http://martin83.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/35135
Mr Harper, the prime minister-elect, has appointed Michael Fortier, a member of his campaign team, as Minister of Public Works. In doing so, he has put control of the majority of Canada's federal governmental spending, regulation of all public lands and property, and the execution of any government member's bidding firmly outside the system of checks and balances which our parliamentary democracy exists to provide.

Mr. Harper has placed control of Canada's cheque- and rule-books in the hands of an unaccountable, non-representative individual.

He has also appointed Mr. Fortier to the senate, the body which, under Canada's parliamentary system, serves to hold parliament accountable to the interests of the country at large.

In other words, Mr Fortier, inaccessible to the remained of parliament (he is not a member of parliament, and is therefore unable to sit/speak in the house) is effectively accountable to himself only.

I have sent the below letter to my member of parliament. I urge all Canadians to do the same. (http://www.parl.gc.ca allows you to look up your MP and obtain their email address). You will need to include your full name and address (with postal code - important!) in your email or letter, as these are used to ensure that correspondence has been sent to the correct member of parliament. MPs act based on the opinions expressed to them by their constituents. Use the power that you have to help take back the house!

(Incidentally, it is the 80th anniversary of the first and last time that a Governor General refused to dissolve parliament upon the fall of a government. High time for a repeat! Write to her, too!)

-m

--------------

Mr Peterson,

As many other Canadians, and, I am certain, yourself, I am deeply concerned about the Prime Minister's recent appointment of Mr. Fortier to the ministry of public works.

It is my understanding that only members of parliament may sit and speak in the house. It is also my understanding that the senate serves as a check/balance on parliament. How, then, can an unelected minister, unaccountable to parliament by virtue of having no right to speak in the house in the same breath sit in judgement of and hold accountable that same house with a seat in the senate?

Handing the reigns of the public works ministry to an unaccountable, unrepresenting functionary strikes me as a fundamental blow to the very political philosophy upon which our system of representation and governance are based. It is most definitely does not lend any credence to the motto of 'good governance'.

I urge you to take all possible measures to see that this government falls at the earliest opportunity!

Yours,

Martin Kuplens-Ewart]]> Wed, 08 Feb 2006 21:42:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/35135 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/34341 Sat, 21 Jan 2006 00:49:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/34341 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/31356 Tue, 01 Nov 2005 07:44:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/31356 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/31329 I bought an ericsson T39m on ebay last week. Cost me CAD$50 including shipping to Toronto from New York.

The model is just over four years old, but is solid as anything. I love Ericsson's old industrial design - that great flat back with chunky antenna; gorgeous!

anywho.

yeah.

love it.]]> Mon, 31 Oct 2005 21:07:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/31329 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/22842

Hi all,

I'm in the process of planning/putting together a podshow that will bring exposure and awareness of major issues and questions faced by youth internationally in today's world.

From youth in military service to the shocking reality of the AIDS crisis in developing nations, the State of the Youth Nation will present weekly(?) the experiences and impressions of us, the world's young, and feature panel discussions with experts to further underscore the relevance of these topics.

Using the topic of youth in military service as an example, the show might present a report from a person from a location where children have been involved in combat, a report from a teenager in England, participating in a combined cadet force program, and a discussion with a group of experts.

But this cannot become a reality without your participation! I'm looking to you, the great, engaged, excited, and connected members of TIG to be the voice of youth in your country, and contribute ten-minute reports to the show.

How will this all work? It's very simple. Start by writing a brief proposal: it needs to include the topic you want to talk about; what personal connection, if any, you have to it; how it affects you, your peers, and your country/region; what resources you have available to record your report; and a brief outline of your proposed report: what perspective will you be taking, any individuals you will be interviewing (who,why).

Please keep in mind that, as this is an entirely voluntary project, I cannot provide you with equipment to make your recordings, nor funds for computer time to digitise and upload your report.

Proposals, show suggestions, and comments are all welcome: please email them to youthnation@thoughtguy.com!]]> Tue, 15 Mar 2005 10:59:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/22842 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/18105 Wed, 14 Jul 2004 13:33:00 EDT http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/18105 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/18030
For all you folks finding this through Google, here's the team website!]]> Sun, 11 Jul 2004 22:44:00 EDT http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/18030 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/17478
Toronto Pride is seeking volunteers for Pride weekend (Weekend after next!!!)!

We've got one more volunteer orientation session coming up this MONDAY, June 21st. Call 416-92-PRIDE to volunteer - they'll give you the details about the volunteer orientation.

http://www.pridetoronto.com/volunteer/index.htm#pride_volunteer_roles is a listing of all the volunteer positions.

It's great fun (this'll be my sixth year volunteering with Pride), you meet a ton of great people, and, well, when else do you get to help make a party for a million people a reality?

Hope to see you Monday, and on the weekend!]]> Thu, 17 Jun 2004 00:31:00 EDT http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/17478 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/16450
The youth hostel my sister and I are staying at is on the northwestern outskirts of Rome - right beside a tennis tournament that has, apparently, been beset by disaster - fire at the players' hotel - and is rather weird - skanky.

We arrived after about 24 hrs of travelling, having left our grandparents' house at around 9am on the monday, arriving around noon on the tuesday. On the way we discovered that, oddly for a major city, London completely shuts down at around 10.30pm - we got kicked out of the coach station at midnight, and had to perch on awkward fences until our bus to Stansted airport at 2.30am.

The flight to Rome was a hyped up smelly coach on wings... Ryanair is great for cheap flights, but only if you can cope with tiny seats, minimally exchanged air, and total lack of service. Meh.

Got in, and slept for a few hours.

Came downtown today.

See above.

Currently trying to kill about an hour's time (strange, huh?), because i'm getting the photos from my camera burned to cd - CAD$13... not too bad, considering that there is 2.52gb of data to be burned :P

The poor lady that runs the place had a bit of a shock when I told her how much data there was...

...ah well.

So tired, so overheated, so dehydrated.

Thank god for immodium...

Going to wait for this burning and copying to be finished, then i guess we'll head back to the youth hostel for some rest, a shower, and then come back down to the Spanish Steps... I dunno about that one, though...

...ah well.

I would post a photo from here, but my camera produces RAW images only... no jpegs from this baby, and since I left my laptop at my grandparents' house, getting at them will have to wait a little while.

Again - meh.

Oka - time to go find something else to do on here other than post updates...

Ciao,

-m]]> Wed, 12 May 2004 09:41:00 EDT http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/16450 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/15818
...going to be in rome in May - 11th to the 15th. Anyone know of cheap hotel-type places? (I don't want to stay at the youth hostel... sharing a room with 19 random people is a bit off-putting for me...) And I don't know if I want to be asking to sleep on someone's sofa (my sister is going to be with me) because I don't wanna be a burden :P

Any thoughts?]]> Tue, 20 Apr 2004 23:34:00 EDT http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/15818 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/14101
...mission: take one piece of "cake" (a disgusting blend of manure, smarties, rotten oranges, etc.), and place it on the sundial within sixty seconds.

...catch #1: the entire second year (well... those who show up) standing in the arch under the tower to stop you

...catch #2: representatives of the third year standing on scaffolding with buckets of swill (a mixture of porridge, old beer, bad combinations of imbibables from the previous night's activities, and vomit from the previous night's activities).

Go!

That's me in the red getting the crap poured on me.

Narsty.

But damn good fun!

:)

30-some seconds!]]> Thu, 12 Feb 2004 10:17:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/14101 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/13604
21 today... yay! :P

-m]]> Mon, 19 Jan 2004 01:02:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/13604 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/13602
...i am officially terrified.]]> Sun, 18 Jan 2004 21:06:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/13602 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/13447
"The consecration of a gay bishop in the United States last August sparked off a heated debate about homosexuality and the church throughout the world. Nowhere more so than in Africa. In Uganda, for instance, Anglican leaders condemned the bishop's confirmation, saying it was "regrettable, sad and lamentable". As in most countries in Africa, homosexuality is illegal in Uganda. Gays and lesbians are regularly imprisoned and tortured. That hasn't stopped them from demanding recognition from their government, their fellow Ugandans and the church"

http://www.rnw.nl/en/html/sunday.html]]> Mon, 12 Jan 2004 01:50:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/13447 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/13305
Jura, Humanistik, oder etwas ähnliches... International Relations and some way to tie that stuff together for that goal would be quite interesting to me.

Does anyone have any suggestions/recommendations for good universities in Germany to look at?

I've been peeking at the DAAD site for a bit...]]> Sun, 04 Jan 2004 17:58:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/13305 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/13221
Sign up for this great new Blogstakes contest and maybe we’ll both win a prize!]]> Thu, 01 Jan 2004 01:17:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/13221 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/13185
well, your classic pyramid scam is the one with the sending $1 to five people on a list, then re-distributing the list to five more...

what happens is that the first person to do it receives $n [where n is the number of people who have received the initial note], then $1 for every person whom the next person sent the note to, and so on three more times (assuming four names in the list).

over time the chain of money flowing looks just like a pyramid with the first person at the tip, and the last people at the end of the chain (get nothing) form the base.

You can find an illustration, and some more information, at http://mikeynett.tripod.com/pyramid.html

Hope that helps!]]> Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:52:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/13185 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/12948
In that case, you can get three years of web hosting FREE from 11, apparently the world's biggest web host.

http://www.1and1.com - offer lasts until January 14!]]> Thu, 18 Dec 2003 23:15:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/12948 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/12850

The Canadian Copyright Board said Friday that downloading pirated music and burning it onto CDs was legal under Canadian law. Uploading songs onto file-sharing networks remains taboo.

Canadian law gives copyright holders an exclusive right to copy and distribute their works. In 1998, however, Canadian lawmakers legalized some forms of personal or "private" copying — in particular, copying onto audio recording media like CDs and cassette tapes — and applied a sales tax to those media to compensate copyright holders.

The Copyright Board's job is to decide which "audio recording media" qualify for the private copying exemption and how much tax to levy.

On Friday, the board said it believed the exemption applied to downloaded songs "as long as two conditions are met: The copy must be for the private use of the person making it, and it must be made onto an audio recording medium." And the board extended the exemption to some portable music players, such as Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod.

The exemption also apparently applies to computer hard drives, which are not taxed because copyright holders haven't asked that they be. The levy on other media ranges from 16 cents for a recordable CD to $19 for a portable device with at least 10 gigabytes of storage capacity.


Sweet :)]]> Sat, 13 Dec 2003 11:43:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/12850 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/12785
When I was in Detroit in September last year, it seemed like a dead city... I never expected this: residents have to go to "party stores", liquor stores that sell a few basic staples, to get their groceries.

So... people, sick of abandoned lots (one third of the 169-square-mile city consists of abandoned land), have started converting them into farms!

Read the article.

Really interestin!]]> Thu, 11 Dec 2003 13:43:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/12785 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/12532 ACLU released the following on Dec. 1st. It's tragic how low people will go in expressing their intolerence toward people...

Thru the URL [linked above] you can also access PDF copies of the boy's "Behaviour report" and "Behaviour Contract", which further elucidate the school's discriminatory behaviour

---

LAFAYETTE, LA – After a 7-year-old boy was scolded in front of his classmates and sent to a school behavioral clinic for answering another child’s questions about his lesbian mothers, the American Civil Liberties Union today demanded that the school expunge the boy’s disciplinary records and stop restricting him from talking about his family with other students.

“I was concerned when the assistant principal called and told me my son had said a word so bad that he didn’t want to repeat it over the phone,” said Sharon Huff, the second-grader’s mother. She added, “But that was nothing compared to the shock I felt when my little boy came home and told me that his teacher had told him his family is a dirty word. No child should ever hear that, especially not from a teacher he trusted and respected.”

Marcus McLaurin was waiting in line to go to recess on November 11 at Ernest Gallet Elementary School when a classmate asked him about his mother and father. He responded that he didn’t have a mother and father; instead he has two mothers. When the other child asked why, Marcus told him that it was because his mother is gay. The other child then asked what that meant, and Marcus explained, “Gay is when a girl likes another girl.”

Upon hearing this, Marcus’s teacher scolded him in front of his classmates, telling him that “gay” is a bad word and he should never say it at school, then sent him to the principal’s office instead of letting him go to recess. The following week the school required Marcus to attend a special behavioral clinic at 6:45 in the morning, where he was forced to repeatedly write “I will never use the word ‘gay’ in school again.”

“To tell a 7-year-old boy that he can’t talk about his family not only makes that child feel confused and hurt – it violates his Constitutional right to free speech and equal treatment,” said Ken Choe, a staff attorney from the ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project who is handling the matter. “At the ACLU we often deal with schools that mistreat treat gay children and children who have gay parents, but this is beyond the pale.”

On a student behavior contract form that Marcus had to fill out and give to his mother about the incident, Marcus wrote that the thing he did wrong was that he “sed bad wurds.” A handwritten note at the top of the form from Marcus’s teacher further explains: “He explained to another child that you are gay and what being gay means.” On a behavior report form signed by the assistant principal, the teacher wrote, “Marcus decided to explain to another child in his group that his mom is gay. He told the other child that gay is when a girl likes a girl. This kind of discussion is not acceptable in my room. I feel that parents should explain things of this nature to their own children in their own way.” The forms can be viewed online at http://www.aclu.org/LesbianGayRights/LesbianGayRights.cfm?ID=14478c=104 and http://www.aclu.org/LesbianGayRights/LesbianGayRights.cfm?ID=14480c=104.

“Of course we believe that parents should be the ones who talk with small children about things like sex, but Marcus McLaurin’s school seems to think that he was talking about sex when all he was talking about was his two mothers,” said Joe Cook, Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana. “The fact is that there are children of lesbian and gay parents in schools throughout Louisiana, and those children have the same right as any other children to talk about their families.”

In its letter to the principal of Ernest Gallet Elementary School, the ACLU Lesbian and Gay Rights Project and the ACLU of Louisiana demand that the school remove all mentions of the incident from Marcus’s disciplinary record and refrain from restricting his speech in the future, and offer apologies to Marcus and his mother.]]> Wed, 03 Dec 2003 02:00:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/12532 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/12282
Not sure if anyone's posted anything about this recently, but the above is an interesting article on the state of HIV/AIDS in northern provinces in China. Kinda scary, really]]> Sun, 23 Nov 2003 21:07:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/12282 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/11845
...Krispy Kreme Doughnuts just opened a shop about three minutes away from our office.

Eeeee!

I bought a dozen doughnuts today as a treat for everyone; no-one else ate them (or at least, ate very few), so I did... ...i've had four so far. Nothing else to eat today. Not good.

hehehehe

/me runs off screaming]]> Tue, 04 Nov 2003 18:18:00 EST http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/11845 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/11074 CNN report explains, Latvia today voted 69.5% to 29.8% to join the EU, meaning that all three baltic states will be joining; in other words: Russia will be unable to exert economic control over Latvia through its new economic union, which is very good news :)

[pic from CNN]]]> Sun, 21 Sep 2003 01:48:00 EDT http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/11074 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/10541
Could there be a future for a nationalised healthcare system in the USA?]]> Sun, 17 Aug 2003 11:21:00 EDT http://martin83.tigblog.org/post/10541 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667