I don't know if what I was having this past week (or two) was fun, but it definitely was busy.... I will be finished, if all goes well, my thesis this week, and it will be ready for initial deposit...
Until then, take a look at this column I found in Hoy, a Dominican newspaper, when I was there. It was originally published on Thursday, October 24, 2004. If you don't understand it because it's in Spanish, well, use it as the motivation to learn.
Fijate bien...antes de quejarte
Si tienes comida en la nevera, ropa para cubrirte, un techo sobre la cabeza y un sitio donde dormir, eres mas rico que el 75% de la personas en este mundo.
Si tienes dinero en el banco, en tu cartera y guardas cambio en un plato, vasija o algun otro sitio, estas entre el 8% de las personas con fortuna en el mundo.
Si te levantaste esta manana con mas salud que enfermedad, eres mas bendito que el millon de personas que no sobreviviran esta semana.
Si nunca has experimentado el peligro de la batalla, la soledad del encierro, la agonia de la tortura o las convulsiones de la hambruna, estas por encima de 500 millones de personas en el mundo.
Si puedes ir a un templo sin miedo a persecucion, arresto, tortura or muerte, tienes mas bendiciones que tres billones de personas en el mundo.
Si tus padres aun viven y estan casados, eres muy extrano.
Si mantienes en alto tu cabeza con una sonrisa en tu rostro y eres agradecido, tienes la bendicion de hacerlo... porque la mayoria puede y no lo hace
Si puedes sostener la mano de alguien, abrazarlo y hasta tocarlo en el hombro, eres afortunado porque puedes ofrecer un toque sanador lleno de amor.
Si puedes leer esto has recibido una bendicion doble, porque alguien penso en ti y mas aun, eres mas bendito que millones de personas que ni siquiera saben leer.
Que tengas un buen dia y por favor, cuenta tus bendiciones.
Por: Rafael Molina Morillo
Monday, February 26, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Mad love for the Google
http://www.google.com/trends
What do blue, red, yellow, green have in common, other than being colours?
Check out the new Google Trends to see!
For music trends, check out : http://www.google.com/trends/music to get the weeks top songs. By sharing your iTunes (or other music library), Google compiles all entries and generates the top 20. It seems like a work in progress, but looks like it will be very interesting to look at when it is ready to go.
Ah, the Google! How can you not love it?
What do blue, red, yellow, green have in common, other than being colours?
Check out the new Google Trends to see!
For music trends, check out : http://www.google.com/trends/music to get the weeks top songs. By sharing your iTunes (or other music library), Google compiles all entries and generates the top 20. It seems like a work in progress, but looks like it will be very interesting to look at when it is ready to go.
Ah, the Google! How can you not love it?
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Is there such a thing as Friendly Fire??
It's a shame that the war in Iraq and Afghanistan has been so cleaned up by the US media. From what I hear, there are few pictures of the war, no one sees the bodies coming home and the stories that are released are modified.
Check out this 15-minute video retrieved by Britain's The Sun newspaper, straight from the cockpit of the plane in question. The pilots are trying to determine who they are targeting and whether or not their targets are friendlies or enemies.
Unfortunately, they discover after they have shot that they are friendlies.
R.I.P. L/Cpl Matty Hull
Killed by "Friendly Fire"
According to the USA, the case is closed and neither of the two pilots involved are to be court marshalled.
Check out this 15-minute video retrieved by Britain's The Sun newspaper, straight from the cockpit of the plane in question. The pilots are trying to determine who they are targeting and whether or not their targets are friendlies or enemies.
Unfortunately, they discover after they have shot that they are friendlies.
R.I.P. L/Cpl Matty Hull
Killed by "Friendly Fire"
According to the USA, the case is closed and neither of the two pilots involved are to be court marshalled.
Friday, February 2, 2007
Accommodements raisonnables - Debate du jour
Reasonable arrangements, that's what everybody is talking about here.
What is it exactly? How much religious/cultural difference do we accept in our society before we say enough is enough?
As a whole, our society is homogeneous. Of course, if you are in Montreal, it is like being in New York. There is also lots of diversity in the Ottawa region and in Sherbrooke. But travel across the rest of the province and you'll see that 96% of us are French-speaking, catholic raised (not practicing) and descendant from the same few hundred men and women that came over to New France in the 17th Century.
When immigrants come to a new land, should they be expected to leave their cultural heritage and religious beliefs on the plane before they set foot in our country?
The debate has been fueled by these events:
1) 1990: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP or Mounties) allow Sikhs to wear a turban on the job
2) 2006: The Supreme Court of Canada overturns a school board's decision to ban the Kirpan, a Sikh ceremonial dagger. People say it is a weapon that should not be worn to school because other students are not allowed knives. The Kirpan is worn beneath clothes, sown into a sheath.
3) End of 2006 : a YMCA in the Hassidic area of the city wants to frost the windows because it distracts the Orthodox Jews who walk by it to see women working out.
4) Last week a police officer put up an MP3 titled "Ça commence à faire, là" (It's starting to be enough). Saying things like "If you don't like it here, you can leave" "Stop your musique or you'll have to go home" "we can't cave to every picky demand of every religion". The cop is now under review and an investigation is underway.
5)Last week, Hérouxville, a little town of 1000 people has written a "lifestyle guide" that must be adopted if you live there. You can't cover your face, you can't walk around with a weapon or anything resembling a weapon, no stoning women, a woman cannot be guaranteed a female doctor.
This town has no immigrants. One boy was adopted from Haiti when he was a baby, so he doesn't count since he was raised here.
Two neighbouring towns have since written up a similar code of conduct for their towns.
So, where do we draw the line? What is reasonable, what is not? I think that when it doesn't impact anybody else such as wearing the Kirpan (which is a religious symbol similar to us wearing a cross on a chain), then why make a big deal out of it? When it interferes with your position or job, then it should be banned. For example, wearing a turban rather than the protective gear you need on your head should not be allowed. Furthermore, a police officer is a symbol of neutrality and justice for all, you should not be wearing any symbol, anywhere on your body, that show you may have a penchant for one side or another.
But mostly, I think this debate has stemmed from ignorance. We don't know what a turban stands for, or what a Kirpan is. We (humans) fear what we don't know.
Also, I think that we ourselves are a minority in Canada, being French, and we have a hard time finding our identity in our own society. We lost a lot of our identity in the 1960s as we moved away from religion, lost our relationship with the land. The only thing we have left of our past is our language. And I believe learning about an immigrant's identity is forcing us to look at our own, and our fear is that we have none.
What is it exactly? How much religious/cultural difference do we accept in our society before we say enough is enough?
As a whole, our society is homogeneous. Of course, if you are in Montreal, it is like being in New York. There is also lots of diversity in the Ottawa region and in Sherbrooke. But travel across the rest of the province and you'll see that 96% of us are French-speaking, catholic raised (not practicing) and descendant from the same few hundred men and women that came over to New France in the 17th Century.
When immigrants come to a new land, should they be expected to leave their cultural heritage and religious beliefs on the plane before they set foot in our country?
The debate has been fueled by these events:
1) 1990: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP or Mounties) allow Sikhs to wear a turban on the job
2) 2006: The Supreme Court of Canada overturns a school board's decision to ban the Kirpan, a Sikh ceremonial dagger. People say it is a weapon that should not be worn to school because other students are not allowed knives. The Kirpan is worn beneath clothes, sown into a sheath.
3) End of 2006 : a YMCA in the Hassidic area of the city wants to frost the windows because it distracts the Orthodox Jews who walk by it to see women working out.
4) Last week a police officer put up an MP3 titled "Ça commence à faire, là" (It's starting to be enough). Saying things like "If you don't like it here, you can leave" "Stop your musique or you'll have to go home" "we can't cave to every picky demand of every religion". The cop is now under review and an investigation is underway.
5)Last week, Hérouxville, a little town of 1000 people has written a "lifestyle guide" that must be adopted if you live there. You can't cover your face, you can't walk around with a weapon or anything resembling a weapon, no stoning women, a woman cannot be guaranteed a female doctor.
This town has no immigrants. One boy was adopted from Haiti when he was a baby, so he doesn't count since he was raised here.
Two neighbouring towns have since written up a similar code of conduct for their towns.
So, where do we draw the line? What is reasonable, what is not? I think that when it doesn't impact anybody else such as wearing the Kirpan (which is a religious symbol similar to us wearing a cross on a chain), then why make a big deal out of it? When it interferes with your position or job, then it should be banned. For example, wearing a turban rather than the protective gear you need on your head should not be allowed. Furthermore, a police officer is a symbol of neutrality and justice for all, you should not be wearing any symbol, anywhere on your body, that show you may have a penchant for one side or another.
But mostly, I think this debate has stemmed from ignorance. We don't know what a turban stands for, or what a Kirpan is. We (humans) fear what we don't know.
Also, I think that we ourselves are a minority in Canada, being French, and we have a hard time finding our identity in our own society. We lost a lot of our identity in the 1960s as we moved away from religion, lost our relationship with the land. The only thing we have left of our past is our language. And I believe learning about an immigrant's identity is forcing us to look at our own, and our fear is that we have none.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Need a job? What about Coyote to Cuba??
Since the embargo in 1959, letters and packages from the United States are not allowed to enter Cuba. There is however a way around this restriction. Just like Americans fly out of Canada or Mexico to go to Cuba, you can send items through a Canadian travel agency. How do they get this to happen? Well, people mail their package to this travel agency and you pay a certain fee according to what you are sending.
An unsuspecting couple in Montreal goes into this travel agency to buy a one-week all-inclusive holiday on the beach, because they just can't take this weather anymore. And the travel agent says, Hey, you can save 300$ on your vacation if you bring a suitcase down to Cuba for us.
So, you, the traveler, has to fit your clothes and stuff for the week in a carry-on bag so you can transport the luggage.
When you arrive at the airport, there are people waiting for you and they recognize the luggage you are carrying because they always use the same luggage.
If you transport the empty luggage back to Montreal, you get 10$ per bag...
Not a bad deal, if you're looking to save a buck.
And, it shows that the embargo is merely superficial and can easily be countered.... Wonder what will happen when Fidel's time is up??
An unsuspecting couple in Montreal goes into this travel agency to buy a one-week all-inclusive holiday on the beach, because they just can't take this weather anymore. And the travel agent says, Hey, you can save 300$ on your vacation if you bring a suitcase down to Cuba for us.
So, you, the traveler, has to fit your clothes and stuff for the week in a carry-on bag so you can transport the luggage.
When you arrive at the airport, there are people waiting for you and they recognize the luggage you are carrying because they always use the same luggage.
If you transport the empty luggage back to Montreal, you get 10$ per bag...
Not a bad deal, if you're looking to save a buck.
And, it shows that the embargo is merely superficial and can easily be countered.... Wonder what will happen when Fidel's time is up??
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