The lies we tell (My views on the global recession)

The financial meltdown that tipped to a boiling point when the housing market in the United States collapsed, has given rise to a whole new way of shopping.

Retail stores, restaurants, large scale corporations, automobiles.......to name a few are part of the industry wide recession that has resulted in a rollback of spending on behalf of consumers. In an article by the North Bay Journal, restaurant owners in particular have noted an up to 50% drop in revenue from last year.

Now many of us have possibly been feeling the squeeze as well. For those who live, or have family who live in toronto, there will be a 4% rise in property tax in the coming year. It is no doubt that graduating students are now considering further education at a record high to avoid the job hunt crunch now that companies are laying off employees in the thousands. However, with all of these implications, most of them I feel represent the greater good for society, particularly north american society, and the fall of consumerism.

Perhaps we can blame the media, or we can blame movies, but ultimately, the housing crisis that spun the recession out of control, was a direct result of people decieving themselves. People were buying homes from banks, and banks were so willing to take money, that they began to offer mortgages with almost $0 down. People were living out dreams and forgot about reality, watching television and being envious of the rich and affluent. They fell into the trap, that money was the solution, and were compensating for themselves through this belief and consumerism.

That lie had to end somewhere, and when these banks were unable to retrieve any of the money for these homes that they had sold, the system began to collapse because there wasn't enough capital to continue this rapid consumption, this onus on debt. It has shaken the very foundation of capitalism to a world audience and finally reminded people of their abusive ungrateful lifestyles. While we are afforded almost anything that a rational person would desire, people experience incredible hardships of an unfathomable magnitude. Thus our only way to appease this desire is to consume more, and soon enough it consumes ourselves.

The recession represents a shift in philosophy, that consuming is not the means to our happiness. When you consider that in 1995, Canada's ecological footprint was 4.3 in comparison to the world average of 1.8, you begin to see the bigger picture of global disparity.

Before we used to live in a society of wants, and now many of us are mainly concerned about our needs.The needs of the average person in most parts of the world are not only oppressed, but undermined, and it's about time we make a change.

Check my post tomorrow as I will lay out 10 everyday things you can do to limit your spending, and remain debt free!

What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.......right??

So I went to the Campus Rec gym and hit the weights for the first time in ages yesterday! I felt like superman, breezing through set after set...invigorated and PUMPED...until I woke up the next morning and my body felt like it had been crushed by a wrecking ball. It's a good kinda pain though, you know?

There's TONS of machines to work with at the new rec centre, it's awesome, and even offers an indoor track! Nothing compares to a great workout, and especially considering exam season is creeping up for most of us it works well as a de-stresser as well.

It's really important to make sure you have a solid meal after a good workout to replenish your body and load it with nutrients to help it recuperate (might I suggest the Banana Bread Shake??)
and most of all.........REST! Resting is KEY!

And of course, I gotta leave you with some wise motivating words from the Governator himself

Happy (BELATED) Valentines!

So amidst all those who seek to demean this overly commercialized holiday, I prefer to appreciate the positive message it offers. When was the last time you sat down and REALLY spent time for the SAKE of spending it. Valentine's day is over done with chocolates, candies, flowers....take the time this year to just spend time with that significant other, or if you don't have one, get together with some friends and just kick back and relax......SPREAD THE LOVE!

So all that being said........my girlfriend and I spent valentine's yesterday at the extravagant (that about sums it up) Windermere Manor!

Highly recommend it for anyone looking for a romantic night, and great food!

It's a beautifulllll dayyyy!!

It is BEAUTIFULLLLLLLLL OUTSIDE! The sun bright rays seem to have brightened a lot more people today at work. People were coming in with big smiles on their faces, and I can't help but think that a lot of it is attributed to the weather!!

Studies have shown that warm weather boosts mood, and broadens minds. Although humans are warm blooded and thus regulate our body heat internally through increased heart rate for example. Here is what I think is going on. We rely more upon our environment to give us warmth, and in that sense in frigid conditions it becomes more difficult for our bodies to compensate in sub zero temperatures. As such, if our bodies aren't pumping as much blood as they should, then that means we're getting less blood pumped into our brains, and with an inadequate amount of blood going into the brain, our brains don't function appropriately.

Now that's not an empirical statement by any means, but it's worth a shot. However, even more importantly, and something I've always wondered about is the relation between good/bad days and the factors that underlying factors that affect them. Check out my response tomorrow

UWO Elections: People behind the scenes....

In class we had a thorough discussion about the campaigns of the numerous USC presidential candidates. From Tabitha to Stephen (WHO THE ****??), we explored the numerous mediums that these candidates have, and could have used. From facebook (the obvious favourite between the presidential candidates) to creating a campaign blog, viral videos (I love my western), question and answer forums, clearly the candidates have a lot more than their two hands can muster.

So where does all of that extra help come from? The selfless and tireless efforts of the campaign managers, hype teams, PR folks, results in an incredible display of tenacity, guts and the desire to allow someone to actualize their dreams. That's deep........that's profound, that's some serious love!

But I wanna take the time to give a shout out not only to the candidates for doing a phenomenal job (well most of them.......STEPHEN WHO THE ****???), but to ALL the people for making it happen. Kudos to the altruistic nature that is inherent in the spirit of competition, I'll be back tomorrow to round out this post with the results!

Relax........

I found an AWESOME video demonstrating the correct way to meditate. The narrator does a great job as well. Sure it may not seem like the "hip" thing to do, but I'm telling you, meditating for just 5 minutes a day can make a world of a difference in adjusting energy levels. Experts may suggest 15 minutes or more, but you can always work your way up.

10 Reasons Why Wal Mart costs more than it saves!!!

For anyone that knows me I HATE HATE HATE WAL MART. I refuse to shop there, and try my best to avoid the store like the plague. Sure dirt cheap prices are appealing, but not in exchange for slave labor.

Now before the critics jump in and argue that most products sold here are likely produced through slave labor and that Wal Mart is just "playing the game"....that simply isn't the case. Wal Mart systematically:

1. eliminates competition, in some cases ridding a city of 3 jobs for every person it employs
   
2. manipulates the world market to the point that it has a greater capital share than many countries
3. Utilizes government subsidies, which cost American tax payers over 1 billion dollars in medicaid to support its under-paid employees. That starkly contrasts the fact that the company has more capital and assets than many countries around the world, such as Saudi Arabia for example
4. Manipulating the media and infringing upon free speech
5. Preventing labor unionization
   
6. Intimidating and harassing its employees
7. Discriminating its labor force through unfair and non-arbitrary hiring processes
8. Forcing ma and pa stores out of business, unable to compete with their under-paid and under-privileged sweatshops where most of their products are distributed
9. Subjecting people in third world countries to working for less than 15 cents an hour
   
10. Eating babies

Okay........the 10th one might be pushing it, but you get the point.

WATCH THE MOVIE!!!

Response to Michael Wesch: An Anthropological Introduction to Youtube

You know....for years people have been asking me....what the heck is M.I.T. anyway? I can come up with a flowery presentation of words acknowledging the programs goals of....well why don't you just read about it here

Even with a synopsis like that, it is still hard to describe what it IS that we are trying to develop, or gain from being M.I.T'ers. I think that question depends on the individual and their goals within the program, those looking for a more technically oriented approach may venture into programming or graphic design, while those with a knack for writing could become journalists. The results are endless, but if there's one thing for sure, M.I.T. is an ever-evolving study of the implications of mass communication and how our world is continually shaped by technologies everyday. Michael Wesch's video on youtube presents just that

The video made me nostalgic, for years I've wondered "where does my education fit in", what the heck am I going to be able to do with an MIT degree? While there is no definitive answer, paradoxically it has encouraged me to think and question. Implications are integral to understanding the nature of communicative technologies, and it is these implications which encourage us to think critically about the world around us.

It is on coincidence that the program's abbreviation is the same as the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and it is evident to me that this drive to become a pioneer and revolutionary in its field is being pieced together day by day by the students and individual contributors who continue to find greater meaning behind those three letters.

Web 2.0 is a fascinating example of how our lives are interwoven with the technologies that surround us, and in effect not only change, but shape our perspectives on our lives and the lives of others. Professor Wesch oriented us with Youtube crazes that spawned Lonelygirl15, and explores the allure of everyday life. We are plugged in, spectators to the world stage, and at times forget the joy derived from the most trivial and simple things in life.

Youtube brings that simplicity to life, sharing life's little moments for the world to view. Whether it's watching a guy falling down stairs

Or watching the music video for a song and asking yourself "WTF??"

We realize that we really have become a technoculture, and I dunno about any of you....but i'm certainly not complaining....

Mopey? You've been MUMPED!!

UWO along with many other Ontario universities have recently put in a mumps awareness initiative, and are encouraging students to drop by campus health clinics for a free vaccination.

The mumps, characterized by swelling and pain in the salivary glands according to the middlesex health unit, is a threat to those aged 17-37 who have been targetted as the main victims of infection. Although thee are no immediate threats from contracting the mumps, if left untreated increases the likelihood of other diseases such as brain infection.

Since the symptoms are prevalent, make sure that you go get checked out to be safe. Wouldn't want to miss out on the beautiful weather we have been having the last few days...especially considering spring break is RIGHT around the corner.

Sleep

Ever had those days where just keeping your eyelids open was a chore on its own? Those days when you felt tired and achy right when you woke up? I felt like that today, I was in Hamilton Ontario last night hosting a hip hop show and had to drive back at 1 am. I took a back road route (BADDD IDEAAA) to avoid the police as I was speeding home hoping to get as much shut eye as possible since I had work at 10 am the next day.

Needless to say, I woke up groggy, tired, agitated, and was just downright pissed off. It's easy to see why; studies on sleep demonstrate the increase in stress as a result of lack of sleep, and the greater likelihood that people will not be able to function properly or worse even doze off at the wheel.

So here are some sleep tips I've compiled from a variety of sources around the net! Enjoy and sleep easy!

1. Get 6 or more hours of sleep each night
2. Keep your sleeping patterns regulated (meaning try not to sleep 4 hours one night and 8 hours the next, throws your body's rhythm right off)
3. Avoid eating anything too filling or heavy before you sleep
4. Give yourself 5-10 minutes to cool down before you hit the hay (read a book!). Let your mind ease into sleep
   
5. Try not to sleep if you're stressed or anxious. Refer back to tip 4, and try to mellow out, allow your mind to calm itself.
   
6. If you've been drinking alcohol, water is a must!

And here's an interesting tidbit.....according to a sleep deprivation study by the National Center on Sleep Disorders, in the U.S. alone, $15.9 million dollars are lost every year from unproductive workers as a direct result of sleep loss, and $50 - 100 million are indirectly lost as a result of sleep loss as well! Seee???? Sleeping does pay off!

God Machine: Technology Tackles Religion

This is by Far one of the COOLESTTTT things I have ever read about.

Ladies and Gentlemen........meet...........THE GOD MACHINE!!! (DUM DUM DUMMMMMMMMM)

Justttt kidddingggg.........clearly a picture wouldn't do any God Machine justice, so that's why we have Youtube.


So basically, to paraphrase an article from the Guardian, the Large Hadron Collider (AKA the God Machine) will create two particle beams that will run in opposite directions engaging in multiple head on collisions that will supposedly (according to scientists) recreate the moments right after the big bang.......pretty much right when the entire universe supposedly began.

Needless to say, the $9 billion machine has peaked the interest of religious advocacy groups, government officials and scientists alike. When you nickname something the "God Machine" you better believe you're gonna attract serious attention, but I wonder if is all the result of an elaborate marketing/advertising scheme, or a cruel joke by those who are part of the God bashing scientific community.

I'm really looking forward to the insight that the machine is gonna have into the world of particle physics and more philosophically digging deeper into a question asked since the beginning of time "where did we come from". I'm mainly concerned with the likelihood of bandwagoners of this project who are going to presume that this machine is going to be the end all, the answer to all of our questions, and another example of how science triumphs yet again. I'm gonna wait for some results until I start putting my two cents in.

STATE OF THE LIVE WEB: Response

Whilst the U.S. and World economies have been failing issues in the news recently, along with the failed administration of President George W. Bush, according to David Sifry's (founder of Technorati, the web's leading blog search engine) 2007 blog post titled, STATE OF THE LIVE WEB, "The state of the Blogosphere is strong, and is maturing as an influential and important part of the web."

In Sifry's 2007 blog post, he marks explosive growth in the Blogosphere, from overall posts, to overall blogs to the marked increase of splogs as well. Sifry states, "Blogs continue to become more and more viable news and information outlets", and follows up by suggesting that users are now blurring the line between conventional and mainstay news outlets (such as the New York Times), and their blogosphere counterparts.

Globally, Japanese edged out English (37% to 36% respectively) as the language of choice for bloggers on the web, and the top 10 charts also introduced a new language bloggers language of choice, Farsi, marking the entry of the first Middle Eastern dialect since the inception of the blogosphere.

Tags (the means of linking blog keywords to posts or references outside of the blog, demonstrated with the purple highlighted text in this post) have also becoming increasingly popular. Nearly 35% of all users adopt the usage of tags in their posts.

So with all of that layed out, how does it all come together? This post is outdated, and with the explosive rate of growth of blogging (although the article also suggests that growth was levelling off in many ways aswell), it is unlikely that the numbers suggested in this article from 2007 are accurate. However, that is not to say that the trends remain the same and as a recent blog initiate, who started their own blog not too long ago, it is easy to why the blogosphere is growing so rapidly. The ability to seamlessly transition from article to article and the inter-connectedness of the blogosphere, has become and will continue to be one of the fastest growing web 2.0 techologies and within some years, may be the leading means of acquiring information.

Water Bottle Ban

There has been a lot of talk lately about the possible banning of water bottles, and London Ontario is expected to be one of the first cities in Canada to pursue the new law. Council officials voted overwhelmingly to ban the distribution and sale of water bottles on the grounds that it is environmentally immoral. Water is necessary for humans to survive, but the amount of pollution as a result of plastic waste is anywhere from 90 to 10000X the ecological footprint of tap water.

Personally, my family consumes water bottles like no tomorrow and neglects the environmental impact that each of these bottles has. For $3-4 you can get a 24 pack of water and with it being so cheap it's easy to undervalue and underappreciate the impact that the product has for the environment. Score one for the green team, and kudos to the Forest city for its assertive stance on the issue. I'm really hoping the rest of Canada keeps this ban moving along!

Cribs: Arab American

I'm of Arab origin, 100% Iraqi...scratch that, I'm about 1/4 Turkish three generations back which probably has something to do with the whole Ottoman influence in the Middle East years ago (gotta love history). I was born in the United States (Georgiaaa............Georgiaaaaa), raised in the T Dot, and moved over to the big L'Y (pronounced L, E....L dot is just lame) during my first year of university here at UWO.

I never really had too many Arab friends growing up outside of family, but when I got to UWO I became consumed with developing my Arab-ness. I was president of the Western Arab Students Association during my second year and dedicated everyday of that academic year to developing the club in anyway possible. Fundraisers, culture shows, parties, social issues, political issues, you name it! I loved every moment of it and although it was INCREDIBLYYYY FRUSTRATING at times, it was a key moment in my life as I began to identify myself with a culture that was truthfully quite foreign to me. Hence, the frustration :P

So for those of you who feel like Arabs are on a completely different spectrum, I thought I'd share this vid with you! Being in MIT and of Arab descent it's hard not to notice the media's slant on middle eastern culture being serious, non-conformist and oppressive in nature. Sometimes humor is the best way to get insight into foreign concepts and cultures (Russell Peters anybody????). Black Americans have poked fun at themselves for years. Whether or not it has had direct significance, I think the ability of Black Americans to satirize and parody their everyday lives has been essential to their liberative movement. Whether it was the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, The Jeffersons, or the Cosby show, the implications of these mainstream sitcoms can not be under-valued in their efforts in helping to educate the massess about the racial struggles of the black community. So with that........check it out.