Nov6
Toto says:
So Barack Hussein Obama has been chosen to become the 44th President of the USA, taking office on January 20, 2009. It may be of major significance to remember that Obama is not only the first African-American to hold this most powerful office in the world, but he is also the child of a black father and white mother. This is arguably God’s way of saying not only that children of mixed marriages are entirely valid, but also that racists are stupid and have outlived their usefulness on the planet. That does, coincidentally, describe a great many Republican supporters during John McCain’s ill-fated campaign.
AP posted this very interesting article on how it is now suddently cool to be American again (on the international level). Pretty funny to consider how American travellers of various types (tourists, Scouts, missionaries) have often resorted to fudging their nationalities in order to avoid harassment and persecution. It reminds me of this one episode of ER where Dr. John Carter (played by Noah Wyle) was working in the Congo among Doctors Without Borders, and how he soon became the object of criticism by his colleagues, merely by association of U.S. citizenship. Sure, American foreign policy is unpopular, but not every American supports the President in place. Unfortunately, the President IS elected by the majority of his countrymen, and therefore all his countrymen are tarred with the same brush.
On CBC Radio One today - I believe it was during a local program at the time - three political commentators were candidly describing their views on Obama’s victory. Two were very enthusiastic women hopeful for change, while still acknowledging that Obama could not possibly meet all the expectations placed upon him due to his being only human. The third commentator was a very vocal and critical male, who opined that the winner was all hype and no substance - and also that his intentions on foreign policy were actually not so different than John McCain’s. If it had been anyone else, one might think he was a lunatic; however, this particular speaker was very articulate and also demonstrated detailed knowledge of Canadian and American history.
Time will tell. I am guardedly optimistic.
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Nov1
Toto says:
Although I have photo galleries on my website dating back to December 2005, they are not publicly linked, and only the most recent pictures are organized within the Zen Photo gallery application so kindly offered by my webhost. But it’s a start, and while we will be adding comments and tags for quite a […]
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Filed In: people family
Oct27
Toto says:
I figure I should include some laughs at this point in my blog. One is a direct copy-paste from this link, which I only just discovered through Facebook. Okay, so it’s six bloody years old! But as long as people enjoy Dr. Laura, then the following material is still relevant. EDIT: according to Wikipedia, […]
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Filed In: humour
Oct25
Toto says:
The following is an unauthorized quote from the 2008 Stardock Customer report. Beyond the fact that I don’t have permission to quote, I should also be paraphrasing rather than copying outright. However, it was so well-written that I couldn’t bear to distort it. At least I’m not claiming it as my own work, which […]
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Filed In: PC tech culture gaming tech
Oct25
Toto says:
I just finished watching legendary filmmaker and actor Sir Charles Chaplin’s “Limelight” for the first time last night. I had purchased a new, shrinkwrapped copy of this DVD some years ago, possibly in a Superstore discount bin, for just under four dollars, and somehow never gotten around to digging into this. I had enjoyed […]
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Filed In: culture TV and movies
Oct25
Toto says:
I just caught an AP Internet news story which covers the American Christian right and its part in the current US presidential campaign. One of the items discusses the conservative group Focus on the Family Action, and a fictional piece recently featured on their website called “Letter from 2012 in Obama’s America.” The story […]
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Filed In: people family culture
Oct21
Toto says:
You just can‘t help but shake your head at those shenanigans happening south of the border. You get that stupid-ass woman at one of John McCain’s town-hall forums claiming that she didn’t trust Barack Obama because he was an Arab (some sources claim she said “Arab terrorist“), and then even worse, McCain replying that […]
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Filed In: PC tech people education humour
Oct19
Toto says:
In June 2005 I sprang for a fourth-generation Apple iPod 20 GB model. This was when color screens and photo capability had just been added. It was only three or four months later, IIRC, when I learned that Apple had released the then-new iPod Video in 30 and 60 GB formats. This model obviously […]
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Filed In: audio tech
Oct5
Toto says:
I won’t go into detail about HDMI and Blu-Ray - in fact, I won’t even bother linking these terms to their entries on Wikipedia or some other external site, the way I usually do. I will, however, say that I just saw excerpts of “300″ on a Blu-Ray disc via a Sony player, connecting […]
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Filed In: tech humour TV and movies cars and driving