Taser Death

The only thing that disturbes me more than the death at the airport itself is the acts of the man who took the video. First, he GAVE the tape to police - duh, it's evidence. But then he demanded it back after realizing how much money he could get for it. Disgusting. The worst part is the morbid fasination of so many viewers. I'm almost positive that this video will end up on youtube - just another crazy video for someone to enjoy. Sure, taser videos can be fun, but not if it's the precursor to someone's death.





Tasers HURT.

Tabloids

Everyone knows that tabloids focus on women. Duh. Being a woman myself, my opinion is coming from my experience. Every girl has at least one female celebrity that we hate. Absolutely 100% cannot stand them. I think I little bit of hate is healthy. I mean really who can honestly say that they love Lindsey Lohan and not laugh when something like this happens:





I think maybe it's just seeing someone else's life is more screwed up than our own that gives us some sick kind of pleasure at seeing the rich and beautiful people crash and burn. What me? Laugh maniacally when Paris got sent to jail?! NO!!! NEver! I love Paris, she's my friend! I think this youtube video reealllly sums a lot of teen stars up nicely:

NBC Slamming Apple

Wow. I think the author of the article put it nicely. Seriosuly? I don't know how Jeff Zucker can expect revenue from Apple selling hardware. Is there actually anyone one there who specifically buys an iPod so they can download iTunes, and download episodes off NBC? I defiantely don't think so. I like the set rate, it evens the playing field. Not only that, but if iTunes wasn't so widely available, with its set rates, and it's expansive downloadable library, don't you think that limewire, and kazaa (for example) would get even more business? Absolutely. Here's a video about the introduction to the iTunes music store





If artists can get their inflated egos around selling their music online for a set rate... then everone else should as well.

Presidential Temper Tantrums

First of all... fragile egos? If anything ex-prime ministers and presidents have the biggest strongest egos in the world. So ex-American presidents are given specific protocols and are guarded by secret service agents. Big whoop. Honestly, who cares ifour ex prime ministers are a bit grumpy? They're like little kids given a taste of power. When it's taken away, they can't do anything about it, so they through a temper tatrum. Don't get me wrong. I apreciate so many things about living here, and so many things that the government has done for me. However, if a prome minister can't graciously step of his pedistal when leaving office, it just leaves me feeling disappointed. Since eing in office, a P.M. can no longer carry his own baggage? No.


It's only natural to feel some resentment about being left in the dust after having everyone's attention on you I suppose. Part of growing up, however, is that you learn to shrug things off, move on, and GET OVER YOURSELF! These ex-PMs have to realize that society isn't going to hold their hand and wait on them hand and foot anymore.



Get used to cooking your own dinners, gentlemen.

Turing

Aaahhh Turing. I took turing in grade 12, and it was, although fairly boring, kind of neat to see what you could do with a programing language. Through turing, we learned to write programs that helped us compute math problems, games of tic tac toe, that you could play with either yourself, or the strategist computer (who beat you almost every time). You can create very realistic graphics, using only the programming language, or you can include pictures from other sources. Honestly, my teacher for turing was pretty quirky, so convincing him that he's actually a computer probably wouldn't have been to difficult for him to grasp. Turing games and programs are actually available on the internet, although they're nothing more interesting than binary convertors, and honestly, who actually wants to do that?


These day's it really is amazing what you can program a computer to do. I think that computer's are defintately fast enough to have a measure of intelligence. Technically, they're only limited by our intelligence, so in that respect, aren't they just as intelligent, if not more intelligent than our best computer programmer? Maybe we're not at the point where we know how to reproduce A.I., but I think that it will definately be possible in the future! There are many increibly cool computer applications that allows us to design, acquire knowledge, or even just have fun.

How neat is that?! With thousands of computer engineers and programmers, with some of the best minds in the world, I don't think that robots with A.I. are far off at all. We'll see.

MMP

So, unfortunately this year, I was unable to vote, as my birthday is 12 days after the election. However, if I was to cast my vote, it would be FOR MMP. Have you ever wanted to vote for a Federal party, but really dislike the representative for your riding? Or do you feel like a certain party representative in your party has done a lot for you, and you would like to vote for them, but you don't want their party to be in control of the federal government? Then why not vote MMP. What really astounded me was the amount of people who didn't know what MMP is, and therefore voted no, instead of not voting either way. At least if that was done then the final count would be fair. I don't see a downside to MMP, and in my opinion, if you're going to vote, you need to have at least a rough idea about what's going on in the world of politics. My dad and I had a chat, and as it turns out, we have the exact same opinions about MMP. With MMP, you would be voting directly for your party, and the number of seats wouldn't matter. Now, in my home riding, something like 64% of people are now dealing with a party representative that they didn't want. That's about 96,000 people who currently have a functionary that THEY DIDN'T WANT. Doesn't that seem a bit bizzare to you?

Halo 3 Hype

Ah what a wonderful world Halo is. I have, like many people, been sucked into the wonderfully distracting Halo universe. Like the rest of the mindless throng of Halo players, I became so involved with this game that I was perfectly happy to stand out all the chilly night waiting to get my hands on the 3rd installation of the Halo legacy. It was not to be however, as I was stuck in my dorm doing calculus homework. However, my brother willingly took my place to pick up the new Halo, and, to my suprise and jealousy, he beat the game in 10 hours (I'm so proud!). I love that video games are such a cool medium. With choppy graphics, and the illusion of choice, and the fact that your actions define how well/badly you do in the game really creates the illusion that you are living the game.



...Wow, eh? Sure, grumpy kids can get waaayyy too involved in a game, but generally, if you're well centred, extensive video game playing shouldn't change much except perhaps your weight.... I don't understand the animosity towards violent video games and movies. Sure, we may be desensitized somewhat, but I think that in a way that's a good thing. Life today is fast and violent, if you aren't prepared, it's going to be a tough life for you. Honestly, I don't think that just because you have been accustomed to violence does not make your more likely to become violent, or, for that matter, that you will do less if you see violence. I think it more likely that if you have been subjected to moderate amounts of violence that, if need be, you can act quickly based on your better judgement. On the other hand, if someone has never seen or experienced violence, I think it is much more likely that they would freeze, and go into shock, unable to make a move because they would be so unused to the feeling.

Halo has got to be one of my favourite games, the background story, the involvement, the different applications, the social aspect, and of course the crazy fans, all adds to the enjoyment of the game. One of my favourite videos is "Master Chief sucks at Halo" which... pretty much looks like me playing the game. I suck at it, I'll admit it, and I love the game anyway!



So, props to all the nerds out there who play Halo 24/7!

The Greatest Hamiltonian

Ha! What a scam. Hmm... let's ponder who should be the greatest Hamiltonian (Roberta Bondar) Let's read this article and see who we have... (Roberta Bondar) Well, there's the title... and... oh look! A big huge picture of Roberta Bondar! Wow... I think we know who they want us to vote for, anyway. Hamilton is really great, and has turned out some iconically amazing people, why do we just have to choose one? Sure, maybe it doesn't give as much cause for debate, but that way we honour and commemorate all of the amazing things that have done by people from Hamilton. I mean really, if were going to nominate anybody, it should really be this guy, anyway:

HPV Vaccine

Seriously? I can't believe what a huge debate is going on about this! I think the "moral reasons" for not getting the vaccine are absolutely insane. Parents seem to think that if their daughters get this vaccine, then it will encourage them to have sex, which I personally think is absolutely ridiculous. Unless there is a side effect causing the patient to become horny, I have my doubts that having a big scary needle for a virus that sex can cause is going to encourage many young girls to have sex. Especially if it could lead to getting cancer. If someone told me when I was younger that I'm getting a needle (which I hate) for a virus that can be caused mainly if I have sex and that can lead to cancer... I don't think I'd be racing to have sex for a while. If you can give your daughter a chance to live a longer, healthier life, then why not do it?!

If you want to preach abstinence to your daughters, fine, it's your decision, and I encourage it, but at some point they are going to be sexually active. Even if your daughter is a virgin on her wedding night, what about her partner? Many people don't get married till about 28, what is the guarantee that both them are going to be virgins and that their partner is going to be STD-free and faithful. It seems irresponsible to not give your daughter the vaccination. How could a parent look them in the eye if she said no and they got cancer down the road? How stupid would you feel? Oh... crap... I could have done something about that. How would it feel to be the precursor in your own daughter's development of cancer? I do agree that parents, or at the very least the nurses who are giving the vaccination should fully explain what the vaccination is for and why it's a good idea to get it.

Many of the reasons for the debate about this vaccine lay, not only in the moral reasons, but in distrust of pharmaceutical companies. One concerned mother said that "We can't just trust the medical community to know what's best for our children". Sorry... what? Excuse me if I'm wrong... but isn't that sort of what they're there for? To help you when your child is sick, when you have a baby, ect? This must be coming from the same type of mother who didn't give her child vaccinations because she thinks that the pharmaceutical companies just want to "Pad their bottom line", for example in House:





"The Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada, prominent cheerleaders for the vaccine, praised the government’s announcement to make the vaccine widely available, no doubt also buoyed by the $1.5 million grant it received from Merck. For educational purposes, of course." (http://commonground.ca/iss/0709194/cg194_cassels.shtml). I don't understand the adversion to the government finally donating funds to assist in medical research... why should we be suspicious, that just casts a very cynical and depressing view of the world. So, for all the parents who believe that the pharmaceutical company is just trying to scam money out of us "poor workers" Take a second to think... #1, the vaccination is free in public schools, and #2, if the government wasn't spending money on this, what would you rather they spend it on? War?

Hello World!

Hey guys, I'm Mallory, and this marks my first blog for CMST. Can't wait to get started!