Archive for the ‘Cruising on the Information Superhighway’ Category

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Happy Blogiversary to Me!!!!!!

Monday, October 27th, 2008

Greetings one and all, today is a very very special day for me, and more importantly, this blog which I am currently writing on, and you are currently reading from. Two years ago on this very day, I typed some very fateful words, which would impact my life from then on:

“Friday, October 27, 2006…a day which will live in infamy. I have officially joined the blogosphere. I don’t so much have a concept, theme, or general idea as to what to have here but rest assured it should be filled with awesomeness.”

That’s right today is my anniversary of beginning to blog!!! Just as I did one year ago, I will once more go through my myriad of categories that I blog about (or blogegories as I like to call them), where I’ll highlight one or two of my personal favourite posts on the matter.

The objective of this is to:

a) Get people new to this blog get an idea of what they are in for with my highly distractable nature and desire to write about just about anything.

b) Introduce a bit more of myself to people who I have recently met in this crazy place called the “Real World”.

c) Help long time followers get refreshed on any of my older posts.

d) Give me a post to make without having to generate any original concepts.

e) Give my blog a new outfit for its birthday, hope you like it!!!

So whichever reason you are reading this…enjoy!!!

About G: This topic was reserved for stuff that is about me as a person, including my “Glen Facts” and “Insights into my Twisted Mind” which have been mostly discontinued. My favourite post in this category remains “My 2006 (12/19/06)“, which chronicled a roller-coaster of a year for me. Since then, my self-centered posts have diminished, possibly because I think that this one would be hard to top.

Cruising on the Information Superhighway: This is a category reserved for information about the information superhighway, also known as the “Internet” to some. Since this has not been a huge focus of mine, this is a relatively small category. The last post that I have made on this topic was back in January, and is perhaps the best of the bunch, “The First 20th Century War (01/26/08)” where I look at the war declared by most of the internet on the Church of Scientology that was taking place at the start of this year. While not much has come of it in recent months, I do genuinely believe that there will be some interesting long-term consequences of this “war”.

Glen News: Yet another Glen-centered category, which does not get posted too often anymore. While this seemed to dominate my early posting habits, that really has diminished of late. Probably the most relevant is “News on the Glen Front (02/12/08)” where I explain exactly how I came to be living in China in the first place.

Happy [Insert Holiday Here]: I hate to cop out here, but I think that I have two favourite posts in this category, and well, it’s my blog, so you’re going to damn well like my choices!!! The first one to share is my “Christmas Shopping List (12/04/07)”, where I outline my plans for the gifts I plan to give different individuals, a few of which actually happened! The other, is a much older post where I look back at the progress that still needs to be made in honour of Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in “What Would He Say Now? (1/15/07)“.

Hockey and Other Sports: My most plentiful category on this blog!!! This is one that tends to get posted in furies, especially during playoff, or trade deadline time. As the title suggests, most of my posts have been about hockey, but there remains the occasional post about other sports…but again, mostly hockey. I think that my favourite hockey posts where the two part posts “Eastern Conference No-Star Team (01/13/08)” and “Western Conference No-Star Team (01/14/08)”, as due to a well placed link they are among my most viewed posts here. Hoorah.

Muzzak: Another tag that seems to come in spurts, is music. While I Have had lots of fun writing my two “Thumbs Up and Down” posts so far, and my “Empowering Break-up” playlist remains my most viewed post, I am going to have to give my favourite one of these to “Lovers Music (02/14/08)”, must be the romantic in me.

Random Tales: Like “About G” and “Glen News” these posts have fallen behind after a rapid beginning. Partly because I have been able to fit any stories into different categories, and partly because I have other things to talk about I suppose. If I had to choose two favourites it would be a pair of posts from my first time in China, where I get myself into two very different situations “The Universality of Kindness (4/15/07)” and “Fall Behind, Left Behind (04/23/08)”.

Rants: Last year, this was my biggest category, but now it’s far lower on the rank. I suppose that is very telling. In retrospection, I think that my favourite post on this was one that I made just before my Anniversary post last year, so it missed the cut due to its recent nature, “The Outing of Albus (10/24/08)”, where I look at Rowling’s revelation that Dumbeldore is gay, and how offensive that is, but not necessarily for the same reason that you would think.

Rasslin’: My guiltiest of guilty pleasures, the world of professional wrestling. Posting in this topic usually gets pretty intense around Wrestlemania time, but shows up at other random times. While I have a great deal of fun preparing to write any of my Wrestlemania predictions, or hype posts, the ones that took the most out of me where the pair of posts I made about Chris Benoit. “Shock and Horror (06/27/08)” immedietly after the horryifing incident and “The Benoit Diaries (12/18/2007)” almost six months later. Since writing that last post I have watched a Chris Benoit match, and it made me feel quite uncomfortable. Being a fan of someone who is a known murder is a tough thing to have to deal with, and I don’t know if I ever will be able to.

Real Politiking: Now here is one that has been getting a lot of posting recently, with two North American elections taking place. While I received some great comments for my “Outsider’s Perspective” back in September in the build up to the Canadian election, I think that I got the most enjoyment writing “Finally (06/04/08)” and could celebrate Barrack Obama being declared the Democratic Nominee for President. In a year’s time I know that I am going to celebrate my post celebrating his presidency…

Remixes and Collaborations: The posts where I get a little help from my friends (shades of John Lennon). There have been several other contributors to this blog, but I think that I have to give the nod to “Finals Prediction (05/26/08)”, since yes, Jeff went 14-1 in the playoffs last year with many bonus points for correct series length, blah, blah blah.

Teachin and Learnin’: Posts about my job tend to come few and far between, but when they come they are usually posts that I put a lot of thought into. Few had more thought last year than “Reflecting on my Vocation (01/20/08)”, which was a speech that I made to my school last year and referenced Napolean Dynamite and talked about the Ninja Turtles. You know that makes you want to click on that link…

Travelling Tales: This is one category which I expect to see lots of new posts coming in the new year, given that I live far, far away from home. One to get you set up for the posts to come would be “Logging My Journey (08/24/08)”, where I love blog my very long flight across the Pacific Ocean to get to China.

Tree Hugging Hippie Crap: One of the smallest, but most important categories here on this blog. I feel that every post that I make in this category is somehow important. While it was ignored, I had a good time writing (and get a chuckle everytiem I re-read) my “Open Letter to the Minister of the Environment (12/09/07)”. Needless to say Mr. Baird has yet to reply.

Vegan Talk: Like the above category, it is small but well intentioned. If anyone really wants to get why I am a vegan, I would suggest that they give “It Ain’t Easy Being Green – Take 1 – Pacifism (9/17/07)”, a gander and perhaps any of the others that peak your interest.

Videos: Just a label for any posts that contain videos, with this one being my favourite, and the best of the bunch…


As if anything could be better than that….

Why I Love…: A recurring theme that gets its own label. This has a wide range from an album, to a politician, to an author, to a movie franchise, but “Why I Love Bloggin’ (4/16/07)“, holds a special insight into why I keep doing this.

291 posts and counting….

Here’s to one more year!!!

Until next time,

G

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Some Random Videos to Share

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

Yeah I haven’t done this in a while, I guess I’ve been distracted with hockey/school/life…anyway, here are the results from my latest bit of YouTube screening for your benefit…

Let’s start with a great song from a great band, that many of you have probably never heard The Guillemots new single “Falling Out of Reach”.

Yeah, I love Obama, no questions asked. Here is a clip where he admits to “Inhaling Frequently” on The Chris Matthew Show.

This next video is a little long, but was made for Earth Day last week. It’s really powerful, and make me not want to anger our Photoshopped god.

Here is a wicked/awesome video of the best goals scored in the NHL this season…I think it should have just been the Nash against Phoenix goal played for the whole time, but what do I know?


Now this, is why we have Birth Control ladies and gentlemen…



Like Stanley Kubrick movies? Well how about ALL of them?

Here is a fantastic duet by M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel singing “You Really Got a Hold on Me”…amazing…not sure what the heck the video means though

In the last one, I give you an even more amazing duet…Snoop Dog and Willie Nelson….can you say surprise Presidential Candidates?

Awesome eh?

How could I possibly top something awesome with another video?

Until next time,

G

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Some Random Videos to Share

Sunday, February 24th, 2008

So I haven’t done one of my random YouTube-Trollings-for-Blog-Content-so-you-can-Save-Time-and-I-Don’t-Have-to-Think-Up-New-Content style posts in a while, but my lord, there is a lot of great stuff on this thing called the internet.

I’m going to start out with one of the best goals of this century, scored by Future-Superstar-of-Tomorrow, Jonathan Toewvs of the Chicago Blackhawks. I’m sorry for the annoying commentators, but just revel in the awesomeness that is this goal.

On the spirit of such awesomeness, here is the video by Will.I.am, with Barack Obama, for “Yes, we can”. Man it’s inspirational…

On the other end, we have Hilary Clinton, saying “Shame on you”, I guess she’s going for a different kind of inspiration to get people to vote for her, the kind that you get when your mother is nagging and guilting you and you have no choice but to do what she says…I guess that could work…

For the record, Hilary says that she doesn’t support NAFTA, yet she claims to be part of the other Clinton administration, which you know, signed the thing into being…interesting…my last political video comes from the site “Barely Political”, promoting their YouTube Channel, I must say “I’m not paying shit for this” is possibly the funniest line I’ve heard in a while…

The most logical transition from American Politics is to religion! Well sort of, because the following clip really makes me believe in reincarnation. See it is a National Geographic clip of a group of the Japanese Giant Hornets attacking a hive of regular honey bees.

Why does this make me believe in reincarnation? See, I’m fairly certain that Nazis, rapists, and people who don’t recycle will get reborn as honey bees that anger these hell-spawn wasps who extract their karmic vengeance by ripping them in half en mass. The last thought running through their brains as they watch their torsos fly away, is knowing that their freakin’ children will be fed to baby Hell-spawns, who will grow up and rip you apart in your next life…that’ll teach them for not sorting their garbage.

To lighten the mood after that thought, here is a 3 year old retelling the story of Star Wars!

Adorable eh?

And I’ll end this off with my latest musical crush, move over Lily Allen, you’ve got some competition in the name of Ingrid Michaelson.

Until next time,

G

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The First 21st Century War

Saturday, January 26th, 2008

Here we sit eight years into the twenty-first century, and we now find ourselves at a very important, and historically significant juncture, just last week, our world plunged into war for the first time this century. Now I know what you’re thinking, that the current war in Iraq is almost five years old, so what war could I possibly be talking about?

Before, I answer that question, I need to explain something. The Iraq war is not a 21st Century War in any way, shape or form. For starters, in a typical US Foreign Policy move, no official declaration of War was made. In fact the United States has only officially been at war four times, the War of 181, the Spanish-American War, and both World Wars. All other times they have taken “Police Actions” or other vague terms which mean that they are not as inclined to follow the rules of war.

Secondly, and most importantly, this is plain and simply a 20th Century War. The comparisons between this Iraq War and the Vietnam War have been made time and time again. There was no real mission, no clear objective, facts were distorted or ignored to sway public opinion, they were both largely unpopular, really I could go on, but that would be a topic for another post, hopefully you get the point. The “Good Guys Coming to the Rescue” Model which seemed to work in both World Wars and in Korea, failed in Vietnam, and seemed to be a success in the first Iraq War, has failed miserably this time around. The Bush Administration has been using the 20th Century narrative of Us vs. Them, Good vs. Evil, and Freedom vs. Tyranny, to confront a 21st Century Problem.

While this model may have worked very well before, there is something very important that has changed, the access to information. One of the simple reasons that Vietnam failed, was because of Walter Cronkite and the evening news. The harsh realities of the war were broadcast directly to Americans so they became much more open to the realities of the time, and subsequently rejected the notions of the establishment at the time.

Fast forward to 1991 and the next American “War”, this time in Iraq. By this point, the establishment had learned how to use the television in their favour and not against them, and were able to twist their message around and ensure that people saw what they wanted to see, and low and behold, we have a popular American war in the name of “Freedom” (i.e. oil).

We fast forward again another decade and a bit, and the world is a very different placeYet despite the different world, we are given by and large the same message to support another war in Iraq. The establishment proved great, yet again, at controlling the spin on television, as CNN, Fox News, and the major news networks in the United States, broadcast news that largely supports the War in Iraq, regardless of what they may say now. But there is one very different thing that the Bush Administration did not take into account, the little machine that I currently type on, and you currently read this blog on. That’s right they forgot about the internet. This day and age, information and ideas are able to spread like wildfire. People were able to learn almost immediately that the Bush Administration was lying about the Weapons of Mass Destructions, which anyone with half a brain would have known before, no wonder Fox News never figured it out. Yet it took people a solid four decades to figure out the the Gulf of Tonkin Incident was exaggerated and/or fabricated, making it pretty irrelevant at this point.

So what’s my point here? That the Iraq War has been a failure because the United States is busy waging a 20th Century War in the 21st Century. Just like World War I can really be seen as the last war of the 19th Century instead of the first war of the 20th Century, due the 19th century’s narrative featuring the rise of nationalism and liberalism, the Iraq War can hopefully be seen as the last 20th Century war, due to that century’s narrative of the rise of individualism, shifting public opinion and political dissent.

So while the last war of the 20th Century rages on, without an end in sight, last week the first war of the 21st Century was declared, fittingly, on the internet. With this video, the nature of war has changed.

Yeah it’s cheesy, yeah it’s weird, but I’ll be damned if it’s not historically important. A hacker group known only as Anonymous has officially declared war on the Church of Scientology, called Project Chanology. In the past week, since war has been declared, many official Scientology websites have been hacked and crashed, the Church has received many prank phone calls and “black faxes”. Anonymous has also obtained many of the Church’s official secret documents and posted them on file sharing websites, and has organized many protests outside of Scientology Churches. They have also repeatedly posted these videos of Tom Cruise extolling the virtues of Scientology that was initially removed by Scientology’s notoriously powerful legal squad. I’m not sure how long this video will be up, so please leave a comment if it’s down and I will find a way to repost them.

Note the lines in the first video of “I don’t hesitate to put ethics on somebody else” and “We are the authorities on the mind”…and I really don’t know how they come up with this number of 1.037 billion, and I like how they included “…of Earth” at the end. Which needless to say, is pretty interesting, considering their supposed fundamental creation myth.

Scientology has responded by placing a $5000 bounty on the head of the hackers, and have shut down several Anonymous related websites, and have repeatedly relied on copyright laws to threaten the people who host the videos and documents.

Needless to say, this is going to get really interesting in a hurry. This is the first time that we have seen an anonymous (pardon the pun) group declare total war on an established organization in a very long time. Previous wars have started with a shot, but yet this one begins with a click. Both side appear ready for battle for a variety of reasons, and I expect this to be a very long, drawn out process.

What I find so very interesting about this, is just how 21st Century this conflict is. I think that someday historians will look at the beginning of the 21st Century as the “Me Age”, characterized by the individuals total empowerment. Because of technology, every day people like you and I, have more power than ever imagined. We can shape the lives of people on the other side of the planet in literally an instant. As shown on September 11th, 2001, a group of individuals can paralyze a nation. Here we are a little over half-a-decade after that event, and people are beginning to realize this fact.

This marks the beginning of the pendulum swing that began in the 19th Century. Then we saw collectives of people fight against the individual tyrants, in the 20th Century we saw collectives fight against one another, and now at the beginning of the 21st Century with this “war”, we are seeing individuals fight against collective tyrants.

While this “war” probably has no immediate effect on your life, mark my words, it’s outcome is important to all of us. This is a war of The Individual vs. The Collective, which I feel will be a hallmark of the 21st century. However, instead of being fought with guns and bombs, this war is being fought with something far more powerful, information. This war is going to be decided by whoever is able to spin the truth more aggressively, and effectively.

While I assume more “wars” of this sort will be fought in the coming years in grander, and grander style, make no mistake about it, this is something that history will look back on as a defining point in our information age. History is happening right here, history is happening right now on your computer screen, be sure to pay attention to it.

I leave you now with another of Anonymous’s videos, this one to the media…enjoy…


Until next time,

G

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One Present Delivered

Wednesday, December 5th, 2007

Just yesterday, I started making my Christmas shopping list, and it turns out that Christmas is coming early for Mark Zuckerberg and co. This morning, the founder of everyone’s favourite social network, posted on the Facebook blog, that the controversial application, Beacon is no longer being forced upon everyone!

For those of you unfamiliar with Beacon, it was a new application recently launched by Facebook. Where third party web-sites that sign up (and presumably give Facebook exorbitant amounts of money) and any actions taken by Facebook users at these sites was posted to their profile. Facebook’s business site, mentions “…purchasing a product, signing up for a service, adding an item to a wish list, and more…”. So, for anyone wanting to go and do some on-line shopping, it would then get posted to their feed and all of their friends would know.

While this is clearly a fantastic advertising tool, it, of course, raises a ton of privacy issues. In the most assinine of levels, if I decide that I want to add a Nintendo Wii to an on-line wish list (which gets posted through my feed), and then I notice that my mother buys a Nintendo Wii (posted through her feed) then guess what? CHRISTMAS IS OFFICIALLY RUINED!!!!

Of course, there are much deeper privacy issues at stake here, especially with the McCarthy-era-xenophobia that seems to be going on south of the border. If Facebook (or anyone else) finds that I have just bought a few books on horticulture, and then looked at some pictures of Amsterdam, all of a sudden I am clearly housing a grow-op according to the good people of the internet. It really just gives an opportunity for those in power (i.e. governments and corporations) to keep better tabs on people not in power (i.e. me), and I’ll be damned if I want that to happen! The UK’s Information Commisioner was quoted as saying that we are “sleep-walking into a surveillance society“, and this is a great example of our collective narcolepsy on the issue of our own privacy.

When I first joined Facebook (apparnetly a year ago tomorrow judging by that link…) I was worried that it would be too “Big Brother” but was convinced that it wasn’t by people who actually used it. It seems that maybe I was right all along after all…

In a less apocalyptic vein, I think that Beacon, and things like, are a great example of the radical paradigm shift that has been taking place on-line recently. The initial appeal of the internet in it’s early days (i.e. 1996) was the complete and utter anonymity. If you wanted to tell someone that you were a 23 year old blonde with a smoking body, there was no problem. People loved that about the internet, a chance to leave the crappy real world behind and make your own. However, this seems to be a thing of the past.

While you can still post a model’s profile picture, or be that Night Elf Mohawk, you still give out your birthday, your address, your credit card, and so many more personal facts about yourself, that your on-line self is getting closer and closer to your real self. When you add in the fact that sites are tracking down your shopping habits for their own “word of mouth” style advertising, it becomes harder and harder to do what the internet was meant to do, escape.

For example, a solid 10 months ago, I removed all references of my last name here at this blog. I just wanted it to be a little separate from my real life, yet if you do a Google search for my full name, this site is 2nd on the list. I legitimately have no idea as to just how Google tracks down words on this site that are no longer there, unless it links it to my e-mail, which includes my last name, or my personal information, I don’t understand how I can still be found so easily. Kind of scares me…

The truly scary, and sad part of all of this, is that we have no way of going back to the Golden Age of Anonymity where we really could be a super stud or half-elf paladin, instead here we are very clearly being ourselves once more. I guess we can all mark down November 6, 2007 (the date of the official launch of Beacon) as “The Day the Internet Died”.

Ah well, it had a good run…

Until next time,

G

P.S. For all Facebook users, be sure to go to your “Privacy” tab in the top left of your pane and then to the link marked “External Websites” and tick off the box that says “Don’t allow any websites to send stories to my profile”, trust me, it’ll be worth it someday…

P.P.S. It turns out the Sens won tonight as well…that’s TWO presents delivered, now I just need to start working on that anti-zombie-spray…

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Some More Random Videos to Share

Sunday, December 2nd, 2007

Greetings and salutations, friends, it is now time for one of the many (ir)regular features here at Getting Glenergized.  I’ve scoured the beauty that is YouTube and found some of the best things that I can find, hope you enjoy…

First we have a great interview from about a month ago with Russian Chess-Champion-Turned-Political-Activist, Garry Kasparov with Bill Maher.  Kasparov’s passion and eloquence is truly inspirational, I wish that we had politicians like that…

Embedded Video

On the other hand, we have idiots like this in North America, as we have a “scientist” try and talk about how Global Warming is not happening…I swear, someday people will look at idiots like this the same way we look at Holocaust Deniers.  Stupid Fox News for giving this assclown a soapbox…

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As for people who actually care about the environment, there is this really cool story about a guy who made his own island with a bunch of plastic bottles…too cool for words!!!

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And now with something even more serious…a Lego Verison of the Trailer for 300

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Now I’ve talked about my hetero-sexual man crush on Chris Jericho before…but here is how awesome his return was, as the code was finally revealved…

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Speaking of Jericho, there is this clip from Slamboree 1998, when he introduced every wrestler in a battle royal, it’s definetly what made me a fan of his. Even if you don’t like wrestling, you’ll probably find this one funny…

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And lastly, are you addicted to the song from the newest iPod commercial? I know I am, here is the whole song, “Music is My Hot, Hot Sex” by CSS…

Embedded Video

Man that song is catchy…

Alrightie, I need to go and watch it again, and again, and again…

Until next time,

G

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Happy Birthday to…

Sunday, October 28th, 2007

…ME!!!

Well, ok, maybe not me as in Glen, but me as in Getting Glenergized. That’s right, 365 days ago I made the following post…

“Friday, October 27, 2006…a day which will live in infamy. I have officially joined the blogosphere. I don’t so much have a concept, theme, or general idea as to what to have here but rest assured it should be filled with awesomness.

Tune in to find out!!!“

So here I sit, in front of a computer, typing away once more, and my opening post still rings true. I have no idea what the “concept, theme, or general idea” for this blog will be. I began posting quite a bit about myself and any of my adventures, but since then it has changed, as I have tried to make as many posts about politics, sports, the environment, wrestling, or (like the banner says), whatever the heck else I feel like.

Since I can’t make a vegan cake for a website, I have decided that in honour of my Blogiversary, I went through each of my categories here on this site and found what I consider to be the best post in each of them. This way, if you are new to me or my blog and want to get a sense of what/who I am then this is your chance, but if you are someone who has been checking this out for a while, you can go on a little trip down memory lane.


About G: We kick of with my most narcissistic category, the one devoted solely to me, and things about my life. I started this one out when I was posting my “Random Acts of Glenness” posts, but it has changed to be a tag for anything where I divulge any insight into my own past/personality. My favourite post in this category was definetly “My 2006 (12/19/06)“, where I described the details of a pretty tumultuous year. It probably was the last post where I focused on myself so much, having got all that I needed to say out of my system.

Cruising on the Information Superhighway: Now this is an odd categot, that I don’t really post in too much. It’s essentially just anything related to this wonderful thing called the internet. My post of choice would be “My Life is Now Over, and I Couldn’t Be Happier (12/6/06)“, where I cave into the great temptation that is Facebook. I was right all along, it certainly did take over my life…uggh…

Glen News: Yet another egotistical category of mine. This one about news in my own life, such as graduation, getting a job, or some of the details of my trip to China, including the post “Culture Shock (5/30/07)“, where I talk about going through a brief period of reverse culture shock after I get home.

Happy [Insert Holiday Here]: Instead of focusing just on me, these are the posts where I pass on some holiday wishes. Of course the usual suspects like Christmas and Hallowe’en are there, but I also try to include less celebrated days such as Guy Fawkes Night, Holocaust Memorial Day, or my Martin Luther King Day post, “What Would He Say Now? (1/15/07)“.

Hockey and Other Sports: In attempt to assert some masculinity I discuss sports here on a semi-regular basis, with the vast majority of the focus being on hockey, including my Fantasy Pool, mine and Troy’s Predictaculars, or my personal favourite the newly debuted feature, “The Puck Stop – Episode I (10/15/07)“.

Muzzak: And yet another of my nerdy passions comes through. My music posts are generally talkign about how great The Arcade Fire, and Broken Social Scene are. I have made a few attempts at creating solid playlists, with “Music to Break-Up To (12/7/06)“, being one of my proudest achievements. Oddly, this has been my most visited post since I started blogging. I guess there are always sad people out there.

Random Tales: This is a big category, where really, I just fill in some random story of my own that may be either entertaining or enlightening. In the past year I don’t think that there was any story more personally meaningful than “The Universality of Kindness (4/15/07)“.

Rants: The biggest category here, were essentially I just get on my high horse and rant about something bothering me. I have taken many posts out of this category by creating a few more, but these are the ones that slip through the crack. My first official rant, “Hallowe’en – The Critical Analysis (11/1/06)“, holds a special place in my heart.

Rasslin’: I originally started hiding my most nerdy of passions from this blog, but then Travis had the idea for a joint post where we discuss wrestling (originally for his blog, which hasn’t really been updated…), and hten I just began letting loose with many wrestling related posts. If I had to make one pick it would be “Heel Heat – Episode 3 (9/15/07)“, mainly because I’m proud of my Photoshop work on the logo.

Real Politiking: The first splinter from the “Rants” category, and a nerdy historical homage to Otto Von Bismark. I usually stick to Canadian politics in here, but “The Death of a President (6/21/07)“, is probably my post of choice in this category.

Remixes and Collaborations: So this one isn’t really a category in and of itself, it is just a tag I put on any posts that feature some outside input. The contributors thus far have been McNutt, Travis, Kory and Troy, who have done a great job of stopping me from having to think up original content. I have a soft spot in my heart for “Shades of Wrestlemania – Part I (3/23/07)“, because it had three special guests coming together in a pretty great post.

Teachin and Learnin’: If the name doesn’t tip it off to you, these are posts where I talk about some of the issues I face as either a teacher, or before as a B.Ed student. My favourite post, not only in this category, but that I have made is more than likely ‘“The Kids Are Alright” or “Why the Hell Do You Want to be a Teacher???” (1/10/07)‘

Travelling Tales: A blanket post for anything about travelling, either while I was in China or looking back at any travels in Europe or Asia. A few days after I returned from China and wrote “Why I Love China (6/1/07)“, which still rings true to me.

Tree Hugging Hippie Crap: Just last week, after realizign just how many of my rants were about the environment, I realized that I needed a seperate category and here we are. I am a big fan of “And the Counter Attack Begins…(2/01/07)“, just because it uses Stephen Harper’s own words to show just how little he cares about the environment.

Vegan Talk: Another new addition to the fold. I had made a few posts about animal rights, but they were pretty few and far between. About a month ago, I decided to start a feature explaining why I am a vegan, with “It Ain’t Easy Being Green – Take 2 – The Environment (9/26/07)” being something I’m expecially proud of.

Videos: Ok, so this is actually the biggest tab I have, but it just comes up every time I make a post with a video in it. I’m not going to look through all of them, I’m just going to make a post of the greatest gift YouTube has ever given us…

Why I Love…: This is the only recurring feature that merits its own category, because it really just fits in everywhere, “Why I Love Bloggin’ (4/16/07)“, my special 100th post holds a special spot and is probably the best insight into why I keep at this blog thing.

Well that concludes this special birthday post, I hope that you’ve all enjoyed the past year in cyber-space as much as I have!!!

Until next time,

G

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Well Said Albert…

Monday, October 8th, 2007

Hey there blogosphere, I have a really random post to make for you to today. I was cruising along the webernets when I came along a wonderful essay by none other than Albert Einstein. It is not about quantum physics, time travel or anything else that I don’t understand, no, it’s just everyday musing about life in general by one of the greatest minds of all time.

I agree with almost everything that the man says because well, let’s face it, I’m no Einstein…but he sure is!

Without further ado…

“How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people — first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving…
“I have never looked upon ease and happiness as ends in themselves — this critical basis I call the ideal of a pigsty. The ideals that have lighted my way, and time after time have given me new courage to face life cheerfully, have been Kindness, Beauty, and Truth. Without the sense of kinship with men of like mind, without the occupation with the objective world, the eternally unattainable in the field of art and scientific endeavors, life would have seemed empty to me. The trite objects of human efforts — possessions, outward success, luxury — have always seemed to me contemptible.

“My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a ‘lone traveler’ and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude…”

“My political ideal is democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual and no man idolized. It is an irony of fate that I myself have been the recipient of excessive admiration and reverence from my fellow-beings, through no fault, and no merit, of my own. The cause of this may well be the desire, unattainable for many, to understand the few ideas to which I have with my feeble powers attained through ceaseless struggle. I am quite aware that for any organization to reach its goals, one man must do the thinking and directing and generally bear the responsibility. But the led must not be coerced, they must be able to choose their leader. In my opinion, an autocratic system of coercion soon degenerates; force attracts men of low morality… The really valuable thing in the pageant of human life seems to me not the political state, but the creative, sentient individual, the personality; it alone creates the noble and the sublime, while the herd as such remains dull in thought and dull in feeling.

“This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system, which I abhor… This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism — how passionately I hate them!

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery — even if mixed with fear — that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man… I am satisfied with the mystery of life’s eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence — as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature.”

– Einstein, Albert, “The World As I See It”, available at aip.org

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Until next time,

G

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Some More Random Videos to Share

Friday, October 5th, 2007

Here we are, back in what I hope to be a monthly feature here as I scour YouTube and share it with you my devoted blogeroos…

Our first video is a trailer for a movie, which if judged by cast alone could go down as the greatest film of all time…move over Citizen Kane we’ve got Juno coming here!!!

We have a CLASSIC clip of Stephen Colbert on The Daily Show when he was “live from London” and talking about allegations about Prince Charles’ sexuality. It’s one of the few times where he actually looses it…

I was shocked when I heard this song on a car commercial, I feel it is my duty to spread the whole song and video to you, the masses…

It’s no question that Chuck Norris is amesome, but there is a question that needs to be answered…will Chuck Norris blend???

Wicked band, wicked album, wicked song, wicked video…

This is what $7.5 mill will get you…

That looks like a good spot to end it…do you like that one Leafs Nation? Ha ha ha ha, suckers…

Until next time,

G

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Further Cosmetic Changes

Sunday, September 16th, 2007

So I think that I’m finally happy with how my blog looks now. As you probably noticed I have been playing around with the logo at the top of your screen right now, and I like the one that I’ve got…for now.

Also, if you scroll down a bit and look at your right you will notice a couple of amazing things that I added courtesy of last.fm, which is something that I first talked about several months ago. First off, I have gone back to the “Top Artists This Week” since I am once again regularly connected to the webernets, and I have also added two separate players. The top is my own personal playlist of songs that I have added for your rockin‘ pleasure, and the seconds is a radio station that the site allows users to set up, I simply decide on an artist and it will play songs by that artist or ones that are similar. So I proudly introduce my first Artist of the week, a wonderful band called The Guillemots, who were recommended to me by a travel buddy, Stephen, back in May, and I finally got around to listening to them. So check back on a semi-regular basis to listen to whoever I have been listening to of late.

I hope that you like the changes I have made to the blog, I think that it will be the end of them…for now….

Until next time,

G

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