The Dissident

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Are you living in a ToxiCity?

Conservapedia vs Sanity

The ethics of reading people's thoughts

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Become educated and vote!

August 27th 2008 17:52

Become educated and vote!

I am of the mind that one must not just support a candidate. If you are really in favour of one candidate or another you must convince people using their platform and the issues that they bring to the forefront of their campaign. Just wearing a “Vote Obama” t-shirt doesn’t really say much. At least if you put a quote or an issue that will change type slogan on the back people will understand why.

All of these celebrities that endorse a candidate and have had the chance before to and haven’t made me think that the race or sex card is being played. Not in the way that the Presidential Nominees are doing anything wrong, but how people seem to allocate themselves to a person by them being male/female or the colour of their skin, which seems to be a first as Clinton and Obama break new ground.

I have even seen women stating that they are refusing to vote now that a woman isn’t running anymore even though Hilary Clinton has come out and recommended Barack Obama be the next President.

This is definitely an interesting discussion and will be fought for a time to come. This is being made from a Canadian perspective, but don’t get it twisted I do not speak for all Canadians that is one of the points I am trying to make. Although we are the same in some aspects, we can be completely different people.

State the facts, be knowledgeable and most of all make your vote count.

Written by Scott Penny

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Are you living in a ToxiCity?

December 27th 2007 02:32

Being Canadian I am close to this issue even though it is way out in Alberta. The first time I began to see the ugly side of this issue was when I came across a site called VBS.tv.
They have made a 15 part video series in 2-5 minute segments. Easy to watch and very informative to the issue that has surprisingly remained hidden for the most part.

I first noticed it about six months ago, but came across an old bookmark and felt inspired to share this unique site, with all who will listen. VBS goes through issues such as the environmental aspect of finding and getting the oil out of the sands. They show how life is for people coming to make the big bucks in Ft. McMurray and how they affect the indigenous people and their way of life. Also shown is the way they clear areas and cut down trees in large masses. The host talks with political figures from the areas past, who have some interesting words for Al Gore.

So for all this and more including two more specials including Brooklyn and West Virginia CLICK HERE! and come back here and feel free to comment and make your thoughts heard.

For more information on the oil sands.

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The Dissident?

December 24th 2007 05:22

I once heard in a documentary that the great American writer John Steinbeck was a dissident of his time, which I agree with.
Standing up for his beliefs and convictions versus various counterparts, those in politics and organizations that had ideas and ways of doing things that he would disagree with from time-to-time. Everyone can change and literature can change the world, just by you reading this proves that fact.

I will be bringing issues to the forefront that intrigue, inspire and enrage me. Headlines and sites to find this information, free to the public will be my main focus as if you do not know this already "knowledge is power".

For my first post entitled ToxiCity, here at 'The Dissident' I will be looking into the issue of the oil industry in and around our new world, with a big focus on the oil sands, close to me in Alberta.

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The REAL Hairdresser Story

September 4th 2007 02:48

They didn't let me write the REAL thing because it was a bit too harsh. But here it is!
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Talking Cars

June 24th 2007 02:40

You are driving in wet weather, cursing quietly to yourself, when a warning flashes up on your dashboard. The car in front has just told your car there is icy road ahead.
What might appear to be a science-fiction scenario is actually the way of the very near future.
Researchers from the Network Research Lab at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and car manufacturer BMW are working on an autonomous, self-organising communication network that connects cars to each other, allowing them to collect data from their immediate surroundings, process it and exchange it with other cars.
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Geckoes Rock

June 17th 2007 06:58

The gecko is well-known for its adhesive acrobatics and wall-scaling techniques but now this small lizard is helping scientists out of a sticky situation of their own.
Recent studies of the gecko’s spatula-tipped toe hairs (called setae) have revealed the secret behind the lizard’s uncanny sticking power - a quick-release mechanism that allows it to stick to surfaces without liquid or surface tension and then detach with minimal effort. Researchers in the US now claim they can utilise this quick-release mechanism to manufacture advanced car breaking systems which could stop a car travelling at 80 km per hour in a distance of just five metres, using only one third of a square metre of this reptilian glue.
Geckos are already evolutionary wonders – they are the only lizard to make chirping sounds in social interactions with other geckoes, they have no eyelids and in defense they are known to expel a nasty-smelling substance and feces onto their opponent. Some species are even parthenogenic, meaning the female doesn’t require the services of the male to reproduce. Gecko stickiness is unlike any conventional adhesives, which often stick with ease but only detach with a great amount of force (as anyone who has ever tried peeling off those plastic wall hooks will tell you). By contrast, research has proven that gecko hairs adhere strongly and detach easily. The attractive force which holds geckoes to surfaces is a product of inter-molecular interactions between the extremely fine and numerous setae on its toes (almost 500,000 on each foot) and the surface itself.
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The sexy genes of CB1 Knockout Mice

May 8th 2007 02:17

Here is a bioethical dilemma concerning recreational drugs and our society’s ongoing quest for a final solution.

We are all aware of delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the principle psychoactive ingredient in marijuana. Marijuana is a psychoactive cannabinoid and in humans, psychoactive cannabinoids like marijuana produce euphoria, enhancement of sensory perception, difficulties in concentration and impairment of memory. Anyone who has ever smoked a jay or knows someone who has can vouch for this. The cognitive deficiencies seem to persist after withdrawal, which is why we’re taught that taking recreational drugs is bad and why we’re forced to look at those posters on city buses of kids looking sad because they apparently smoked some pot.
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Journalistic integrity gone the way of the dodo

April 23rd 2007 06:59

Yes, it's true. It really has.

I've always been such a strong advocate for journalistic integrity, with the aspiration of becoming someone like, say, Robert Fisk. So there I'd be, defending journalism to my friends, who all think the media, and journalism especially, is screwed.
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The War on Drugs

March 16th 2007 13:47

Just a little ramble on drugs this week.

The late, and great, comedian Bill Hicks once said these famous words: "I believe drugs have done some good things for people," (famous I suppose only insofar as Tool fans are concerned, but nevertheless).
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The Freedom of Information age

March 9th 2007 13:25

Yet another triumph for freedom of information this week (it's a recurring theme lately, I know).
The Guardian reports that British scientists are leading an international effort to create a database that will supply researchers around the world with access to all the known geological information about every single country that exists.

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