jhr’s (Journalists for Human Rights) annual human rights magazine, SPEAK, is looking for article submissions! The theme of Speak this year is “Human Rights in New Media” so if you have written or would like to write a piece that is of or related to this topic, you can send it over to davidkumagai@gmail.com. This is an absolutely great opportunity to have your work published in a widely read and well-established publication so do not miss out!

Check out last year’s edition of SPEAK magazine here.

After two days of one of the most hotly contended UTSU elections in recent memory, I bring you some preliminary results – that are COMPLETELY UNSCIENTIFIC AND INFORMAL OF COURSE !!! (thanks, CRO) – but interesting nonetheless. The Sexual Education Centre has received permission from the CRO to conduct a poll of voters by inviting them to choose coloured condoms representative of the slate of candidates they support. One of the organizers of the COMPLETELY UNSCIENTIFIC AND INFORMAL poll offered to share them with yours truly after the post written yesterday and my speculation that with more data I might have a future writing for the OkCupid blog. (SEC had decided that everyone would have access to their collected data, regardless of their election affiliation.)

The numbers are in and to heighten the suspense I’m going to post them after the jump! (more…)

This weekend on March 5th and 6th, the students of the University of Toronto International Health Program (UTIHP) hosted the Health and Human Rights Conference at the J.J.R. MacLeod Auditorium. Gathering a smorgasbord of scholars, professionals, thought-leaders, and concerned and socially-conscious youth, the HHRights Conference was a two day affair that sought to tackle the crucial but highly problematic issue of international aid and development. Asking hard questions about the current impact of aid, its current flaws, and potential solutions, the event generated truly thought-provoking and insightful discussions and conversations. Some highlights include:

1. Opening performance of “Broken Land – A Song for Haiti” by JC and Karim.

I have no idea who these guys are (fellow U of T students, I presume) but what a way to start the conference! A soulful performance with equally riveting lyrics that set the mood for the rest of the evening. Have a listen to the song here…

2. Opening Keynote presented by George Roter

Engineers without Borders Co-founder and Co-CEO George Roter kick started the event by sharing his experiences during his time in various African countries, drawing the link between the rather abstract theme of aid and development to its human connection. After all, as he said, the conference is “about these human beings living in extraordinarily challenging conditions who want to see change for the better”. With a brief history of the development of aid and highlighting specific thought starters, George set the context for the conference reminding the audience that “we need to go beyond the idea of charity and start thinking about [aid] as opportunity, as partnership”.

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I just thought that something like this would be amusing to write considering that I’ve been going through several weeks of non-stop total exhaustion all thanks to my courseload of 6 courses. Without further ado, here are 10 things that all or at least most of you should relate to if you are, in fact, a student at university. (more…)

Oh I hate the TTC and its countless, lazy and overpaid employees too! If you read my previous blog, which you probably haven’t, then you’ll know what I mean.

Reasons:

1) The Service stinks: I think this pretty much says it all. They’re slow, break down and there are constant delays. I especially hate it when I wait ages for a bus and then suddenly pack of them come along. What’s worse, is when they’re all express and I’m at a local stop.

2) Employees are overpaid: Read this. I don’t care how hard or long this man worked; working in a ticket booth does not warrant $100 000. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s not him I’m mad at. If I were him I’d do the exact same thing. Money is money.

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Before I delve into my bickering of the endless idiots I run into on the TTC; I just have to say whoever named the TTC “The Rocket” is also an idiot.

Here are 8 of my TTC pet peeves:

1. People putting their bags on an empty seat. It’s okay when there are a few people but not okay when it’s 9 in the morning and people are barely awake.
2. People standing in front of an empty seat, which is bad because a) you are blocking people’s view of the empty seat, preventing someone else from sitting in it and b) you’re taking up more space by not sitting, douchebag.
3. People standing by the doors, as if there are no other places to stand and that they must block your way as you try to leave.
4. People continuing to wear their backpacks in a train full of people rather than setting them down on the floor. Doing this takes up so much space.
5. Guys (yes it’s only guys I’ve seen do this) sitting with their gigantic legs so far apart they take up one extra seat on either side of them.
6. People lean on posts when other people need to hold on to them.
7. People yapping loudly, especially a group of immature teenagers, and especially on the phone… Okay this one I don’t mind too much but when I’m tired, it is really annoying.
8. The bus driver tells people to move down but they don’t.

I mean is it really all that hard to be considerate? I can admit at times I can be inconsiderate myself like failing to give up my seat to an elder, which I am truly ashamed of and which is why I often sit in the back of the bus.

Just three weeks before the end of the fall semester, I have come to the realization that I haven’t done any productive work outside of school since the start of classes.

As a first-year student, I naturally had many plans to do extra-curricular activities over the summer. French Club. The Varsity newspaper. Engineering Toastmasters. Engineers Without Borders. The Blue & Gold Committee (a spirit group for engineers). The Engineering Society, Academic Committee. The Engineering LEGO Club.

Tons of plans, but they’ve fallen through due to:

1. Time commitments. Toastmasters ends at 10pm on Thursdays, when I am often staying up late completing PHY180 lab write-ups. I also have limited time to begin with because the commute eats up 3 hours each day. LEGO Club… well, meetings are also on Thursdays, and I guess doing error analysis calculations is more feasible than constructing a house made of LEGO bricks.
2. Lack of response from group executives. I’m serious – I signed up for a gazillion clubs during the UTSU and Engineering Clubs’ Fairs, but have only been e-mailed by a handful. And some have only e-mailed once, and never again. The only French Club meeting I’ve been to was their introductory brunch, which, incidentally, was delicious.
3. Laziness. I signed up for blogUT, knew I was going to blog the second I had something to say, and… kind of forgot about it.
4. In my defence, it was partly also due to shyness and decision-making. I was trying to come up with something interesting to talk about. Whatever was remotely related to engineering, I stuck the blog entry into the Online Design Journal I’m required to keep in preparation for one of my final exams.

Considering that all of my friends here at U of T are first-years in engineering, I haven’t been doing non-scientifically-related writing for a while now, and I am slowly losing my French skills, my inactivity is clearly something I should deal with.

Fortunately, I kept the last e-mail I got from blogUT, in my Inbox where I could easily see it. And I discovered that not only was the founder a former EngSci graduate, but there were posts, personal ones (i.e. not just artsy reviews or school events!) that could resemble what I’d write in any blog.

I decided not to write for the Arts section of the Varsity when I realized that they didn’t publish book reviews (plus my  reviews are generally outdated – a few months after the book’s release), and didn’t write for the Science section because they seem to expect up-to-date news from research conducted right at the U of T. The Cannon, the engineering newspaper, has never e-mailed me since I wrote my contact information on the sign-up sheet.

So much for trying to be connected to student life. I guess that’s how blogUT started, because it sure feels good to be blogging and just… doing something aside from problem sets and whatnot.