When Michael Jackson died last Thursday, I must have been the only one to not give a damn. I’m not denying the fact that he was a musically gifted individual, but the moment he died, my disdain for Hollywood’s ability to trivialize real world events immediately flared up again. Real news just ceased to exist the moment he died. The contested Iranian election wasn’t front page news anymore, nor was Swine Flu / H1N1 virus. Even the Toronto city union workers strike, which affects more people than some superstar celebrity people have never met, was not the first issue to be broadcasted on local news.

And it seems like when an infamous celebrity dies, they are absolved of any wrongdoings they have committed in the past – like Jackson’s many cases of child molestation. People talk about about what a great musician he was but very few members of the public ever reflect on his interview with Martin Basher. What irked me the most was on June 26, NBC Nightly News, a 30-minute national news program that is supposed to cover international news, spent about 22 minutes talking about Jackson. When it came time to finally discuss the “other news of the day”, 30-second segments were run about them. If I wanted to hear idle speculation about private doctors administering painkillers for an addiction that may or may not have existed, I would have watched Entertainment Tonight.

Michael Jackson was just one man. He was a musician and a damn good one at that; he was an entertainer and a star that changed the entertainment industry in ways few ever could. But at the end of the day, he was just a man; he was a troubled man with mental problems. I’m sick of people elevating him to the status of a god. All those people lined up to “pay their respects”, don’t they have something better to do?

In other news since Jackson died on June 25, no one learned anything more about what happened in Baharestan Square in Iran on June 24 because it was no longer important news. With more pro-opposition protests happening in Tehran, an apparent massacre occurred apparently on the level of China’s Tiananmen Square. The word “apparently” is used far too much for my liking but details were sketchy at best because Iran’s government has done such an admirable job at cracking down on outside communication. What really happened in Baharestan Square? We can only idly speculate now…

Denmark found a case of Swine Flu that’s resistant to Tamiflu, one of the two drugs used to treat Swine Flu. It’s not a big deal because it was less effective than Relenza to begin with, but there goes one of the two treatments. Though Swine Flu isn’t the second coming of the aporkalypse people were first panicking about, it still has managed to infect over 75,000 people, killing over 300. Then again, how much do we really know of the Swine Flu? How much do we rely on the news organizations that are reporting on Michael Jackson’s death to inform us? To put things in perspective, Bird Flu, that ever-present flu virus that people don’t really think twice about now, in fact kills half the people it infects. Bet you didn’t know that. And with countries both dealing with Bird Flu and Swine Flu, the chance of cross-transmittance / mutation is possible, leaving one leading virologist to say he would “retire immediately and lock myself in the P3 lab” if they were to combine. “Even if you inject yourself with a vaccine, it may be too late. Maybe in just a couple hours it takes your life.”

Oh, but Michael Jackson died.

I’m a firm believer that Americans (and Canadians to a much lesser extent) would be much more worldly-aware if they just tuned into the BBC for just 1-2 hours per day instead of CNN. Their coverage is much more balanced and because they try to provide international news coverage, you don’t get the stupid, local, “feel good” stories like a high school girl sweeping all the awards in her graduating class… of one. You’ll have to thank NBC Nightly News for that one.

This morning I tuned in to the BBC to try to hear the European perspective on the disputed Iranian election, but what I got instead was the tail end of an amazing documentary, Power Trip.

Power Trip trailer.

Power Trip documented how the energy system in the former Soviet republic of Georgia was privatized after the fall of communism. They went from a system where 90% of people were stealing electricity and / or not paying for electricity to a system where over 85% of people were taking money out of their paycheques and putting it towards the utility bills. It documented how greed, corruption, and mismanagement by eastern European government heads could destroy what really unique people are trying to spearhead – the adoption of capitalism.

The documentary follows several key figures – Telasi, the Georgian power distribution company; AES, an American energy company that invested in Telasi; and other key project managers. There is one in particular, Piers Lewis, who is what I can assume (I missed the first bit of the documentary) the main project manager in Tblisi, Georgia. His passion and desire to see everyone in his country get uncorrupted, uninterrupted power for 24 hours of the day was so evident. The dedication he was able to show to developing a capitalist bill paying system was palpable and also dangerous – the riots and crowds that opposed the shutoff of electricity to delinquent customers threatened his life.

This documentary was a scary glimpse into what was left after the Soviets upped and left in the early 1990s. Their communist ideologies might not have worked out, but there was a system in place to get people food and electricity. Watching this documentary made me slightly more grateful of the amenities I enjoy in Canada. It also made me more shameful that while these people over there are fighting over human necessities like running electricity, CNN is sowing the seeds of racial tension by airing yet another Black in America. I know racism is still a big issue in pockets of the USA, but it is also as much a perception perpetuated by blacks and whites. At least in Georgia the poor couldn’t will themselves to receive electricity in the winter when the sun went down.

Power Trip is available for torrent download at Mininova or purchasable from the movie website.

This is the American version of the GM Reinvention commercial; for the Canadian version which the transcript below is taken from, go to the gm.ca website.

I’ve seen the new GM Reinvention campaign far too many times on the TV lately, most of the time during sports games. I guess this is GM’s attempt at appealing to their target demographic, yet every time I see it I feel that GM is just slapping the Canadian taxpayer in the face. They were irresponsible in their R&D and they are now irresponsible in their PR stunts, and that’s what this is, a stunt. American cars have been regarded as worthless pieces of shit for the last ten years, but now they’re trying to convince us to buy American, or in this case, Canadian-made American? Please.

From the Canadian GM Reinvention video (only slight differences, mainly not mentioning the word American):

This is a defining moment in General Motors history

We’re not witnessing the end, we are witnessing a reinvention

General Motors needs to start over in order to get stronger

There was a time when eight different brands made sense

Not anymore

Reinvention is the only way we can fix this

And fix it, we will

So here’s what the new GM is going to be

Stronger brands

Stronger models

Greater efficiencies

Even better fuel economy

And new technologies

Leaner, greener, faster, stronger

This is not about going out of business

This is about getting down to business

We invite you to see, follow, and join the reinvention of General Motors at GM.ca

Well I’m glad that it took only a bankruptcy and subsequent multi-national governmental bailout for it to realize that eight different brands in a slowing economy wasn’t cutting it, and it took a bankruptcy and a bailout for it to realize that better fuel economy was on everyone’s minds which is why Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, and other Japanese car companies were destroying them on the markets.

It’s absolutely pathetic how they are only now realizing that they have to get their shit in shape and I do not have faith in their abilities to turn around their company now that they are being funded with public money. If they couldn’t do it when their paycheques were on the line, how can we expect them to do so when they are guaranteed a paycheque?

An argument in favour of bailing out GM is that it is too big to fail and that if it were to go bankrupt, the system would be inundated with the unemployed. So the lesson to teach our children is that just build up a huge corporation and then run it into the ground, because you’ll be too big to fail. But if you’re small enough, no one will bat an eyelash at you when you’re boarding your windows up. I say let those people go unemployed, because they’re half the problem.

The United Auto Workers and the Canadian Auto Workers are, in my mind, just as equally as responsible in the downfall of their company they supposedly support. According to Wolfram Alpha (so cool), GM has not made a lick of net income from the past 10 years, yet the unions never make concessions and reduce wages to reflect the insignificant or negative income of the company.

Auto workers do not deserve to get paid $29 per hour - $70+ per hour when benefits and legacy benefits are factored in – when their company is failing. They are being paid for what amounts to as glorified manual labour. I’m being overly general here and I would love for someone to put me in my place. I’m assuming the majority of workers are on the assembly line and really, screwing in a bolt is no more skilled than flipping a burger in my opinion, especially when your company is struggling to make ends meet.

And that’s the kicker – GM was losing money, yet its employees were still being paid a paycheque. You see this problem all the time in Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares where the owner is absorbing the losses and the absentminded employees are just collecting their paycheques. It just can’t happen that way. The employees should have taken some ownership!

The way that GM’s pension was setup must have also rang some alarm bells in the accounting department. When I was trying to wrap my head around the fact that for every hour worked, $40+ was being allotted for benefits and legacy benefits, I just couldn’t make sense of it. How is that a sound business practice? Apparently it wasn’t. And besides, if the GM pension system falls through, can’t the pensioners apply for the government pension? Sure, it won’t be cushy at all, but you were supposed to save for your future and not live off the government (though I’d love to recoup my EI expenses when I’m older).

What pisses me off is the fact that auto workers are all like, “What do we do now? All I’ve ever done was work in the auto industry?” Well you should’ve woken up a little sooner and gotten out, or at least gotten trained for something else while working at the auto plants. I have no sympathy for people that choose to just coast through their jobs and never have to face challenges, yet get a third-party to negotiate salary increases for them. And if they can’t do any other job than their auto job, then they don’t deserve that ~$60,000 annual salary – when the company is losing money. I’m not attacking them for earning what they earn – I’ve got bigger beef with city “construction workers” picking weeds for ~$20 per hour – but GM was losing money and you shouldn’t be milking your dying company for all it’s worth!

By propping up this failing company and this failing and soon-to-be-obsolete industry, the government is just prolonging the inevitable. I don’t buy the fact that it is too big to fail. A reinvention will earn us nothing but bigger headaches. A revolution has to occur and that has to begin with letting go of the old. I guess I just need someone to tell me this is a good move on the part of the government. That it is a good idea to save these jobs, yet take an 18% stake in the company. Best of all, I’d love to know that I won’t be paying for this mistake 20- or 30-years down the road.

“Alberta legislators passed legislation early Tuesday that will give parents the option of pulling their children out of class when lessons on sex, religion or sexual orientation are being taught.”

Apparently parents are the better educators when it comes to these contentious subjects, compared to teachers, says the article. Any parent willing to pull their children from classes that discuss these topics are just perpetuating a cycle of misinformation and bigotry, and I can’t believe that the Alberta government would formalize (into Bill 44) what has been going on informally for years now.

I still can’t believe people can opt out of government-approved education and still be allowed to pass the course. I remember hearing about Muslim girls in my high school being allowed to skip sex. ed. class (like sheltering them from that will have any effect) and I remember vegetarians opting out of dissecting fetal pigs in biology. The vegetarians getting off really pissed me off since all they had to do was write a report instead of doing the lab, although I didn’t think twice about it since the experience of dissecting the pig was so cool.

I beg to disagree that parents are the better educators in these cases. Instead of teaching their children about proper condom usage, they would pull their children out to teach them Biblical morality and abstinence. Abstinence does not work. Humans have hormones and people are getting married later, which means more horny young adults going at it.

And pulling their children from classes discussing religion or sexual orientation? What’s the worst that could happen – children thinking for themselves and questioning beliefs that were crammed down their throat? It’s pathetic the level of bigotry that is condoned by the supposed “majority of Albertans”. The evil atheist isn’t going to turn your Christian children into hellspawn and the gays aren’t going to hump your son.

I hate how social conservatism is lumped in with fiscal conservatism under the conservatism umbrella. In fact, reading the quick Wikipedia summary of issues social conservatives hold dearly just pisses me off to no end - “traditional marriage”, denying of gays their rights to just about everything, drug use, prostitution, euthanasia, stem cell usage, etc., etc.

I always considered myself a conservative, but I guess I have to clarify that as a fiscal conservative now. According to the World’s Smallest Political Quiz, I’m a Libertarian. I wouldn’t be surprised if I took a slightly more granular political quiz I’d score more in the centre right. I’m not a fan of huge government, but at the same time I probably don’t share the no government ideology true Libertarians hold.

When I watched Caprica for the first time a couple months ago, the scene where the detective visited and questioned Zoe’s mother stuck out in my because of the shelves. They’re really simple, white shelves – buildable by hand with some painted wood - but I immediately imagined my study with a full wall or walls of this.

What would I fill it with? Probably just junk and knick knacks from technology conferences, but as long as everything has its place, I’ll be happy. Maybe some funky vases like the screencaps below. Then again, maybe not.

Sharpened stills captured from Caprica with four passes of 300%, 0.2px USM.

From Reuters:

The Tamil Tigers conceded defeat in Sri Lanka’s 25-year civil war on Sunday, with some staging suicide attacks to try to repel a final assault by troops determined to annihilate them.

It is always a sad reality when lives are lost in wars, and it’s even more disheartening when countrymen are killing countrymen. I suppose in the Sri Lankan civil war, the Sinhalese are fighting the secessionist Tamils, so they technically aren’t countrymen to each other. Regardless of that small detail, it’s good to see that there is one less conflict in the world and humanitarian aid and journalists can re-enter the area and provide the help and oversight that was much needed before.

But, with any war, this civil war had a winner and a loser, and apparently the Tamil protestors in Toronto are taking “their” loss the hard way. “Protests won’t end, activist promises”.

The end of the war in Sri Lanka won’t mean the end to protests here, says a student leader who has been on the front lines in Toronto since January.

"We will still be doing our activism," vowed Kaj Thiru, the new president of the Ryerson Tamil Student Association.

"The lack of peace and justice in Sri Lanka is the main cause of the war. We’re going to remind people that it’s not over until we have that."

Growing up Tamil in Toronto, Thiru was saturated with the culture. Even in university, the music he listens to is Tamil. Until recently, all of his friends were Tamil.

There’s nothing wrong with being completely saturated in your parent’s culture, but the way the article reads, Thiru refuses to integrate. He segregates himself by only associating with anything and everything Tamil.

On a side note, up until recently I wasn’t able to describe to people what Canadian culture was. Canada’s always been known as the anti-melting pot, the multicultural country. But after spending 4 months in the UK and then 4 months in the US, I found that I missed the little things about Canada. Tim Hortons; poutine; ice hockey; and good, cheap, and multicultural food. So I guess there are many multicultural elements in what Canadian culture is, but I still think it’s distinctive.

But back to the issue at hand.

Thiru bristles that the protesters aren’t called Tamil-Canadians. "I’m as Canadian as everybody."

It’s an interesting case between what Thiru and other Canadians think about the protestors. Thiru is angry that the protestors are not being treated as Canadians when labelled as “Tamil protestors” instead of as Tamil-Canadian protestors. I’d put money down that other Canadians would be upset if the protestors were referred to as “Tamil-Canadian protestors” or “Canadian protestors”; though “Canadian protestors” would give no journalistic context.  The general feeling on thestar.com article comments is that what the protestors had done by blocking roadways and taking away the right to mobility (with or without a permit, which is unclear) is un-Canadian.

But the most striking information about this Tamil student leader who vows to not end the protests comes at the end of the article.

But his heritage was always a factor. He went to Tamil language school, joined plays and sang songs about Tamil freedom fighters.

[…]

Thiru admits to having little interest in Sri Lankan or even Tamil politics, and won’t criticize the ruthless tactics of Tamil Tigers.

"We don’t really talk about this" at Ryerson, he said.

I’m confused. What exactly is Thiru protesting? What exactly does he mean when he talks about the “lack of peace and justice in Sri Lanka”? If he has “little interest in Sri Lanka and Tamil politics”, what is he protesting? Is he just holding a flag and chanting at Queen’s Park? And for a Tamil steeped in Tamil culture but doesn’t talk about the tactics of the Tigers, what is he really doing? Talk about an identity crisis.