Segacs's World I Know |
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Blog about politics (mideast and pro-Israel, Canadian and local Montreal), world events, and random thoughts.
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31.1.07
Missing the point The city's mayor is all aghast that the man in charge of selling Montreal to international tourists dissed the condition of our roads: The fate of Charles Lapointe, the city’s chief tourism promoter, hangs in the balance after he publicly trash-talked the condition of Montreal’s streets.So according to Tremblay, credibility is achieved by . . . lying? That's the only explaination for why Lapointe is taking so much flack for voicing what can only be described as the truth. Our roads are a mess. Anyone who goes outside can see that. Is the city looking for someone who will merely compliment the Emperor's New Clothes? I really think someone needs to redefine the term "credibility" for these guys. Here's a thought: Instead of firing Lapointe, why not, you know, actually fix the problem and clean up the streets? But that would imply that perception ought to be based on some semblance of reality. And that's clearly not a position that Tremblay's team endorses: The mayor acknowledged that the city does have a problem with dirty streets, but “not all truths should be said in public,” the mayor added.Remind me, M. Tremblay, exactly whose credibility is the issue here? | Beware the poisoned balloons! This would be funny if it weren't so sad: A marketing campaign launched by the Ha-Ir chain of local Israeli newspapers has been used by Hizbullah to spread anti-Israel propaganda, according to which "Israeli poisonous balloon attacks" have left eight Lebanese nationals in the hospital.From the absurd to the ridiculous. Some people will literally believe anything. After all, it's not as though any of the other claims that Hezbollah makes against Israel contain any more truth than this one. And that hasn't stopped the whole world from adopting them as truth, either. | Scary noises Last week I came home one day and turned on my trusty computer, only to discover that it was making a noise. A very loud noise. A very loud and scary noise, considering I had committed the cardinal sin of failing to back up my essential data. In a panic, I shut down the computer, and the scary noise stopped. Okay, now what? With a sinking feeling in my stomach, and feeling somewhat like Carrie Bradshaw, I began phoning friends with more computer knowledge than I. "It's probably the fan," they assured me. "Probably? What if it's not?" "Well, there's a small chance your hard drive is failing." Needless to say, that didn't make me feel any better. "What should I do?" I asked with trepidation. "Whatever you do, don't turn the computer on again. It may already be too late, but if it's not, you don't want to make it worse. Keep it off, take it in for service." Visions of important documents, irreplaceable digital photos, programs with original install CDs buried in the abyss of old junk, all ran through my head. I didn't get much sleep that night. The next day, I had the presence of mind to dig up the invoice for the computer, only to discover - joy of joys - that it was still covered under an extended service warranty. Oh, the relief! Except that it's never quite so simple. I phoned up Dell and was pleasantly surprised to see that my call was no longer directed to India. But my pleasant surprise ran out when I realized that they don't train their local technicians much better than they trained their overseas ones. After sitting for 45 minutes on hold listening to the ever-present "your call is important to us" recording, I got through to a chipper tech support agent and described the problem. He then had me wait for another 10 minutes while he searched for his protocol for dealing with scary noises, and finally came back to me and asked me to turn on the computer to run through some diagnostics. Swallowing my trepidation - after all, everyone had told me not to turn on the computer - I went down the list of things he asked me to do, which, even with my limited computer knowledge, I recognized had nothing to do with the problem, such as checking the configuration of the graphics card. Yes, I was confused, too. And I was starting to suspect that the chipper Dell technician was just walking me through the motions. All the diagnostics completed, he told me that since I had failed to isolate the problem, his system indicated that nothing was wrong, so he couldn't help me. "What???" I asked, incredulous. "Sorry, those are our procedures, thank you for calling Dell." Hmmph. I had the bright idea to phone back an hour later in hopes that I would get a different guy on the phone. Maybe even one who knew what he was talking about. Dare to dream, right? Because when I called back, I was greeted with a recording about how Dell's computer systems were down. Oh, the delicious irony. To make a long story short, I ended up enlisting some help and finally getting the computer fixed. It was the fan, after all. One of them, anyway. We got them to replace both, just in case. The scary noise is now gone. And I've learned my lesson and acquired a backup drive. | 30.1.07
Dryden immortalised, Habs victorious Last night at the Bell Centre, the Habs made an excellent recovery from Saturday's disaster in Toronto to beat Ottawa, one of the hottest teams in the NHL right now, 3-1. But it was Ken Dryden's night. The legendary goaltender (and now elected MP, since in this country we know full well that hockey players make the best politicians, and the rare *smart* hockey players make even better ones) had his number retired last night. He accepted the honour with humility and humour: "Watching, waiting, not doing much of anything," Dryden joked to the crowd about his signature stance. "That is pretty much what the 1970s were all about - that and a whole lot of Stanley Cups."Today's Habs have a lot to live up to. But, judging by how they played last night, they were inspired to at least try. | What truce? The media still insists on calling it a truce, despite this: The air strike came a day after a Palestinian bomber killed three Israelis at a bakery in the Red Sea resort town of Eilat. The two radical groups that claimed to have sent the suicide bomber said they were trying to end weeks of Palestinian infighting by taking aim at Israel instead.Ya think? But Abbas thinks it 'won't affect' the cease-fire. After all, why should it? Israel should just sit calmly and allow its citizens to be killed, right Mahmoud? Pretend it never happened? Sure, whatever you say there. *Sigh*. | Synagogue vandalised in Edmonton Police are investigating: Police are investigating vandalism at Edmonton's oldest synagogue, where a swastika and anti-Semitic graffiti was written just minutes before a visit by Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach.Coincidence? Unlikely. | |
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