Friday, February 08, 2008
Computer Geek steps forward!!!!
I'm all set to go!!!!!
Thanks to Computer Geek!!!!
This blogger thing is what we call - TEAM WORK!!!
Thanks to Computer Geek!!!!
This blogger thing is what we call - TEAM WORK!!!
CUPE LOCAL 1251 - THE SHAWN GRAHAM GOVERNMENT TO INTRODUCE BACK TO WORK LEGISLATION NEXT WEEK???
Will former Union Leader Abel LeBlanc support such a Bill??????
Stay tuned!!!!!
A couple of tourists in the City for the ECMA asked Charles - WHERE'S THE LIQUOR STORE????
After giving them a blast about the snobs running the ECMA.
I replied- The liquor store is close to one mile outside of the downtown area.
They couldn't believe a liquor store was so far away from the Downtown Core.
I believe Fredericton is the only City without a downtown liquor store!!!
WHICH STYLE DO YOU HATE THE MOST??? CHARLES LEBLANC OR STEVE MURPHY???
http://gypsy-blog.blogspot.com/
Gypsy Blogger bought up a good point a few weeks ago.
Many readers just hate it when I say - Stay tuned!!!
Steve Muphy from ATV News always say- Coming up next??? Blah...blah...blah....
Once the news comes back after the break, The issue he talked about only comes in after one or two commercials.
So? Which one do you despise the most???
Charles LeBlanc or Steve Murphy???
MEDIA PASS AT THE ECMA 2008 ALL HAVE TO DO WITH FREDDOM OF SPEECH!!!!
That's absolutely wrong, not having access to a computer is very much a 'right' specifically for free speech. That's why libraries were the first places to have public access to the internet.
Charles wouldn't need to be supplied with a computer because they are available at the library for free. He got one because people liked what he was doing. However, imagine if libraries DIDNT" have net access, that is a HUGE blow to the rights of free speech of the homeless.
But I don't remember Charles ever saying "I have the right to get a free ticket". What he said, basically, is that they refused his request for one, worse, ignored him, therefore he's using his right of free speech here to essentially say whatever he wants about the issue.
Access to technology is a BIG issue in the human rights arena, you can go to CIGI online and read their paper on how the lack of technology infrastructure is having a hugely detrimental effect on developing nations. This is so important that we are even seeing governments and NGO's investing money into getting computers and net access even to places that aren't even getting adequate food-thats how important it is.
It is very much a rights issue, as the above post says. You can look at any issue from water to energy-when you define rights by only 'who can pay' to get them you aren't talking about human rights, only commerce.
It can easily be argued that Charles 'has a right' to attend. THis is a public exhibition with legislation being written in order to favour the event-thats another word for 'subsidy' on top of any potential taxpayers money that may be going to it. Charles definitely has a unique position in the community, his is virtually the only place where people can access what goes on in the community-people from out of town, people with disabilities, etc.
It's pretty clear that with his camera Charles is doing a public service, the hundreds who come here can attest to that. The situation would be different if, say, there were some other person doing exactly what charles does but perhaps with a little less 'flair', shall we say.
It's about the rights of people to know what goes on in their community. If this were a cayleigh in some guys house, then the argument can be made that its nobodies damn business. However, that's not the case. Government is clearly involved, which means the public has the 'right' to be involved, and in a case like this the only opportunity is through charles (at least to have a historical record-if it were being recorded and put on youtube or something then that would be different).
Besides, all this came about simply because 'they' were too rude to answer an email. If you aren't going to answer your email, don't put the damn link there in the first place, or at least tell Charles to go take a flying leap.
This isn't to bash the ECMA, I have no idea what their reasons are and I am glad such an event exists and would never boycott it no matter what Charles says (although he did even say that others shouldn't boycott it-what a charitable fellow!)
Watch the language!!!!
I rejected a few comment in this blog.
If I wish to use the word Shit, assholes and swear words?
I can get away with it because it's my blog!!!
I will not allow these words in the comment section.
By the way? For you non-believers ? You can save the time and energy from leaving a nasty comment. Sorry..it won't do!!!!
If I wish to use the word Shit, assholes and swear words?
I can get away with it because it's my blog!!!
I will not allow these words in the comment section.
By the way? For you non-believers ? You can save the time and energy from leaving a nasty comment. Sorry..it won't do!!!!
A VERY LARGE POURCENTAGE OF THE STUDENTS AT STU AND UNB USE PRESCRIPTION DRUGS TO HELP THEM STUDY!!!
During my six months protest, I was told this by many students and that was four years ago, I can only imagine what's going on these days??
Elis unconcerned by campus drug use
It started as a way to pack more into his days. A Yale junior, who asked to remain anonymous, began taking Ritalin when his friend offered him a bottle she had inherited from someone who had stopped taking his prescription.
He has been taking Ritalin “on and off” for just under a year now. And so far, so good — no consequences that he can detect, apart from the perks: increased mental alertness, improved memory, increased ability to concentrate for longer periods of time and heightened motivation. And if he had to choose whether to do it all over again, he said he would — undoubtedly.
“You just get a lot more done when you’re on them,” he said. “I’ve gotten so much more on top of things since I started taking them.”
This junior is just one of many college students at Yale who may be abusing prescription drugs, according to a recent poll conducted by the News — a phenomenon that experts at the Yale University Health Service representatives say is fueling a national trend.
The News’ poll — which was e-mailed to 850 undergraduates and received 341 responses — indicates that 82 percent of Yale students say that they are unconcerned by the prevalence of drug abuse on campus, while only 8 percent think it is a concerning issue.
Marijuana, which 85 percent of respondents said was the most prevalent drug on campus, outranked prescription drugs, which 12 percent said were most common, by a margin of over 70 percent. According to the poll, an overwhelming majority — 93 percent of students — think alcohol abuse is much more widespread on campus than drug abuse.
Still, 36 percent of students see drug use on campus once a week or more frequently, while only 31 percent reporting never having seen drug use. The remaining respondents reported seeing drug use, on average, on a monthly basis.
The poll was conducted from Friday, Feb. 1 to Sunday Feb. 3 and has a margin of error is 5.1 percent.
An ‘underground drug culture’?
Many students interviewed said they agree with the poll’s results, expressing the view that while certain students use and abuse drugs, the majority stay fairly clean.
One student, who asked to remain anonymous, went so far as to say that drug abuse on campus is “under-prevalent.”
The student, who is from New York, said he was surprised at the general lack of knowledge about hard drugs on campus compared to at home, and he had expected much more of an “underground drug culture” than exists at the University.
“Yale is definitely not immune to drugs,” said Richard Nelb ’08, a member of the Public Health Coalition which works on health and substance abuse issues on campus, such as tobacco and alcohol abuse. “But at the same time, it’s not an outlier.”
Nelb is a staff columnist for the News.
But Elizabeth Sheets, NUR ’09, a McDougal Wellness Fellow, said she was surprised by the results and expected undergraduates to be more “experimental.”
Sheets, who counsels graduate students on health issues, said, while many graduate students stick to what is legal for them — alcohol — her impression was that undergraduate students have a “different drug culture” that supports a wider variety of drugs, she said.
Allyson Goldberg ’08, a Peer Health Educator, said, in line with the poll results, the information that PHE has gathered on substance abuse has concluded marijuana is the non-alcoholic “substance of choice” at Yale. One reason for this, she speculated, is that many students perceive it has lower single-use consequences than other drugs.
But Richard Potenza, a psychiatry professor at the medical school, who works on substance abuse issues, said many of marijuana’s effects are long-term and influence processes like cognition and motivation that do not become readily apparent until much after its use, while marijuana still poses the same health risks that smoking tobacco does.
Some studies also show marijuana to be addictive, despite popular conceptions, he added.
But the trend many not be one specific to youth. A study conducted in 2001 by the National Institute on drug abuse found that marijuana is the most frequently used illicit drug in the United States, with approximately 33 percent of all Americans having tried it at least once in their lifetimes. Following a decade of decline in the 1980s, the use of marijuana among youth has actually risen since the early 1990s, the study shows.
Popping prescription pills
But despite the prevalence of marijuana, it may only be a matter of time until the drug of choice on college campuses changes — to prescription medication.
“Statistically, prescription-drug abuse is on the rise, particularly among women and young adults aged 18-25,” Rebecca Schrier, Student Health Educator at Yale University Health Services and coordinator of the Peer Health Educators, wrote in an e-mail to the News.
Indeed, a study by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted in 2003 found that an estimated 4.7 million Americans used prescription drugs non-medically for the first time in 2002.
Research has attributed this sharp increase to factors such as easy access, over-prescription, increased social acceptability and the common perception that they are safe, she explained.
Many interviewed also agreed that Yale is absorbing the nation-wide increase in prescription drug intake.
In fact Jon Gaulding ’10, a PHE member, said he would guess Yalies would be even more likely than the average student to pop prescription pills because “Yale students are more willing to sacrifice for our ambitions.”
The anonymous junior who frequently takes Ritalin said that the numbers in the poll may actually understate the extent of the problem of prescription drug abuse, since more students take them as stimulants than publicly admit.
“They’re all over the place during exams,” he said.
One reason for this increase, Sheets said, is that prescription drugs may be less taboo than other types of hard drugs, especially given the common perception that they do not have harmful health consequences.
But she said that this belief is misplaced since prescription medications have specific, often complex biological effects.
“A lot of prescription drugs are meant to operate on intricate pathways, such as the neuron development and I think that people don’t realize that they are so carefully constructed,” she said. “They actually do what they’re supposed to do — people don’t get that.”
Still, drug abuse trails behind the larger concern of alcohol abuse, Marie Baker, YUHS substance abuse counselor, said. She said the poll accurately reflects that alcohol abuse is a far more prevalent phenomenon than is drug abuse on campus.
Fittingly, Gaulding said the PHE’s substance abuse discussion they present to freshmen during orientation, the Connections Workshop, focuses its largest chunk on alcohol education.
Additionally, in response to the growing use of prescription drugs for non-medical reasons both around the country and at Yale, Peer Health Educators added a section on prescription drugs to their Connections Workshop in 2002, PHE members said.
Elis unconcerned by campus drug use
It started as a way to pack more into his days. A Yale junior, who asked to remain anonymous, began taking Ritalin when his friend offered him a bottle she had inherited from someone who had stopped taking his prescription.
He has been taking Ritalin “on and off” for just under a year now. And so far, so good — no consequences that he can detect, apart from the perks: increased mental alertness, improved memory, increased ability to concentrate for longer periods of time and heightened motivation. And if he had to choose whether to do it all over again, he said he would — undoubtedly.
“You just get a lot more done when you’re on them,” he said. “I’ve gotten so much more on top of things since I started taking them.”
This junior is just one of many college students at Yale who may be abusing prescription drugs, according to a recent poll conducted by the News — a phenomenon that experts at the Yale University Health Service representatives say is fueling a national trend.
The News’ poll — which was e-mailed to 850 undergraduates and received 341 responses — indicates that 82 percent of Yale students say that they are unconcerned by the prevalence of drug abuse on campus, while only 8 percent think it is a concerning issue.
Marijuana, which 85 percent of respondents said was the most prevalent drug on campus, outranked prescription drugs, which 12 percent said were most common, by a margin of over 70 percent. According to the poll, an overwhelming majority — 93 percent of students — think alcohol abuse is much more widespread on campus than drug abuse.
Still, 36 percent of students see drug use on campus once a week or more frequently, while only 31 percent reporting never having seen drug use. The remaining respondents reported seeing drug use, on average, on a monthly basis.
The poll was conducted from Friday, Feb. 1 to Sunday Feb. 3 and has a margin of error is 5.1 percent.
An ‘underground drug culture’?
Many students interviewed said they agree with the poll’s results, expressing the view that while certain students use and abuse drugs, the majority stay fairly clean.
One student, who asked to remain anonymous, went so far as to say that drug abuse on campus is “under-prevalent.”
The student, who is from New York, said he was surprised at the general lack of knowledge about hard drugs on campus compared to at home, and he had expected much more of an “underground drug culture” than exists at the University.
“Yale is definitely not immune to drugs,” said Richard Nelb ’08, a member of the Public Health Coalition which works on health and substance abuse issues on campus, such as tobacco and alcohol abuse. “But at the same time, it’s not an outlier.”
Nelb is a staff columnist for the News.
But Elizabeth Sheets, NUR ’09, a McDougal Wellness Fellow, said she was surprised by the results and expected undergraduates to be more “experimental.”
Sheets, who counsels graduate students on health issues, said, while many graduate students stick to what is legal for them — alcohol — her impression was that undergraduate students have a “different drug culture” that supports a wider variety of drugs, she said.
Allyson Goldberg ’08, a Peer Health Educator, said, in line with the poll results, the information that PHE has gathered on substance abuse has concluded marijuana is the non-alcoholic “substance of choice” at Yale. One reason for this, she speculated, is that many students perceive it has lower single-use consequences than other drugs.
But Richard Potenza, a psychiatry professor at the medical school, who works on substance abuse issues, said many of marijuana’s effects are long-term and influence processes like cognition and motivation that do not become readily apparent until much after its use, while marijuana still poses the same health risks that smoking tobacco does.
Some studies also show marijuana to be addictive, despite popular conceptions, he added.
But the trend many not be one specific to youth. A study conducted in 2001 by the National Institute on drug abuse found that marijuana is the most frequently used illicit drug in the United States, with approximately 33 percent of all Americans having tried it at least once in their lifetimes. Following a decade of decline in the 1980s, the use of marijuana among youth has actually risen since the early 1990s, the study shows.
Popping prescription pills
But despite the prevalence of marijuana, it may only be a matter of time until the drug of choice on college campuses changes — to prescription medication.
“Statistically, prescription-drug abuse is on the rise, particularly among women and young adults aged 18-25,” Rebecca Schrier, Student Health Educator at Yale University Health Services and coordinator of the Peer Health Educators, wrote in an e-mail to the News.
Indeed, a study by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted in 2003 found that an estimated 4.7 million Americans used prescription drugs non-medically for the first time in 2002.
Research has attributed this sharp increase to factors such as easy access, over-prescription, increased social acceptability and the common perception that they are safe, she explained.
Many interviewed also agreed that Yale is absorbing the nation-wide increase in prescription drug intake.
In fact Jon Gaulding ’10, a PHE member, said he would guess Yalies would be even more likely than the average student to pop prescription pills because “Yale students are more willing to sacrifice for our ambitions.”
The anonymous junior who frequently takes Ritalin said that the numbers in the poll may actually understate the extent of the problem of prescription drug abuse, since more students take them as stimulants than publicly admit.
“They’re all over the place during exams,” he said.
One reason for this increase, Sheets said, is that prescription drugs may be less taboo than other types of hard drugs, especially given the common perception that they do not have harmful health consequences.
But she said that this belief is misplaced since prescription medications have specific, often complex biological effects.
“A lot of prescription drugs are meant to operate on intricate pathways, such as the neuron development and I think that people don’t realize that they are so carefully constructed,” she said. “They actually do what they’re supposed to do — people don’t get that.”
Still, drug abuse trails behind the larger concern of alcohol abuse, Marie Baker, YUHS substance abuse counselor, said. She said the poll accurately reflects that alcohol abuse is a far more prevalent phenomenon than is drug abuse on campus.
Fittingly, Gaulding said the PHE’s substance abuse discussion they present to freshmen during orientation, the Connections Workshop, focuses its largest chunk on alcohol education.
Additionally, in response to the growing use of prescription drugs for non-medical reasons both around the country and at Yale, Peer Health Educators added a section on prescription drugs to their Connections Workshop in 2002, PHE members said.
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