Karen Ruby

Canadian Multiculturalism

Another very interesting poll today on the Globe and Mail site:

Sort of says it all, doesn't it? I voted 'Yes", by the way.

Happy Valentine's Day

This is the first year in a long, long time that I've had a special someone to spend my Valentine's Day with and I just want to tell him that I'm very happy that he's in my life and that we have each other.

Happy Valentine's Day !

Remembrance Day

Today is Remembrance Day here in Canada. How easy is it to forget all those who have gone to war for us and who have died for us so that we here in the greatest country on Earth can enjoy our precious freedom. Freedom that means so much more now with everything that is happening in the world these days.

                  In Flanders Fields

    In Flanders fields the poppies blow
     Between the crosses, row on row,
    That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing fly

     Scarce heard amid the guns below.

      We are the Dead. Short days ago
   We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
            In Flanders fields.

     Take up our quarrel with the foe:
    To you with failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
     If ye break faith with us who die
  We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
            In Flanders fields.
                                   Lt.-Col. John McCrae

"The poem speaks of Flanders fields, but the subject is universal - the fear of the dead that they will be forgotten, that their death will have been in vain. Remembrance, as symbolized by the poppy, is our eternal answer which belies that fear."  - Royal Canadian Legion

Tags: Remembrance Day In Flanders Fields

Trust Between Neighbours

Did you see this poll result in the October 26th 2005 Globe and Mail?

Very interesting, don't you think?  More than 22 000 people voted, which is one of the higher participation numbers that I've seen in a long time. This just goes to show how important this topic is and the perception here that the U.S. is not living up to its word. It's a shame how a small minority of lobbyists and special-interest groups affect the perception of the U.S. as a whole.

I can only guess that this is a direct result of the U.S. refusal to pay back the more than $5 BILLION dollars they owe Canada as a result of not complying with the NAFTA ruling in the softwood lumber trade dispute. I know how I voted.

Increasing Rudeness!

I think this is so true: Experts Decry Decline of Good Etiquette. I thought that it was just me and my decreasing tolerance for rudeness, but there have been studies done to document that people are becoming more rude and do not have the good manners of the past.

Check out some of the results by the latest Associated Press-Ipsos Rudeness Study (pdf format):

http://www.ipsos-na.com/news/act_hit_cntr.cfm?id=2827&Region=us&PDF_name=mr051014-1tb.pdf

Sure, we are all busy and sometimes good manners are the first to fly out the window when we become stressed. But, it doesn't take much time to:

• open the door for a woman
• give up your seat to a pregnant lady on the bus or subway
• stop swearing loudly in public
• turn off your cell phone in movie theatres, in restaurants, and other places where people have paid money to be
• stop cutting in line (my personal pet peeve - what? you don't see that there is a line to get on the subway? hate that!)
• quit knocking into people to get that seat on the subway
• stop hoarding the bar on the subway so that no one else can have it to hang on to
• stop bringing really smelly food to work for lunch so that the entire office smells and/or leaving it the refrigerator to contaminate the other food
• change your flip-flops before you visit the White House
• use a napkin
• stop putting your make-up on the subway - no one needs to see the before/after makeover
• stop picking your nose/teeth/whatever on the subway
• rude store employees who ignore you or are asking you every five minutes if you need help
• not being able to find a store employee when you need one (even a rude one is sometimes better than none at all!)
• letting your child be rude to strangers just because you can't "deal with him/her" anymore
• and many more examples

Okay, there are a lot of subway references there. But, I'm just as busy as everyone else and it seems to me that these rude acts always happen first thing in the morning while I'm on the subway to go to work.

What's the solution? It isn't "everyone else is doing it, so I can get away with it, too". The world is not going to give up personal gadgets and technical gizmos and all of a sudden become less stressful and harried. It is a personal choice - a choice to teach your kids how to be polite so that they can teach others and have manners when they grow up. You can also choose to show good manners by example. Check out the Miss Manners articles for ideas on how to respond in certain situations. It's never to late to learn, I know I have learned a lot from the articles.

I'm glad to see that it's not just me who can barely go one day without seeing someone showing poor etiquette. What about you?

Tags: Rudeness Miss Manners

Time's Future Trends

What sort of trends will happen in the future and what can we take advantage of today?

Time magazine has a very interesting article titled, "The Road Ahead" where they have asked some of the smartest people they know to identify the trends that are most likely to affect the future (from the Oct. 24, 2005 issue of TIME magazine).

Some of the questions include:

• What innovation will most alter how we live in the next few years?
• Is the Internet truly creating connections among people? Or dividing us as we hide inside our private shells?
• Isn't there a risk that despite its promise of democratizing society, technology will lock us into homogeneous clusters?
• Who are we really?
• Who rules?
• In movies, music, I'm surprised people haven't been more effective circumventing the studios to get things made

Tim O'Reilly's answer to Who rules?

O'REILLY: The generation now growing up is going to expect access to information in a way us fuddy-duddies don't take for granted. Some say the Net will lead to a radical democratization--power to the people--but I don't think so. When you harness collective intelligence and the power of blogging, it doesn't mean power to individuals. It means power to the people best able to aggregate those individuals. Google is a profoundly powerful company because it has figured out algorithmically how to learn from millions of people at once."

Very interesting answers from people like David Brooks, Mark Dery, Esther Dyson, Malcolm Gladwell, Moby, Tim O'Reilly, and Clay Shirky. Check it out.

(via BoingBoing)

Canada First!

What do you think about this article from The Globe and Mail: Canadians value diversity, demand loyalty: poll by Omar El Akkad ?

"The majority of Canadians believe the country's multicultural society helps guard against extremism, a new survey shows. However, most respondents also believe Canadians should be loyal first and foremost to Canada, not their countries of origin.

The results may indicate where a country that prides itself on multiculturalism is prepared to draw the line on tolerance."

I agree that: 1. Canada is a very multicultural society (especially here in Toronto). 2. That we need more immigrants in Canada to offset the declining population and to keep this country diversified. 3. That it's a shame that qualified immigrants have a hard time finding the same type of work when they come here (i.e. doctors, engineers, people with PhD.s, etc). 4. That we are all immigrants and come from somewhere else (except if you are an Aboriginal).

I also agree with this statement:

"However, 58 per cent of those polled expressed concern that the loyalty of immigrants suffers if they maintain too strong an attachment to their countries of origin while becoming Canadian."

There is nothing worse that someone who has been in this country for 25+ and who cannot even speak English (or French, for that matter). It doesn't make sense to me to leave your country of origin and not at least try to adapt to your new country's culture and language. Why else would you have left your country? I am so proud of being Canadian and think we have a pretty good immigration policy (sure, it has problems, but it's a heck of a lot better than some other countries I could name).  But, I also feel pretty strongly that if we open our doors to people from other lands, some of who are literally dying to come here, once they are here they should try to pick up

If I were to move to another country, let's say France, wouldn't it make sense for me to learn to speak and write French? Or, if I moved to Japan, you can bet that I would be cramming to learn Japanese, just so that I could be able to converse with people, find my way, knew what I was about to put in my mouth, and not get ripped off when I shopped.

Read the article and then read the comments at the end of it. There are some pretty interesting and insightful comments from people (both Canadian-born and recent immigrants).

Tag: Canada

Flyover Katrina Images

Want to see more side-by-side images of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina?

MSNBC have provided MSN Virtual Earth images to provide before (taken Jan 11, 2004) and after (taken Sept 6-11, 2005) images of the path of Katrina.

Katrina Flyover: Aerial images of Katrina's devastation: http://msnbc.msn.com/apps/ve/katrina.htm

There are over 100 images to view on this site, including the main points of interest (Superdome, Convention Center, French Quarter, Lower 9th Ward, etc.).

Check out this before and after image of the 17th Street Levee:

 

Wow, what a difference! This is another pretty cool mashup.

Tags: Mashup Virtual Earth Katrina

The Toronto Star - Google Maps Crime in GTA

I must admit that I'm not that big a fan of the online version of the Toronto Star (hate registering with them), but you have to give them credit - they're the first large online Canadian news site to use a mashup with Google Maps. They've combined Google Maps with GTA homicide statistics to pinpoint locations within the GTA where people have died.

Check out the Toronto Star and Google Maps mashup here: Homicides in the GTA, 2005 to date

The site lists in chronological order each homicide (some with pictures of the victims) and their age and gender.

You can browse by Region: Toronto, Peel, York, Halton, Durham and read (with pictures) of the Shooting, Stabbing, Beating, etc. deaths of people in the GTA for 2005.

When you read the numbers - Toronto has had 60 homicides so far this year - that's pretty scary.

The Toronto Star has also provided a Google mashup of the key developments in the Alicia Ross case, with points linking to places where activity has taken. This is a pretty interesting application of an on-going investigation.

Now, when are the other news organizations (Globe and Mail, Canoe, National Post, etc.) going to follow suit?

via Google Maps Mania

Tags: Mashup Google Maps Homicide GTA Toronto Star

Mixed Bag (Week of Sept 12, 2005)

A friend of mine gently berated me today about my lack of posts for the last week. "Your NOW post has been up for a while, when are posting again, Karen?", I was asked.

Well, I could say that I thought the NOW post was pretty darn good and that I thought it deserved to be left up for a while in the top spot of this blog, while I waited (and waited!) for someone to comment on it. Oh, well, a few people have spoken to me about how much they liked it, so my ego is now satisfied.

Anyways, here are some interesting articles that I've been meaning to post about for the last week, but have just been too lazy or was it too busy with the new TV season? to post about.

Be warned, it's a mixed bag of items:

CHARITIES ARE FOR SUCKERS by Ted Rall (Tue Sept 13, 2005)

"Why should New Orleans' dispossessed have to live in private shelters? We live in the United States, not Mali. There's only one reason flood victims aren't getting help from the government: because the government refuses to help them. The Red Cross and its cohorts are letting lazy, incompetent and corrupt politicians off the hook, and so are their donors.

It's ridiculous, but people evidently need to be reminded that the United States is not only the world's wealthiest nation but the wealthiest society that has existed anywhere, ever. The U.S. government can easily pick up the tab for people inconvenienced by bad weather--if helping them is a priority. That goes double for Katrina, a disaster caused by the government's conscious decision to eliminate the $50 million pittance needed to improve New Orleans' levees."

Ted says what a lot of people are thinking: why can't the richest country in the world take care of their own people? I don't buy into the whole racial argument. The hurricane didn't discriminate. If the disaster happened in Detroit or Minnesota, would the government have acted differently? I bet things would be a lot different in the sense that those states would have been better prepared with better local and state governments to handle the crisis. Look at Florida and all the hurricanes that it gets. The city of New Orleans had emergency plans but they weren't acted upon. People didn't know what to do and looked to their leaders to be lead and were sorely disappointed in the lack of leadership and foresight. Everyone saw it coming and the sad part of the tragedy is that a lot of the deaths could have been prevented. It just sickens me to read about the abandonment of the elderly and sick people in seniors homes and private hospitals that were simply left to drown and die.

Everyday I thank God that I live in Canada. I can't imagine our government acting or inacting in this case, if something were to happen here.

Discredited FEMA chief falls on his sword on Globe and Mail by Alan Freeman on Sept 13, 2005

"When law enforcement isn't available, Americans turn to the one right that protects all the others, the right to keep and bear arms," said Wayne LaPierre, president of the powerful gun lobby. "Local authorities in New Orleans are turning nature's assault on human life into man's assault on human rights." He said his group is considering legal action to get New Orleans residents their guns back."

As part of the article, that quote about the NRA ensuring that people continue to have the right to bear arms in New Orleans (where they don't even have food to eat!) simply boggles the mind. I think you have to be an American to understand this whole right to have a gun and shoot your neighbours and kill people. I don't understand it and for all those people who bring out the argument about the Founding Fathers, etc. and the right to own a gun and defend yourself, I think it's all BS. The only people in Canada who have guns are people who hunt for sport and members of gangs. Bowling for Columbine, anyone?

$5,000.00 Bounty if you find us a chief engineer on Seth Godin's blog posted on Sept 12, 2005

What interested me in this post is this quote "You must speak perfect English and be delighted to work in our offices." Hmm, isn't that interesting? With all the talk about the decline of US students taking Engineering degrees and the outsourcing of IT work, Seth is looking for a person to speak "perfect English". I know that Seth isn't discriminating against anyone, but the fact that he even has to write the "perfect English" part is interesting. This is also interesting to me because at work this week I received an email from a colleague that was barely readable. Somehow, I think the 'perfect English' requirement was left off the job description. It's also interesting from the aspect that there is a big movement in the US that I've been reading concerning declaring Spanish as one of the official languages in certain areas.

What's even more interesting about this post is that Seth, who's a major A-Lister blogger and marketing guru, is posting a job description to hire a chief engineer directly from his readers or from people referring an engineer to Seth (and that he's willing to pay $5000 for the referral!). This bypasses all the huge job boards such as Monster, etc. and I wonder if it's a sign of the times. Seth is such a trailblazer, it makes you wonder who else will be posting about empty slots to fill from their blog, rather than paying a recruiter, paying to be on a job board, and all the other usual means of finding good employees. I hope he writes about what kind of responses he got (it would probably boggle the mind the feedback he's gotten from that one post). Who wouldn't want to work with Seth on this new project?

Head Trip. New data reveals women are infinitely more complex than their male counterparts By Anne Kingston

Interesting article. 'Nuff said.

CNN link to Satellite Images of New Orleans Under Water (before and after images)

Digital Globe has provided the satellite images on the site. "Click on the satellite image, taken August 31, 2005, to see sections of the city in closer detail. Water appears green in the photograph; dry areas are brown." There are a heck of a lot of green areas on the map! The maps are interesting for a side-by-side comparison and have annotated links to news stories about certain locations.

And lastly this little gem caught my eye today:

An IPO straight from the Twilight Zone by Paul Waldie (Sept 14, Globe and Mail)

What do US President George W. Bush, US Federal chairman Alan Greenspan, former US president Jimmy Carter, former Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien, Prime Minister Paul Martin, ex-finance minister John Manley, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Jacques Chirac, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and Cuban President Fidel Castro all have in common? Well, apparently they are all on the Board of Directors and work for Apollo Publication Corp! I wonder how much they are getting paid? Whatever it is, it's not enough.

Sounds as if someone was sleeping at the SEC last week. Funny. Or not.

These are some of the articles that caught my eye this week that I thought were interesting.