Mood:  cheeky

Mommy Santa is wearing lipstick! -lol. Just a little added joke about the song that Mom was seen kissing Santa Clause.

-  - 

While researching for my last blog entry, I chanced upon a PR release disguised as story that told how L'Oreal Paris has improved their web site with an extensive and sophisticated diagnostic tool.

This interactive features a tool that prompts users to answer a series of questions, guided by videos of L'Oreal Paris experts. Once the questions are completed, a complex algorithm determines a customized solution from thousands of possibilities.

 I was just wondering though, how do users know if they are not actually being answered by "ARTIFICIAL" intelligence?

Lol.

 - -

 Ha ha...dirty Santa..."It's all over the Internet now!!!!!!!!"

Bad Santa

 Microsoft Spikes Dirty Santa Bot

Microsoft Silences Santa Sex Talk

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Definintely, 'not what you think' Dept. material. 

Posted by mach1231 at 12:16 PM PST

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Mood:  don't ask

More proof that we need a National Youth and Child Welfare and Safety Minister.

Remember the Hong Kong company that manufactured millions of poisonous toy beads in mainland China? No? Me neither all the  warnings issued over toxic toys and recalls has been a absolute blur, but in any case they have issued a public apology.

Company that made toxic beads apologizes

Wow. I dont know how heartfelt such an apology might be, or the extent of its reach. But does anyone actually believe a  PR supplied type of apology would honestly SUFFICE?!

Mind you when we read that China is tearing down some food facilities , we hope we are not being dumbed down or treated like a Motley Fool.

Because have you heard  of www.americanmadetoysonly.com yet there China?

While you are busy with the wrecking ball and opening curtains for 2008 Olys, we hope you are as concerned about chemicals in children's cosmetics as everyone else seems to be:

Annual report lists unsafe toys as holiday approaches

 - -

Well even as  admit I have no idea there would even be cosmetics for kids as toys, its not a problem for just the wee ones. The adults in the room want to set an example as well-lol

Newly Launched Skincare Company Teaches Kids How to Prevent Colds

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Dangerous Beauty: Taming Toxics in Everyday Cosmetics

-  - -

Img courtesy ragingrouge.com

...happy safe shopping...uhm(!!!)

Posted by mach1231 at 11:53 AM PST

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Mood:  don't ask

RYP what's this story? Led Zeppelin hasn't toured since 73 and talks of a reunion are largely speculation, rumour and innuendo (kinda like yellowcake from Nigeria and lost WMD's huh?)

 -  - - -

I think I might just start on a personally approved mission of sorts to promote Robbie Young P's "Black Flag Cafe"

(sounds kinda like a name for a new super fried cool brand of hot chile sauce doesn't it?)
far and wide as a great place for losers to hang out, get accepted and post and vent their frustrations about life.

While many people might stereotypically complain about an excess of excess holiday shoppers, long lineups and stores running out of the toy

"my little Johnny really really really wanted",.. we usually don't worry too much as we are going to a mall about being shot.

Nine dead in Nebraska shooting

While Flaggers view the story and event to cap each other with their wit and reserve placemats for themselves to use the event as an excuse to engage in faux imitation gallows humour (gallows humour involves larger amounts of people dying and is typically used when the situation is particularily grave or dire with humour as a healthy valve or release,) and crack wise, I guess we are supposed to presume some of them have "earned" that right.

And how? Is the right to  preserve a sanctity for death something that someone should have to  "earn"?

While the site may not worry about optics, it definitely looks like the posts are made in poor taste. What medals of honour or badges of courage handed out also serve as free passes to make popcorn light jokes about people dying? A passport stamp? The events are both tragic and recent, and the jokes fresh as footprints in a newly minted snow. Theres something about this that bodes ill.

The Flaggers may not like it, but they are inviting the world into their living rooms to watch the events as told by tv/internet news to witness their comments.

They should be promoting themselves as a place where depressed , sporadically employed and troublesome youths with split parents can come and gain acceptance and comraderie. 

On Weather and Tragedy

http://khastv.com/blog/?p=289 

 - -

Guess they wont talk too much about Springsteens Grammy nod (Grammy subplots) (although hes hated at the Flag, he oughta write a song about this shooter in that Tom Joad I Don't Like Mondays kind of way!), an ABBA Museum in Sweden(good clean sporting fun for them) Plans unveiled for Abba 'museum' and singer Frank Sinatra making his way to being on a U.S>postage stamp. Frank Sinatra to feature on postage stamp

Maybe they could even tell us how the phrase Number One with a Bullet came into use on music trade magazine Billboard while they are it. In between flying jokes that is! 

Posted by mach1231 at 10:36 AM PST

Updated: Thursday, December 6, 2007 12:14 PM PST

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YouTube - In Memory of Larisa Fayed

Posted by mach1231 at 12:52 AM PST

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Mood:  don't ask

A truck driver was in the news today for an accident that happened about an hours drive from here.

I was initially all over the press via email in an attempt to try and garner more national acclaim for the story; more indepth coverage because I wanted people far and wide to be aware of the dangers of this highway.

Especially since looking out my window to the street below from where I live affords a view of this very same highway where this accident took place.

Because accidents are always in the news and you can just as easily forget about one as easily as you remember hearing about another.

Somewhere; someplace. 

Our retention for odd assortments of facts doesn't allow for easy compression for retrieval later for just when it's handy.

But when you hear a story about a story, or a story within a story, or when backdrop is created in a story, put some focus on it...enlarging detail, its not as easy to forget.

This is a  highway already notoriously dubbed the Highway of Tears, in light of the fact of the high number of native women the highway has seemingly swallowed whole; never to be seen or heard from again; missing women.

And now it has taken the lives of 4 children and their mother.

With the weather predicted to be the "worst in 15 years", my instigation to further spotlight cover this story grew from an impetus to share the information that this seems to be a deadly highway of sorts; in more ways than one; and if more people knew about it, the more they might take care when traveling.

Apparently, the driver is quite devastated even though we are left honestly to presume he is not at fault.  This last accident is just the very latest in a string of incidents that would make anyone question their resolve to continue life. His own son has suffered permanent brain injury from an auto accident and his older sister took her own life some time later.

Even though the community from which they are from may be 3 hours or less from here, the accident scene an hour away, its hard not to get the feeling that;.. as we drive and go about our business and routines, getting from one place to another in the turbulence of winters worst bitter cold, the seasons piling snow, fog, blizzards and icy roads....that there are not a lot of people concerned with selfish pursuits of getting somewhere in a hurry or complaining too much about it.

In my mind, there doesn't even seem to be a corner that has not been turned, a snowbank not left curtailed in a turn without being checked twice first,  without the gravity of thought weighed towards considering how instantaneously we can be here one minute and gone the next.

There may even be hundreds of people arriving to come and pay respects, say hello or goodbye, pat a shoulder, wipe an eye.

It's certainly not too hard to imagine.

Posted by mach1231 at 11:55 PM PST

Updated: Thursday, December 6, 2007 12:55 AM PST

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Mood:  chatty

Canada’s Policy on Immigrants Brings Backlog

Twenty percent of people living in Canada are foreign-born, a proportion second in the world only to Australia.

On Census day, May 16, 2006, almost 20 per cent of the population, or 6,186,950 people, were foreign born.

And for starters, for the first time, the proportion of foreign-born immigrants from Asian and Middle Eastern countries (41 per cent) have outstripped those of European heritage ..

I suppose the main reason why this is news breaking and not making is the fact that the level of this percentage of citizen immigration has not been duplicated since the 1930's, over 75 years ago.

More than one million immigrants arrived in Canada in the last five years, in places such as Richmond BC outside of Vancouver the number of citizen residents who were not born in Canada reflect most accurately the statistics above. Much the same as Greater Toronto where up to half the population is born out of Canada.

Half of GTA foreign-born: Census

In fact, the brunt of these growth spurts are being absorbed by the three largest cities in Canada (Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver) which are struggling to cope with a flood of newcomers primarily from places like China, India, the Philippines and Pakistan.

(Of course as a corrolary to all this impressive growth, on a sidebar note; and with this population growth contributing to multi-ethnic vitality are reports of the usual pockets of racism.)

But taking the last ten years of influx: Canada’s foreign-born population growth rate quadrupled the rate of the Canadian-born population.

But is there something else lost in this? Sure how about the number of Canadians going the other way. According to APFC, the rough equivalent of nine percent of Canadas population live abroad.

For comparison sakes, this is the statistical equivalent of being the 4th largest diaspora in the world - outpacing even China and iNdia.

The lions share of these Canadian foreign passport holders and Canadas largest ex-pat group outside of the U.S. are enclaved in the mountainous archipelago known as Hong Kong. Rough estimates put that number as between 200 to 300 hundred thousand dual-Citizenship holders.

But take an average well educated girl like Amy Wong who speaks Mandarin, Cantonese French and English who cant find a job in Vancouver with these language skills but finds opportunities in Hong Kong : "everywhere".

Is all of this lost opportunity? Of course it is. When a Ryerson University graduate goes on to gain exclusive rights to open up 25 Comfort Inns across China by 2010, but can't find wallpaper or furnishings sourced by Canadian companies, it's probably about time to take stock of our assets and our tally's.

Source for all this wonderful information?

Business journalist Andrea Mandel-Campbell, a veteran journalist specializing in international business and global competitiveness,  who traveled to China last year on a media fellowship the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and author of a new book entitled:

Why Mexicans Don't Drink Molson: Rescuing Canadian Business from the Suds of Global Obscurity

http://www.thecommentary.ca/ontheline/20070430b.html 

  --

Thanks for visiting the Cafe today. Like most immigrants and visitors to our great country, you knew you'd at least get something new though didn't you?

:)

Its not the first time someone has stated a matter of factly that Canada stands to lose if it doesn't stand out itself more to compete internationally in the global marketplace. Good place to start? What a no-brainer. Tap the aboriginal population of course.

  - -

Africa: The Investment Destination for Double-digit Growth Rates

CANADIANS ABROAD
Toronto Star,  Canada - 14 Nov 2007
This weekly feature asks Canadian expatriates what it's like living abroad

UAE - one of world’s most attractive expatriate destinations, in ...

Tourism Vital for Dubai

Three Names the World Should Know

-  - 

Ciao!

Posted by mach1231 at 6:54 PM PST

Updated: Tuesday, December 4, 2007 10:13 PM PST

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Mood:  special

Attention News Editors:

The Learning Partnership publishes action agenda on education

Federal and provincial policy makers, educators
and community leaders must develop a more collaborative and cohesive strategy
to address demographic challenges that pose serious risks to Canada's public
education system.

This integrated approach emerged as a key theme from a national series of
roundtable discussions, which examined the effect of immigration as well as
Aboriginal and rural populations on Canadian classrooms.

Hosted by school boards, universities, educational associations and
community organizations, the 11 roundtables have produced an "action agenda"
designed to enhance educational outcomes among these diverse groups and, in
turn, improve the economic prospects of individuals, families and the nation
as a whole. A summary of policy recommendations can be found at
http://www.thelearningpartnership.ca. 

Established in 1993, The Learning Partnership is a national
not-for-profit organization dedicated to championing a strong public education
system in Canada through innovative programs, credible research, policy
initiatives and public engagement. 

Posted by mach1231 at 10:25 PM PST

Updated: Saturday, December 1, 2007 10:39 PM PST

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Mood:  a-ok

Have you ever had a stomach sickness from poor water quality after a storm?

 - - -

It may be just a-,...to use an excuse for a poor play on words,--taste of whats to come.

Despite virtually no concrete evidence to draw definitive co-relations between climate change and health, thereby making it difficult to predict outcomes, there have been still some attempts to study the potential problems stemming from global climate change as related to health.

The United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) The IPCC has now concluded with high confidence that climate change would cause:

• increased heat-related mortality and morbidity,

• decreased cold-related mortality in temperate countries,

• greater frequency of infectious disease epidemics following floods and storms, and,

• substantial health effects following population displacement from sea level rise and increased storm activity.

 - -

 For North America, the IPCC concluded that insect-born diseases, such as malaria and dengue fever, may expand their ranges in the United States and may even develop in Canada.

Working families, the poor, the elderly and the disabled will be affected the most because they have the fewest resources.

 - -

Warning: Climate Crisis Maybe Hazardous to Your Health     Meanwhile, the weather office has predicted the coldest weather to arrive this season in Canada since the last 15 years. Already it has been minus -30 below in Reg-g-g-gg-g-g---ina

 Every winter, Americans die from exposure to the cold, carbon monoxide poisoning, traffic accidents in ice and snow and heart attacks when shoveling snow.

Bundle up..!

T-max conquers Canada's cold!

Posted by mach1231 at 8:59 PM PST

Updated: Friday, November 30, 2007 9:21 PM PST

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Twenty thousand delegates, observers, business leaders, and government ministers from 190 countries meet in Bali, Indonesia
to  bow to Canadas demands-,.... er, sorry, re-write! discuss global climate change

Indonesia plans to make ministers from around the world use bicycles to get about at the UN talks at the talks which start December 3, so it might be fun to see us on bikes.

Meanwhile, just trust the experts. 

Media Availability - Greenpeace keeps keen eye on UN climate

- - 

9/11 was an intelligence failure.

Pearl Harbour was an intelligence failure.

The Yom Kippur War, when Egypt invaded Israel at the Suez Canal......was...an intelligence failure.

Now, apart from the wars that we wage on each other for territory, resources , idealogy, dominance...there is a different type of catastrophe impending upon us.

When our leader stands up in our Parliament to deliver a few well placed lines about our stand on global warming and our commitment to the betterment of the planet, he is looking sideways at the facts.

 Im my opinion, our country and our leader is suffering from some type of intelligence deficit. Old leaders of the past have sometimes remain entrenched in their own positions, irrevocable and unmovable from their own strong opinions. IN some instances this can be quite admirable whenever a person displays strong resolve. But not in the case where a certain type of blindness occurs, or a resolute stubborness comes into effect, no one thinks its admirable or pretty. Even for a pretty boy like Harper. Make that, especially for a pretty boy like Harper. The least of the reasons for thereof, being our interaction with nature and the consequences of our actions or non-action. Already before even arriving, we are guilty of over-estimating ourselves. No matter how much we bleat about resolve or use canned speeches in their stead.

  - - - - - - -

Travel Postcard: 48 hours in Bali

Posted by mach1231 at 10:09 AM PST

Updated: Friday, November 30, 2007 10:49 AM PST

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Mood:  caffeinated

CBC/Radio-Canada needs a contract with
Canadians if it is to

reach its potential as the national public broadcaster Canada needs.

"The Broadcasting Act has not changed in more than 15 years, CBC/Radio-Canada has not received an increase to its base operating appropriation in more than 30 years, and the broadcasting environment is shifting dramatically and rapidly..."  - Robert Rabinovitch, President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada

A contract reviewed on a regular cycle would provide direction on what Canadians could expect from their national public broadcaster in return for a clear commitment from Government
with regards to funding commensurate to the mandate.

"Such an approach is essential if CBC/Radio-Canada is going to be able to continue to respond to the needs of Canadians. Countries such as the U.K., Ireland and South Africa have already followed a
similar path, conducting mandate reviews that include widespread consultation, resulting in clear, contemporary mandates that equip public broadcasters for the future."

- -

While it may be cheaper to get a cell phone in the future at some point, the government should balance that with solidity in our own soveriegntity on endeavours that re-inforce our increasingly swelling pride in our own country at home.

Posted by mach1231 at 1:58 PM PST

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