On a lighter note...

Well, my last post felt rather serious, so on a lighter note, I finally uploaded pictures from the part of my last trip that I spent in Olympos, Turkey back at the beginning of June. They're up on Facebook, otherwise peep them here on Flickr.

Further Opinions on the Middle East Crisis

I walked down Cornmarket Street this afternoon in Oxford (the main shopping drag) and saw a group of people waving Palestinian and Lebanese Flags, protesting Israel's current military campaign. Having no connection to Lebanon, Israel or Palestine, and only receiving information through the media, allow me to share things from my perspective.

First of all, we have the Canadian Prime Minister saying that he doesn't want to send Canadian troops as part of a peacekeeping operation to southern Lebanon, saying instead that the "countries in the area should be responsible for resolving the conflict." Three days later, Bush and Blair call for a "multinational force to keep order in Lebanon." So kudos to our PM for totally missing the boat on that one. What else is new?

Meanwhile, Israel has been vastly stepping up their rhetoric. With audacious claims like "Wednesday's decision by key world powers not to call for a halt to its Lebanon offensive has given it the green light to continue," and "All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah."

All right, now I know that talking about the Middle East, and especially Israel, is a touchy subject, but I absolutely hate this mindset. Making declarations which are 'absolute' in order to further your own agenda makes me nauseous. Take the first statement for example - just because a group of people can't come to a consensus doesn't mean that they don't want to. It's like claiming that because a jury couldn't decide whether to give a convict 10 years in jail or 15 years in jail that he should be allowed to go free! He definitely should not be allowed to go free, they just couldn't agree on how to punish him. And the second quote is equally revolting. It is essentially Israel giving themselves permission to kill innocent civilians. What about people in southern Lebanon who don't have the money to travel anywhere else? Or the means? It does not automatically mean that EVERYONE is associated with terrorists. In fact, these are the exact claims that terrorists make themselves, i.e. everyone in The West threatens us, therefore you are all targets. Unthinking dogmatism has no place on this planet, least of all when it comes to ending peoples' lives. Furthermore, today Israel has rejected a UN-proposed 3 day truce which would allow time for humanitarian aid to be delivered. The reasoning for this was laid out by an Israeli government spokesperson as follows:

"There is no need for a temporary, 72-hour ceasefire because Israel has opened humanitarian corridors to and from Lebanon," Pazner told reporters.

"It is Hezbollah who is deliberately preventing the transfer of medical aid and of food to the population of southern Lebanon in order to create a humanitarian crisis, which they want to blame Israel for," he said.

This, despite the fact that Hezbollah has killed around 50 people in Northern Israel where as Israel has destroyed infrastructure throughout Lebanon and killed over 600 people, including 4 UN observers. Speaking of which, "The UN Security Council issued a statement voicing 'shock and distress' at the deaths, after the US blocked calls for harsher criticism of Israel." Now, I'm not anti-Israel by any means, and I certainly don't think Hezbollah was right in kidnapping Israeli soldiers. That said, it is blindingly obvious that Israel has the greater military might, and instead of using it responsibly, they flaunt it while continuing to act like they're the persecuted ones. That's just not right, in my eyes.

It's not all one-sided though. The Lebanese Prime Minister isn't helping a terrible amount by backing Hezbollah 100%. King Abdullah in Saudi Arabia has also threatened to go to war if peace options fail. And I'm fairly certain Iran and Syria wouldn't have a problem following him. If this were to happen, it would be interesting to see where the U.S., U.K. and U.N. stand in all of this.

*sigh* I just want people to stop killing each other.

Feel free to comment on this one. Like I said before, it's not like I've made up my mind on this issue (or any other, for that matter). I'm always open to new information...this is just the opinion I've formed from what I've been exposed to.

Listening Material

I am loving my new job! And they've agreed to keep me at least another week beyond this one, so that's good news!

The work environment is super-relaxed...it's all (or almost all) young people in jeans and t-shirts, and we're allowed to listen to music while we work. Therefore, I have been stocking up various podcasts to carry me through the next few days, but I also just realized that I can listen to some of my favourite radio stations from home over the internet! This includes much of the archives of The Ongoing History of New Music (I'm currently listening to The History of Selling Out) which will keep me entertained for HOURS! Since my job is quite repetitive, it's really easy just to 'switch off' and pay attention to other things!

One book

Thanks to Kyle for hitting me with this one, however in order to make it more interesting, let's assume that the Bible and my journal are not contenders...

1. One book that changed your life:
Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club (admittedly I saw the film first)

2. One book that you’ve read more than once:
Nancy Shaw, Sheep in a Jeep (I must've read this book hundreds of times! I'm 24 years old and I can still recite the first few pages from memory)

3. One book you’d want on a desert island:
Various Authors, The Encyclopedia Britannica (Is that allowed? It would certainly keep me busy. If I had to choose just one volume, it would be 'S' - cuz it tends to be the biggest, and most interesting. Alternatively, How to Survive on a Deserted Island: The Illustrated Edition or some such would probably be useful as well.)

4. One book that made you laugh:
Douglas Coupland, JPod (most recently....I also considered using The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy)

5. One book that made you cry:
Erlend Loe, Naive. Super (it's funny and really touching...I highly recommend tracking down a copy)

6. One book that you wish had been written:
Jesus of Nazareth, In My Own Words

7. One book that you wish had never been written:
Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf (Who knows if it would have changed history at all, but it certainly didn't help things. I should mention that the runner-up in this category is The Da Vinci Code. Let me clarify that this has absolutely NOTHING to do with the subject matter of the Da Vinci Code, indeed the only reason I continued to read the damn thing was BECAUSE of the subject matter...no, my beef is with the fact that Dan Brown is a HORRIBLE WRITER and in my opinion he does not deserve the success he has been given. I would have LOVED to have read these ideas constructed and construed by someone with talent.)

8. One book you’re currently reading:
Philip Pullman, Northern Lights (or 'The Golden Compass' as it is titled in North America...as my farewell to Oxford)

9. One book you’ve been meaning to read:
Catch 22, Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies, Slaughterhouse V, etc. (There's a lot of modern classics I've yet to hit)

10. Now tag five people:
Quite honestly, anyone I've linked to in my sidebar over there --->
is more than welcome to consider themselves 'tagged'

Snakes on a Plane!

Well, nearly, according to this BBC story.

Need I remind everyone that it is also less than a month now before we are able to view that fantastic film in its entirety.

Kyle, I'll get to your one-book deal later tonight once I've put some more thought into it.

A Shortie

I'm really enjoying my new job, spending time with friends and doing my best to avoid the heat. Also trying not to get too stressed about where I end up next. I am upset about the Middle East however.

Thank you, Wikipedia...I don't know what I'd do without you.

The World in Pictures

RE: Lebanon

Someone pointed me to the front page of yesterday's Independent. It's pretty clever.

Our Darling Prime Minister

Since our PM was in Russia for the G8 meeting, he decided to stop by Cyprus and fly home a few Canadians who were fleeing from Lebanon. A noble gesture.

According to this story on the CBC, one lady gave Harper a list of complaints about the shoddiness of the evacuation procedure. His response?

"She said Harper told her to outline her concerns in an e-mail to the federal government."

Ok, I realize he's a busy guy, but seriously, that's the best you can do? He's lucky I wasn't on that plane...it would have been a miserable 12 hour flight for everybody :P

Step by step

I have been delaying this post because in my mind, if I don't acknowledge the situation publicly then I am less accountable when it comes time to make a decision. And yet, a decision has to be made, so I might as well share it with you folks.

The point is this: I have 6 weeks or so left on my UK working holiday visa and need to decide what to do next. I know it's really not that big of a deal, and yet I keep making it into one inside of my head. I want to make a good decision, where ever I end up -- and I'm afraid of committing to something I don't like, as has happened in the past. I know I shouldn't let those fears cripple me, and I guess they don't, but they certainly affect my decision-making, at least, moreso than they have in the past. *sigh* At any rate, I'll let you folks know what I'm doing as soon as I do.

On a less stressful note, I've had a great week, and randomly spent the last few days in Paris. And you can't go wrong with Paris in July. In fact, it's hard to go wrong with Paris at any time of the year. Oxford is looking all right too, and I will enjoy the last few weeks of summer that I have here. It will certainly be difficult to say goodbye...

Brett, enjoying some Pimm's & Lemonade while
punting up the Cherwell river in Oxford.

The whole crew in front of Sacre Coeur on top of
Montmartre. From L to R: Me, Cassie, Brett and Brad.

En France

A demain, je vais aller a Paris pour trois jours parce qu'il est Juillet (le bon meteo!) et je ne sais pas quand je vais avoir une autre opportunitie (?) pour visiter France.

Thank goodness for the CBC

I'm really glad that articles like this get printed (or posted...electronically...whatever).

The article explains how the family of the soldier wants everyone to know that he was disillusioned with his duty in Afghanistan and then in true Canadian fashion, finishes with the following quote from the Defence Minister:

He added that despite Boneca's death, morale remains high.

"Morale of the troops in Afghanistan is literally fantastic, as it is back here in Canada."

Right.

While we're on the subject, I'd like to point out that while doing some research for this post, I discovered that Canada's Minister of National Defence previously worked as a lobbyist for several major companies in the defense industry.

This is rather ironic, considering how much the Conservative Party campaigned with their platform of government accountability. In fact, their own website states that "The Conservative Party will stand up for tough new lobbying rules and an end to the revolving door that allows former ministers, political aides, and top bureaucrats to turn around and lobby the government." But it appears they have no problem with former lobbyists becoming cabinet members and then handing over contracts to the companies they used to work for, eh??

More Social Commentary

Yes, the Italians won the cup and yes, the headbutt by Zidane was disgraceful.

Walking home last night, Cornmarket St. was filled with a large group of Italians waving flags and singing songs, it was kinda cute.

And so ends my World Cup blogging, onto something more interesting.

I've been following this discussion on the BBC website...instead of rehashing it, I'll just copy and paste the first two paragraphs:

"Tory leader David Cameron will call for greater understanding of teenage “hoodies”, saying that they are trying to "blend in" rather than appear threatening.

Hooded tops are seen by some as a symbol of social disorder and have been banned at some venues including the Bluewater Shopping Centre in Kent."

Now what fascinates me is this:

In Canada, the US and Australia we don't have NEARLY the same prevalence of CCTV as there is here in the UK. In fact, I remember being freaked out the first time I went to London and seeing the 'You are being recorded" signs everywhere (and now I'm more disturbed by the fact that I seem to have grown accustomed to it!). Simultaneously, while we have our fair share of youth crime, there is absolutely no stigma in youth wearing hoodies. It's just what kids wear!

So in this discussion, there are all of these comments about how hoodies should be banned because they help to hide your face from CCTV cameras while your commiting a crime. Now, I'm not claiming that Canada, the US or Australia necessarily have better penal systems than the UK (they might, I'm really not familiar with them at all) but I find it interesting that in this CCTV culture, the answer seems to be "let's catch them on camera so we can punish them" rather than "let's look at the causes of their criminal behaviour, and prevent that from happening in the first place."

So in a political sense, I don't know if this will help Cameron or not...he'll alienate a lot of his traditional base who think hoodies are evil and that those who wear them are scum, and yet he might appeal to more moderate conservatives. But who else are the hardcore right-wingers going to vote for? I guess they could throw their support behind fringe parties like UKIP and BNP, but that would ultimately just give more power to Labour and Lib Dem. Interesting...

In closing, I'd like to share a picture (from a previous post) that I took in London a while back:

PostScript

I just read this awesome story on the CBC website and thought it would make a suitable follow up to yesterday's post. Here's the first two paragraphs from the article:

"A 26-year-old Montreal man appears to have succeeded in his quest to barter a single, red paper-clip all the way up to a house.

It took almost a year and 14 trades, but Kyle MacDonald has been offered a two-storey farmhouse in Kipling, Sask., for a paid role in a movie."

If ever there was a case for the Internet revolutionizing human interaction, surely this is it!

A World in Flux

I have to admit, I didn't find out about the July 7th bombings last year until 3pm when my mother called me from Canada (I was still asleep in bed).

From all that has, can and will be said about the events, I think one of the most interesting articles to come out of it is this one.

It's about how July 7th was really the first time that the mainstream media accepted 'user-generated content' over professional journalism (largely because it all occured underground and they couldn't get 'professionals' on to the scene). I think this is fascinating, however what interests me even more are the cutural and technological circumstances which were necessary to make this a reality.

What I mean is, if there had been a hypothetical accident when the London Underground first opened in 1863 and you wanted to document it with a camera, you would have had to haul one of those old, big-ass suckers down there to take pictures. Then you would have had to physically develop the photos, send them to a newspaper to publish, which would then be distributed in the local city/county. Whereas these days, almost everyone in the UK has a mobile phone and almost all of the phones have crappy little cameras in them. Anyone with a computer and an Internet connection could then upload these photos for the world to see. It's the persasiveness of technology, and global reach of the Internet which fascinates me.

In fact, I'm interested to see how the institution known as 'the press' will change over the next 50 years. Obviously there is still a need for some sort of centralized distribution system (the argument against the scenario I described above is that there are so many websites, how would anyone ever find the pictures and the person's description of them?) and I don't have anything against professional journalists (someone who's trained to relay events is probably better at doing so than someone who's not trained) however I think there is real potential for a paradigm shift -- a dramatic, far-reaching one.

On a similar note, I recently realized that I belong to the last generation which will remember life before the Internet. It's crazy to think that the worldview developed by the next generations will be so deeply entrenched with global connectivity and information at their fingertips. It's a fascinating time to be alive...

I hate Italians.

Ok, so that's not true, I just wanted a provocative headline. I'm sure that there are many, many lovely Italian folks.

It's too bad none of them play for their football team :P

Ok, that's probably not true either, but you get my point.

I have no problem acknowledging that Italy was the stronger side tonight and probably the better players, I just think that if they actually spent more time playing the game rather than rolling around on the ground, they would have scored before the last 3 minutes of extra time...

In doing some reflection, I think what bothers me about their style of play is the inherent injustice. The rules are there to create an equal playing field for all teams, so that they can compete purely based on ability. Now philosophically speaking, I have no problem breaking rules if it is the only means to an end result of equality (e.g. the Civil Rights movement in the states) but if you're breaking the rules in order to gain favour for your side (at the expense of another) well then that pisses me off. I guess I see Italy as the 'big business' of international football - they exploit the system at others expense in order to profit.

Come on France!


Now in news that actually matters and has some sort of affect on the world, apparently North Korea has test-fired some missles which would be capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Considering their dictator's questionable mental stability, that doesn't bode well for the existence of humanity. The future isn't looking too bright in Palestine/Israel these days either. Kinda puts a couple of football games into perspective, doesn't it?

Too Much Text

In looking through my last few entries, I realize that I've gotten largely text-based again. So in order to offset that a bit, here is a lovely picture of the beach I was on in Turkey one month ago today.



*sigh* Sure do miss that place...

I guess now that I have a couple of days off, I should try and put up more of my travel pictures like I've been promising to do for a while...

Heatwave!

Well, according the BBC, the south of England will be experiencing a mini heatwave for the next few days. It's too hot to do anything! Especially work, so it's a good thing I've quit ;)

Man, my Canadian blood just can't handle this weather...I suppose it doesn't help that I sleep on the 3rd storey of the building (that's the 2nd floor for my British readers)

I think I'm going to spend the next few days chilling out and drinking beer. Like I said, it's too hot to do anything else. Maybe a dip in the river.

A note for my British mates (or rather, my mates living in Britain, regardless of your cultural heritage) - I was in The Works in Westgate today and saw two really good books for cheap. The first was 'In Praise of Slow' which I know both Jim and Matt have raved about and it can be had for a two pound piece. The second was 'Bono: In Conversation...' which I bought in Norway (for a ridiculous amount of money!!!), have read and recommend highly! Hardcover was four quid. Pick one up before they're gone!

It's a good thing I'm not a betting man...

So Argentina, Brazil and England -- all teams who I thought could possibly win it -- are now out!


On the one hand it's nice that I won't be surrounded by flags and ridiculous England props now, but on the other hand it's too bad...I'd like to be in a country when their team wins the World Cup, it would be a huge party.

So now the 'World' Cup is between Germany, France, Italy and Portugal. Right. 4 countries that border one another (ok, so Portugal doesn't really, but they might as well) and 3 of them are G8 nations. What an 'international' competition...

Which made me wonder, what factors are necessary to make a good team? Surely a country with a population of 80 million will have a greater selection than one with only 8 million, but by that logic, India and China should be dominating. Therefore, there must be something within the countries that influences it as well....programs or funding or something. But it can't be all wealth, cuz the USA has both a significant population and a lot of cash, but they came in last in their group this year. So maybe it has something to do with how much people are exposed to the game when the grow up, and how much emphasis the home country places on the sport? I dunno, discuss.