Globe and Mail: Study: 42% of kids online exposed to porn

So going through my usual morning business, coffee, breakfast and a little globe and mail online when I see an interesting headline about kids online being 'exposed' to porn. I thought to myself 'well that's an interesting choice of words', I confess that I have seen some internet porn in my time, but never thought of it as being 'exposed' to porn. When you're active in looking for something, does that count as being exposed?

When I was in my early teens, there was no such thing as this fancy 'internet porn'. Thinking back, I know that my friends and I would be 'exposing' ourselves to internet porn as much as we possibly could. The kids in this survey implied that the porn just 'popped up' on the screen, while they were innocently looking for other things. I spend quite a lot of time online nowadays, but I've never been exposed to a porn pop-up if I wasn't viewing questionable sites.

“It's so common now, who hasn't seen something like that?” said Emily Duhovny, 17.

The Marlboro, N.J., high school senior said X-rated images pop up all the time when she's online. Ms. Duhovny said the first time she saw one, it was shocking, but now, “more than anything, it's just annoying.”

Now, Emily, if these images are popping up 'all the time' when you're online, then perhaps you should take a long look at exactly where you are spending your time online.

It's not that I think this isn't a problem, there are lots of things on the internet that kids in their early teens should not see. But, pornography on the internet isn't all over the place, and kids who say that it just pops up are full of sh**. When completing a survey with teens, there should be compensation for the fact that teenagers lie about things that they know are innappropriate:

It wasn't me, my friends were smoking.
That's not my weed, it's Geoff's.
I'm staying at my girlfriend's place tonight.

And so on. Exposed to porn, yeah right.

Don't be a fool, stay in school!

Yeah, same old, same old. School is sucking the life out of me, slowly but surely. Especially since I sold my soul for the promise of dollars with my transfer to the MBA program.

Actually this week wouldn't have been bad other than the fact that I had to not only work my usual Friday and Saturday but also spend all day Sunday counting inventory. Meaning, that my week before and week after were absolutely screwed. Assignment Monday; Presentation Tuesday; Paper Wednesday; Assignment Wednesday. Fun and games, fun and games.

Luckily for me, Meng is in the same boat, busy as hell. So no problem with me always having my face stuck in a book. Yup, loads of fun. The worst thing is, I haven't been skiing since I went away at New Years, it's killing me.

But I shouldn't complain, most of my course work is interesting this semester and I'm able to do some research into private sector development issues in developing countries, which is something I've always been interested in but never had the motivation to do any significant indepth research. In one of my other courses, we're working with a small business here in Halifax helping them develop and market a new product, so a lot more practical and hands-on than some of the theoretical nonsense I studied last semester.

Meng just told me to mention how wonderful she is and how she always makes such delicious food for me. It's true.

SELL OUT!

Well, I need to give up on the idea of avoiding the race. The other day I wrote the GMAT exam (the entrance exam for MBA programs) and plan to switch over to the MBA program beginning January. Now, if someone told me a year ago that I'd be doing an MBA, I'd laugh my ass off, but here I am, selling out to the man. Actually, the truth of it is that a lot of development organizations, government and NGOs are recruiting MBAs. Plus, the Dalhousie program allows me to take a lot of courses not traditionally included in most MBA programs.

Back to the GMAT exam. For some reason beyond my simple mind, someone has decided that geometry, arithmetic, reading comprehension and the sentence correction are the best way to judge potential candidates for business programs. Not a single question about business, not one. Wait, the subject for one of my reading comprehension questions was economics. I'm sure that there is some logic behind all of this, but I just can't see it right now. Regardless, I killed the exam so now I never have to worry about it again. I'm even thinking that maybe I set my sights a little low with Dal and perhaps I should go to one of the higher ranking schools. Wait, my parents aren't millionaires, and I don't really want to end up on Bay St, so scratch that earlier sentence.

So I'm joining the race, I've already bought the suit and everything.

I love academia!

My lack of posting since I've been back in school can be chalked up to one of two things: I'm very busy or I'm very lazy. Sorry, make that three: a combination of both. I've never considered myself to be incredibly energetic so I'm going to call the third option.

Along with school, I'm TA'ing a course in microeconomics and flogging gore-tex and whatnot at a local outdoors shop that an old friend of mine bought while I was away in China. Both jobs are much more fun than studying.

I really like giving tutorials to these first year students because they (like most people) are intimidated by economics. Surprise, surprise, economists are great at describing things in such a way that only other economists can really decipher what they are talking about. Could it be that their professors and career academics have spent most of their careers and adult lives in academia conversing mostly with other economists? Maybe. Or could it be that, like many professors, teaching is a secondary concern? Again, I'm going with a combination of both. It's a big jump going from a commerce degree, where many of my professors were or had been professionals and had some experience in dealing with the public at large to a program with a group of professors who are even more socially inept than I am (one or two exceptions of course). Is it that obvious I've become a bit disillusioned with my field and my program?

Back to the point, tutorials. Explaining these concepts to the students in such a way that they can understand and demystifying economics feels good. Most of the students who come to my sessions seem to leave with a better understanding of the concepts that have been taught (I use that word loosely) in the class sessions. Now really, there shouldn't be a need for me at all, if the professors explained things in a way that most people will understand or wrote the text in a similar manner, the students could spend their tutorial time doing something much more productive, like reading (again, used loosely) Maxim or Cosmo.

It all comes back to a professor's commitment to teaching. Ideally, all university professors should have this strong commitment but the reality of the situation is that many (the majority in some fields) don't. They simply finish their PhD and want to continue to do research. I'm of the opinion that in most fields, a Masters degree is sufficient to teach first and second year courses. A policy like this might attract a broader range of applicants for teaching positions and people who are more interested in the actual teaching than research. Oh, and drop the pressure on publishing articles in journals, how exactly that improves the learning environment I've never been able to understand. Save those disinterested, boring academics for later years and graduate studies when the students have developed a strong interest in and understanding of the subject matter.

If only university administrators were as smart as me.

Who knew school would be so tough?

Well,
Been a while , eh? Yeah, I've been having lots of good times catching up with my old friends Calculus and Microeconomics. It's been years since I've hung out with those guys and I forgot how much fun we have when we're together. Needless to say, I've forgotten about the blog and anyone who's name isn't Calculus or Microeconomics (not entirely true, Meng and I still see each other around the house when we have time to look up from our books).

All joking aside, this school thing is hard. Why didn't anyone tell me this? Damn you. But if I don't drown in readings (not entirely sure if that's possible, but we might soon find out), I'll try to post some things here every once in a while. Trust me, there has been nothing particularly noteworthy as of late. Wait, that's a lie, Meng and I went for hiking/camping at Cape Chignecto on labour day weekend and got absolutely poured on on the way out. YAY, but Meng toughed it out and we made it back. Which is no small feat because Chignecto is one of the steepest trails I've ever hiked, no switchbacks makes for hard goin'.

Okay, that's it for interesting. Gotta get some sleep, long day ahead tomorrow.

Back in Canada, still in zombie mode

Okay, I've finally arrived. My Air China flight was delayed from Beijing, meaning I missed my Vancouver to Toronto flight, meaning I had to sit around in airports for a long, long time. Boo.
Few observations:
- it doesn't take too long being in Canada to rediscover Canadians' consumption problem.
- similar note, people who work in the Beijing airport are also a bit large due to the fact that KFC is the only affordable place to eat in their workplace.
- Air Canada's planes are ghetto. When Air China has better planes than you, then it's not looking good for your airline. Time for another government bailout perhaps.
- Another note about Air Canada, not only have they stopped serving food. They've stopped giving out pillows and blankets for free. $2 charge now. WOW
- There's something about immigrants and working at airports but I can't figure out why there is such a strong connection.
- In China, I felt a little bit 'uncool'. Back in Canada I swear that I'm the least hip person under the age of 30. Scratch that, under the age of 40.
- Women in Canada don't seem to mind dressing like skanks. And not just the young ladies, there were a few women in Vancouver and Toronto in their 50s skankin' it up pretty good.

One more short note. Off the plane in Vancouver I went to have a Tim Horton's coffee (you don't understand how sweet it is after being away for 2 years). I promised my friend, let's call him Big Door, that I would think of him while I drank it. But from thinking about him, I somehow caught his 'stomach problems' and then proceeded to spend a good portion of the afternoon taking care of business. Thanks a lot Big Door!

I'm tired.

Karoake Krack-down!

I don't even know what I can add to this. Two years has drained me:

China seeks to curb 'unhealthy' karaoke music - CBC

Here's the kicker:

"Some songs contain unhealthy content and have not been censored by cultural administrative departments," said ministry official Liang Gang, according to Beijing Youth Daily.

He did not provide an example of what constitutes an "unhealthy" song.

What? The Chinese government instituted a new law without making it clear to Chinese people exactly what it is that's illegal. Impossible. The People's Government (so hard to say it with a straight face), with such a reputation for being open and clear with it's citizens, acting abitrarily. Never.

China is known for banning music it deems too risqué for Chinese ears or tunes it feels could corrupt the morals of its citizens.

You'd think that widespread prostitution and government thievery would be more of a threat to the morals of its citizens. Guess not. Hell what do I know anyway, my country's not 5000 years old.