Canadian Taxation System Sucks !!!!

I was happy to receive a bonus, before i find out that 55% percent is gone to Taxes !!!! We're talking thounsands of much needed dollars to fund an ever increasing cost of living.

Damn it, this is insane....brutal, unfair and sickening !!! I'm sick and tired of subsidising the system, which mind you, is not a good shape either.

The reason i was given? your salary is in the 6 digit range...so we all take a bite out of it.

F*** off...

World of Passwords

The life we live is getting more complex, and our will & memory is being constantly challenged with tasks to do, things to plan, goals to accomplish, etc. Among the requirements that I find really annoying is the need to memorize an ever growing number of keys a.k.a passwords to access various protected areas of own personal and professional life, to name a few:

• Key to access your computer, at home, at work, anywhere else
• Key to access your bank account
• Key to access other financial accounts, i.e. retirement, investment, savings, etc
• Key to your online profile with every vendor, such as eBay, Amazon, or you’re hosting service
  If you work in the high-tech, add to that many other keys to various systems and applications

If you think that’s not much, take this:

• A key to access your car
• A key to re-set your car radio
• A key to access your airport express-check’in profile
• And last but not the least, a key to remember any forgotten keys.

For the smarter and the well organized, who store all of these keys into a secure file for the sake of better management of memory resources, they do need another key to access such file :-)

I'm growing tired of keys...and i hope one day we either drop keys and live in an open society based on trust, or build one single key for all, such as finger print or retina scan.

Deal or no Deal ?

After breaking the fast, i tune up to Dlilek Mlak, the equivalent of NBC's deal or no deal.

Both shows (the original and the clone) feature the same game, same spirit and same outcome, although the banker on the real show is more generous and there is no freaking Kefi to watch over the audience and take notes as if he's recording a death sentence.

The other big difference - if i may venture- are the quality of the babes.... On the real one they're HOT !!!! Tooo Hot to miss ..and probably handle :-)

Sa77a chribitkom !

Me, Myself and The Environment

I could not resist the buzz, the excessive education and the documentary about how the environment is suffering irreparably from us: humans, selfish, greedy and irresponsible.
So I decided to take some small steps:

Changed all light bulbs in the house to CFL (gotta say, the Government of Ontario has recently mailed out rebate coupons)

Bought a bus pass to commute to work now, instead of taking my car. When I used to work in downtown, it was very convenient to take public transportation. Not anymore, when I started working at the suburbs, so we’ll see how it goes, especially when winter shows up !

Bought new energy friendly thermostats to better control heating and cooling. Planning to buy an enegy star efficient heater and reduce my dependency on costly central home heating !!!

Engaged in better control of garbage disposals, that is more round trips to the recycle bin.

Total ban on aerosols in the car and at home. Too bad if my home would smell cook during Ramadhan :-)

Cut down on magazine subscriptions, no more newspapers either, and phoned few companies to stop sending me marketing junk, especially those annoying Primus Canada home phone plans (they literally come in every month, with the same message, the same offer)

In the future, I plan to make use of ethanol fuel. Though this would depend on the number of gas stations offering this in Ontario, Canada and New England, US, and depends on how my engine will react to it as I’m not fond of Prius and hybrids…

Something you want to add? BTW, I believe these measures are applicable everywhere…and I’m sure millions of people do them already.

Concours de Conception Web au Profit des ONGs Tunisiennes

L’équipe KEN lance un concours de conception de sites web s’adressant aux jeunes tunisiens ayant une expérience -professionnelle ou amateure- dans ce domaine et a pour objectif de les mettre en contact avec des ONGs tunisiennes afin de les aider à se munir d’un site web officiel et ainsi promouvoir leurs activités.

Les participants au concours, étudiants ou jeunes professionnels avec une expérience de moins de deux ans, devront créer un site en suivant un nombre de critères défini dans le présent cahier des charges et en se basant sur des données fournies par l’ONG avec laquelle ils font équipe.

Les candidatures seront évaluées par un comité d’évaluation (50%) et par un vote public (50%). Par souci de neutraliste, cette évaluation ne tiendra compte que de l’aspect technique de la conception web et sera indépendante du contenu qui sera fourni pas les ONGs bénéficiaires. Les deux meilleures réalisations seront récompensées respectivement par un premier prix d’une valeur de 500 dinars tunisiens et un deuxième prix d’une valeur de 250 dinars tunisiens.

Si vous êtes tunisien, étudiant ou jeune professionnel et avez déjà conçu ou participé à la conception d’un site web, nous vous invitons à soumettre votre candidature avant le 16 Octobre en remplissant le formulaire de participation et le renvoyer à info@el-khadra.net.Saisissez cette chance de mettre vos connaissances au service du développement durable de la Tunisie!

M.I.T, I miss you...

Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Boston, MA

I wish i could have spent many more years there...

Ground rules for the blogsphere…

I’ve been scouring the recent posts in the infamous TN blog community and I can’t believe how intolerant people have become vis a vis each other. One of the patterns I keep increasingly noticing is, debate turning into personal attacks, intimidation or even vendetta.

The following are excerpts from my observations.

« Tu te prends pour Dieu…pour la pseudo élite, l’élite vide »
« Tu es arrogant(e), ignorant(e) et tu nous prend pour des imbéciles… »
« Tu es con(ne).. »
« Tu es extrémiste, arriviste, intolérant »
« Tu ne comprends rien, tu es dépassé(e) par les événements.. »

Et j’en passe….

Décidément cette blogosphère ne finit pas de m’épater.

Enfin voici cher bloggeurs et bloggeuses ce que je vous suggère

Attaquez les idées mais non pas la personne. Vous avez le droit, le cas échant, de qualifier une idée de stupide, insensé, non applicable, hors contexte ou la débattre, la faire evoluer, ou tout simplement l’ignorer, mais sans toucher a la personne qui l’énonce.

Sachez qu’il y a un mur entre un BLOG qui est censé véhiculer une pensé ou une réflexion, une initiative ou une suggestion, et la personne physique derrière ce blog. En fait, vous n’avez aucun droit de porter atteinte a cette personne de quiconque manière et si vous vous permettez de le faire parceque vous etes sur le net, c’est que vous n’êtes pas digne d’un débat, d’un échange ou de la moindre attention, et de cette facon on est tous perdant.

A quoi bon, debattre, parler, ecrire si au bout de trois ou quatres commentaires ca vire au vinaigre ?

So please, keep it cool, calm and constructive. The world is watching!

p.s. this was my personal opinion, and I can certainly be wrong, partially or fully. If I am, please correct me instead of ^%#%$#%#, as I’m still a learner !