Project Serve HIV/AIDS and something about hockey.

This past reading week I participated in the Project Serve Canada HIV/AIDS program. My group spent the week busily learning about HIV, and preparing presentations for a local high school. HIV is a complicated global issue that affects our brother and sisters in Guelph and around the world. No, HIV/AIDS does not ambiguously affect "Africa"; but it does affect certain African countries at an alarmingly high rate (see South Africa, Swaziland, Namibia etc).

Grade school sexual health education in the province of Ontario has failed many students; "What goes where, and how" is often all that students are left with after 4 years of physical and sexual education. Any efforts we can make to improve sexual education for the next generation is definitely a step in the right direction. One of the main messages I have taken from this program is that, "any individual's sexual health is everyone's sexual health". And similar to hockey, you have to protect yourself. If you feel responsible enough to enter the global sexo'sphere, the minimum you can do is protect yourself and your partner.

In a similar but totally unrelated matter:
Sidney Crosby (a.k.a. Canada's top NHL export), has been sidelined for almost two months from concussions. The brutal physicality of the NHL reaches a new low when the league, players, and team owners can't protect their biggest money-makers. Sidney Crosby generates millions for his sponsors, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the NHL. And now he is sidelined and useless. Hopefully, Crosby can come back into the game at his former level, but his future potential is still up in the air.

Therefore, concussions in the NHL are like having unprotected sex. The league is taking a gamble on the health of their players; much like wearing a condom, more needs to be done to protect the head of an NHL player. Maybe make the penalties for blind side head shots more strict or enforce the rules more. I don't know. Just do something to protect Crosby's brain from punishment.

Anyways, I'm not a big hockey fan. I like to watch shows where people showcase things for judges. And speaking of showcases, the Project Serve Canada Showcase, is this Thursday March 10, at 5:30 in UC 442. Come check it out! (here is the event on reg) If you were thinking about doing Project Serve in the future now is a great time to find out more!!

Gaddafi-dafi-doo!

What happens when everyone's favourite dictator Muammar al-Gaddafi needs to go into hiding? He goes under the disguise of Raffi, everyone's favourite childhood singer. He mostly goes to Venezuela.

Now seriously. Following suit of Tunisia and Egypt, Libyans are staging mass demonstrations in an attempt to oust leader Gaddafi. Gaddafi seized power in 1969 from King Idris, in a military coup.

Can we expect Libya to follow a similar transition of power as is underway in Egypt? Probably not. Unlike Egypt, Libya has massive oil reserves and a much smaller population (80m vs. 6m). As a result the GDP per capita is double that of Egypt. Literacy and education levels are also higher in Libya compared to Egypt. But unemployment is much higher in Libya... I don't know the implications of all the differences between Libya and Egypt. Read a book about it, if you're really interested...

The only point of the differences is to show that the "arab people's movement" will not play out in the same fashion as it did in Egypt. Gaddafi's response to the protests has been much more violent than that of former Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak. Already, more than 200 civilians have died in the protests, due in part to the government firing live rounds into crowds, and using fighter planes to bomb protesters. Libyan soldiers seem to be much more active in protester suppression than the Egyptian soldiers were. This is interesting because both governments require mandatory military service from civilians.

Two Libyan fighter pilots who refused to bomb protesters made an unscheduled landing in Malta; they are asking for political asylum.

In regards to my drawing above, there have been rumours that Gaddafi has fled to Venezuela. But Venezuela and Libyan officials both deny it...

Libya protests spread and intensify

CIA - World Fact Book

Two Libyan fighter pilots defect, fly to Malta

wind blows. apparently.

I love the way wind bites my face as I walk to school. It stings a little, mostly in the recesses of my nostrils. Sometimes when I step outside first thing in the morning, I am afraid to inhale because the cold air burns my lungs as they adjust to the outside temperature.

Wow, that has nothing to do with anything.

Ok, so this past week the Ontario Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty put the kibosh on off shore wind farms. A minor component of Ontario's renewable energy strategy was placed under a moratorium, due to a "lack of research on the health effects of windmills". People living in close proximity to windmills report nausea, dizziness, and headaches. The Premiere's election campaign has been met with fierce "Anti-Windmill" resistance, mainly in the form of NIMBYism. Other provincial parties claim the premier's move to stop offshore windmills was purely political; meaning it was only to garner votes. Who Knows?

I can see how the loud whirring of a windmill may cause irritation. But dizziness? You'd either have to stand really close, or be constantly staring at it to get dizziness. Maybe just put the windmills far away from densely populated areas? How close do you have to be to a windmill in order to be affected? Is the constant low frequency being emitted a problem? I don't know. There is some legitimacy in the "windmills are bad for you campaign", but there is also legitimacy in the "let's use more renewable energy campaign"

We must find a compromise. Who would least benefit from renewable wind energy? Would it cut into the profits of natural gas suppliers? How would 1000 windmills per sq. mile affect aquatic life? Does the value presented in offshore wind power outweigh the environmental and social upset?

I wish Canada would follow the reported success of Holland's wind power generation. But even in Holland , the land of the windmill, there has been a negative response from townsfolk who live with windmills.

Here are some news articles:

Wind farm moratorium not election-based: McGuinty - CTV news

Study to determine health effects of turbines - Globe and Mail

hack attack

The government's IT security apparently stood up to hackers' attempts at stealing financial information this week. Computer security systems were alerted of the attacks, and prevented access. Treasury Board President, Stockwell Day claimed that no financial records were compromised. The attacks, originating from servers in China, come right before the government tables its budget. Naturally, Chinese officials deny any involvement.

Budget Safe After Computer Attack - National Post

Cyber attack hits Ottawa; probe focuses on IP addresses from China - Globe and Mail

Another reason to fear a robot uprising!

Have you heard of that computer on Jeopardy? Well its name is Watson, and it is the brain child of IBM's David Ferrucci. Watson represents a pinnacle in "deep analytical programming" because it has the capability of processing unstructured data and interpreting human language. Hopefully, this is one step closer towards an affordable robotic vacuum system that changes its own bags (bagless perhaps?). That is just a pipe dream.

More seriously, it has applications for interpreting knowledge based industries and doing the jobs of people. Imagine if a computer could scan through millions of medical textbooks, and interpret the meaning with as much accuracy as a human. It would mean the computer could understand subtleties in human speech and derive meaning from words rather than 1s and 0s. Finding a job just became more difficult.

On another note. How boring is watching a computer beat people at Jeopardy? Really boring. I mean seriously, computers are already smarter than humans. When I have a question about something, I type it directly into Google. The answer is usually in the top 5 pages. Whoop dee dooo!

Now they just have to solve the meaning of life. Let a computer mull that one over.

Bev Oda ties a "knot" in her political future... This is "not" a laughing matter...

* There is not supposed to be any intentional resemblance to a phallic symbol in the case of my drawing's nose. It just turned out that way and I realized after...

Well, it has been a long tumultuous week but now midterms are over. So much has happened since we last met. But don't worry. I've prepared a rundown of all the major issues and connected them to real life student issues... or at least I tried...

Bev Oda does (not) tell the truth ft. KAIROS

This week, Bev Oda falsified government documents resulting in 7 million dollars denied to the aid agency "KAIROS". Members from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) along with Bev Oda signed a contract recommending the cash, but the contract was later doctored. Here's what it looked like:

You can't change a contract after its been signed. Duh. Let's relate this to sleazy landlords. I know there is a great bunch of respectable and responsible landlords out there. But for comparisons sake, let's just use the sleazy ones. Let's say you found a sweet apartment above "Doogie''s downtown. You're so happy because "Doogie's" is your favourite place (work with me here), and now you won't have to ride the "Magic Bus" home to the south end. You signed the contracts agreeing to $450 a month for a sweet bachelor/bachelorette pad and you're enjoying the luxuries of living downtown. But wait!

2 months later you get a knock at the door and it’s the landlord! He says, "Excuse me, but you're not allowed to live here. I never agreed to lease this place to you!” And you say, "ummm, but we signed the paperwork!” All of a sudden the landlord pulls out a copy of the agreement and this is what it looked like:

The landlord says, "I've found someone else to rent to. You need to get out!” You'd be super man right?

Bev Oda claimed she didn't know who inserted the word "not", then she blamed a government aide, then she finally admitted to doing it herself. The opposition is calling for her resignation from parliament, while the Conservatives have defended her. I wonder if Bev Oda was used as a scapegoat for a higher-level bureaucrat. Was she instructed to deny KAIROS' funding? What was her motive? Who knows? Such a blatant lie, as doctoring governmental memos, is beyond most people, even MPs. I don't know, it's just something to think about. To complicate the matter, Jason Kenney claims the monies were denied due to KAIROS' position on Israel. F.Y.I. In a semi-unrelated topic, it is also Israeli Apartheid Week the first week of March (1-7) in Guelph. If you would like to learn more about the issue's surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict click here. There are lots of great events planned downtown and at the University. No matter your personal stance, check it out!

What does KAIROS do, you ask? They are a collection of religious groups united in promoting human rights and sustainable environmental management. Seems reasonable. Anyways, a Cabinet Minister blocked some of KAIROS' funding with falsified documents and now there is a scandal.

here are some articles:

PM's response to Oda's Decision

Opposition asking wrong questions of Oda: government

Bev Oda is a liar!

Mubarak Steps Down, Facebook is for Democracy! (and lurking)

The world is changing. And I'm not talking about midterms...We awoke on Friday to Egypt's leadership stepping down, and handing power over to the military. The Egyptian people have made their wishes very clear, after 18 days of protests and riots. President Hosni Mubarak has resigned, and fled to his home in Sharm el Sheikh; marking change across the Middle East and displaying the power of a collective people.

The revolution was partially attributed to the spread of information via the Internet. Facebook and Twitter sites helped rally people and spread media attention. Social networks allowed millions of Egyptians to join the protests without any central leader or coalition. So, when your not paying attention in lecture and flipping through Jessica's "Spring Break 09'" photo album on Facebook, just think: You are using a powerful tool of democracy... maybe Facebook is not a colossal time waster after all. maybe not.

In any event, now is the time to celebrate the victory of the Egyptian people as they start to rebuild after the protests. Currently the military is in charge (don't worry guys, it's funded by USA's aid). The Supreme Military Committee is expected to start ushering in a new age of rule, including elections in the fall, and suspending the Emergency Measures Act.

I don't know how the transition will occur. Who knows what tomorrow brings? The only wish I have for Egypt is that the people themselves decide how to be governed. Us folks in the West must support the people's revolution. Egypt is the entrance to the Middle East; it is the social, economic, and political pivot, around which the West gains influence into the Arab world. We must not be quick to throw up assumptions of some fundamentalist Islam group taking power. Egyptian's have lived in secular peace for decades, why must people bring up possible negativity towards Israel? The current young generation of Egyptians, the ones protesting, have never lived in war with Israel. Muslims and Christians, have lived in peace for decades in Egypt, why should we have reason to believe this will change? Please, attached a positive face to Egyptians, I do not believe Egyptians will not tolerate a theocracy. But, I urge you to formulate your own ideas, and get more information. I am by no means an expert on anything.
Will the victory of the Egyptian people spark a domino effect across the world, spreading to the countries with leadership less than democratic? It started with Tunisia, and then spread to Egypt, who is next?

Lastly, while Obama makes a very eloquent speech about Mubarak stepping down, Stephen Harper makes a comparison to toothpaste...

"In my judgment there is no going back, I think the old expression, there not going to put the toothpaste back into the tube on this one..."

here's more context of that quote: Opposition Criticizes Toothpaste Remarks
It's a silly statement, but I don't think it actually means the government is so "out-of-touch" on foreign affairs. For better or worse, the government knows what it's doing. They are pretty smart people, they just may not share your motives...
(P.S. midterms. consume. all. my. time....)

Photo from Associated Press