I can't claim that I am an expert on the conflict in Sri Lanka, but with the recent protests in Toronto I began to read more about the LTTE. They claim to be freedom fighters, but the methods that they've used to ensure their victories all seem like methods used by terrorists (ie. suicide bombing and attacking civilians). They've apparently just admitted defeat over in Sri Lanka and the country is celebrating its victory.
Now the UN sees this group as a terrorist group as do the Canadian government. I'm curious as to how the protesters can request help from the Canadian government when they wave around the flags of a group that the country believes is a terrorist group? Dalton McGuinty recently came out with a statement that acknowledged that the death of civilians was indeed saddening, but at the same time implited that there would be no aid sent. How do Tamils feel about this?
Also, I'd like to know why you think the Canadian government should/should not help these protesters. I pretty much gave reasons why they won't, but I'm interested in opinions.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Friday, May 15, 2009
The market for card games is really overblown.
So what I do from time to time to make money is sell trading cards to the people of the internet (which was essentially how I made my money in high school). I recently went back to this method of income, only to find that trading cards have gotten insanely expensive. How does a shiny piece of paper translate to $150?
Imagine my surprise when I bought a box of Yugioh cards with the intent to sell the contents. Upon cracking one of these $150 cards, I had made back my money WITH profit. I managed to sell the rest of the box for an additional $300. Are you kidding? I spent about $100 dollars on that box and made back $350? Get out of here, that's someone's rent for a month.
Who the heck decides the prices for these cards? I'm happy that I made that much money, but I'm baffled at the same time. Why in the world would you spend $150 dollars of your hard earned money for a piece of paper that will soon become unusable (as is in the case with Yugioh). Heck, Magic is guilty of it as well as anytime a piece of paper is worth over $10 dollars its not really worth your time at all.
Maybe its just me. These games are hobbies after-all, and the dedicated will spend their money on whatever they like. I know that if you get really good at these games you can make some amazing money off of them, but that takes a lot of time and effort as well as money.
I'm just surprised. Nay..I'm astonished.
Imagine my surprise when I bought a box of Yugioh cards with the intent to sell the contents. Upon cracking one of these $150 cards, I had made back my money WITH profit. I managed to sell the rest of the box for an additional $300. Are you kidding? I spent about $100 dollars on that box and made back $350? Get out of here, that's someone's rent for a month.
Who the heck decides the prices for these cards? I'm happy that I made that much money, but I'm baffled at the same time. Why in the world would you spend $150 dollars of your hard earned money for a piece of paper that will soon become unusable (as is in the case with Yugioh). Heck, Magic is guilty of it as well as anytime a piece of paper is worth over $10 dollars its not really worth your time at all.
Maybe its just me. These games are hobbies after-all, and the dedicated will spend their money on whatever they like. I know that if you get really good at these games you can make some amazing money off of them, but that takes a lot of time and effort as well as money.
I'm just surprised. Nay..I'm astonished.
Monday, March 30, 2009
What exactly is the purpose and goal of life?
In a capitalist sense the goal of life would be to succeed, to become rich, and to gain prestige. But I don't exactly want that. I don't care to be super rich or super famous..hell, I don't really even know what I want in life.
Ours is a society that promotes dreams, that promotes working hard in order to get rewarded and that's cool. My question is "does our society promote freedom and what exactly is freedom?"
Life really is quite puzzling at times.
Ours is a society that promotes dreams, that promotes working hard in order to get rewarded and that's cool. My question is "does our society promote freedom and what exactly is freedom?"
Life really is quite puzzling at times.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Let's talk about Islam
A friend of mine told me something today. He said, "Hating on Islam is the new cool thing." I had no response to that. Now, I've got friends of all religions and we all get along with one another with no quarrels whatsoever. However, the real world is not sunshine and rainbows.
Let's take a look at the whole Palestine and Israel incident. From my standpoint, I don't exactly understand what is going on, but I don't exactly understand why Israel has all the support that it does from the Western world. I get that people are scared of Islam at the moment, but isn't Israel fighting a war against a country much weaker than they are? Palestine has lost almost 90% of the land that it has owned since 1946, its merely a shadow of its past. I don't understand this, can someone please explain this to me?
I think that like Christians, there are both good Muslims and bad Muslims. I would say that the good Muslims are the ones that I've met in my life, that are accepting of others and are open to new ideas. These are the peaceful Muslims who follow the real teachings of the Koran. Then there are those radical Muslims, who do not actually follow the teachings of the Koran. These are the Muslims who disrespect others and these are the ones that often use violence to obtain their objectives.
My uncle once told me that the rise of Islam is similar to the rise of Christianity. He said that Christianity has had a long time to sort itself out and that Islam is simply going through that phase. This was an interesting point, any thoughts?
Let's take a look at the whole Palestine and Israel incident. From my standpoint, I don't exactly understand what is going on, but I don't exactly understand why Israel has all the support that it does from the Western world. I get that people are scared of Islam at the moment, but isn't Israel fighting a war against a country much weaker than they are? Palestine has lost almost 90% of the land that it has owned since 1946, its merely a shadow of its past. I don't understand this, can someone please explain this to me?
I think that like Christians, there are both good Muslims and bad Muslims. I would say that the good Muslims are the ones that I've met in my life, that are accepting of others and are open to new ideas. These are the peaceful Muslims who follow the real teachings of the Koran. Then there are those radical Muslims, who do not actually follow the teachings of the Koran. These are the Muslims who disrespect others and these are the ones that often use violence to obtain their objectives.
My uncle once told me that the rise of Islam is similar to the rise of Christianity. He said that Christianity has had a long time to sort itself out and that Islam is simply going through that phase. This was an interesting point, any thoughts?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
