Rogers Hates French People

 

Well "hate" maybe too strong, but if George Bush hates Black people, than Ted Rogers and his company Rogers Communications hates French people. If you are French speaking, you can not expect good service in French if you are a Rogers Cable or Rogers Home Phone customer. No tech support is available in French for Rogers Home Phone. "Level 2" support is not available in French for Rogers Internet customers. If your account is suspended because of a virus, you will have to verbally agree to a legal agreement, in English.  

 

The included software is in English only. The portal page, ditto. Basically, if you are an Acadian or Franco-Ontarian, Rogers expects you to speak English.

 

Rogers recently received government subsidies to expand the Internet coverage in Northern New Brunswick, where, in case you hadn't noticed, the vast majority of people only speak French.

 

The Premier of Ontario is bilingual. The Premier of New Brunswick is bilingual. There are 750,000 French speakers in those provinces. Rogers has call centres in the very bilingual cities of Moncton, Montreal and Ottawa. So what is the problem?

 

I guess the headquarters of Rogers, located in Toronto, hates French people.

 

Long live Bell.

OLED: Not Yet

If you are all excited about the Earth hour thing and notice the full page ad in the Globe and Mail (and, presumably, other publications) for the new 11 inch OLED Sony TV, look elsewhere.

 

The O of OLED is for organic. And if having plants in your TV doesn't turn you off:

1. The power savings are greatest when you have white on black, but most people now read black on white.

2. If you watch literally dark movies or TV shows, you will enjoy some power savings over LED.

3. 11 inches, and the resolution is low. :-(

 

That said, there was a time when hybrid cars were of dubious value...

Hillary WASN'T LYING! Bosnia gunfire footage discovered...

Voici une vidéo à ne pas manquer sur YouTube :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHVEDq6RVXc

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

iPhone Trademark Soon to Get OK in Canada

According to this, the government of Canada is about to authorise the use of the iPhone logo in Canada. Or not, really, as I have no idea what this government mumbo jumbo says. At least it is news. Nothing on the subject from my source at Rogers...

Trans-Atlantic Flights Canceled for Lack of Parking

Baggage handlers couldn't find parking and/or got lost. Result: BA
cancels 35 flights at the new terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport
(According to BBC World).

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

Taxes Should Be Higher

My employer's benefit program includes 100% drug coverage. Are my
colleagues perticularly healthy? No. So if my employer and me can
afford drug coverage, why isn't it simply a part of taxpayer funded
healthcare?

If I'm in hospital I don't pay for medecine but if I step outside the
Government covers nothing. How does that make sense? In Europe the
government pays for pills.

Healthy people work more and are more productive. Drugs are a major
part cancer treatment and yet we ask people, including children, to
cover the cost themselves.

So I say raise my taxes and cover pills.

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

How iPhone kills conversation -- Arts and Culture, Whole Foods Market, Yahoo! Incorporated -- baltimoresun.com

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.pl.iphone27mar27,0,2995198.story

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

John Adams on TMN

If you need some commercial free televised entertainment to survive
the neverending winter, than I highly recommend the John Adams mini
series now playing on TMN and TMN on demand. New ones come out at 9PM
Eastern on Sundays.

There is some "interesting" acting and some curious historical
interpretations, but all and all, way more valuable then the
alternative law and police shows on TV.

The first episode is the defending, by John Adams, of the
perpretrators of the Boston massacre.

The second is better than the first and is about how the Kosovo type
referendum free declaration of independence came about.

I'm looking forward to the third.

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

CNW Group | HYUNDAI AUTO CANADA INC. | $9,995 Accent goes nationwide

Stlill way cheaper to take the bus and you will pay less insurance
with a used car, but if you were going to buy a new car anyway, 10
grand, plus about $1100 for transportation, is hard to beat!
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2008/14/c4316.html

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

Singapore Telecom to launch Apple's iPhone in September - report

Singapore will get the iPhone. We Canadians can get out the duck tape.

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-23910104.htm

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

Bilingualism in Moncton is Worth 50 Cents an Hour

I live in the most bilingual city in the most bilingual province in the most bilingual country in North America and yet my employer is having trouble hiring bilingual employees. Bell Sympatico subcontractor Sitel, also located in Moncton, has given up on hiring bilingual staff and hires people proficient in either official languagee.

 

My Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, employer just gave me a 50 cent raise because I can speak French and English. And it to has started hiring unilingual French employees.

 

French speaking call centre workers in southern Ontario are used to getting two or three dollars an hour more because they can speak French. Usually isn't the case in Ottawa or Montreal where there are plenty of bilinguals, especially among the minority Franco-Ontarian and Anglo-Quebecker populations.

 

Don't get me wrong, my Moncton New Brunswick employer pays third world salaries. This same employer paid more 10 years ago for the same job. They have trouble hiring people who graduated high-school, never mind being bilingual.

 

Still, it is interesting that a couple of days after my bilingual bonus is announced the government of New Brunswick abolishes early French Immersion. Based on dubious science, the government has decided to concentrate on teaching French the normal way, as a second language course. Immersion hasn't gone out the window, however, as it will be available starting in grade 5.

 

New Brunswick isn't bilingual because the people are, it is bilingual because the people aren't. Northern New Brunswickers are very French, South-Westerners (as well as Bathurstians and Miramichians) are very English. Even in Moncton the language divide is dramatic. Dieppe is where most French-speaking Monctonians live, and they often live exclusively in French.

 

That said, Moncton does have more than it's fair share of truly bilingual residents. People who can work and play in either language and have maintained both. But 50 cents an hour*!? Not sure I'd bother learning a second language for that.

 

*As 50 cents an hour is about $1000 a year, that is more than the $600 non-indexed bilingual bonus that the Federal Government gives its employees. He, he, he.

According to Wikipedia, 90 per cent of the information on the Internet is made up.

According to Wikipedia, 90 per cent of the information on the Internet is made up.

 

A good tip when managing anger is to think of words that make you feel good, such as "broadband".

 

An other tip would be to whatch the clever Saxondale on Showcase.

 

-BBC - Comedy - Saxondale

-Saxondale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

-"Saxondale" (2006) (Imdb)

-YouTube - Saxondale. Anger Management

-SAXONDALE - On TV - showcase.ca

39 per cent of NB budget is federal cash!

I would argue that Ontario is the big winner of our federal
government's spending. However, the federal government is chipping in
39 per cent of the New Brunswick budget in 2008.

That percentage would be lower if the government spent more like
Quebec. Still, considering that nothing forces the Feds to make direct
transfers, it sure makes a Conservative majority risky for NB
taxpayers...

By the way, no new taxes for NB in 2008. And welfare payments, the
lowest in the country, go up 3%.

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

Government of Canada Goes Yahoo!

As you may know, the Government of Canada is THE biggest advertiser in the country. Their adds are all over, TV, radio, magazines, national newspapers, local daily's, local weeklies and now the Internet.

 

The Government of Canada has been on the Internet for a while. When I worked for a government information holtline in 1997, the presence was already quite impressive. Fast forward 9 years and they are spending some serious money on some seriously effective web advertising.

 

Case in point, information on what you can bring on a plane. I asked a couple of colleagues who had recently flown and got some incomplete answers. I had made a note that I needed to research it. Than a day later, a clever banner add on a Yahoo news site that gave me all the info I needed without even going onto the government site. Just put my mouse over it and got all the info needed.

 

As an attention grabber, I give credit to whoever came up with "CLICK HERE TO LEARN THE LANGUAGE BEFORE THEY DO, Government of Canada". I though I was going to have to learn Spanish or Mandarin. Turns out I only needed to brush up on my drug knowledge to have tweens.

 

Both are very good examples of effective advertising using banner type adds. So Yahoo! and Government of Canada, give yourself a pat on the back.

 

On the other hand, had I typed "what can I bring on a plane" in my Google search bar before heading out the airport, I would have learned everything I needed know. "Tweens and drugs" also gives plenty of information to read. That pretty much summarises advertising, it is completely useless and essential at the same time.

Hello BlackBerry, Meet the iPhone - New York Times

I'm just as enthusiastic about the iphone/ iPod touch platform as this
NY times article. However, I was an early adopter of the www, the
mobile web and the ipod touch (I ordered one 3 days after it was
announced.)

But think about this: I read the NY Times article and blogged about it
from the comfort of my bed. Granted, I suppose I could also have done
that with a laptop...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/technology/personaltech/13pogue-email.html?ei=5087&em=&en=59413bc0dda325c7&ex=1205553600&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1205612473-JMu/mNF7VxI4q+ApzUh20g

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

HDTV in New Brunswick

DVI-D HDMI 1080P 1080i 720p VGA Composite Component. Argh!!! I just want to watch TV!

 

OK, you live in New Brunswick, so why are you getting a TV with an HDTV tuner if no over the air stations are available here?

You live in New Brunsiwck, your cable HDTV box does not "support" HDMI or DVI. Both technologies are subject to digital rights management roadblocks and so Rogers just doesn't bother. There may be a DVI outlet on the cable box, but if your monitor/TV is DVI-D HDMC, won't work.

 

"Screw cable, I'm going to download programs and watch them on my HD monitor". Ah, but does your computer's video card agree? You may need to upgrade or you just dropped $500 on a high definition monitor for nothing.

 

"You got to get 1080p, 1080i is so 2007", Unfortunately for you, your cable box doesn't support 1080p, which is just as well, since there are no stations that broadcast at that resolution. But you could get a Blueray DVD player (such as a Play Station 3)... and watch movies filmed in 35 millimeter film (you would be better off with an old fashion projector, asssuming you had access to the films).

 

 

 

 

American Girls Are Sluts

"CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- At least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease."

 

Teenage in this study being 14 to 19. The rate increases to 49% among black teenage girls. Without the blacks, the rate falls to 1 in 5.

 

Perhaps iTunes and Trojan could come up with a marketing alliance. That said, seems to me that reaching teen girls should now be pretty easy.

Parking Caused Global Warming

Alternative title: Compaq Cities = Less Global Warming

 

Parking caused global warming. A serious amount of land mass is devoted to parking our cars. Fine, we live in a big country. The problem is that to get around those parking lots, we have to drive more. In fact, a good chunk of any drive these days is devoted to driving past parking lots. To add insult to injury, many of these parking lots are partially empty except on the Saturday before Christmas!

 

Parking garages are expensive to build and maintain. However, as they use less land, they are a bargain for the rest of us.

 

Wal-Mart's (sub)urban foot print, for example, would be reduced by 50% if they had parking garages instead of those vast parking lots (the parking garage at Place d'Orleans shopping mall in Ottawa, under the Wal-Mart, is a good example to emulate.).

 

Unfortunately, land used by parking garages is taxed at a much higher rate than land used by parking lots (property taxes usually tax net value, the value per square meter of land of a parking garage is worth more than the value of the same land without the garage).

 

So this is my solution to global warming: tax parking lots. I ask provincial and state leaders across North America to please show some leadership and tax (or allow cities to tax) parking lots based on the amount of land used. Then pat yourself on the back for saving the plannet.

 

By the way, you can also argue that parks and big yards cause global warming. Contrary to popular belief, forests and grassland DO NOT reduce CO2 levels (trees and vegetation release the CO2 when they decompose or burn). However, may I suggest we reduce the size of mall parking lots before we get rid of your kid's neighborhood park. That said, I would be in favour of getting rid of Ottawa's green belt (Orleans and Kanata are on the wrong side of it).  

 

Altavistagoogle.

 

Other blogs:

-Global Warming Awareness Blog » Parking lots outnumber drivers 3 to 1

-Why parking your car is more environmentally destructive than ...

-It's not just fossil fuels

-Your kids can walk to school.

-We Love Global Warming

-Global Warming (cause & effect)

Energy: Daylight Saving Time Jump May Actually Waste Energy

http://gizmodo.com/365527/daylight-saving-time-jump-may-actually-waste-energy

A. Turn off the heat or cooling when you are away from home.

B. If you don't have a timer, get one.

C. Daylight savings is wasteful and dagerous.

D. New Brunswick should abolish daylight savings so that the NHL
playoff games don't finish so late at night (NB would be on New York-
Montreal-Toronto time more than half the year).

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

IPhone Users Are Prodigious Googlers | Epicenter from Wired.com

http://blog.wired.com/business/2008/02/iphone-users-ar.html#comment-106405424

Envoyé depuis mon iPod / Sent from my iPod touch.

4 bedrooms, 2 bathroom, Cleveland Ohio: Asking 13,000 US Dollars

Forget Florida and Arizona. If you want a deal, the Erie Lake region is where you want to be. On the US side that is. And "deal" is relative. In essence, you will be paying much less than you would have before. You can find very cheap homes in large cities such as Detroit (and suburbs), Cleveland and Cincinnati.

The problem is, those prices could still be on the way down. And if location isn't an issue, there are cheaper homes to be had in smaller places on both sides of the border (such as in Northern Maine and the Maritimes (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island).

By any definition, Cleveland and company are way past recession. They are in a depression.

So for the love of goodness, don't base your analysis of the US economy on your latest sun trip destination. If facts and figures are not enough, get on the bus and take a (very) short trip south (North if you live in Windsor, Ontario).

$55,000.00	West 105th St.	Cleveland	OH	44102
$55,000.00	e57	cleveland	OH	44127
$53,000.00	Madison	Cleveland	OH	44102
$52,000.00	Gay Avenue	Cleveland	OH	44105
$50,000.00	East 173rd St	Cleveland	OH	44119
$50,000.00	west 58th street	Cleveland	OH	44102
$48,000.00	East 55th St.	Cleveland	OH	44105
$46,000.00	East 85th Street	Cleveland	OH	44106
$46,000.00	East 85th Street	Cleveland	OH	44106
$45,000.00	Ansel Road	Cleveland	OH	44108
$40,000.00	lawnview	cleveland	OH	44103
$40,000.00	Park Ave.	Cleveland	OH	44105
$40,000.00	East 143rd St Unit E	Cleveland	OH	44128
$30,000.00	e, 106th street	cleveland	OH	44104
$17,000.00	E110st	Cleveland	OH	44104
$17,000.00	East 110th st.	Cleveland	OH	44104
$15,000.00	E. 85th Street	Cleveland	OH	44106
$12,000.00	East 110th st	Cleveland	OH	44104

$10,500.00	Indiana Ave	Flint	MI	48506
$10,000.00	puffer rd. s.w	south boardman	MI	49680
$10,000.00	marquette dr.	rochester hills	MI	48307
$10,000.00	Capitol #5	warren	MI	48091
$10,000.00	delia	flint	MI	48505
$10,000.00	W. Maple	Romulus	MI	48174
$10,000.00	Chestnut lane	white lake	MI	48383
$10,000.00	montana	Novi	MI	48374
$10,000.00	marshall rd	muskegon	MI	49441
$10,000.00	falcom	flint	MI	48532
$10,000.00	Chestnut lane	White lake	MI	48383
$10,000.00	Trinity	Detroit	MI	48223
$10,000.00	south hill rd	detroit	MI	48235
$10,000.00	vance	madison heights	MI	48071
$10,000.00	Broadstreet	Detroit	MI	48204
$10,000.00	Locust Ct	Muskegon	MI	49445
$10,000.00	E Grand Blvd	Flint	MI	48505

OK, so ten grand would be hard to beat, even in Northern Maine or Northern New Brunswick. But I'm assuming those houses have been gutted (i.e. to be inhabitable, you would have to spend some serious change)

This is a view of Broadstreet and one of the many forclosed properties (note the empty lots)

View Larger Map

(Product) Red is Killing Africans

Dell, Apple and others are prolonging the lives of Africans with HIV.
They have joined the (product) red marketing campaign whereby a small
donation is made to the Global fund foundation.

Unfortunatly, the vast majority of the funds go to delay AIDS among
HIV cariers in countries where condom use is limited...

This charity is about as wrongheaded as Habitat for Humanity.

Red, distribute condoms! Habitat for Humanity, build more appartment
buildings, not land waisting bungalows!

Envoyé depuis mon iPod

Crank Dat Soulja Boy Spongebob

American culture aint what it used to be, not that there is anything
wrong with that.

Voici une vidéo à ne pas manquer sur YouTube :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3ARyAb_1Bs

Envoyé depuis mon iPod

Hahaha 40 million laughs

Voici une vidéo à ne pas manquer sur YouTube :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P6UU6m3cqk

Envoyé depuis mon iPod

Barak Obama, rap version

http://iphone.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/obama/video/x4g9n7_jin-open-letter-to-barack-obama-new_music

Envoyé depuis mon iPod

Le Monde.fr : Le phénomène Obama, par Justin Vaïsse

Cette information du Monde.fr vous est envoyée par merdealorsen@yahoo.com.

Un bon résumé du phénomène Obama.

merdealorsen@yahoo.com

---

Point de vue

Le phénomène Obama, par Justin Vaïsse

LE MONDE | 04.03.08 | 14h39

in 2007, la course à l'investiture démocrate paraissait jouée : Hillary Clinton devançait Barack Obama dans les sondages de façon décisive, avec un écart régulier de 20 à 30 points. Depuis le 3 janvier et les caucus de l'Iowa marqués par une victoire surprise du sénateur de l'Illinois et la décevante troisième place de la sénatrice de New York, le premier a connu une percée rapide, qui le place à présent en tête de la course, tant dans les sondages qu'en nombre de délégués.

Accédez à l'intégralité de cet article sur Lemonde.fr
http://www.lemonde.fr/opinions/article/2008/03/04/le-phenomene-obama-par-justin-vaisse_1018613_3232.html

Liens publicitaires

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Avec la loi De Robien et Adomos, remboursez votre crédit immobilier grâce aux loyers perçus ainsi qu'aux économies d'impôts réalisées.

www.adomos.com

Investissement : le choix
Faites votre choix parmi nos spécialistes en finance. Investissements , assurances, placements, crédits, trouvez le service qu'il vous faut!

fr.search2save.com

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Toute l'info utile, tous les sites spécialisés et tous les partenaires financiers sont recensés par Ask.com. Trouvez la solution idéale pour investir et faire fructifier votre capital !

fr.ask.com

---

Copyright Le Monde 2008
Droits de reproduction et de diffusion réservés

Obama: One Voice

Voici une vidéo à ne pas manquer sur YouTube :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmUUYo9o9eg

I'm enjoying Obamamania...

Envoyé depuis mon iPod

Lufthansa Airbus wingstrike at Hamburg

Voici une vidéo à ne pas manquer sur YouTube :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z42fchrzhHY

Envoyé depuis mon iPod

Please Make Your Blog iPhone and iPod touch Compatible

Provide a link to Youtube or use Dailymotion
I just realised something. If you provide the link to your Youtube video in addition to embedding it, you make your blog usable with an iPhone or iPod touch, which are not Flash Player compatible. Youtube has made their site compatible with the iPhone and iPod touch. So by simply providing the link to the Youtube video you are embedding, you make your blog usable by users of the iPhone and iPod touch. If you don't, they just see a question mark where the video should be, no link or anything.

If you embed a video hosted on (the way more permissive) http://www.dailymotion.com/ , a link, accessible by iPhone and iPod touch users, will automatically be provided.



iPhone Dailymotion Version
envoyé par Dailymotion

100 More Years In Iraq: John McCain, Yes We Can.

I think John McCain would be a good president of the United States. And I don't for a second think that Hilary Clinton or Barak Obama would be any less trigger happy. However, if you are going to character assassinate, it would be hard to do a better job then the producers of this video:



If you haven't caught on, it is a fake reply to the "Yes We Can" video of the New Hampshire concession speech. A speech that was rather dry and boring, but that made no mention of being in Iraq for a hundred more years... (this is the jazzed up version):