Entry #17 - June 1, 2014

The New Online Drinking Game: Neknominations

By Gayle MacDonald

A new online drinking game titled Neknominations has surfaced all over the world. The online game involves males and females posting videos on social networks of themselves chugging alcohol in unexpected places while doing some sort of outrageous act. The trend started up in Canadian universities and is growing rapidly in popularity. How the game works is you are nominated by a friend or peer and you must come up with your own clever and entertaining video of you chugging alcohol and post it on a social network, once complete you must tag one of your friends/peers in the caption and they must do their own Neknomination. Unfortunately, high school and university students do not understand the consequences that can happen due to playing the game, and two students have already died this past week in Ireland. Universities such as Queens and Western are starting up campaigns to encourage students to instead make Nicenominations, in which you do a random act of kindness instead of chug alcohol.

I think that what Queens and Western is doing is a good idea and is very important to make sure Neknominations are a thing of the past. These Neknominations have no upside and will ruin the life of many, many students. If they are not physically injured by what they do in the video, which is not unlikely, they will screw themselves up for the rest of their life. When they are out of school and go out to look for a job, what is the interviewer going to say when he/she finds their Neknomination video from university? I can tell you, “Sorry the position has been filled.” These videos will never be deleted as with all items posted to social media these days, and it is just bad news to post a Neknomination. I hope they die down soon and that all of these kids do their best to delete these videos off of all social networks. 

Entry #16 - June 1, 2014

Video of Police Assault on Toronto Man Surfaces

By Jennifer Pagliaro

A recent video has surfaced capturing four Toronto police officers brutally assaulting a male prisoner in a cell block. The video, kept secret until now, is currently available for the public to view. The video shows four police officers brutally beating a man, Curtis Young, for seven whole minutes, and at the end once they get off of him he is lying unconscious on the floor of the cell block. Young had arrived at the station just moments before his beating as he was taken into custody for being drunk in public and in possession of a bag of marijuana. The camera footage shows Young being dragged by the police officers, after his arrival at the police station, into a cell block and beaten mercilessly by the officers for no apparent reason. Paramedics later arrived on scene to come to the aid of Young.

I think that this is a disgusting abuse of power by these four “police officers”. They beat this man for no reason other than because they could, and that is absolutely uncalled for and unjust. It may have been understandable for the officers to use physical violence if the man was being violent towards them but he wasn't in any way, and even if he was this does not warrant a seven minute beating by four police officers. These officers should be revoked of their badges and charged with assault and abuse of power. I hope that these men are sent to jail for what they've done, and that they get a taste of their own medicine whilst there.

Entry #15 - June 1, 2014

School Undergoes DNA Tests to Catch Rapist

By Lori Hinnant 

French authorities have recently demanded 527 DNA Tests composed of both male students and faculty members as young as 14 years of age at the Fenelon-Notre Dame high school in western France. The reason they are demanding these DNA tests is because a girl was recently raped, September 30^th 2014, on the campus of the high school. The investigators are exercising all of their resources attempting to identify the rapist of the young girl. The rape took place in a badly lit washroom inside the school. The authorities have not yet found the rapist, but they are confident they will soon as long as all DNA tests are submitted.

I think that while slightly inconvenient, it is extremely important and very good of the authorities to demand these DNA tests and do all they can to catch this rapist. This is an extremely serious offense and no one should get away with committing such a crime. Also the school should install cameras near most of these washrooms, not inside of course, but definitely near the entrances to ensure they are able to catch the rapist by simply viewing the camera footage next time, instead of forcing the whole school to go through DNA testing. For the sake of the young girl, I genuinely hope that this rapist is found and dealt a very harsh punishment for his crime, and that he doesn't just get off with a slap on the wrist as these offenders have been known to get away with.

Entry #14 - April 24, 2014

American Airlines Terrorist Threat

By CBC News

A 14 year old Dutch female has been arrested for an idiotic tweet she sent to the American Airlines on twitter. The tweet read “Hello my name’s Ibrahim and I’m from Afghanistan. I’m part of Al Qaida and on June 1^st I’m gonna do something really big bye.” Immediately after the girl posted this tweet, the American Airlines replied with a tweet of their own reading “Sarah, we take these threats very seriously. Your IP address and details will be forwarded to security and the FBI.” In response, Sarah began to plead and apologize to the airline claiming it was simply a joke, etc. But to no avail, and she has recently been arrested due to a simple idiotic tweet. It just goes to show that terrorism is never a subject to joke with, and that you should never put inappropriate things o the internet thus they come back to bite you, and in this case, quite severely.

I think that what Sarah did was idiotic, incredibly ill-advised, and just shows the education level some of the children around my age have. Never in a million years would I think doing that would be a good idea, or even have any type of humor to it whatsoever. It is not a subject to ever joke about and she completely crossed the line, and sending it to the American Airlines put it way over the top, more than it already was. I believe Sarah deserves whatever punishment comes her way, but if I were to dole out the punishment, I believe she should receive a fine of upwards of $10,000 and made to work upwards of 300 community service hours to learn from her massive mistake. 

Entry #13 - April 24, 2014

The NSA is Collecting our images without our

knowledge

By Dana Ford

The National Security Agency is reportedly capturing millions of pictures each day, of people just like you and I, for the purpose of advancing their facial recognition software. They now have software allowing them to exploit the flood of images in emails, texts, social media, video conferences such as Skype, and basically any other software in which images are sent and received. The NSA is intercepting millions of images per day, but only about 55,000 of these images are able to be entered into the facial recognition software, which leaves millions unable to be entered in, leaving mass untapped potential. The facial recognition software is a computer system that can automatically identify a person by simply scanning an image or video of the individual. There is still much work to be done on the software as it has difficulty matching low-resolution images and side/angle photographs of people. It is currently unclear exactly how many images the NSA has acquired, but it is extremely certain the number is shockingly high.

I think that this is quite scary that they are intercepting our personal and private images and video calls without us having any clue that it is happening. They could be watching me right now I and I wouldn’t even know, and this is quite a frightening thought. I do understand why they are doing it though as these images will help enhance the software and help to solve major security breaches and be a great help in all the crimes around the world, I just wish they could acquire these images in a less creepy manor.

Entry #12 - April 24, 2014

First Nations Leaders Rejected Again

By Kathryn Blaze Carlson and Gloria Galloway

First Nations leaders move to reject Conservatives on their on-reserve education bill. The First Nations are opening talks with the government on the issue, voicing their vision challenging the powers of the currently leaderless First Nations Assembly, and confront Ottawa. In a rare meeting involving the AFN Confederacy of Nations and the First Nations leaders, they passed a resolution which rejects the First Nations control of First Nations Education act, and now calls for a Confederacy committee to enter the discussion.

I don't believe this is fair or just in any way. First of all, it's called the First Nations Education act for a reason, and to deny them control of their own act is completely unfair. Second of all, who are we as a people to tell another group of completely able human beings how they are allowed to educate their race. Third of all, us as a race basically destroyed theirs in multiple ways including stealing their land, raping their women, and attempting to assimilate their culture into ours almost destroying them as a race. For once I think we should just lay off the First Nation's and allow them to live their lives the way they choose and stop interfering and restricting them, they are people too and deserve to be treated with the same amount of respect and dignity, and should be allowed to choose how to educate their own children.

Entry #11 - April 24, 2014

Parliaments New Regulations

By Tonda MacCharles

Ottawa is now unable to act by itself to be able to reform the Senate or limit terms/appoint elected senators. To do so they must first have the consent of seven provinces, encompassing half the country's population, this has been set in place by the Supreme Court of Canada last Friday. To abolish the Senate completely their must be unanimous consent with all federal Parliament and all provinces, including the countries top court. This marks a monumental defeat for our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, as the high court dismissed almost every single argument he and his lawyers had brought forward, and these new regulations have been set in place.

I feel that these regulations are too extreme and that it shouldn't take the approval of seven provinces to simply limit terms of Senators, or reform the Senate. I believe that if at least three provinces outside of Ontario feel that the term should be limited, or a reformation is necessary, that that is enough. Going through seven whole provinces there is generally going to be one to disagree, and to not be able to make the change that is needed due to one of seven provinces I find a bit silly. Three outside of Ontario should be enough, four in total. As for the abolishing of the Senate regulation I do believe these are fair and the correct regulations for such a powerful act. Abolishing the Senate is an extreme act and it is only fair that it must be approved by everyone it affects, which it is by including every province, all federal Parliament, and the countries top court. In conclusion, my thoughts on the limiting terms/reformation/appointing elected senators is the regulations are too strict, but the regulations for abolishing the senate are fair and just.