Intern Contest!"

Alright, so this weeks topic is all about Nicolle Brown, and her Flare.com entry to the Intern Contest at Flare. Basically, it's a contest where tons of intern hopefulls make a video and people vote on who they want the Flare.com intern to be! Woohoo! K so this reminds me of something Marshall McLuhan said. He said "As technology advances, it reverses the characteristics of every situation again and again. The age of automation is going to be the age of 'do it yourself.' ". I think it's pretty amazing that Marshall was able to predict things, like employers deciding who to hire based on internet votes, so long ago! It made me wonder what would be next. Then one day, watching MTV, I heard that P.Diddy, is having a similar thing going on. He's basically asking people to upload videos on YouTube, and whoever gets the most votes will be P.Diddy's personal assistant. My favorite is Paul The Intern's from MTV Canada =)

"In Defence Of Herouxville"

So this weeks article is about monoculturalism, and how a city in Montreal is all for it! Apparently there's some big controversy because the rest of Canada isn't into that. Hello! Are we not forgetting that the Bloc Québécois is a political party, that gets the most seats (from Quebecers), is a sepratist party. That most of the people in Quebec want to be their own nation. That a year ago it actually was declared one. So why is everyone all so "ohh wahwah Quebec believe it should be one culture", I mean of course it does, when hasn't it? If you want to live somewhere where multiculturalism is celebrated, go to Toronto or B.C. or somewhere.

"What to do with ex-PMs and all that pent-up bile?"

So an article on CBC News this week, talked about ex-prime ministers, and what happens to them after they're out of office.
Uhm, I know what - WHO CARES?! I mean sure, according to the text book, everyone as humans needs to feel connected with other people, and wants to feel wanted, but I mean after you're out of office, why can't you just get on with your life? Or make a PM Surreal Life or something. Just don't waste my time because no one really cares what any of them have done. Their 15 minutes are up!

"Sex and Marriage With Robots"

This week, MS-NBC published an article about sex and marriage between a human and a robot.

The end of the article goes on about ethics, and how "robot sex could provide an outlet for criminal sexual urges", and that if you're in a human + human relationship that "one partner could be jealous or consider it infidelity".

But I say, GO FOR IT! I mean, if someone is using their robot for some weird sexual fantasy that is incredibly disgusting, why not just do it. It's safe, and discreet. As long as the person realizes it's not a real person.

The article also talks about the probabibility of it happening and if it's good. But it's not really that farfetched. I mean today people buy dolls that look and feel incredibly lifelike (there's even a movie abou it), so why not go that one step further and get it on with a robot! Some people just suck at meeting people and staying in commited relationships. So if robots can fullfill that need, then by all means people should be able to have relationships with them.

This is kind of like that episode of Futurama when Fry goes on a date with a Lucy Liu Bot and falls in love with her.

Bottom line: If people want to be perverse and can't find humans to do so with, what's the harm in having harmless fun with a robot? There isn't! Humans have urges that sometimes other humans cannot fullfill. So we may as well find an alternative. Just sayin!

"Voters roundly reject MMP"

My father was telling me about the new referendum one day. He said he was voting against it just because it would complicate things even more. I agreed with him. And as a result, the number of seats that smaller parties (i.e. the NDP, or Green Party) could obtain decreased significantly.

Apparently, the majority of Canadians who did vote (which apparently has be the lowest number in history) thought the same way as my dad, and members of the NDP and Green Party lost seats under MMP.

The rest of the article then talks about how voting would change and how much "easier" it would be. It still sounds weird and if the majority of Canada's population don't see a problem with our electoral system, why then do we still need to reinforce the new referendum? Just because it worked in New Zealand, doesn't necessarily mean it'll work here.

"Whither Marriage"

So this week, CBC News Sunday had a report about the decline in marriages from a few years ago. And personally, I find a lot of problems with this.

First of all, the report tells us that last year, "51.5% of the population age 15 and up had never been married, divorced, seperated, or widowed". Now I don't know about you, but how many 15, 16, 17, and 18 year-olds do you know who've gotten married? Or divorced? Or even widowed for that matter!! So obviously, when factor in anyone ages 15-20 who have more than likely never been in a legally-bonding relationship, your statistics are going to be low.

Then this Barbara Kay woman goes on to tell us how we're having less kids, because we're marrying less, and that in turn is leading to a population decrease. Which in fact may be true, but there are certainly lots of unmarried couples who have kids and a lot of married couples who don't have kids. So marriage doesn't always lead to having babies! Which doesn't mean we aren't "thinking about the future at all".

So Ann Marie then goes to tell us how we aren't necessarially "rejecting marriage" but in fact are a more self-aware society and know what it is we want in life and states that single people "just want to make sure it's right" and that they "want to be with the right person" so they can relax and "live in the present", which I couldn't agree more with!

Then Barbara goes on to tell us that single people are selfish and that you're truly happy when you're with someone else. And that when you have kids you're fulfilling your potential. Which I can't say I agree with, because that's kind of like saying you can't be happy without a family. But I personally know many couples who have been with each other for decades, who don't have children, who are very happy. Basically Barbara digs herself a hole she can't get out of because I can't agree with her at all.

Basically I believe that there isn't a subconcious thought for wanting or not wanting kids. I just think and believe that some people do really want to get married, and some really don't. Some people strongly would like children, and some people strongly do not. Whether or not it's for the right or wrong reason, people are different, and we just need to recognize that and not judge.

"The Greatest Hamiltonian"

So there is the contest going on in our city to figure who is the Greatest Hamiltonian. And let met tell you, I was SO disapointed when I didn't see this guy on the list. But oh well, you win some you loose some!

So obviously this is a parralell to the television series CBC aired a few years ago (in which Tommy Douglas won), only this one is for the greatest person to hail for Hamilton (obviously).

Personally, I've narrowed down my "greatest Hamiltonian" to these three:
DANIEL LANOIS, because he worked with musical pioneers (ie. Bob Dylan, U2, Emmylou Harris, Ron Sexsmith). But then I found out he was actually born in Hull, Quebec, so that cancels him out for me.

RON JOYCE, because he helped in founding with one of Canada's proudest food chains of all time. But then I found out he sold it to an American Chain, so that's kind of unpatriotic.

Bottom line, I think I'm gonna vote fore GEORGE HAMILTON, because he was the originator of our city. He was the first. And since he was the first, he should rightly be the best! That's all there is to it!

(Honourable mentions go to Eugene Levy because I find him hilarious).

"Should your daughter get the HPV vaccine?"

K, so this article discusses the HPV virus we've probably seen commercials for on television. Only, it talks about the vaccine being readily availble to tween girls in elementary school. It says how some parents are in a tizzy about their child getting the vaccine, because they are "questioning the motives of a drug company that stands to make big profits and politicians who may be pandering for votes, and feeling a certain queasiness about dosing girls as young as 10 years old with protection for an STD". My point is though, why wouldn't you want to protect your child from a form of cancer! It's a cancer that apparently isn't easily treated either! I mean, sure I can understand parents being worried about side effects because it is a new vaccine, but many modern medication have side effects, just look at birth control for example. The side effects for the vaccine probably aren't that dire anyway. Just let your child be vaccinated, and feel safe about it. Children these days know about the side effects of unprotected sex enough to know that the vaccine isn't an invitation to have wild, promiscuous sex. If a form of protection is readily available I just think that parents should be willing to want to protect their children from disease-morals and ethics aside.

Introduction to Communication

Hello World.


ps. If you click to the highlighted text in my blogs, it'll lead to the required findings needed in the blogs.