The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: A Flawed First Step

Human rights. What images do those two words bring to mind? One may be tempted to entertain images of universal justice, gender equality and the abolishment of poverty. In truth, human rights encompass the seedy worlds of dark sweatshops, race discrimination and wide earnings gaps between those two elements of society, men and women. These issues have, arguably, been the driving factor behind innumerable international conflicts, such as the genocide in Rwanda and the war in Darfur. Besides these stand-out conflicts, human rights have also been at the heart of many high-profile scandals and issues, such as Nike employing child labour and China’s reluctance to end it’s support and continued use of sweatshops. Women and children around the world continue to face issues such as human trafficking and prostitution, while journalists and bloggers in China are repressed and silenced. Human rights violations have been, and will continue to be a big issue in the twenty-first century, and society has devised various different ways to deal with the problem. Non-governmental organizations – NGOs – such as Amnesty International and Oxfam International work to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice by purchasing and funding emergency food and medicine, and by collecting used clothing and shoes. Governments, too, have a responsibility to protect their denizens from human rights violations, such as gender and race discrimination. In order to enable and foster continued international support for human rights, intergovernmental agencies such as the United Nations have created commissions and drafted documents encouraging countries to oppose those who violate human rights, and to take steps to protect their citizens from said violations. One of these documents is the International Declaration of Human Rights, a declaration adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. Although this document was created in good faith, there have been situations in which this document has failed to yield the expected results. For example, the Universal Declaration (from here on in referred to be referred to as the UDHR) states in Article 5 that “No one shall be subject to torture, or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment”, yet Amnesty International reported in 2000 that torture is widely used in more than 125 countries. The UDHR has failed to live up to it’s expectations for two main reasons. Firstly, the Declaration is just that; a declaration. It is nothing close to an internationally binding agreement or treaty that could be legally enforced, signatory states are still free to commit human rights violations without too much fear of economic sanctions or reprisals. Secondly, the UDHR fails to specifically set targets that must be met in order to protect human rights – it only outlines idealistic goals. The UDHR, though a noble first step towards human rights protection, was insufficient, and only by changing existing attitudes, creating local awareness and setting realistic goals can countries such as Canada hope to effectively support and promote human rights.

Studies have shown that powerful countries – like the United States – are rarely willing to employ sanctions against less-powerful countries who commit human rights violations. Although this might seem to be but a trivial problem – after all, developed nations don’t commit nearly as many human rights violations as their third-world counterparts – it is not, when we realize that the West holds much of the power that can be used to keep awry governments in line. The United States, with it’s own shady human rights record, is perhaps the world’s great hope for enforcing human rights. Wealthy nations such as Britain, the United States and Canada should actively promote human rights in other countries who may find violating said rights natural, or even necessary in the context of the economy. In fact, some experts on the issue feel that “without powerful countries taking a strong interest in the effectiveness of international human rights regimes, there is little cost for parties with a poor human rights record to ratify the treaty (the UDHR) as a symbolic gesture of good will, instead maintaining its poor record in actually reality. From this we see that countries with power and influence do have the capacity to change how human rights are approached on a global scale. However, many nations such as the United States, though signers of the UDHR, are apathetic when it comes to actually taking action. “Indeed, for the most part, countries take relatively little interest in the extent of human rights violations in other countries, unless one of their own citizens are affected.” This attitude of “only extending a hand when I have something to gain” needs to be fixed. This is, truly, the first and foremost reason why the UDHR has failed to create the drastic changes in human rights protection that its drafters envisioned. Canada might be considered somewhat of an exception to this trend of apathetic, self-serving modern countries. As can be seen from the ongoing mission in Haiti to foster education, health and development, Canada does in fact have the right attitude – that, as a developed Western nation, the government should take efforts to aid and help less-developed nations support human rights inside their countries. Only by adopting this attitude can we hope to improve the status of human rights all around the world.

Another serious flaw of the UDHR is its inability to take into account local and cultural factors that may have an effect on the human rights situation in a particular locale or geographic area. Such factors may come in the form of local traditions, economic necessities and religious backgrounds. For example, the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam is a declaration that was adopted by the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, an Islamic international organization whose members include Iran, Afghanistan, Jordan and Palestine. It is widely held that this declaration arose as a direct response to the predominantly Westernized UDHR. The UDHR, then, was criticized for not taking into account the special requirements and regulations of Islamic Shari’a law. As a result, this specialized document was created – not out of spite or needless want, but out of a necessity to create something that could be fitted specifically to the multitude of Islamic states who still wanted to recognize human rights in their own way. In countries such as El Salvador and Bangladesh, teams or workers labouring in unregulated factories work long hours with few breaks and little pay. Situations such as these do not arise most often out of governments’ unwillingness to ratify the UDHR, but rather they arise from embedded cultural, social and economic practices that cannot so easily be changed to fit into the mould of human rights. Canada is a good example of this: Canada is a country of immigrants, and is becoming more culturally diverse every year. The Canadian government, as is its duty, has taken many steps to accommodate thus, such as when it enacted the Canadian Human Rights Act in 1977. It is clear that the UDHR has and will continue to have problems reconciling itself with various different cultural, religious and economic communities around the world; if the UDHR were to be modified, grassroots initiatives tied linked in purpose to those outlined in the UDHR would be a good way to approach the problem. Grassroots organizations “are [...] central to efforts to promote human rights because they work at the local level.” Two examples of successful grassroots organizations tied to international human rights include the Ixcan Association for Human Rights, and the Haitian Women in Solidarity organization. These groups working at the local level would hopefully be able to, perhaps in a step-by-step process, mold and shape local traditions into shapes that protect human rights. These efforts would of course need to be generally in line with the ideals of the UDHR, and could perhaps be overseen by international human rights groups such as Amnesty International.

Lastly, the UDHR has failed in achieving its goals because it has simply set the bar too high. In the twenty-first century, the volumes of sweat, amounst of time and levels of international cooperation needed to fulfill the idealistic goals set out in the thirty articles of the UDHR simply do not exist. More importantly however, many countries now still do not take the reasons for human rights seriously enough to make the UDHR work. Truly, if “the suggested reasons for human rights are to go deep enough, then the rights they require, at least some of these rights, will be unrealistically demanding,” The reasons behind the existence of human rights are both vast and noble in nature, but the requirements that they produce in reality are simply too much for the world as it is today. Canada, once again sets the bar for high human rights standards – Canada resides in that small clutch of nations that has extended full rights to same-sex partners, and Canada’s peace-keeping activities are well-known around the globe. Once again, Canada must continue to champion human rights that other countries are simply not ready for. Indeed, “it seems unlikely that the best best reasons for human rights can be given full expression in any feasible set of human rights, at least in our present world.” Only when the UN sets lower standards can the rest of the global community bring these goals to fruition.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights came at a timely moment in history; after the defeat of Nazi Germany. At that point in history, emotions ran high and humanity found the need to draft a document stating its intentions to never again let those atrocities of war be committed again. In his haste, man failed to recognize the many problems with his new found document – the failure to take into account cultural and religious differences of the world’s people, the unwillingness of world powers to actively support those golden ideals, and final, bitter truth; that the world is simply not ready for such sweeping changes to human rights. In the coming years, perhaps in the next few decades or centuries, maybe the global community will take the necessary steps to amend the UDHR, and once again work towards fostering global human rights cooperation.

-----

There you have it, my end-of-the-year ISU for CLN 4U0.

Cheers,

Kamster

List Week at the Star

Back from a long absence, I have but one thing to say; I have a problem with councillors making a big deal out of giving back their annual cost-of-living pay increase. As far as I can deduce, Toronto city councillors, like many other municipal job-holders, are entitled to two types of pay raise each year - regular pay raises due to promotions, good performance, accumulated time working, etc., and their annual cost-of-living increase, which I presume works to cover inflation and the naturally rising cost of living. Now, some Toronto city councillors have made some petition apparently, and they're trying to get all the other city councillors to sign this petition and give back their cost-of-living pay increase. Now I have several problems with this idea. Firstly, the media (Toronto Star?) has gone and put the faces of all these counsellors who haven't signed the petition on their front page with the headline "Why won't they give their pay back?" (or something to that effect, I've misplaced the article.) What is this but a blatant attempt to stir up discontent among people at their respective councillors? Secondly, if it weren't for the fact that these hard-working members of society are councillors, they would not have all this public hype surrounding them concerning giving back an increase that is actually, not really a raise - it is, after all, a cost-of-living increase. Thirdly is the fact that many of these unduly famous councillors have already given back their yearly pay raise a few months ago. My last issue with this is the fact that there are a handful of councillors who have taken that "initiative" to stir up this pot, and who have taken that effort to alienate themselves from the rest of city council by saying "Hey look at us, we're making this petition and we're signing it to make us look good and the rest of the councillors look like greedy, ungrateful bastards hoarding city cash in the face of an economic crisis".

Well shame on them! Not those on the front page of the Star, I mean those doing the "political grandstanding", or so it's called. Anyways, I sure wouldn't want to be one of those people, and if I knew that coming into a job with such great responsability would entail harassment from my coworkers all over a little pay raise, I certainly would not take that job.

Cheers

Kamster

WHAT IS LOVE!

I recently read an article somewhere about intrinsic value. The concept of something being intrinsically good has baffled people for ages, and even now people disagree - what is it about something that makes it good in and of itself?

Suppose that someone were to ask you whether it is good to help others in time of need. Unless you suspected some sort of trick, you would answer, “Yes, of course.” If this person were to go on to ask you why acting in this way is good, you might say that it is good to help others in time of need simply because it is good that their needs be satisfied. If you were then asked why it is good that people's needs be satisfied, you might be puzzled. You might be inclined to say, “It just is.” Or you might accept the legitimacy of the question and say that it is good that people's needs be satisfied because this brings them pleasure. But then, of course, your interlocutor could ask once again, “What's good about that?” Perhaps at this point you would answer, “It just is good that people be pleased,” so as to put an end to this line of questioning. Or perhaps you would again seek to explain the fact that it is good that people be pleased in terms of something else that you take to be good.

Let us look at the case of psychedelic drugs, like marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, whatever - these drugs supposedly give you a high that can bring you to a sort of supra-rational state; is this good? I say yeah, sure. Why not? People in pain take drugs - it's as simple as that. Those in physical pain take tylenol, and those in emotional pain take tylenol. Why not let people smoke? say it's all just bureaucracy and red tape, and some sort of age-old racial stigmas, too, that is keeping people from havin' a toke every so often.

But that's not my point, the point here is really kind of stupid; it's just that it's real tough to say you know, "GUYS COCAINE IS BAD, DON'T DO IT!" What do you judge things by, their merit, the pleasure it induces or the pain it will help you forget? I don't know, really!

Cheers

Kamster

Swine Flew!

AHHHHHHHHH PIG INFLUENZA

We are all pretty scared I'd say of this new part-avian-part-swine-part-human super-influenza that has taken the world by storm. I'm pretty scared myself, you know? There are those doomsayer scientists who predict if this becomes a full-blown pandemic, up to two billion people (one-third of the world's population) could be infected! That's pretty scary honestly. The good news is that here in Canada, most of the confirmed cases have experienced mild symptoms, and the virus itself doesn't seem to be spreading too fast. What I find scary is the similarity some of those crisis room world maps have to this game called Pandemic 2. In it, you create a fictional disease and strive to take over the world. You might in fact name that disease Influenza H1N1a, and try to kill off the world's population before scientists can find a vaccine against you! 

Cheers

Kamster

YOU5

I recently had my cell phone plan changed to My5. I've never had such a plan before but it seems pretty good, as I mostly call only a small group of people. I also have something like seven hundred shared minutes with my sister and father, and a whole lot of text messages. In these "tough economic times", it seems many people are trying to save money on just about anything. However those whom i'm in immediate contact with don't seem to be taking this economic downturn too hard at all. In fact, I haven't seen any real actions taken on those peoples' parts to reflect a change of attitude with regard to saving money, cutting back on non-essentials etc. This could mean several things, or it could just mean I've been eating out too much -_-.

But alas, good news! From now until May 3, you can get a free small coffee at McDonalds any time until 10:30 in the morning! You can take a look at the *official* facebook event here. What is that like, 23 coffees or something? EXPLOIT DAT SHIT YE

Cheers

Kamster

Energy Savings, Maybe?

Today, I thought up of a weird idea that may one day revolutionize society. Most people in the Western world wake up early, are in the office by nine, work till noon, take a lunch break, go back to work and are back home by five or six. Why not shift our work hours ahead, and save a lot of energy in the process? For most families, the parents are at their workplace for most of the daylight hours, as are their children (if they attend school). During this nine-to-five period of time, energy usage in the home - due to lights, appliances, heating, whatever - drops drastically, I would guess, as there is simply no one at home to use energy. Instead, energy consumption comes from the energy used at the workplace - keeping all those lights on, running those copying machines, and so on and so forth. Then when parents and children return home for the evening, lights and appliances are once again switched on. In essence, with our current state of affairs, we are using electricity both at home and at the workplace, from the start of our day to the end.

But imagine if we shifted our nine to five workday (and similar "school day") five hours ahead. Work and school would start sometime around three or four o clock, instead of the nine as it is now. What would the advantages of such a situation be? Well, people usually keep the lights on at home only during the evening and night hours, when there isn't much sunlight. The same isn't true, however, of most people's workplaces. Lights have to be on work, regardless of whether the sun is out. So, by moving work later into the night and allowing people to do their family, leisure and recreational activities in the morning and early afternoon hours, we could potentially save a lot of energy! People spending time at home in the morning rather than at night wouldn't switch any lights on, but if they were doing the same at night as they are now, they probably would have the lights on (or at least some).

I probably haven't described this very clearly but if you see what I'm trying to get it, a shift of the workday could save lots of energy consumed by lights.

More later.

Cheers,

Kamster

Is this like the End of the World or something?

^ WHAT A BEAST ^

Today, I went and saw the movie Knowing with some church pals. What a mistake that was. Ok, actually it was kind of my idea to see the movie because honestly, the movie posters looked so damn cool and I couldn't pass up another chance to see Nicholas Cage making a fool of himself again. Too bad it turned out to be a huge dissapointment. Knowing is a story of this guy, I think his name is Jon or something, who finds out through his son that the world is going to end (yeah you know, it's almost the most original movie I've ever seen!). He figures this out by Googling some numbers he finds on a piece of paper that this crazy little girl put in a time capsule fifty years ago. Turns out that girl, as well as Jon's son, Caleb, are both being whispered to by some crazy aliens or angels (which we don't realize until the last ten minutes of the movie) who want to obliterate the earth, saving just two humans to "start over". Well you know, the premise of this movie really isn't that bad; I mean, a quest to discover the meaning of these mysterious scrawled numbers, and a plan to re-invent the human race? It sounds like you could really make something out of it, right? It's just a shame that this movie was just too disjointed, totally random and horror-ish to live up to it's cool image of numbers falling off the earth. I still wrap my head around those "angels"! The worst part is that throughout the entire movie, they keep showing up in the forest near Jon's house, staring through the windows at Caleb while they stand there, immobile, like human-shaped telephone poles or something wacky like that. Sort of way too creepy and pedo, right? Nicholas Cage delivered on his necessary comedy act though. I remember there was a scene where he was like "IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK, IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK, IT'S NOT GOING TO WORK AHH". Watch his performance in The Wicker Man and you will see why I find this guy so utterly hilarious. He's but a mediocre actor but he has great potential to be a comedian, I think. Really!

Cheers,

Kamster

Lap of Luxury

Since I was a kid, I've always had the dream of buying a nice car to drive around town in - something to impress the ladies with and something that I can really push to its limits. My top picks were traditionally Lexus, Acura, Volkswagon or Volvo, but now I think I'd rather purchase a Mercedes GLK more than anything else. What changed my mind definitely was the new microsite Mercedes-Benz has just launched promoting the newest member of their family, the Mercedes GLK. 

This vehicle caught my eye because Mercedes is really trying to get a certain message across to it's customers; that it's serious about making cars that fit their consumers' lifestyles. In fact, the motto for the the GLK is "Where Do You See Yourself?" I find this rather fitting, as it is clear that the GLK would fit nicely into anyone's lifestyle with ease. I especially liked the sites high-tech and futuristic feel, with cool beeping noises when you click on the various tabs (all of which lead to very informative and, if I may say, sexy pictures of the interior and exterior of this fantastic vehicle). I think the best thing about this car would be the unbelievable leather seats... they look absolutely gorgeous. Anyways I'd encourage you to take a look at the GLK promo website yourself to understand what I mean when I say I will definitely be shopping for this car in the future (hopefully!)

Cheers,

Kamster

Sponsored by Mercedes-Benz

Shoot For The Moon... Even If You Miss, You'll Land Among The Stars

I just got my yellow star on eBay; I'm so happy! Basically "reputation stars" sort of represent how good of a buyer/seller you are. Ideally for each transaction you complete the person you sold an item to or bought an item from will leave you feedback, either positive, negative or neutral. Each positive feedback raises your feedback score by one, and when you get to ten, you get a yellow star! I know this is really lame :P but I believe I'll be using eBay more and more in the future, maybe when I start piling up junk that I need to get rid of. From what I've seen, there are certainly many people who make their livings off eBay. Apparently, if you earn more than ten thousand dollars a month off eBay, you qualify for some of the benefits you might categorize with a regular nine-to-five job, such as dental, health insurance and other benefits, although I haven't really checked to verify if this is true.

However, there are people who sell a CRAPload of stuff each month. For example, some people I buy from are green or silver shooting stars... that's from five thousand to one million items sold! Holy crap.

For now though I'm content to purchase items on eBay and have no inclination to start selling; I don't really want to deal with the shipping details and the costs to list an item with eBay just yet.

Cheers

Kamster

Quick Update

Yoooo March Break is coming up I am excited. Amazingly, I have two weeks off from class whereas most of my compadres have only one - which is good and bad. It's kinda bad because - obviously - we can't hang out for one week; in fact, I'll have one week with almost nothing to do except mope around the house and do work. But it's also good in that I can take that time to visit universities that are having early open houses; I definitely need to make time for some of those. What's also nice is that I have almost no work these upcoming two weeks; most of my classmates are going off on a trip and teachers are scared to assign homework, so the rest of us that remain behind are having it real nice 'n easy.

Oh, and I just downloaded Opera 9.6, and it is really amazing - SO much faster (and smaller) than Internet Explorer, and very user-friendly. Download it here.

Cheers,

Kamster

Feed Me Now!

If you have been keeping up with Up the Ante these past few months, you may recall a previous post where I lamented about Google's up and coming domination of cyberspace and their rapid emergence as Microsoft's biggest competitor in the computer/internet marketing realm of today. Well, it seems that Google hasn't let up as of late, continuing on to swallow up smaller companies who simply don't have what it takes to resist the enormous pull of Google's gravity.

When I signed into my Feedburner account for the first time in a while, I found out that Google had taken over FeedBurner!

Quoting the email to my inbox:

"You may now view and manage your feed and its settings by visiting this address:

http://feedburner.google.com

You will no longer be able to sign in to feedburner.com, but that's okay: from now on, there is no reason to do so. Also, your old FeedBurner feed, found at feeds.feedburner.com, will automatically redirect traffic to its new address on the feeds2.feedburner.com domain. You may still want to update any links or buttons on your website to use the new feeds2.feedburner.com address."

Actually, they had bought over FeedBurner in 2007 but I didn't know until now! Apparently it took them the better part of two years to integrate FeedBurner into their group services, but now they've done it. Like I've said... Google is taking over the world (although, I haven't noticed any differences with the *new* FeedBurner except for a change of domain name)!

Cheers,

Kamster

Phone Problems Solved!

A while ago I had this phase where I tried really hard to get some games on phone, a Samsung D807. I didn't want to pay money to buy from Rogers, and so I tried to download some free games off the internet. After doing some searching around, I found some sites that offered free phone game downloads. The problem was however, that the file extensions were really weird; for some games they were .jad and others they were .jar, and for a few games, both types of file were offered. By this point I was totally confused. Other than telling me to "download and install", I had no idea how to turn these confusing files into games that I could play.

In this situation, a site like File Extension Library would have helped me out greatly. Until today, I had no idea what those two file types were, but after visiting File Extension Library, I have learned that .jad files are actually a small type of file that contains instructions for the retrieval, installation and identifications of MIDlets (a java application that you can run on your phone - usually a game). I also learned from the file extension library that the .jad file opens your phone browser to download and install the game automatically. No wonder I couldn't get those games to work! My phone's browser was disabled! I realize that File Extension Library is a great resource that I can and definitely will use in the future when I'm dealing with confusing file types, such as .bup, .jar and .dll files, just to name a few. Indeed, the comprehensive library contains dozens of odd file extensions, the likes of which I have not (and hope not) come across. However, with software becoming obsolete the moment it's bought, you never know when you'll come across some file your friend has sent you that you have no idea how to deal with. Like today; how was I supposed to know that .doc files (the standard for Microsoft Word documents, or so I thought) are no longer used, and instead have been swapped for .docx? Good thing I came across File Extension Library at the time I did. Hopefully now I'll be able to get DawnOfDarkness.jad to finally work!

Cheers!

Kamster

Ey Bay Bay!

I recently made my first-ever purchase of eBay, and it was quite a pleasant experience. Many of my friends had told me that eBay is a great place to get items a lot cheaper and you can in a store, and I really wanted to test that out. Plus, I rationalized it would be great having the item shipped to my house rather than having to waste money getting to the store I would normally purchase the item.

After browsing the items on eBay.ca, I found exactly what I was looking for. After reviewing the shipping details, I purchased the item, and lo-and-behold; it arrived at my door just four days later! Considering the shipper lives in another country, I was rightly impressed when the item arrived in perfect condition, just as he had described it. With that I continued shopping, and have since purchased several other products on eBay.ca.

Here are some eight things I've picked up in my first two weeks of using eBay:

1. Know exactly what you're looking for. This should be really obvious, actually - have a clear idea in your mind what kind of item your looking for, whether you want it new or used and whether that item is very common or more rare. Knowing beforehand will help you sift through the endless listings of stuff that will surely show up on your first search.
2. Have a budget. This is another obvious one - know how much you're willing to spend, and stick to it. I would suggest contacting local store owners who sell the same item and ask how much it is locally. This way, you can make the most out of your shopping experience by getting the same item shipped to your house for cheaper than it would cost for you to drive out and buy it yourself!
3. Be open-minded. The first couple times I went shopping on eBay, I totally ignored those items that didn't have a "Buy it now" sign next to them; those were all auction items and I decided I would rather get the final price up front at the beginning of the sale. However, after going through a successful auction and winning the item (for several dollars less than the lowest "Buy it now" price), I always look at the auctions and the non-auction items. Many times you will be able to get yourself something for much cheaper if you look at both types of listing instead of just one.
4. Read the fine print. When buying an item, it's absolutely necessary to read the fine print closely. What do I mean by this? My friend Adrian recently asked me to bid on an item on his behalf - a set of four playing identical cards, or so he thought. The card is quite uncommon, and so the price was high - about four dollars each. Upon closer inspection of the listing however, I realized that the listing - which included a picture of four of the card in question - was only for one card, not four! Imagine if I had taken the picture at face value and not looked closely at the actual item description; I would be out sixteen dollars cash, with no one to blame but myself. Also, it would be wise to take a close look at the shipping details; you don't want to purchase an item only to realize that the shipper does not ship to your country.
5. Only bid when you are certain you are going to buy the item. Don't bid for fun - ever. This may seem a bit strict, but it's really not a nice (or legal) thing to do at all. When you bid on an item, you enter into a legally binding agreement to purchase that item if you are the highest bidder come listing's end. If you bid and win, but decide not to pay up, you could have strikes placed on your account, or worse, an account suspension. Although you may never be sued for not paying up, it's really not nice to put the seller in that sort of situation anyways. If however you bid and realize later it was an honest mistake, explain your situation to the seller, and they may be gracious and cancel your bid for you, though this is up to their sole discretion.
6. Keep in mind currency differences. Most items on eBay are listed in USD, and so it would be more than wise to visit a site like xe.com to convert the listed price into your local currency. Otherwise you may find yourself paying more than you might have to - even more than you would have to pay at a local store if you fail to take this into account.
7. Get a PayPal account. Most sellers prefer PayPal (indeed, many only accept PayPal), and so it is a good idea to go get an account. Of course you can link your PayPal account with your bank account to transfer funds back and forth, although you don't necessarily have to. However paying for eBay purchases with PayPal is fast, easy and safe, and will make your eBay experience much more pleasant.
8. Leave feedback. Did the seller refund you the value of a discount after you had already paid? Did the seller go the extra mile to make your transaction a pleasant one? If you feel your transaction was a pleasant experience and are satsified with your purchase, leave feedback! All eBay members have a "feedback score", based on ratings left for them by other people that have either bought their items of sold them items. The higher your score, the better - people will be assured that you will pay when you purchase an item. So, when you've had a nice experience with someone, repay them in kind with positive feedback.

Hopefully this was helpful and you will find your eBay experience as enjoyable as I have found mine.

Cheers!

Kamster

Oh Boy...

Has anyone heard of this?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1144244/Teenage-sister-boy-father-13-baby-age.html

When I read this I was absolutely astonished. I mean, I've long heard and regarded Britain's social decline of years past, but this is really something. A twelve year old father? You know something is wrong when a kid doesn't know the meaning of the question "What are you going to do financially?"

I don't think this kid is particularly "bad", per se, but more like misinformed and ignorant of the social standards and acceptable behavious in his community. To most of us this may seem to be some sort of abomination, a sign that society has degraded so far as to behold the new fatherhood of twelve year old boy. However, it's safe to say this is an unusual occurence, an anomaly, an example of someone who has fallen through society's moral safety net. In this case, I believe the parents should be blamed for not making clear to the child that having unprotected sex with someone at the age of twelve is, well... wrong!

Best wishes to the (very) young couple and I just hope that the judicial system will find a fair and beneficial solution to this unseemly situation.

Cheers!

Kamster

Gotta love those sammies!

Quiznos is so much better then Subway! I used to think subway was the greatest thing ever, what with their five dollar footlong deals (it sounds catchy, too). But I was wrong. I went to Quiznos the other day (for the first time! I've been missing out!), and they have five dollar deal subs too! Now, I don't really know the actual size of their subs, but who measures their subs in inches anyways??? Plus, I really wouldn't group their "value" subs in the same category as Subway's meagre offerings. Subway has their regular cold cuts, turkey, and meatball marinara sub (which is good, but very messy) on their value menu. Wow, Quiznos has got it all, and more! The two subs that caught my eye were the Cheddar Beef sub, and Roast Beef Peppercorn... Something like that at Subway would've put me out close to ten bucks, I'd say. Anyways I purchased the large roast beef peppercorn for five bucks, and it was really much, much better than anything I've had at Subway, ever. It was like... layers of hot (prepared fresh) roast beef, smother in peppercorn sauce with caramelized onions and mushrooms... Wow. Plus, the Quiznos subs themselves are a lot softer and nicer to eat. Subway's subs are hard as a rock. Too bad there aren't any Quiznos near my school... I'm sure they'd make a fortune.

Cheers!

Kamster

For People like Me

I really need to stop lying around doing nothing. I usually find myself in front of the television flipping channels, and soon enough I find myself watching the shopping channel. Almost everyday I see a new product that claims to help you lose weight through a complex and often confusing daily regimen of pills, mix-in-your-drink powder, and other sketchy medicines. I certainly would not want to lose weight in that way! But the other alternative is working out; I'm not a very diligent or committed person, and I'm pretty sure I would be wasting money by buying a YMCA membership. I think the best solution would be some sort of procedure that naturally reduces your appetite, letting you slim down over time without any medicines or rigorous workout regimens.

Conroe Lap-Band Surgery by Richard E. Collier, MD, is just that kind of solution for people wanting to lose weight. The procedure involves a series of tiny, non-invasive incisions on the patient wherein Richard E. Collier can proceed with a proven Lap-Band surgery to help reduce one's appetite. Using laproscopic technology, they will implant a silicon band around the patient's upper stomach, so as to naturally reduce one's appetite, and hopefully, their weight! If I were in need of slimming down, I would most certainly take a good look at this revolutionary and safe Lap-Band procedure. Plus, Dr. Collier has over 31 years of surgical procedure, so I know I'm getting nothing but the best in weight-loss surgery when I use Conroe Lap-Band.

Cheers!

kamster

Swirling eddies

It warmed up a bit today. All around the snow is melting and forming pools on the cement and road. The big banks of snow that have bordered my driveway for the past month are starting to thaw and shrink, and pretty soon, I'm sure, spring will be upon us. This winter has been a cold one so far, and I really do hope it warms up soon so I can stop wearing thick sweaters and furry jackets.

I'm listening to Sunday Morning by K-OS right now. My school is having a battle of the bands soon, and I'd love to see someone do this song. I wish I could do this myself, but I don't play any of the instruments in that song nearly well enough to go on stage without making a fool of myself. I wish I had picked up bass when I was a kid... gotta turn that bass wayyyy up!!!

Here we go...

If you want to own me
I am not concerned
If you follow me
I know that I can learn
You might be the greatest thing I've ever seen
All I know is music
All, All I've ever known..

Cheers!

kamster

p.s. new link in *Connect* >>>

Happy Chinese New Year!

I read an article in the Jan 17th edition of the Toronto star about this revolutionary new product called "Mind Aerobics", created by The New You Enterprises. This new technology - apparently based off of extensive research studies undertaken since the seventies - plays a certain "carrier frequency" as you listen to a CD or tape of soothing nature and instrumental music. These special frequencies are supposed to stimulate your brain into one of three different wave states - alpha, theta or delta. Apparently, in the lives of people like us, our brains are constantly in the beta wave state; that is, one side of our brain (left or right) is dominant over the other, and so we feel stress and anxiety. When our two brain-halves work together, they claim, we will experience greater peace of mind and a sense of well-being. The alpha state is one of relaxed focus. Seems ironic eh? But apparently, the CD can put you into this state of "light meditation" in which you will be relaxed, yet have the capacity to focus intensely on the task at hand. The other two states, theta and delta, are even deeper levels of meditation, where one reaches and communicates with the "collective unconscious", the sort of thingy-thing where the unconscious thoughts, feelings and emotions of all manking meet and manifest themselves in energy that we feel while in this state. The whole point of this new technology is to allow people to reach states of relaxation and concentration that normally wouldn't be accessible except through ten to fifteen years of intense training in the ancient art of meditation. These tracks also claim to be able to"Stimulate the creation of new neural pathways between the right and left hemispheres of your brain, balancing your brain and leading you to a high-performance state scientists call "whole brain functioning"…", among other things.

Companies like The New You Enterprises have created CD series such as "Mind Aerobics" that they say will help people get to these kind of, psychedelic, chill-out sort of states of mind. When I heard this, it seemed like a bunch of rubbish. It is a well known fact, however, that these brain states - beta, alpha, theta and delta - do in fact exist (I actually went to this place once where they actually put sensors on my head and measured these waves), and that chemicals like endorphin (that this Holosync technologies claims to be able to induce creation of) act as natural pain-killers and stress relievers. So I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be just amazing if I could just chill out for once, just by listening to this CD?" And so, I just had to get myself a copy of these mystical soundtracks for myself. I originally wanted to get Mind Aerobics, but I realized that there are several other companies out there that market the same Holosync technology tracks. And so, I settled on the Holosync (by Centerpointe Research Institute), mostly because it showed up higher on the Google search than Mind Aerobics.

If you'd like to find out how to*get* a copy of these tracks for yourself, leave me a comment and I will try to help you out.

Cheers!

kamster

p.s. Haven't really tested these out yet, will write again when I have. Hopefully it works =P

"I am innocent of this man's blood; you will see."

Wrong as this may be, I found this video to be absolutely hilarious. With all those stories and videos of kangaroos viciously kicking and punching at hikers, zookeepers and simply people who walk to close for their liking, I didn't feel too bad when I first saw this video. Of course I do not in any way condone this kind of behaviour... In fact, I think the dude is now being hunted by the aussie police or something like that. Anyways, go ahead, watch the video, and maybe you'll laugh as hard as I did when I first saw it.

kamster

Who doesn't love Free Stuff!

So I was looking around today for something to do and I stumbled across this site called Winzy. It's really just like any other search engine, but with a name like Winzy, you know something is up. I looked around and I found that after registering an account with Winzy, you can win prizes and points by searching with their search engine? How cool is that!

I really can't say how many times I Google search in a day, so using this search engine instead wouldn't be a great change of habit for me. The only thing that would change is that with every search, I have a chance to win an Amazon gift card, an iPod nano, or whatever else they have in their sweepstakes. Each search (up to fifty per day) also gives me two points, which are sort of like raffle tickets that are drawn each quarter.

Hopefully using this new search engine I can get some free stuff soontimes =)

kamster

Michenne is a nice name

You know those Tim Hortons commercials about their coffee always being fresh? Turns out their claims are true! On my last visit to Tim Hortons I made a note to myself to sneak a peak at one of their big coffee mugs, and it did actually have a time written on it; even in the same white marker as the commercial! I was actually kind of surprised because I'm sure all of you can relate to me when I say that things are never as nice as they seem to be in commercials; the portions are always smaller, the layout isn't quite so nice, and the employees aren't quite so friendly. But here at least, in this little Tim Hortons in Toronto, I can assure myself that the double doubles I buy (rarely) are fresh.

With this, I must also put in my bit about Tim Hortons more expensive - and may I dare, pretentious - rivals. Starbucks and Second Cup also have coffee, but they market their brands as somewhat more elite, or just a cut above Tim Hortons. This is why everything you can purchase at a Starbucks or Second Cup is like, three dollars or more. Personally, I take a disliking to those who make it a point to stay as close to a Starbucks as possible and who swear never to buy from Timmies. Honestly, I can't find any difference in taste of coffee between these two brands, and even if I could, I'm sure I would stick with Timmies lower prices any day. The taste of the coffee isn't such a big deal, either. Isn't coffee just supposed to keep you awake?

kamster

...a day makes!

Obama is president! At twelve noon today, Obama took the oath and became America's fourty-fourth president. And as you can see, the White House website has changed (at precisely one minute past noon!) along with it (it even looks like Obama's campaign website, which is still up. I've heard that all the government websites are going to be modeled after it. Orders of Obama, I presume). Who saw the inauguration today? I sure did, and it was pretty darn exciting haha =P. There were a crapload of people there, those aerial views of the whole front of the capitol building and across the river showed the whole place just filled with people, packed as closely together as sardines in minus temperatures just to be part of this historic day. When Obama was doing his oath, I was sort of like "=0" when he stumbled, but then later Lloyd Robertson revealed to us watching that the slip-up was due to a mishap on Chief Justice John Robert's part, not Obama's.

.

Obama's inaugural speech was something like seventeen minutes long, and in it he spoke of many of the same things that he has spoken of these past months; hope, change, difficult challenges ahead and the renewal of America's hope and spirit. His speech today was written by him, too, instead of by his chief speechwriter, Jon Favreau. Surprisingly, his speech didn't seem any less convincing, which just goes to show that, perhaps, all of Obama's years at Columbia University and Harverd weren't for nought. This at least showed me personally that Obama isn't all hot air. For all we know, his enthralling speeches and unsurpassed rhetoric might have been all written by others behind closed doors, but his speech today showed me that he can in fact put his ideas of change and hope into words, and that he can truly "stand and deliver" (haha, I know that has nothing to do with the movie, just had to put that in there because it sounds so damn cool).

Anyways, Obama is currently stopping by at each of the ten official inaugural balls that are occuring right now. It's a true marvel that he's going to be able to get to all of them in one night, what with the Youth Ball, Obama Home States Ball, Joe Biden Home States Ball, Southern Inaugural Ball, Western Inaugural Ball, ok yes there are more but I shan't list them here. I just hope he gets enough sleep tonight and prepares himself for his first full day as President of the United States. I wonder what waking up in the White House for the first of many times feels like?

kamster

What a difference...

kamster

Choo Choo Train Time

Obama's inauguration is in two days!!! Woohoo! I recently read about the "Obama Express" and how the president-elect is touring states by train on his way to the White House. I found this kind of cool, and made me also think about the massive change that is, perhaps, coming to America. Obama always speaks of change and hope for America's future, and only these next four years with him in office will be able to prove or disprove his grand statements.

Right now though, I think people are being practically swallowed up by the excitement that has surrounded Obama's upcoming swearing-in. It's true, in a way: Obama is a celebrity. Apparently there's going to be something like two million people crowding Washington on Jan. 20, as compared to the four hundred thousand that attended President Bush's second inauguration back in 2005 =D.

Anyways, get excited and tune your TV to CNN to catch a glimpse of the spectacle two days from now!

kamster

Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

I was recently downtown when I noticed a huge mob of people congregating in front of the ROM on Bloor St. There were barriers set up and riot police everywhere; the tension was high and the excitement of a fever pitch. Then I realized what I was passing by; a giant pro-Palestinian demonstration. 

I had never really been to any real demonstration before, and so this was a first for me. People were shouting, pushing and shoving against the line of policemen holding back the mob from the small group of protesters waving Israeli flags. Cries of "Shame, shame, Israel" and "Shame, shame USA" filled the air. I realized then that the majority of the protesters were of middle-eastern descent, many of them Palestinian (I think). I also noted among this huge mob many locals supporting the Free Palestine movement. It seemed that the small group of Israelis were about to be overwhelmed if not for the line of police separating the two groups. I certainly feared for their, and our lives as the giant mob began to move towards us.

It is clear to me that the popular opinion in this topic of debate is to side with oppressed, weak, Palestine and the inhabitants of the Gaza strip, but I must consciously remind myself that taking sides without learning of the issue is no good at all. Indeed, I was trying hard not to pick up a poster with pictures of dead children on them, knowing that often the information given by one side or the other isn't completely true. Who really fired the first shot? Who are the real terrorists? Which side refuses to back down when what we need most now is a period of peace and reconciliation in the middle east?

I am still in the process of discovering the answers to these questions myself, and until then I shall remain neutral in this conflict. From what I can see, both Israel and Hamas have committed grave crimes in this conflict, and I doubt anyone will disagree when I say that more allegations of human rights violations are soon to be tabled in the political conflict that exists alongside the fighting and death.

I do hope Israel finds another way to defend itself without the extensive collateral damage that has become synonymous with the Israeli attacks. I wish to see no more pictures of soot-covered bodies.

kamster

Superstitions

I may be religious, but I'm not particularly superstitious. I don't really believe in ghosts, apparitions, beyond-the-grave encounters or other paranormal activity. However, I do believe karma exists and manifests itself in people's lives all the time. You know the old saying "What comes around goes around?" I strongly believe that to be true.

I sometimes find myself holding grudges against others for what they've done, how they've acted towards me or how they seem to be getting all of life's oranges while all I get is lemons. In times like this, I really lean back on karma. When people put up a false front to impress, I secretly hope (hehe) and sometimes convince myself that they will be the ones fooled next time. 

Maybe it's true, maybe it's not. Or perhaps there's just a lot more going on than I really understand. Nevertheless, one of my New Year's resolutions is to be more tolerant and hold less grudges, so I will try hard not to remember people's misgivings and be more aware of my own.

I need to be less loud, also. I find that is a problem that is a bit harder to remedy x_x

kamster

Bust out the bubbly

Happy New Years!!!

kamster