Here are some conversations I had with my friends right after it happened, reading them back later they amused me.

Reaction 1:

Nairica says:
http://i.huffpost.com/gen/176673/CUTEST-PICTURE-EVER.jpg
david
um

Dave says:
the ground

Nairica says:
did u feel the earth move?

Dave says:
it moves

Nairica says:
yes
wtf
its not supposed to move!

Dave says:
no…
not here…
2012
we are all dead

Nairica says:
nah
thats a lie
Earthquake felt in Toronto, US Geological Survey coming on CP24 momentarily.
http://twitter.com/cp24
their official site is down

Dave says:
weird.
never felt one of them before

Nairica says:
so is the star
me neither
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/earthquake-shakes-ontario-us-states/article1614941/
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2010/06/23/ont-storm-warning-100622.html
now we get thunder + hail + maybe a tornado or two

what an exciting wednesday!

Dave says:
2012
head for the hilllls

Nairica says:
david
hahah
its only 2010

Dave says:
ya
but
just warming up

Nairica says:
oh its gonna get worse
ok u do have a point

Reaction 2:

scotty do says:
yo

Dave says:
earthquake?

scotty do says:
ya!
scared the shit out of me

Dave says:
ya dude
everyone got out of their cubicles

scotty do says:
ya
across Ontario apparently

Dave says:
farther..
detroit.. ny
what i hear
http://twitter.com/cp24

scotty do says:
holy shit

Dave says:
twitters jammed up
lol

scotty do says:
lol
fucking protests going past our building
cops fucking EVERYWHERE

Dave says:
ya I bet eh
ha
I can’t phone even

scotty do says:
why? jammed?

Dave says:
ya
had to use land line
‘what are you talking about’ – my dad

Reaction 3

Aaron says:
holy shit!!
did you feel that?
Dave says:
the fuck?

Aaron says:
crazy!
Dave says:
everyone was up
and like
wtf

Aaron says:
haha
here too
shock at first

Dave says:
ya
kinda like
umm… did you…?

Aaron says:
haha, yeah

Dave says:
well
2012?

Aaron says:
oh, missed this
i hope not!
that didn’t end well

Dave says:
called my old man
figuring he would have something to say
he said
“stop bullshitting”

Aaron says:
haha
where is he?

Dave says:
mississauga
but some ppl on lunch here didn’t even feel it

Aaron says:
and he didn’t feel it?
wow

Dave says:
which boggles the mind

Aaron says:
indeed

Dave says:
having never felt one before
Ill be good if I dont again

Aaron says:
haha
indeed

Reaction 4:

Dave says:
haha
patty didnt feel it
she’s like
get out
no way

Donald says:
wtf
HOW
can you not feel that
was she on like a vibrating bed or something

Dave says:
haha
she was out eating sushi

This had to happen right around the G20 summit to eh? Damn.

An eye for an eye – Fashionably Geek

8 bit Invadaers – Fashionably Geek

Pic dump

Idiot

Youtube recommended this to me today

Caught

Random

Animations

Videos

One-digit salute earns driver second ticket – The Star

PORT HOPE – An Ontario driver has learned a hard lesson about respecting authority.

He was pulled over for speeding on Sunday on Highway 401 near Port Hope after being tracked by a police helicopter.

Police say the driver was stopped and ticketed for travelling 35 kilometres over the posted speed limit.

After he received the ticket and began to pull away, the driver raised his hand and flashed an obscene gesture toward provincial police Const. Bettina Schwarze.

She pulled the unidentified man over again and promptly gave him a $110 ticket.

The offence? Making an improper hand signal.

I don’t know

I keep seeing this van

Micheal Jackson Mario

Weird

Pic Dump

Sick Exhaust

Ironman Anime

Book of Eli looks sick

Damn

I still do not know what this is

12 creative and unusual home theaters – Toxel

Shaking ‘Hip’ USB – Gizmodo

So looking forward to this

The upcoming Ark (Dis)play set
and

The Ravage Transformable usb key

Cops boot a kid in the face then high five over it

10 Minute watch commercial?

Christmas Lights in an e46

Bald Eagle Visits 2 cats

Red and Meth On Jimmy Falon

I have to wake up in about 4 hours. Wow.

This video however made me realize that now is probably as good a time as any to begin going in.

This video is pretty satirical, but like all good satire it touches on a pretty relevant human folly, that folly being the use of the two ‘different’ versions of the N word. The N word being Nigger, and the other one being  Nigga.

The word Nigger is still a pretty powerful word in today’s society. It has the power to evoke a reaction from anyone who hears it spoken, regardless of  race. While the reaction isn’t  always visible, it is always present.

This word depending on pronunciation and spelling, has negative connotations, neutral connotations or ‘positive’ connotations. In fact even Websters dictionary seems to be at sorts over how it should exactly be defined.

usage Nigger in senses 1 and 2 can be found in the works of such writers of the past as Joseph Conrad, Mark Twain, and Charles Dickens, but it now ranks as perhaps the most offensive and inflammatory racial slur in English. Its use by and among blacks is not always intended or taken as offensive, but, except in sense 3, it is otherwise a word expressive of racial hatred and bigotry.

Surely this is some sort of grammatical swiss army knife?

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the word, I don’t  remember the first time I was ever exposed to it, and I do not remember a  time in which I was told it was ever acceptable to say or be called. I really don’t remember learning about it at all. It’s almost as thought I was born knowing.

I don’t say it often, actually over the course of writing this post I will have probably “said” the word, nigger, more than I have in my 24 years on this earth.

I have only ever been called a nigger directly, in the any sense, once and it was while playing hockey. I reacted violently and some would say with just cause. Now that I think back on it I reacted more out of the fact it was expected for me to react to the word on the  basis of  what it meant  historically rather than if it actually personally offended me.

This was about 6 or so years ago and over that time I have realized that the word itself actually doesn’t really personally offend me, however that doesn’t  mean I would like to be called it or that I will openly use it.

I understand why that it is a derogatory racial term and I would prefer not to hear it, just as I prefer not to be a victim to racism. Today if I were to be called it by someone I would just consider then ignorant and not worth my time and carry on with whatever I was doing.

In most cases the same goes for if I hear a “nigger joke” I go about my buisness and assume that the person who said it will eventually learn the error or their ways. The way in which they learn might not be so favorable however.

The word is used quite often in today’s popular media. In fact a lot of the music Iisten to and comedians I enjoy use it. It’s also heavily used in a lot of great movies.

However in most cases, at least when black people use the word the “er” at the end is changed to an “a”. In an attempt to  soften it and change its meaning.

I don’t really think this makes it better.

I, optimistically, view the use of the word in popular media as a way of trying to reduce it’s power. I believe that the people who continue to use it in popular media believe that through overuse it will eventually be a word that does not evoke feelings of negativity among black individuals. We will grow desensitized to it.

I know this theory is really flawed in practice but it helps  me deal with hearing the word in the media more if I think of it this way. But again it doesn’t really make it better.

My views outside of media use are completely different, which in itself is a double standard. But I think it’s use outside of media creates an even double standard in an addition to displaying ignorance.

I don’t think from one black person to another there is ever any reason to use the word nigga or nigger. It is unnecessary. Brother, homie, dog, dawg, nephew, pal, friend, buddy, or president, are much better words  to use.

How is it justifiable that black people are allowed to hold on to a deragatory term for our everday use, but think it is wrong for others to use it, all this causes is more confusion and blurry lines between who can and cannot use the word.

I never see Asians call each other chinks in everyday discussion. I have never heard: “Thats my chink right there” or “That chink is crazy”.

If anything they will be more apt to say that’s my chigga if their “urban” influence is strong enough.

Chigga is a term which was derived from the word nigga and is also a pretty sharp double ended sword. Not only does it continue the use of the root word, nigger/a, but it packages along any other stereotypes that come with the word and places it on another race since by definition a Chigga is a chinease person who ‘acts black’.

[I could write an entire very long sidebar on 'acting black' but I am trying very hard to stay on point.]

The continuted use of the word Nigger or Nigga will not remove negative the negative connotations associated with it. All it does is create associate new ones which are then associated onto new people.

Let’s think for a minute what would happen if everyone made a consolidated effort to stop using the word entierly. Would it go the way of the Dodo?

How often do you hear someone use the word “deartuate” (which means to dismember)?
Most likely never as dismemberment is frowned upon, and openly discouraged so only one definition is nessecary.

Racism is frowned upon, so why should we keep words that represent it in our modern day vocabulary? Why should this word be allowed to run rampant?

What if one day the word nigger/a is really used to discribe the disadvantage class and all homeless people are called niggers? I shudder to think of that.

Any solution to the issue of the words would take an extremely long time to show effect but our current methods of dealing with it are proving un effective and need to be dealt with.

I am not even sure I can really come up with a good concluding paragraph for this blog since at this point I have written almost 1300 words on this topic without so much as
exhausting half of my confusion and frustration about the topic.

This blog mearly marks a starting point in my further understanding of this issue.

If you have managed to read this from beginning to end thank you, as it’s my longest post thurs far. And if you have any opinions regarding my view on the issue, good or bad, please feel free to comment. I am going to watch the comments on this one.

This isn’t the first time I have struggled to understand why an African American(/Canadian?) specific service is needed.

According to Blackbird the why is “Because we know the 20 million African Americans online need tools to build and foster community now more than ever”.

Ok cool, 20 million people need to connect online, I get that.  So why can’t we build on the same technologies as everyone else?

For example why couldn’t the Blackbird team create social networking widgets for facebook, and search plug ins and down loadable bookmarks for FireFox. If African Americans are truly “twice as likely to pick up on advance technology compared to the general population“  (why they are referencing an almost 5 year old statistic I am not sure) then not only should we be able to create these services easily, but we would also be fast to adapt and use them.

I think as a race African Americans need to stop trying to separate themselves from other communities by creating redundant services. Black Channels, Black  browsers, Black Schools where does it stop?

Lets leverage existing technologies and communication channels and proudly promote our culture to not just to ourselves but to everyone else.  Why do I see Asian programming on Omni 1 but to get African American programming I have to switch to BET?

We have worked so hard to break down walls of segregation in some areas, lets stop working to create new ones?

[Isn't it interesting when people argue that African American is the correct terminology but in cases like these 'black' is ok]