"A dishonest student movement"

The article discusses how university students in Quebec are protesting tuition fees through a strike, which the students will miss classes for.

The author of the article asks, "are demonstrations such as these even in students' interests? Students are not being paid to provide a service, they are paying for a service. Is a $100 increase worth missing valuable class time and threatening your grades over?" He continues to state that although "a student strike could be considered a consumer boycott," the students have already paid their tuition and fees. Students have already paid for the classes they are boycotting against, so what are they going to achieve? Loss of classes they have already paid for and lower grades because of the classes they will miss. The author creates an analogy of the student strike to refusing to use the internet after paying the bill for an internet connection. He states, "you wouldn't do it because no one would care." The students have already paid their fees, they have to go to school to learn so either way the university will receive profit.


The video embedded below also provides arguments against the student strikes:

"Video of airport taser death released"

The article discusses how police in Vancouver tasered a man to death in an airport after causing a scene in a waiting area. Another article states, "Robert Dziekanski, 40, died within minutes of being tasered repeatedly at Vancouver International Airport, where he had spent hours wandering in a vain search from his mother." The man had become agitated because he could not find his mother and could not speak English - and yet nobody helped him.

The release of the video, according to the same article, has "sparked controversy around the world, particularly in Poland, whose ambassador called the RCMP's actions 'unsuitable under the circumstances, even excessive.'" The police brutality used against this man was unnecessary. Watching the video, anyone can see that Dziekanski was merely frustrated and agitated about his current situation. Although he needed to be calmed down, there was no need for four RCMP officers to react in the way they did to the issue. The situation could have been resolved had the police officers simply forced him to an area where he could tell them what the probem was - since I don't believe the officers understood why Dziekanski was reacting in this way. An even better solution may have been for the Airport staff to console and help Dziekanski find his mother. In essence, this death could have been prevented had the airport had better communication with fliers.

"The Tabs: no men allowed"

The article discusses the thought that female celebrities are more often victims of bad media than men. The article states, "most readers of gossip are women, and gossip writers think that women prefer to read about other women." And if an article focuses on a male in a tough situation it will "ruin the fantasy of him" for the female.

The obsession with females fantasizing over males has lead to a large bias against women in the media. One online article states,"the media’s obsession with female celebrities looks and personal lives sends a message to all women…a woman’s life is public property, especially her sexuality and reproductive status." A comparison between a male and a female actor in a magazine displays the issue: "the man is fully clothed, active, and joyous [while] the woman is half-naked, passive, and vulnerable."

Some woman would rather read about a female celebrity's life falling apart than have their fantasy of their favourite male fall apart. Unfortunately, the lack of male celebrity's being the center of negative-media is that it shows women in a lesser light than men.

"NBC executive slams Apple"

The article discusses how the chief executive for NBC pulled TV episodes from iTunes because the network wasn't making
enough money from the online store and Steve Jobs refused to up the prices.

I don't really understand this, considering the revenue that NBC made would have been non-existent without iTunes. Though, I suppose, if NBC believes that the users buying their shows would be willing to pay more, than the prices should go up. Unfortunately, Steve Jobs wants to keep the strict fixed-prices on the iTunes shows - and who's to say he should do differently? I personally think the fixed-pricing system is more desirable to consumers (or at least to me), which is probably why Steve Jobs wants to stick with it.

Oh well, because as the article states, Canadians couldn't purchase NBC's shows anyways:

"What to do with ex-PMs and all that pent-up bile?"

The article explains how since humans are living longer, we have a problem with all the ex-prime ministers. What are they to do after they have lost all power? Apparently they feel they are an embarrassment and this leads them to become bored and grumpy with their existence.

I personally don't believe it is the citizens issue to decide how to make previous PMs' lives better. The end of the article explains how ex-PMs in other countries have gone on to achieve more and, thus, they are no longer grumpy about their existence. Since every other citizen has to provide their own happiness, so should Prime Ministers.

And, plus, no one other than yourself can make you happy.

"Sex and marriage with robots?"

After reading this article, I am very worried about our future. I can see human beings using robots as potential sex toys, but I think that having a significant relationship between a robot and a human is stepping over the line.

The article suggests humans are able to develop feelings towards computers through the example of students becoming attracted to Eliza. And, obviously, if robots are programmed and designed for humans to have the ability to interact with them, then there will be a strong potential for attraction. But a human must understand the key word "PROGRAMMED." A robot is programmed to share the same interests but does not have emotions and, therefore, cannot fall in love with it's apparent significant other. How are you supposed to marry someone to something that doesn't understand the concept of marriage on an emotional level? The robot may look and talk like it's in "love" with the human but it wouldn't have any emotional attachment to it's "significant other."

And what about reproduction?

"Voters Roundly Reject MMP"

The article discusses how the mixed-member proportional in Ontario was voted against by over half of the voters. Supporters of MMP argue that Elections Ontario didn't do enough to inform the voters of what they were voting on. "It appeared many voters simply didn't get the information they needed to decide," said a supporter of a mixed-member proportional in Ontario.

If the entire voting population was not informed of the situation, then the results were skewed. Many voters against the MMP argue that since more than half of the voters voted against, then the result is clearly a no. But if the population was generally well-informed about the new system, would've the results been different? Maybe, maybe not. Anyways, since (apparently) most of the voters WEREN'T well-informed, the vote can not be viewed as what the voters do want.