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By Katie Kish, May 11, 2009 11:36 am

Because of the oh-so-wonderful strike York isn’t done its exam until the end of May. I’ll be finished on May 20th…But until then I have an exam today, three essays, a “campaign plan” (whatever the frick that means) and then another test. Words fail me to describe my hatred and anger toward York and the TAs. Curses.

So here is something I don’t understand. Well, I understand it, but I don’t agree with what they did.

The Tamil Tigers protesting on the expressway. With hundereds of Tamils on the expressway traffic came to a complete hault for over 5 hours. The tamils have been protesting in Toronto for months hoping that someone in Canada will help call for a cease fire in Sri Lanka. Their desperation rose to this illegal and unsafe demonstration after the news that came that there had been an all-night atrillery barrage i Sri Lanka killing more than 370 people forcing others to shoddy safety shelters along the beech. Their demonstration continued until Michael Ignateiff’s government assured them that they would make a statement about the issues today.

The Tamil race is being wiped out. In Sri Lanka, even in safe zones, people are being killed. Protestors claim that 4000 are dead, but official sources say 400. But with no media allowed into the area, it’s hard to say for certain what the number is.

It’s a hard issue. While I don’t agree with people blocking road ways, setting people back hours upon hours and disrupting the peace…I would be right up there with them if it were my culture that was going through a genocide. But I agree with Dalty, that despite passion and anger people need to protest legally. Not to mention the fact that some people honestly do not care about the issues that the Tamil’s have protested against, but now instead of politely sitting on the fence and ignoring them – they have anger towards them and completely disagree with their protests. That’s how people work – the Tamils have gotten the attention from those drivers, but not good attention. There is in fact probably no better way to lose supporters, alienate friends and create enemies than closing down a highway in Toronto on Mother’s day.

If this was an attempt to create sympathy for the cause they have sucessfully achieved the opposite. If they’ve gained anything it is intolerance for their disruptful protests that have been going on in Toronto for months, and have no obviously started to effect those who have nothing to do with their issues. The Tamils are protesting against genocide, while deliberately ignoring the rights of Canadians. Good job Tamils.

It’s a valid questions as to why the police didn’t start charging and arresting people. And if their protests keep escalating like this, will we see violence in the future? Probably not, a lot of them seem pretty scared hiding behind their women and children. Granted their issue is pretty bad…children getting killed and their race being threatened. But they still have no right to block roads and traffic like that… especially if someone were sitting in their car with their child with an incredibly high fever. Or your wife who has just gone into labour. Or some other medical emergency.

Anyway, good luck with Ignatieff who has made it clear that you can break the law if you’re a visible minority protesting and that disruption and mobs interupting people’s lives is an effective way to get government attention. But that’s besides the point that he’s not actually in power, so good luck Tamils on negotiating and talking to the liberals, maybe they’ll put a good word in for you to Harper.

(As a side note: USA, UK, Australia, EU and Canada: all countires that have proclaimed the Tamil Tigers to be a terrorist group… WOOHOO!)

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By Katie Kish, March 30, 2009 2:06 am

I wrote this for a class, if I would have written it for just my blog it wouldn’t be in such …”nice” language…but i was going to write about it aaaaaanyway…:

If you drive a car or even have to take a bus in any sort of major city you know that traffic is a terrible thing. When I went to India I was shocked to see that the streets there are at least three times as packed as the streets of Toronto, not to mention they’re usually smaller streets too. People get into grid locks that are near to impossible to break out of. The last thing that needs to be on the street is more cars. It’s bad enough that somehow the Western countries have been convinced that “hybrids” and environmentally friendly cars are a smart choice. The dumbest bike is still smarter than the smartest car.

Yet still for some reason people are praising the new car that is to be released this July in India. Boasted as the “people’s car” The Nano is said to bring new opportunities for families in the lower income bracket of India. Costing only $2000/USD or apx 1 000 000 rupees because of its lack of airbags, radio, electric windows and other luxuries it is definitely something feasible for these families. Currently the only options for them are bicycles, scooters and walking. With this new “cheap” car nearly anyone will be able to afford a motorized vehicle. And people will buy it. Economists have speculated that this new car will boost India’s car sales by 65%.

Between the years 1980 and 1998 there was a 69% increase in motor vehicle traffic, 82% of this increase was from cars alone. The world can expect to see an additional 22% increase from the current levels of 321 billion cars by next year. A quarter of all car trips are for distances less than 2 miles, and just over half for less than 5 miles of travel. A single double-decker bus can hold the same amount of people as 20 fully occupied cars can. There are too many cars. Cars are one of the leading contributors to global warming, and it doesn’t look like they’re going anywhere, any time soon. What then is an environmentalist supposed to think of “The Nano”? I’ll tell you what this environmentalist thinks, this is a complete disaster.

On one hand there is a really reasonable argument. Here in the Northern “privileged” societies citizens have been able to use cars as much they want to. If people can’t afford it, they can take out a loan or lease a car. People can buy used cars, and even get junk cars and fix them up. If someone can’t afford a car then there is usually an option for carpooling or public transportation that is good enough to serve the majority of populations. What sort of injustice would it be for the Northern world to deny access to the same conveniences that has been happening here for generations?

Many people would argue that the North has no right to keep underdeveloped Southern countries from developing. The fact of the matter is if India, China and Africa all start living like the West there is going to be ecological disasters so huge that it will all be completely irreversible. The answer doesn’t lie is allowing India to develop the same as Canada, the United States and Europe. Instead the answer lies within a complete overhaul of the car as a status symbol. As with most environmental suggestions this unfortunately falls into the category of us needing a huge systemic change in the way that we view something that we’ve already grown so accustom to.

Not only does the North have the responsibility to have a change in transportation and cars, but also there lies onus on the wealthy countries to start putting money, energy and time into education underdeveloped countries. Education about the unequivocal dangers of development, huge numbers of cars on the road and increasing pollution need to be spread until people start to listen. Development doesn’t necessarily mean developing like the North. Development can be sustainable, and there are enough education individuals in the North who can teach this sustainable development to places like India.

Although Tata claims that the car pollutes 12% less than the average car, this still isn’t good enough. This is a time when people shouldn’t be encouraging the production of cars that are efficient. This is a time when people should be advocating for re-education of what transportation is and how we get around. There should be nothing glamorous about owning a car. Although this car opens up important social development for people in India, it is not good. The world doesn’t need more cars, it needs more bikes, buses and educated people about the pressure that motor vehicles put on our earth and that with more of them we could all be walking with masks on in short order. Start walking, taking the bus and carpooling to show developed countries that life without a car isn’t impossible. Write to Tata and tell them the social and environmentally irresponsible actions the company is participating in. Cars are not what should be held up on a pedestal in the world any longer.

Comments (4)

By Katie Kish, January 22, 2009 1:03 pm

AH hahahahahahahhahahahahahahah

The article is totally bullshit, we’re not “rival” groups… and we don’t hate each other. …But Pat O’Brien compared atheists to Stalin, which is just disgusting and unfair. The guy who wrote the article found one tiny little angle that he had to blow out of proportion. …

-_- press.

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By Katie Kish, December 23, 2008 4:18 am

The Best and the Worst of 2008

It’s that time!

CDs

5. Sarah McLachlan – Closer: The Best Of … I’ve always loved S.M. I used to joke with Sam that I have a “Sarah Sense” because I’d always seem to find her music on the radio. She has probably been the most consistently admired and loved singers since I was like 10.
4. Josh Martinez – World Famous Sex Buffet …I love a little hiphop
3. Mr. Scruff – Ninja Tuna
2. Bright Eyes – Cassadaga
1. Girl Talk – Feed The Animals …I read an article recently about “girl talk killing music” because he uses clips of essentially illegal bits to make his music…but gets around it because they’re all online samples and stuff. …His mixes are amazing.

That category is always the hardest, other bands who released beauties: Tokyo Police Club, cat power, tv on the radio, the walkmen, mates of state, british sea power, …and others. sigh.

Movies

5. The Dark Knight – I’m still having a hard time deciding if I like this movie because it was so entertaining and so like…comic book looking, or if its because Heath Ledger died so there was a huge hype around his acting. I’ll say this – he did a great job. But some people were saying he should be given an award for it…even though he’s dead. I don’t really think that’s necessary. Anyway, I think the movie was really good. It was dark, but it was also a lot like the Batman with poison Ivy in it – it had that cool comic book feel to it.
4. The Strangers – this movie was weird.  …I love Liv Tyler and it scared me to death.
3. Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian – i think CON are really cute stories. Despite the obvious religious undertones to them, I really really like them.
2. Sex and the City – much anticipated and not disappointed …although I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much in a theater as I did when I saw this movie. It may have been the fact that we were drinking wine in the front row, so we were a little tipsy, or it just could have been that it was so tragic to see the girls is such sad situations. Sigh.
1. Wall-E – not only was it mine and John’s first date movie…it has a great message about the environment and mocks our consumerism. Which I always like It was by far the best movie John and I could have seen on a first date. Robot love? Seriously, it doesn’t get any better.

Books

5. In Search of Time by Dan Falk
4. The Forever War by Dexter Filkins
3. A Madman Dreams Of Turing Machines by Janna Levin
2. Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg
1. Factory Girls by Leslie T Chang

Gadgets:

5. Nokia N95 8 gb – My new phone! 8 GB worth of space, Wifi, 5 mp camera with carl zeiss optics, radio, mobile e-mail, vision tv/radio, a gorgeous screen with DVD like video capabilities, 35mm headphone jack, 8 gb internal memory, gps with preloaded maps… and best of all, it doesn’t have a full keyboard. I was so sick of the full keyboard, bulky shape and “smart phone” look of my blackberry. The Nokia looks like a normal phone, but totally does more. Its great.
4. HTC Diamond – my brothers phone… it’s sleeker and more easily customizable thank the iPhone. The only reason I didn’t get this over my phone is that it is a touch screen. They seem to be all the craze right now, but I just don’t like them.
3. Flip MinoHD – a tiny HD camcorder for only like $200… mostly because it only has 4gb worth of space…
2. The nikon D90 – *drools* an HD camera. …
1. Optoma Pico PK-101 – the MP3 player projector… I really need to get me one of these. Its the size of a regular iPod, plugs in and plays your movies on the wall. …awesome.

Games
I dont really do a whole lot of game playing…

5. Wii boxing…i played it once
4. Rock Band …I pretty much rock at everything except the drums. But…i’ll get to those in 2009
3. I started playing WoW a couple days ago, i’ve played twice
2.Sims!…one of the expansion packs came out this year, i dont remember which one. But thanks to john i have ALL the expansion packs and have WAY too many options. Its awesome.
1. Spore…. cooool

Hits of the financial crisis:

5. AIG’s credit fiasco
4. No more Fords and Chevys – the Detroit big three went belly up! the earth is happy, but hummer drivers are not.
3. Citibanks 75 000 job cuts
2. Greenspan – people are living in tents!
1. Iceland …is broke, needing to take billions of dollars from the IMF, Sweden, Germany, Denmark and Finland.

Sciencey Stories:

5. The Invisibility Cloak
4. Bigfoot is a rubber suit with dead animals inside of it
3. a squid with elbows
2. something tugging at the universe
1. The Large Hadron Collider

Absolutely Hilarious

5. The McCain green screen challenge – McCain did an interview in front of a green background, prompting Colbert to challenge his audience to come up with the best scenes to put McCain into
4. Letterman to McCain “You don’t show up for me, America doesn’t show up for you!”…after McCain stood up Letterman, and was shown at another interview instead, it was the core of Lettermans jokes for weeks.
3. The writers strike… so many late night talk show hosts were SO strapped for content. …hahahaha suckers.
2. is america ready for a woman president? – Samantha Bee as Carrie Bradshaw
1. Tina as Palin…and she didn’t change any words.

Personal Worsts:

5. Working in retail – even though I was the boss, i hated it. i hated bending over backwards for jerk ass customers and seeing people spend 800 dollars on clothes. I hated fitting plus women for bras in the summer when they smelled funny and I hated answering to my overly bitchy and micromanaging district manager. She treated me like a moron. I hated that job.
4. I miss a lot of people including Shaneka, Mark, Caitlin, Torrie, Ashley, Dan, Patrick, Karl and family
3. My currently housing situation – my roommates are annoying, they turn the heat up to over 30 (literally!) and leave messes in the kitchen all the time. My door doesn’t really lock and I’m an hour out of the city. I can’t walk around with no pants on and I have to pay to wash my clothes.
2. The York U strike…dont even get me started
1. My grandma died and it was the sadest of all sad.

Personal Bests:

5. Working at acculink where I met Christine and Stacey – two of the best women I’ve ever met in my life. Plus it made me value the 4/10hr shifts a week thing, and loved being on midnights.
4. Moving to Toronto in June. Although I had to shack up with Allen for quite sometime, I love living here and will be sad if I ever have to move out of the city.
3. Getting a job at CFI… my job is to advance science and secularism in society. How cool is that?
2. I’ve lost 20 lbs in the past 2 months! woo!! i love weight watchers…except now the skin on my belly feels really weird, like loose. its kinda gross.
1. June 24th – John and I had our first kiss and were a “couple” by the next day. awe, <3

Comments (3)

By Katie Kish, May 8, 2008 3:23 pm

she looks like an anorexic ghost… a little…

Apparently a new drug to battle obesity would have effects on children’s brains…

Other researchers have found that cannabinoid receptor blockers interfere with neural connectivity in rat brains — a phenomenon that in humans is associated with depression. The Food and Drug Administration has refused to approve Acomplia because it appears to cause anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts.

…

This is especially troubling because the mice were young. “The juvenile stage of mice is parallel to what we know as the infant stage in humans, when the brain is plastic and prone to modification,” said Liu.

Beyond interfering with neurological development during the critical stage of infancy, could cannabinoid receptor blockers also keep adult brains from developing?

Alright now. Seriously. Diet drugs that could cause you to commit suicide? Cause anxiety? Stunt the growth of the brain? Is it really THAT HARD to stop eating fast food and eat a salad instead? To the point where we have to keep throwing money into this sort of ridiculous research?

I’m sure I could think of at least 100 other things that the money that goes toward this sort of ridiculous research would be better off put into. It’s like all the energy being put into being angry at at that Miley Cyrus girl.

I’ll admit – I didn’t even know who she was until about a week ago when my mom told me about her and her vanity fair “scandal”. The girl, who is am American teen icon, takes a hardly even sexualized photograph and the entire world turns upside down on her.

The two almost go hand in hand – we keep shoving money into diet research while showing off our under aged daughters perfect little bodies to create more media attention and to push more people to the need to use diet pills. …Okay, im stretching it a bit – but you see what I’m getting at right.

This world is f#$@ed! We put these girls up on pedestals idealizing their bodies. Then for some reason get angry when we sexualize these bodies… This is the world we live in – people get sexualized. Then we have girls trying to be like her going batshit insane because they’re using a million and a half different diet pills causing anxiety and depression. WTF.

So in the name of my generation. I vow never to diet or idolize Miley Cyrus. It’s a long road ahead, but I feel like I can make it.