Twitter lights up with reports of Sydney power failure, zombie onslaught - PC World

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/297343/twitter_lights_up_reports_sydney_power_failure_zombie_onslaught

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone / Sent from my iPhone.

Sydney Strugles With Zombies During Power Outage (Twitter Trends)

Earlier I joke about mob declared aliens. Well, Australians managed to
get zombies on the twitter trend list (see picture).

Short and Sweet: the Genious of Twitter

Twitter is a news junkie's dream. Sure the news isn't always as "important" as the conflicts of the Middle East, but news is news when you are a junky. 

I've been avoiding Twitter because I really didn't care about people standing in line, eating dinner or worse, their bowel movements. But I missed the point: You have control over who you follow.

And if you read twitter on a computer or your iPhone (vs text messages on your cell phone), irelevant posts are extreemly easy to gloss over. Kind of like scanning newspaper articles.

Posts are short. But they often link to pictures or web sites if you are interested in further reading. In addition, some times posts are part of a conversation. And as long as you aren't using the mobile version of Twitter, you can easely follow the conversation.

Twitter intergrates the best of Pointcast, newsgroups, Myspace and Blogger. With the exception of Pointcast (which is dead, people now use agragators such as Yahoo News or Google News), Twitter doesn't necessaraly replace these services, it inhances them.

-Mark Cuban Twitters about being fined for comments on Twitter

-Calgary poised for Twitter boom

-Twitter Plots Paid Accounts: Warms Up to Newbies

Twitter Trends: Genious

Twitter trends is amazing. And you don't have to register or anything.
In a few minutes I'll post an app on this site so you don't even have
to go to www.twitter.com. Stay tuned to
www.altavistagoogle.blogspot.com for all your market trend needs.

Things I have discovered using "trends" in the last 24 hours:

-Formula One Racing and Twitter are popular in Brazil.

-People actually whatch golf.

-There are alot of Vancouver hockey fans.

-Even though I'm a TV adict, there are plenty of popular shows that I
have never heard of.

- Brits changed time today and not 3 weeks ago like the civilized world.

- F1 is not available in HD. And plenty of people are confused as to
why.

I have to admit, I approach Twitter trends with apreantion. Should I
believe the mob if they start writing that the aliens are coming, the
aliens are coming!?

F1 NOT in HD. NASCAR is.

One less reason to get the HD Pack for $9 from Rogers (NASCAR on Fox
HD is free.

Tweet from Altavistagoogle (@Altavistagoogle)

http://twitter.com/Altavistagoogle/status/1411182098

"F1 is back! Just got the HD pack ($9 per month) 2 get TSN HD with my
remote. Cool. NASCAR on at 2PM 2day on Fox http://twitpic.com/2kg16 "
- Altavistagoogle (@Altavistagoogle)

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone / Sent from my iPhone.

The Celebrity Twitter Ecosystem - NYTimes.com

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/fashion/29twitter.html?ref=style

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone / Sent from my iPhone.

Twitter Is Addictive

Unlike MySpace, you don't waste time with Twitter. You're waiting for
a beer, you can twit (or read about Miley's Saturday night). OK, so I
guess that qualifies as wasting time. I guess Twitter just makes
wasting time more productive.

Chinatown Walks to Work

Yes, I live in Moncton, New Brunswick, but my favourite newspapers are the New York Times and the Toronto Star. The online Tortonto Star has a cool Google Maps with transit use in the Greater Toronto Area by federal riding . Why federal riding? Presumably because it is the Toronto Star (although maybe it is Statcan's fault).

I compared that nifty/ubercool/I love the Internet map with the equally impressive use of GIS at the CBC . Unfortunately, I did not find any correlation between walking to work and voting for the NDP. However, clearly, the solution to Canada's carbon addiction is more Chinese people. 35% of Trinity-Spadina (Chinatown) walks and/or cycles to work . Olivia Chow should be proud. 

Spadina Bus - The Shuffle Demons

Americans are NOT stupid - WITH SUBTITLES

There are over 18,000 comments on a YouTube video How to lose friends and alienate countries . 18,000 comments! These comments were generated by the retransmission of a late night Fox News comedy commentary show that nobody watches.

To me, that says alot. Over a dozen thousand people made comments, some more than once, about 5 minutes of unfunny chatter on the low budget Fox program. When has any show generated that type of viewer feedback? See next sentence.  

On the other hand, 185,000 people commented on Americans are NOT stupid . They include: "Yep. This is my country.

You should hear some of the people in my classes at the University--not much better than what is in this video." and "We're not all that stupid... just most of us." 

John A. MacDonald Was Against Having Provinces

John A. Macdonald: 

The third and only means of solution for our difficulties was the junction of the provinces either in a Federal or a Legislative Union. Now as regards the comparative advantages of a Legislative and a Federal Union, I have never hesitated to state my own opinions. I have again and again stated in the House that if practicable I thought a Legislative Union would be preferable. I have always contended that if we could agree to have one government and one parliament legislating for the whole of these peoples, it would be the best, the cheapest, the most vigorous and the strongest system of government we could adopt. But on looking at the subject in the Conference and discussing the matter as we did most unreservedly and with a desire to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion, we found that such a system was impracticable. In the first place it would not meet the assent of the people of Lower Canada because they felt that in their peculiar position being in a minority with a different language, nationality and religion from the majority in case of a junction with the other provinces their institutions and their laws might be assailed and their ancestral associations on which they prided themselves attacked and prejudiced, it was found that any proposition which involved the absorption of the individuality of Lower Canada, if I may use the expression, would not be received with favor by her people. We found too that there was as great a disinclination on the part of the various Maritime Provinces to lose their individuality as separate political organizations as we observed in the case of Lower Canada herself. Therefore, we were forced to the conclusion that we must either abandon the idea of union altogether or devise a system of union in which the separate provincial organizations would be in some degree preserved. So that those who were like myself in favor of a Legislative Union were obliged to modify their views and accept the project of a Federal Union as the only scheme practicable even for the Maritime Provinces . Because, although the law of those provinces is founded on the common law of England, yet every one of them has a large amount of law of its own colonial law framed by itself and affecting every relation of life such as the laws of property, municipal and assessment, laws relating to the liberty of the subject and to all the great interests contemplated in legislation, we found in short that the statutory law of the different provinces was so varied diversified that it was almost impossible to weld them into a Legislative Union at once. I am happy to state and indeed it appears on the face of the Resolutions themselves that as regards the Lower Provinces a desire was evinced for the final assimilation of our laws. One of resolutions provides that an attempt shall be made to assimilate laws of the Maritime Provinces and those of Upper Canada for purpose of eventually establishing one body of statutory law on the common law of England the parent of the laws of all provinces.

From Constitution of Canada By Joseph Doutre, Canada 

Population of Ontario-Quebec in 1825: 598,755

Remember, you don't adjust population for inflation. In 1825, the population of Canada (Ontario plus Quebec) was the population of today's Montenegro . The majority of the population (3/5ths) had French as a first language. In other words, those were the days... :-)

Hat tip to Google Book and the Political Annals of Lower Canada  by John Fleming, 1828.

Interestingly enough, Fleming figured Ontario-Quebec's population would one day be 50 million people. We are going to have to relax our immigration laws for that to happen any time soon. 

French or English Should be a Must for Immigrants

The Canadian Press reports that Canada's immigration minister thinks that immigrants should speak English or French before becoming citizens. Well, that is already the law, so Jason Kenney is just politicking.

However, I strongly believe that immigrants should speak English of French (or Inuktituk) before setting foot into Canada. Why oh why would you immigrate to a country where you don't speak the language? The NDP's Olivia Chow says here mother worked in a hotel after moving to Canada so never mastered English. Chow's mother was a teacher before coming to Canada. A teacher.

If you are a teacher, unless you are following your spouse, what would poses you to move to a country where you don't speak the language? 

I work in a call centre. I have zero tolerance for people who come to my country and make my life a daily nightmare. SEND THEM BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Further reading:

-Should Immigrants to Canada Pass a Language Proficiency Test?

-Canada: Reform Entry Criteria? - Migration News | Migration Dialogue

Canada Officially Paranoid

British MP George Galloway is banned from Canada? Hat tip to Maxwell-Devine . I'm no fan of Galloway. Among other thing, he told Sadam Hussein that he was a good guy. He was also brought before the US congress to explain his involvement in the oil for food program. Galloway adopted the "the best defence is a good offence" strategy befor Congress. 

Still. Should any Britons be banned from Canada? Convicted criminals, perhaps. Former drunk drivers, I guess. But sitting British MPs? Canada has gone too far. 

Word Wrap

Anybody know why the Blogger post editor won't wrap my text properly? It just cuts off in the middle of a sentence. On the up side, when I post via my iPhone, the posts wrap way better than before.

When I post via Gmail, it wraps OK. Help would be appreciated. 

Update. Never mind, I think I fixed it. 

Should Canada Subsidize Macleans?

I just finished reading my latest issue of Macleans. A "double issue" says the magazine. So that issue cost me like 5 dollars, plus the money the magazine gets from my tax dollars. It wasn't MacLeans's best work. And you can certainly ask if it is in the public interest to have the magazine subsidised.

Note Diggnation: Wales is Not a City

I was watching the Diggnation podcast yesterday, and something caught
my attention, the Digg guys thought Wales was a city... in England!

Just to be clear, both England and Wales are countries. Or as we say
in North America, nations/provinces/states/regions, part of the UK.
Wales is so big it has its own language (2 million Welsh speakers).
The lost City of Atlantis would not be a city if it was the size of
Wales, it would be LA County on steroids. Althogh it would be
interesting to see how Atlantis took care of the smog.

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone / Sent from my iPhone.

60% of Canadians in Afghanistan are from Quebec!

Quebeckers make up only 25% of Canada's population but 60% of the
Canadians in Afghanistan!

That is the tidbit of info that just flashed on my TV screen (RDI). 60%!

No wonder the Harper-Ignatief alliance doesn't mind fighting the
longest war in Canada's history.

Afghans are not a threat to Canada or NATO. Sure, lasting democracy in
Afghanistan would be great, but so would democracy in China or Monaco.
Not worth the death of Canadians, even if 60% are Quebeckers.

Quebeckers in NATO: 1.2%
Quebeckers in Afghanistan: 2.7%

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone / Sent from my iPhone.

Conrad Black: the CBC Should be For Snobs

Barbara Amiel must have smuggled in some good toilet paper, as Corad
Black has just penned his opinions about the CBC in the National Post.
Why would the Post publish the ramblings of a British citizen in a
Florida jail is beond me.

However, I'm bed stricken with the flue so I can related to Blacks
boredome. Black has published many books, so presumabily he spends
most of his free time reading. So why he cares about the CBC,
especially since he can't whatch it down south, escapes me.

However, because of the aformentionned flue related boredome, and the
small chance someone might agree with Black, let me offer my counter
arguments.

Although there is some compelling television out there, most of it is
mindless escapism. I don't know about you, but my brain is fried by
the time I get home from work. The Amazing Race, the Simpsons, Big
Love, NASCAR: more please.

I used to pay for the documentary channel, but the thruth is it would
put me to sleep. If I had the brain power to whatch boring
documentaries 5 times a week, I'd go to the library more often.

Actually, I wouldn't even have to, I could simply browse the thousands
of books available on the Internet. I just finished reading a book on
my iPhone. Wasn't a literary classic, mind you, but Ciao, America,
about the impressions of Washington DC on an Italian, was still a good
read.

But the Internet is more than a distribution channel for Italian
authors, jailed Brit columnists and bed ridden Anglo-Acadian
Bloggers. The Internet is also an incredible distribution for video
and sound.

Whether you listen to music like I do via a streaming online radio
station in LA, iTunes, or, shame on you, pirated torrents, the world
is your oyster. Not only is there plenty of choice, but there are
plenty of tools on the Internet to make those choices.

Most people have the Internet at home and at work, with plenty of
bandwidth, so the usefulness of CBC radio two is diminishing quickly.
Many people have satellite radio in their cars or 3G iPhones, so the
number of places where FM radio is the only source of music are few
and far between.

Black laments the BBC's anti-Israel stance. Well, during the recent
Israeli incursion, I watched Aljezera via the Internet (as well as
many other outlets). I realise Black's jail guards may be tormenting
the inmates by leaving the TV on PBS (that carries BBC News), but the
fact is there are plenty of video news sources on the Internet. You
can even whatch the Saint Tropez evening news (which is shot in a
studio, not, unfortunatly, a top optional beach.).

You can watch CBC news via the Internet, so if a Gazan wants video
from the latest snow storm in Toronto, he is well served. So
essentially, Black is rooting for the status quo. Except I think he
wants CBC news on PBS so he can watch it in his Florida jail.

Black also advocates more Discovery and History Channel shows on the
CBC. Once again, the audience for that type of programming is well
served by alternates to the CBC, you guessed it, The Discovery and
History Channel. I guess they don't have cable in jail, which, if
true, is rather cruel.

Advertising bassed TV appeal to lucrative audiences (young males, the
wealthy). Cable channels to people's wallets. If you are a Trailer
Park Boys fan (who isn't?), you will subcribe to Showcase regardless
of the rest of Showcase's line-up.

The CBC, in my humble free man opinion, should cater to the under
served. The border line retarded, for example. Or old people. I'm not
sure what old people want to watch, but according to my dad it isn't
on The Discovery Channel (which he is too cheap to pay for anyway).

Canadians live very close to the American border. The idea that
Canadians have culturally more in common with Torontonians than New
Yorkers or LA ers, or Chicacoans (Opra, and that former mayor's show)
is dubious.

The idea that Radio-Canada was, and no longer is, a vehicle for
separatist propoganda is plain silly. The most popular show ever on
Radio-Canada was a couldn't be more "down market" sitcom: la Petite
Vie. If you have ever seen the Britsh sitcom ironically titled "The
Royal Family", or the American "Married With Children", you get the
idea.

I don't think "La petite vie" contributed to Quebeckers desire to have
a country (the running gag was Popa's obsession with garbage). It kept
Quebeckers entertained, that is all. Despite the popularity of La
petite vie, it was subsidized. You want a show about nothing (it is in
the freaking title) whatch La petite vie (no longer on).

The most popular show on Radio-Canada at the moment is Tout le monde
en parles. A talk show bassed on a French one. Ironically, that show
is a vehicle for Quebec separatist propaganda. Even though, according
to Black, Quebec separatism has collapsed.

Black also advocates more foreign shows on the CBC and less reality
shows. The thing is, foreigners invented reality programs (Survivor,
Big Brother). The fact is, foreign TV kind of sucks. Advocating more
foreign TV (and by default less American) seems laudable, but it is a
bit like Belgium advocating Canadian wine to reduce the French
influence on Belgium's taste buds.

It is perhaps more and more difficult to justify the CBC-Radio Canada
budget. However, if it stops appealing to the masses, and concentrates
on audiences who have news and entertainment alternatives, than
politicians we be forced to end its run. After all, 1 billion dollars
per year is alot of money.

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone / Sent from my iPhone.

No to High Speed Rail But Yes to Toilet Paper

Many people (including the Toronto Star) have been advocating High
Speed Rail between Montreal and Toronto.

Never mind that StatsCan figures Canada's population will essentially
stagnate over the next 20 years. Or that many Canadians in 2030 will
be retired and not in a hurry to get from A to B.

No, the main argument against a Canadian TGV is toilet paper. Toilet
paper? You see, Morocco is going to build a TGV. The thing is, the 30
million Moroccans don't use toilet paper. No bidet either. They use
their left hand!

I figure a Toronto-Montreal high spead train, with costs spread over
20 years, would each year cost Canadian taxpayers the equivalent of
their yearly toilet paper budget.

The French have bidets AND TGVs, you say? True. But Paris is covered
in dog poop. Ottawa cleans their streets and sidewalks every night.
But there is no high speed train to Montreal...

Priorites, people, priorities!

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone / Sent from my iPhone.

Americans Finally Realise Toronto Sucks

***Disclaimer, I am writing this with a massive fever. I could boil
water. Next year I'm getting the flue shot.***

My favorite blogger to tease, http://www.wmtc.ca , has finally
realised that her city of adoption, Mississauga / Toronto, totally
sucks. Finally!

She came to this conclusion after visiting California. However, as
much as I dislike Toronto, it is way better than L.A. You know that
movie Roadrunner? That future Lost Angels would be better than the
horrible city L.A. is.

The rest of California is pretty ossom. However, one shouldn't compare
the best of California with the worst of Ontario. That is just silly.

I've often mused that, in January, everybody who wants to come to
Canada should be let in, as long as they have a return ticket for the
end of March. The idea would be that anybody who still wants to live
in Canada after that wintry introduction should be able to stay.
However, more than one African has told me they loved their first
winter in Canada because winter was so beautiful...

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone / Sent from my iPhone.

Did the Tonigh Show Just Spam Us?

Not sure what the proper term is for in-show advertisement, but both
the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the show that comes after (the old
Conan show, since last week with the guy from Saturday Night Live),
had long segments about Twitter. Coincidence?Is the recession so bad
that comics are including ads in their jokes?

Mercifully, the Scotish-American guy on CBS only complains about his
low budget. Although there was a potential plug for the Scrable iPhone
app, but I think I'm just being paranoid.

By the way, this blog does not include any paid for plugs, honest. The
only advertisement on this blog is clearly identified as such and
generated by the good, albeit cheap, folks at Google.

Speaking of Google, since I am using an iPhone to write this, I was
able to Google Late Late show to figure out the name of the host:
Craig Ferguson.

Jimmy Fallon, the new Conan on NBC's Late Night makes CBS's Craig
Ferguson sound like Picasso. Actually, I don't know what Picasso
sounded like but I'm sure he didn't shake as much as Fallon. Or maybe
he did.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that Craig Furgusson is high art
compared to Jimmy Fallon. Furgusson has especially mastered the
monolog. Talks straight into the camera, even taps it, and in 7
minutes tells us a great timeless story. Furgusson's monolog is worth
recording if not staying up for. Fallon? Not so much.

CBS's Late Late show with Craig Furgusson is to NBC's Late Night with
Jimmy Fallon what iPhone is to Blackberry: Infinitly superior.

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone / Sent from my iPhone.

China's Missing Children

If you need to stay in bed awake at night, watch "China's Missing
Children" playing on the movie network (TMN).

Even the subtitles are not enough to distance ourselves from the fact
that there is a free man describing to you how he sold, and sells,
women and children. A true monster you say to yourself. But the
documentary is such that later on you almost feel empathy for the guy
as he earns a meager living, filling a niche.

In the land of communism, rich people are buying poor kidnapped
children. The documentary doesn't even try to offer a solution to
China's too many people problem, although it convincingly shows that
the one baby limit has terrible, inhuman, consequences.

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone / Sent from my iPhone.

From Manager to Janitor

$70,000 a year to $25,000 a year is what a manager interviewed on
Wednesday's NBC's Nightly News has had to endure. A month before
accepting a $24,000 a year job, I had three interviews for jobs that
payed arround 70 grand. So I can relate.

I remember asking my new welfare advisor if there was anyway I could
get retroactive payments. -"No".

Rolling loonies and toonies to pay for groceries ain't so bad. Dimes
are rather efficient. But nickles? Rolling nickles is when you freak
out.

After maxing out my credit cards and getting my car repossessed, I
abandoned all pride and applied for welfare. $270 a month is a sick
joke.

Applying for welfare is humiliating but quite easy. They come over and
fill out the form for you.

-No, I am not sick. No, I don't have any addictions, yes I graduated
from high school, in fact, I have a B.Sc . Yes, I am willing to accept
any work. In fact, I had an interview yesterday for a job collecting
chickens on the night shift, an hour away. They pay per chicken. Yes,
I am aware that $270 per month will not cover my rent.

Familly helped me move to a house sitting opertunity near Moncton
where I scored a $12/hour job thanks to being bilingual. Moving 400 km
for $12/hour is a sick joke. Although welfare services did pay for gas.

But at least I had a job and could afford to go bankrupt. Quite easy
to go bankrupt when you have the debt of someone making $50,000 a year
and only make $24,000. Still, try to avoid it.

Anyway, as the guy on NBC said, "you are not alone".

2 years later I'm still in a dead end job. Got a raise in December,
but a pay cut today. I don't have a car and I live in small basement
apartment.

But I have an iPhone. When I was making 50 grand a year in my
fulfilling job, iPhones didn't even exist!

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone / Sent from my iPhone.

Low Taxes Costly to N.B.

Moncton's Time Transcript is no Toronto Star, that is for sure. Take this "news" article in today's newspaper . 

A classic example of the rich Irving family using their papers to influence public policy. The Irving's didn't write the article themselves, obviously, but they do hire people that dish out "news" like this.

So who are these specialists that are so tax sensitive, that they are willing to move to PEI for $100? Salaries are already lower than out west (that would be you Ontario), for almost everybody.  New Brunswick, for example, has the lowest minimum wage in the country. And if that isn't bad enough, New Brunswick also gives the least to welfare recipients: $270 per month with no extra for housing. If you live in New Brunswick, it isn't because of the money. A few percentage points difference with non-adjacent provinces (note no comparison with Quebec in the article) is not going to make anybody move.

The so-called experts quoted in the article think New Brunswick should have the same tax rate as Alberta. The same tax rate as Alberta. WTF!? Was oil discovered last night? Did the land become fertile for high yield crops? Did the upper Appalachians turn into the Rockies? No. New Brunswick is a land of trees, potatoes and low tourism potential. Even with generous equalisation payments, that means higher taxes. Never mind the fact that New Brunswick has more kilometres of four lane highways than Alberta with only 1/7th the population. 

 High taxes costly for N.B.

Published Saturday March 7th, 2009FREDERICTON - High-earners in New Brunswick pay more to the taxman than those in many other provinces.

And, according to one expert, that could make it difficult for the province to compete in attracting the brightest minds and much-needed specialists.

New Brunswickers are taxed 46.95 per cent for all income they earn above $123,184, before any deductions or claims are calculated.

That figure, which includes the 17.95 per cent provincial rate on income over $133,273 and the federal rate of 29 per cent on income above $123,184, puts the province at a disadvantage when trying to attract people, said Charles Cirtwill of the Atlantic Institute for Market Studies.

In fact, New Brunswick taxes its high-income earners more than any other province or territory.

Taxes are one consideration professionals make when deciding where to live, said Cirtwill.

"If you make $100,000, you can move quite freely," he said.

Although many New Brunswickers may not have much sympathy for those earning more than $100,000, losing specialists or professionals to other provinces impacts everyone, Cirtwill said.

"It's not just the doctor you have to have sympathy for; it's the patients who can no longer get the care."

Premier Shawn Graham has committed to lowering taxes by more than $100 million in the upcoming budget, as well as unveiling a multi-year plan to further reduce taxes.

Nicole Picot, the premier's director of communications, reiterated Graham wants the province to have one of the most competitive tax regimes in the country.

"The tax reduction plan to be unveiled in the upcoming budget ensures lower personal income taxes for New Brunswickers in all income brackets and reduces the corporate tax burden on companies that do business in our province," she said. "We recognize the need to ensure that we can attract the best and the brightest to the province and our tax reduction plan will help us do just that."

Roger Haineault of New Brunswick-based Help 4 Taxes said a single male living in New Brunswick, earning $120,000 and claiming standard deductions, would pay $16,321.58 in taxes.

His federal tax bill would be $23,510.16, for a total of $39,831.74.

In Manitoba, the provincial tax bill would be $16,069.42. In Prince Edward Island, the same person would pay $16,217.21 in provincial taxes, compared to $13,838.59 in Ontario.

In Nova Scotia, the bill would jump to $17,101.29.

However, that same person would pay $10,107.87 in Alberta.

That's because he would benefit from the province's flat tax rate of 10 per cent, a system that's been recommended in New Brunswick.

A tax proposal paper written by leading tax-expert Jack Mintz suggested the government move to a flat rate of 10 per cent.

Graham has since said the state of the economy means the province needs to cut taxes over a four-year period.

It's unknown whether, after the four years, government will introduce a flat tax rate.

But a legislative committee endorsed the suggestion in another report.

Cirtwill said a flat tax of 10 per cent is still desirable.

War And Peace in My Pocket

My library.

As you know, War and Peace is a big book. Well, now you can carry it
in your jeans pocket. No need for an expensive iPhone either. A simple
$200 iPod touch will do.

When I'm standing in line at Tim Horton's, er, café snob, this is what
I'm reading.

Thanks Apple, Stanza and Project Gutenberg (and the dead authors of
these books).

Immigrate and emigrate

The European Uninion has taught the world an important lesson. Open your borders and Belgium won't move in. Nor will France. Sure, plenty of people have moved to London, but not the entire continent. Not even close. Even when language isn't a barrier, European migration has been fairly limited.

New Zealanders can move to Australia (and vice versa). Norwegians and Icelanders to European Union countries (and vice versa). Freedom isn't just a theoretical concept. Seems to me Canada should have more mobility agreements. At the moment, it has some (temporary permits for people under 30 and temporary permits for certain professions under NAFTA), but not enough. Forget cherry picking immigrants. Welcome people who want to come here, for a week, a year or a lifetime. But in exchange, negociate agreements that allow Canadians to leave.

Most Britons have lied about the books they read

http://mobile.reuters.com/mobile/m/FullArticle/p.rdt/CODD/noddlyEnoughNews_uUSTRE5244MG20090305

2,3 million Brits have lied about reading Dreams of My Father (margin
of error, 1 million people).

Thankfully, I can tell the truth about reading two of the top 9:
Dreams of My Father and War and Peace.

Both are excrutiatingly boring. So the question should have been "what
books have you lied about finishing?".

Because I have read both. Finished? Not so much. Although in my
defence, I already knew the ending of Obama's book (spoiler alert: he
lives hapil
y ever after).

My excuse in the case of War and Peace is that I'm not gay. And by the
way, you'd think a book set in Russia with that kind of title would
have a freeking war in it? Or a least a sword fight or KGB
assasinations.

If you do want to read a book about leaders and war and peace, try
Paris 1919, by Canadian (insert name here).

That book was given to George Bush by Paul Martin. I wonder if George
W. lied about reading it.

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone / Sent from my iPhone.

Time To Expand Canada Again

The end of March will mark the 60th anaversary of Newfoundland joining
Canada. 52% chose Canada vs. Independance (the poor soles were being
kicked out of the UK.)

The first 100 years of Canada saw a massive expantion of the borders
at the expense of the British.

Apart from Gilbraltar, the UK no longer has any territories of
interest to Canada (although Northern Ireland could be a candidate if
they start killing each other again). So time to think outside
WASPland. How about Greenland, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Turks and
Caicos or Jamaica?

All these countries have a combined population lower than Quebec's,
but all the popular regions have already been taken. Then again, high
unemployment Alaska might like to join Canada. Dito Michigan. Ohio?

Or Canada could do like France and go intercontinental. Surely the 2
million people of NewZealand must be tired of all the inbreeding. 18
million people Australia would be a big bight, but at least they speak
English. Perhaps Tuvalue or one of the soon to be flooded island
countries of the Pacific?

Western Africa would be cool, no longer would we have to fork over all
that extra cash for blood free Polar Bear Diamonds.

What I'm saying is Canada is in a 60 year frozen rut, time to expand.

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone / Sent from my iPhone.

ZOS: I am a fan

If you aren't watching ZOS (zone of separation), on TMN, you are
missing out.

Inteligent escapism. Contains nudity. All good dramas should include
good female nudity. ZOS does it right too with the female star showing
off her brests on the first show (and only on the first show).

Thereafter it is like, wow, I've seen her naked.

All kidding asside, ZOS is like MASH meets The Beachcombers. It is
almost cheasy, could sometimes be classicaly bad Cancon, but it works.

I was sucked in by the nudity, I stayed for the good drama (and
occasional laugh).

The show gets extra points for the setting (Boznia/Croatia/Serbia) and
the acting (with a few comical exceptions).

One of the comical exceptions would be the UN special envoy, suposidly
American, who couldn't possibly sound more Canadian. Dito for the
French guy. Pepé Lepue had a better French accent.

However, since I don't speak Croate/Serbian/Hertzniagoven, the locals
are quit believable. The Christian leader has me totally convinced,
even though it occurred to me the other day that she isn't from that
region.

I also really like the guy from Liverpool who runs the local pub/
petty crime outlet.

An other character, the grenade launching speedo wearing Christian
rebel, is completely over the top, but quite likeable.

Pardon the superbolia, but let me call ZOS the best Canadian military
TV war drama of the century. And no separatists were offended...

ZOS, Zone Of Separation, airs at various times on TMN (and, I believe,
on the Western Canada equivalent).

Envoyé depuis mon iPhone / Sent from my iPhone.