Colin’s Corner

I’m all for protecting intellectual property but this guy is simply a jerk. Councillor Robert Lutczyk of Oshawa and Durham has copyrighted the name University of Ontario of Institute of Technology and is now forbidding newspapers from using it. To make matters worse he’s also copyrighted the names Medical School in Oshawa and Medical School at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology neither which even exist (yet).

“I’d love to tell you, but I can’t,” the Ward 2 councillor said yesterday when asked why he registered the copyright. “I don’t know if you are aware of this, but I’m in litigation with Oshawa This Week.”

Lutczyk was referring to a lawsuit against the weekly newspaper published by Metroland, a wholly owned subsidiary of Torstar Corp., which also owns the Star.

In an Oct. 28 email to Torstar, Lutczyk complained the weekly was aware of his copyright but “continues to infringe on my copyright without permission to do so.”

“I am now putting you on notice that I forbid you to print the phrase `University of Ontario Institute of Technology’ in any of your Metroland publications and in the Toronto Star under threat of further legal action.”
Source: TheStar

God I absolutely cannot stand this type of person, talk about the scum of the Earth. I hope he loses his lawsuit and that it sets a precedent, people cannot squat on an organization’s name because this is simply ridiculous.

Woo I am now 29 years old, it’s ok I’m still in my 20s.

I’m not really doing anything to “celebrate”, I don’t really care about birthday’s too much and I don’t need anymore material goods. Had a nice weekend, on Saturday Maggie and I had dinner with Stephen and Helene then went to their place after to chill, that was fun and man I have to say their house is so clean! I’m not the neatest person and man their place makes mine look like a pig sty but it’s ok, I’m happy with my mess.

Sunday I had dinner with my folks, Estelle (TELL IMRAN I WANT MY WATT METER BACK!!!), Megan and her bf Frank and that was nice too. Got to love free meals. Tonight Charlene will take Maggie and I out for noodles, mmm noodles… God I’m going to be so fat after gorging the last few days.

Oh well onward and upward.

Despite being one of the more backwards developed countries, the United States of America proves to the world that when the time comes, it can make the right choices (I guess that train of thought is relative). Everyone on the planet was swooped up on the promise of hope and change because continuation of Bush type policies and far right rule would have been a disaster, err even more so than what is going on now.

President elect Obama made a lot of lofty promises, let’s hope that he can fulfill them to the best of his abilities and with the time in power that he’s been given.

So the film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is available on DVD and after hearing so much negative press I just had to check it out. This mock documentary talks about scientific “intolerance” in the US and around the world towards the theory (and calling it a theory is a stretch) of Intelligent Design. Simply put, the gist of ID’s argument is that some things in life are too complex to have evolved by natural selection and thus had a guiding hand by an intelligent designer.

There are many things I do not understand about the film, like why it continually for 1 1/2 hours compared evolution to communism and implied that evolution led directly to the actions of the Nazis. It then doles out “scientists” (who are clearly creationists) which suggest that evolution is scientifically controversial and that there is debate about evolution’s scientific integrity. It’s not, the theory of evolution is the gold standard for all scientific theories and a testament to evolution is that the latest technologies we have available like genetics is proving Darwin right, 200 odd years later.

One of my favorite parts was the onslaught of so called scientists who were too afraid to reveal their identities yet back the belief that ID is a viable theory. Sorry but if you’re afraid of backing your points of view up then they’re invalid. I can use a Fox tactic and suggest that “some people say” that god is imaginary or locked in my closet. What a coincidence it must be that the textbook ID’ers continually push, Of Pandas and People was outed as a creationist junk and a ploy to slip ID into science classes in America. Btw I particularly like the picture on the right here.

The comparison between modern cellular life and the primitive organisms which populated our planet billions of years ago is misleading at best and out right deceiving when you think about it. It has taken the history of our planet to shape the living cell as it is today and many of its features are not present in earlier cellular life.

One theme which this film continually pushes is that there is no academic freedom when it comes to Intelligent Design. Sorry to burst your bubble boys but when it comes to science class in high schools, there is no academic freedom for any of the subjects. Also they seem to forget that academic discoveries in the field of Science occur at higher levels of schooling.

At the end of the Expelled, the creationist agenda could not be hidden any longer and they openly suggest that “god” is the answer everyone is searching for so there you go, god did it case closed! What you believe is up to you, I particularly do not like organized religion but meh to each their own. What irks me is that creationists continually push their slim point of view onto others and want it taught in science class. How would they feel if atheists continually petitioned for evolution to be taught at Sunday school?

My favorite creationist argument is that science does not explain the meaning of life and while that may be a sentimental favorite, it’s also one of the most irrelevant. Simply put it doesn’t matter what the meaning of life is and there may be no answer. Another thing to keep in mind one of science’s greatest attributes is falseability. One test with unexpected results can completely rule out a scientific theory, evolution is continually proven right time after time and with technologies that Darwin could not comprehend. How can you test ID or the notion that god is the answer? You can’t, thus it’s not science.

If you do happen to come across this movie, don’t fall for the religious propaganda. It’s not a scientific theory, it hasn’t been peer reviewed which is a necessity for any good science. What a complete waste of time I want that hour and half back the movie was as bad as everyone said it is.

Take a look at GM’s Hybrid lineup… My god this company truly is hopeless while the other manufacturers focusing on small efficient cars, GM is pitching 4 SUVs and 2 trucks. They really don’t get it do they, what is the deal with the American’s infatuation with the SUV… This is one company that is doomed to failure.

Capitalism truly is evil and the thought that the world economy can grow unabated is flawed. Use a bit of logic for a second, how can the economies of countries continue to grow without limits in a world with a finite amount of resources? Economists and politicians who promise that this can happen are delusional, we cannot put anything in front of the environment it’s what provides us with everything we have and ever will have.

Renewable energies is only a small portion of what must be done, simply put we have to reduce our consumption and change our way of living completely. Status quo is simply unsustainable. NewScientist has a great series of articles on this topic if you have some time please check it out, it’s definitely worth reading. The graph is definitely an eyeopener.

In recent weeks it has become clear just how terrified governments are of anything that threatens growth, as they pour billions of public money into a failing financial system. Amid the confusion, any challenge to the growth dogma needs to be looked at very carefully. This one is built on a long-standing question: how do we square Earth’s finite resources with the fact that as the economy grows, the amount of natural resources needed to sustain that activity must grow too? It has taken all of human history for the economy to reach its current size. On current form it will take just two decades to double.

We like pride ourselves as the top predator on the planet but how important are we truly? Would the Earth or other animals care if humans vanished? Probably not but what would happen if all the plankton or trees just disappeared? The whole biosphere would collapse, that’s a bit sobering don’t you think…

Tomorrow is October 14th and the day Canada decides what type of government it wants for possibly the next 4 years. Harper, Dion, Layton, May and Duceppe (in Quebec) are vying for vote so please choose whom you’ll support carefully. I’m a Liberal supporter but this time around I’m not going to preach about what I hate and love about the various political parties, I just hope that we’ll have some change up here in Canada.

I talk about my airsoft guns. Or I guess I will now after unloading a couple of guns, I picked up a Systema M4A1 PTW MAX SCK. It’s pretty damn sweet, I’m not much of an M4A1 guy but this is definitely a keeper. I’ll go in depth more with the gun later, just wanted to post some pictures online because well I like to.

I purchased the gun used but as you can see from the pictures it’s in excellent shape. Definitely the most realistic of all airsoft guns I have and I can’t wait to use it, hopefully with any luck this Sunday. Last picture shows the M4 with my M249 because I think that’s a nice combination.

I’ll post about the ongoing Canadian federal election on the weekend but that’s it for now.

Hmm looks like people do read my blog. With the comment section on the fritz, someone actually had the time to write me an email about my last blog post. I won’t post the email here because it was well rather rude but I’ll address Mr. X’s main statements.

You’re 100% right I have no idea how the financial markets and systems work and that is not my forte. From what has occurred though I think it’s safe to say that neither do many of the banks and investment firms. Come on, a bank going under when does that ever happen? It’s like a casino losing money, it doesn’t (or shouldn’t) happen. Also did the financial institutions around the world share the wealth when they were reaping profits?

A free market system allows one or an organization to make as much as they can but when they fall, there is no cushion. Why should the working people of the world subsidize these entities for practices which are unsustainable. Will the government save me or my company if I/it fails due to incompetence? If these institutions must be bailed out, nationalize them like they’re doing in Europe, don’t just give them a free pass.

I understand the argument that some entities are too large to die and that it would throw the world economy into shambles should they disappear but I do not agree with it. Sure it would screw with the economy for a while but there’s still a lot of money available so someone will stand up and fill the vacuum. Why not let an organization rise up from the ruins which has a good foundation rather than prop up someone who doesn’t?

Lastly this is my blog and I can say anything (within my rights of course) I want. Freedom of expression is guaranteed here in Canada and as long as the comments I made do not restrict or oppress your rights it’s really TS. If you think I am mistake let me know and I can check with a few friends of mine who are lawyers. Please feel free to create your own blog and post your views online for others, pass me a link too so I can comment on your thoughts. Thanks for the email!

Whoa! A blog post! Thanks to my online friends for pointing out that there is a Canadian election going on, I really didn’t know… Sarcasm aside, I find myself rather disillusioned at the upcoming Canadian Federal election, I really have no one to vote for. Usually I’m a Liberal supporter and as much as I like Stephan Dion, he’s not much of a leader. There’s no excitement or charisma but then again look at the stone faced PM, he was able to get into office without those two qualities too. God bless Danny Williams, Premier of NFLD now there is a Conservative I can vote for. Remember people the federal conservatives are the Reform Conservatives, not Progressive Conservatives. yes there is a difference!

On another note it sounds like the US is on the verge of approving W’s $700 billion US bailout plan (with the plan, the US deficit will be $1 trillion US!) I know there are many others who feel the same but I’ll come out and say it anyway, I do not care of these financial institutions go under. Sure it may wreak havoc on the worldwide economy for a little while but isn’t it better that these parasites die out and the market correct itself? Sorry Republicans, the privatization of profits and the socialization of losses is retarded and doesn’t work. Now companies know that if they’re big, screw up and lose out big, that they’ll be bailed out by the US government. Yeah that’s a great lesson for the CEOs and corporations. How about throwing some of these failures of executives in jail?

I have to say though, I do take pleasure in seeing the “great” neo conservative financial experiment go down the toilet. I can’t believe there are so many retarded people in the US (not everyone is insane, just the bible thumping redneck hicks who love their guns) that the republicans actually have another chance at the presidency.

My life actually is quite enjoyable and I’m happy where I am, I just like to rant, bitch and offend everyone. Oh yeah remember there’s no god almost forgot to attack the religious crazies.