Since the weather wasn't adequate enough to partake in any outdoor activities today, Han and I watched the movie "Bobby"; a film written and directed by Emilio Estivez that revolves around the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy. I didn't know what to expect, but I thought it was a really good movie and I think you should watch it. (Despite the mediocre reviews).

It really made me think about what kind of world we would live in if the Kennedy brothers weren't assassinated. To me these men were the last true leaders in the United States and they had a vision to make the U.S. a better country and to make the world a better place. They fought alongside the great Martin Luther King Jr. for equality, peace and social justice. RFK was the last of these great men to be assassinated at the helm of crazy men with guns. It's no accident that a JFK quote has stayed the left side of this site for the last couple months.

Where would we be right now if JFK wasn't shot, or if RFK became President instead of being assassinated? Why do all the greats have to die young? In present-day America, we still see the same problems that these men fought against, except now it's Muslims and Mexicans instead of Black people.

Here are two quotes from RFK that I found on the RFK Memorial:

"And there was not only the violence of the shot in the night. Slower but just as deadly, [Martin Luther King Jr.] said, was 'the violence of institutions....This is the violence that afflicts the poor, that poisons relations between men because their skin has different colors. This is a slow destruction of a child by hunger...the breaking of a man's spirit by denying him the chance to stand as a father and as a man among men.' So much at least was clear: 'Violence breeds violence, repression brings retaliation, and only a cleaning of our whole society can remove this sickness from our soul.'"

What has violence ever accomplished? What has it ever created? No martyr's cause has ever been stilled by an assassin's bullet. No wrongs have ever been righted by riots and civil disorders. A sniper is only a coward, not a hero; and an uncontrolled, uncontrollable mob is only the voice of madness, not the voice of reason. Whenever any American's life is taken by another American unnecessarily - whether it is done in the name of the law or in the defiance of the law, by one man or a gang, in cold blood or in passion, in an attack of violence or in response to violence - whenever we tear at the fabric of the life which another man has painfully and clumsily woven for himself and his children, the whole nation is degraded.

Labels: Bobby, Martin Luther King Jr., movie, Robert F. Kennedy

P22 Walther (One of the guns used in the Virginia Massacre)

"Action, fun, sport, speed, high velocity - catchwords for modern leisure activities. Now we are bringing fun into target shooting - the P22 makes fun shooting an experience.

The compact design and style of a modern defense pistol in caliber .22 l.r. with all the advantages of a large caliber allow for very reasonable practice firing or just to enjoy shooting. Based on a modular assembly concept the P22 makes it possible to vary the equipment. The barrel can be rapidly changed or by means of the mounting base, a point sight can be fitted."

I don't think I'll ever understand the culture of owning guns in the United States for either pleasure or for self defense. The Dawson College shooting that took place in Montreal on September 13th, 2006 had prompted a lot of profound internal thought about school shootings, gun control and depressed and lonely individuals. Last week's massacre at Virginia Polytechnic Institute has prompted even further deep thought on the issue.

Two things have come out of this massacre that are particularly unsettling to me (On top of the obvious one that these inexcusable actions actually took place).

Why was an unstable person who was classified as "an imminent danger to self or others" by a court able to legally purchase multiple firearms?

What will be the effect of the NBC's decision to show Cho's propaganda to the entire world?

The first issue is a no-brainer. There is an issue with sharing information between law enforcement agencies, the courts and the mental hospital. Cho's mental state wasn't recognized during his background check while purchasing his guns. This is a political and technology problem that can be improved with some coordination between agencies if it is set forth as a priority to do so. The same thing happened on September 11th between the U.S. intelligence agencies prior to 9/11 and there was also poor communication between the agencies involved after the attack had begun. A multi-million dollar review was done after these events, and measures have been taken to improve the communication between these agencies. The same thing should be done with gun purchases; communication should flow freely between the institutions when acquiring information about a person purchasing a firearm.

The second issue I have is with the media. NBC and the rest of the world's media agencies have effectively made this individual a martyr. By posting his propaganda to the entire world, the media has made him famous. He wanted to be in the spotlight, and that is exactly what NBC has done by releasing the videos and photos.

When a famous artist like John Lennon is assassinated, people will always remember John Lennon. Fewer people will remember the name Mark David Chapman, the man who put the bullet in John Lennon in Manhattan on December 8th, 1980. But when is comes to mass murderers, few will ever forget the names Dylan Klebold, Eric Harris, and now Seung-Hui Cho. Sadly, both Kimveer Gill, the Dawson shooter and Seung-Hui Cho had both praised Harris and Klebold before committing their school shootings. The media has made these names infamous for hatred and revenge.

Perhaps the saddest part other than the poor innocent victims and their families who died so suddenly is the fact that this individual showed many signs that he needed help, and he wasn't able to get the help that he needed. He was injected into a society that he couldn't cope with and he probably went numb after many years and it would seem that he didn't get the attention he needed and unfortunately he must have felt that this was the only way for him to get attention. It's extremely sad that so many had to suffer because of one person's problems.

It's also sad to see the pro-gun activists pushing to allow students to carry concealed weapons, saying that the massacre could have been prevented if students were allowed to carry concealed weapons for self-defense. I won't scruitinize any further than to say that I think this logic is preposterous and the pro-gun activists are missing the entire root cause of the issue. This man shouldn't have been allowed to legally purchase a weapon. Having a school full of students carrying loaded weapons is a ridiculous solution in my mind.

Labels: gun control, school shootings, virginia tech massacre

So I decided to take a 15 minute break from studying and I came across this really cool Face recognition site where you can upload a photo of yourself to see what celebrities you look like. I was pleased to see that some of my favourite actors slightly resembled me (Except I wasn't too happy to see David Schwimmer in there ;))

Actually I ran it a few times with a few different pictures, and the odd time it matched me with actresses which was very flattering. The one celebrity that was constant for me was David Schwimmer. I think I'm going to have nightmares tonight.

I've also included a couple pictures from our downstairs bathroom. Every time I'm dropping the kids off at the pool I can see a reflection of myself on the cupboard knob. It's actually a bit strange and somewhat creepy, but it's also sorta funky; so I took a couple pictures to share with you. (No I wasn't actually doing the deed at the time of the photo).

Labels: celebrity collage, My Heritage, myheritage.com, photos

I think I'm going insane. This week is ridiculously busy for me. I'm going to use this website as an anger-outlet tonight, otherwise I might seriously injure myself or someone else.

I'm working on a new project at work that is very demanding. Not a big deal though, I can handle that. It's everything else on top of this that is driving me insane. I have an exam on Monday worth 50% of my final grade, and in addition I have to do an assignment for this same class. I also need to work most of the weekend on a couple different projects and I'm in desperate need of a haircut. I also have to get together with my Big Brothers little brother which takes around 6 or 7 hours. I am also overdue on cleaning the condo and laundry, and I have to attend my buddy's Jack and Jill on Saturday night. I don't know when the hell I'm going to study or do my assignment.

Now that I'm done my month of no alcohol, I think I might become an alcoholic and forget about all my responsibilities. Wanna join me?

Labels: busy week, school, work

It's been a rough couple of weeks for China; I call it "growing pains". Such is the inevitable effect of a rapidly developing and industrializing nation. I'm sure European and North American countries experienced similar difficulties during the industrial revolution.

The recent pet food contamination has been traced back to suppliers in China. More recently, I came across a Toronto Star article about a woman who purchased a couch with an apparent racist label attached to it. The furniture store and supplier have also put the blame on the supplier in China. Most people have already jumped to the conclusion that this was an intentional racist remark. But since I am fortunate enough to see a different perspective from my Chinese girlfriend Han, she is certain that it is a simple translation error.

I can just picture a Chinese guy working in the factory with a little English/Chinese translation dictionary from 50 years ago; he's trying to translate the colour "brown" and he comes across a word that he probably has no idea is racist (If you read the article). Anyway, I hope people can see that there are always two sides to the story.

On a related note, my Father manages an auto parts assembly plant in the United States which is being closed down later this year because they are moving the operations over to China. It's easy to blame the Chinese for taking away jobs from North America (Although I've never heard my father do this). But the Chinese and other developing nations have also had a huge hand in making the G8 nations extremely prosperous. People love to shop at Wal Mart, where the "lowest price is the law". Most small towns in the U.S. do all of their shopping at Wal Mart; from their groceries to their undergarments to their hunting gear. Why do you think Wal Mart's prices are such a bargain? Basically it comes down to Wal Mart's efficient Supply Chain Management processes and the fact that most of the goods come from China. Do you think we would be as wealthy if we had to pay $600 for a pair of pants, or $350 for a pair of shoes? Developing nations make the products that the rich nations don't want to make.

I am personally excited and at the same time worried about China and India's growth. I'm excited about the balance of power with the world's superpower the United States, but at the same time worried about a showdown with the United States. The overpopulation problem in those nations is also troublesome, as the world's limited natural resources will be ever more in high demand. More dirty wars will be fought over these resources and our wasteful lifestyles will need to change for the world to accommodate everyone.

Labels: china, india, superpowers, wal mart, world resources

Since I'm still getting some traffic from people looking for Adam Plimmer, I figured I'd let everyone know that Adam Plimmer has closed his store. I wonder if he closed down the store as a result of the lack of business since he threw his raging fit back in February.

In his little "Goodbye Note" he leaves instructions to leave parcels across the street at the "International News" store and he claims the store is "Under Renovations".

Maybe he's going to start a new life and open an Optical store in the Prairies and live happily ever after.

Labels: adam plimmer store closed, king west opticians closed

Now this is great Advertising. Did you browse to Google today and see their April Fool's joke?

New! Get FREE breakthrough broadband with Google TiSP (BETA).

Read through it; it's hilarious. They even announced the new Gmail service called "Gmail Paper", where Google will print your e-mails and send them to you for FREE!

Is there a limit?
"You can make us print one, one thousand, or one hundred thousand of your emails. It’s whatever seems reasonable to you."

But what about the environment?
"Not a problem. Gmail Paper is made out of 96% post-consumer organic soybean sputum, and thus, actually helps the environment. For every Gmail Paper we produce, the environment gets incrementally healthier."

My favourite testimonials:

“Gmail Paper is a scrapbooker's dream. I paper archive all of my son's emails, cut them out in creative shapes, and paste them in my binders.”

Anna-Christina D., Lifecoach

"It's paper, plain and easy. I sometimes find myself wondering: what will Google think of next? Cardboard?"

Bill K., Armchair Futurist

Here is a list of all the Google April Fool's jokes I could find for 2007:

Google TiSP (BETA)

Gmail Paper

Google Copernicus Center is hiring

Google Gulp

Labels: april fools, funny, gmail, google, joke