I See You...

Anonymity

For some, being able to remain somewhat anonymous on various internet forums has protected their privacy, retained their professional integrity, opened an opportunity for constructive freedom of speech that does not effectively exist anywhere else and overall give a sense of protection from all those crazy bastards out there. To the creepy old man or the ex-boyfriend stalker, anonymity on the internet is gold. This double edged sword has also given opportunity to the closet KKK member to proudly admit to some heinous race induced crime on his Blogspot account.
In recent times the issue of anonymity has risen to the surface, forcing the public to rethink what they post on the internet most notably Facebook and personal blogs. In mid-August last year Rosemary Port’s identity was revealed after a defamation lawsuit by Canadian-born model Liskula Cohen, who was the unfortunate subject of her anonymous blog. This year, an anti-Mayor Larry O'Brien anonymous blog, zeromeanszero.blogspot.com is currently in court after a petition to reveal the blogger’s identity, after being accused of posting defamatory content on the blog.
Apparently, anonymity does not exist. If needed or petitioned by someone on legitimate grounds the police can easily trace everything you have ever posted on the internet using your IP address and other amazing technology they won’t tell us about. Does the public really recognize this or have they bought into the world wide web of smoke and mirrors? Should we, the public refrain from putting certain content on the internet or should our identity be protected no matter what?

Buried Alive by Shirky

We are in the midst of a revolution. For many, this may be exciting, indulging yourselves with loads of tech candy but for newspaper journalists, this shift has them shaking in their unemployment boots.
Clay Shirky, media guru, believes that although the newspaper industry may be falling to bits (of course, some of them putting themselves back together again online), that the important thing is to save the newspaper journalists who, essentially, matter the most. Like most tragedies, not much could have been done to prevent the demise of this cherished institution. He also mentions that we have shifted from “save newspapers” to “preserve an institution,” so I asked a second-year journalism student at Ryerson University, if and how he would save this industry.
“Definitely, I think that’s our vocation and our calling that we have to save media. We have to save journalism. Right now it’s broken; right now it’s in danger of not existing (newspapers). I’m hoping that we find a way to do that but I don’t know how,” said David Thurton, who has worked for the national newspapers publication, the Trinidad Guardian.
He would like to see a world in which online and print news coexist.




(picture from google pics)

The White Doves

The White Doves from Di Dinnis on Vimeo.

Rub & Tug is Legal in Rhode Island!



Coming Soon- A story of karaoke bars, similar to this one, right here in Toronto.



Asian woman (google images)

“Thinking the unthinkable,” Clay Shirky

Crime and Punishment

Does the Punishment fit the Crime?

"Each year, Canada spends $13 billion on policing, courts and corrections..." reveals "Crime and Punishment" of The Star news online.

If those figures caught your attention, then you will definitely be interested in a fairly new website that gives an inside and very detailed look on crime and punishment in Toronto. Founder and well-renowned photojournalist, Jim Rankin spent 7 years working on the site. Most of his time was spent trying to get every criminal record he could get his hands on, something he says, is an on-going process.

The site, which includes an interactive game where you get to be the judge of a real life crime, also gives a detailed analysis and statistics of those with criminal records in Canada.

Rankin holds the view that prevention is better than cure,“If we spend early, (referring to spending money programs that help those more likely to lead a life of crime) we’re going to save money and fewer people are going to be sitting in jails and cells. (We) should take this money and invest it in other things, example for single mums.”

In the United States, they are people serving unjust sentences for misdemeanors such as possession of a single "joint". Canada seems to be "cracking down on crime" and following suit, filling up the jails and spending about $255/day for Federal jail per prisoner.

TheStar.com: Crime & Punishment


This site intends to educate the public about what is the state of crime in Canada, how the government is dealing with the issue and gives readers a chance to rethink how they view the ways in which criminals are punished.

Higher Grades needed to enter Universities in Toronto

Student at University



In Toronto, the recent surge of college and university applications also means more competition and thus the need for higher grades at entry level. However, even with the right grades, schools may not be able to accommodate the increase of freshman hopefuls.

"I’m hearing there’s going to be a huge bulge in university applications in two or three years," said Ken Lavigne, registrar for the University of Waterloo to The Record.

Universities, like Ryerson, will be forced to either expand or turn away student hopefuls. In the 2009 Ontario Budget, universities were given generous funding but this only maintains the standard so that they could forgo eliminating courses or increasing class sizes that were already operating at maximum capacity. With the state of the economy and the continuous increase of student applications many hopefuls may not get the chance to attend the school of their choice.

According to The Record, even schools outside of Toronto have become more competitive.To get into an arts program at the University of Waterloo, for example, students now need grades in the 77 to 78 per cent range. That’s up from 75 per cent just a couple of year’s ago.

This means that although you may have an A average, you should give yourself many choices when applying to universities or colleges.Toronto is the main preference for many students because of the location but many may be forced to attend universities in other cities, which may pose other complications for potential students.

Increase in univerisity applications means increased competition.In addition, lack of funding for schools means they may be unable to expand as needed and thus unable to meet the demand of new students.

(image from www.allonlinehighschools.com)

Check out these links for more information:
http://news.therecord.com/Life/article/650256
http://notes.ocufa.on.ca/OURIssues.nsf/0/560E5A9FB2EB093485257599006E15E4?OpenDocument

T. Gomes

ADD ME !!!?????????
Somehow it’s difficult to think back to a time before Facebook, for some of us it’s downright impossible because you’re only 6 years old, but what if it were to disappear one day when we tried to log on, would we all just sit there lost and alone?
What did we even do online before Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and MSN messenger? We live in an age of “crackberry”, Facebook-junkies, YouTube-fiends and Google is a verb and of course Twitter, which just a short while ago meant the light chirping of birds, now means something completely different. Check out Twittonary! I contemplated posting an article of a flashback of 2009 for my end of year blog entry, but wasn’t sure if you needed to know anymore unnecessary things, like the fact that the random guy you meet at that club who is now on your friendslist, is “so into his Wii”. What is it with our insatiable desire for useless information? Is it that we are all so void of real human contact that we try to over compensate by spilling the minutest details of our lives on the internet, or that we all think our lives are so very interesting or maybe we are all just the friendliest people history has ever seen! I wonder, will we all soon just explode from information overload or will we slowly evolve into more advanced humans by stretching our brain capacity and finally using more than 10% of it. My memory is foggy and non-HDish when I think back, what did we do when we couldn’t obsessively check our emails 500 times while at our desk doing that “proposal” our boss ordered? I’m glad that I’m in the time of the information boom and not in the time that our psyches go KA-BOOM! The antidote, “More Face-time” and less Facebook time. Or at least read a real book people. Someone really funny and not so smart said,” soon we are all just going to evolve into a head and an a**, (and hopefully some fingers) because all we do is sit on our backside in front of a screen. And I predict our a** is going to be much bigger than our head.
I miss the 80’s, or what I remember of it, (I was 5), it was a simpler time ( at least for me ) , Nintendo was cool, you couldn’t walk around with your computer, and it was very difficult to misplace your phone booth sized cell phone. You know there’s a problem when, talk show host Ryan Seacreast goes on Larry King and is checking his blackberry every two minutes. You have to say, "Dude, you’re on Larry King!" There should be a warning or disclaimer when you sign up to these social networking sites, or even when you get an internet connection: "Warning may cause A.D.D."
Now I can’t be totally harsh, Technology is awesome and vital and blah blah blah, but take it with a grain of salt people. It’s supposed to make life simpler. We need to refocus because no one, other than the odd stalker, really cares about what you’re thinking/doing, right.. this.. moment. Unless of course you’re Taylor Lautner or Megan Fox because they seem only capable of thinking/doing very sexy things.