Barefoot Challenge

12 year old Bilaal Rajan from Ontario will be going barefoot this week to raise awareness that many people around the world don't have such necessities as shoes. He also wants many other people to go barefoot as well this week, for an hour, a day or even the whole week.
I will also be going barefoot this whole week, and I hope that everyone who reads this will too, or at least for an hour or a day or two.
The point of this challenge is mainly to raise awareness. Bilaal is sure that once people walk barefoot for some time, they will finally realize how hard it is for so many people in underdeveloped countries to go about their lives.
Bilaal Rajan himself started fundraising when he was 4 years old, since then, he has raised millions of dollars to help people around the world. He has even seen first hand the effects of not wearing shoes after going to Tanzania, Malawi and rural Mexico.
I am hoping that many people will go barefoot this week and help raise awareness.
To learn more about Bilaal and the Barefoot Challenge go to: www.bilaalrajan.com/blog

Snow

It snowed in Edmonton today - CRAZY. It is April, isn't it? It was supposed to snow 20 cm last night and today all together!!! It is all gone now though, I just hope it is for good...
Oh, and by the way, I don't think I ever mentioned that there was an interview with me in KidzWorld magazine for this month's issue. I think that is why there are now so many young followers who have recently started their own blogs. I would just like to correct some things in my interview, though - I am still 12, not 13!!! Also, the swim club that I am in, is not a Junior High club, but instead it is Penguin Swim Club, just thought I'd mention that.
Anyway, otherwise great interview:) And also, thanks for all the new readers of my blog!!!

Operation Disk Drop

Hello all!
I know it's been a while since I last posted, but I have been quite busy.
I'm just posting to talk about the Operation Disk Drop. This is the same one that I talked about last year, when I dropped a disk off in Edmonton. But today, I dropped another CD off in Winnipeg (I am there for Easter), at the Forks on the 4th or 5th floor of the big tower, leaning against the window. If you found that CD, please comment to let me know that you got CD, and if you like it.
Tis disk that I dropped off in Winnipeg today is actually the start of a project I'm doing to try and drop CDs off in every city that I visit.
I will post some more about this new project and the Operation Disk Drop, including cities I will soon be dropping off CDs in.
To learn more about Operation Disk Drop, go to the Hours website.

The Best Photo of Obama in Ottawa

Self explanitory.

Know Your Rights!

Here's a cool video of the complete Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I think it's important that everyone knows these rights so that they realize when these rights are being broken. It's important for people to know that these rights aren't being followed in some countries so that they can maybe do something about it.

New Tailing Ponds Regulations

Sorry, I'm a bit late on this topic, you've probably already heard of it, but I'd just like to add some things.
In case you didn't know, some new regulations have been put in place to make the tailing ponds used by the oil industries in northern Alberta to become greener. Even though this sounds kind of good, many environmentalists aren't happy. There has been a law in place for 40 years that says that any land that has been used by oil companies must be returned to their original state. But, in those 40 years, no land has been replaced. So, if no one followed that rule, how do we know they are going to follow this one?
Also, this regulation says that oil companies must reduce the fine particules in the tailings water by only 50% in 4 years. OK, yes, that would be a huge improvement, but who knows how many more incidents like this one will happen in 4 years?
So, yes, it could be great if the companies actually follow these legislations, but don't you think some steps should be in place to eliminate the waste being produced in the first place?
For more information about the new regulations, here's a news article about it: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/Technology/Tailings+ponds+green/1251260/story.html

Did You Know?

This is a interesting/overwhelming video that asks many questions. Did you know that by 2049 $1000 computer will exceed the computational capabilities of the entire human species? But what does it all mean?

RMR: Canada Explained

Here's Rick Mercer's "Canada Explained" part on tonight's episode. This is a good lesson for those who don't know how Canada's Parliamentary System actually works!

Get Educated

My mom works for the Legal Resource Centre and they recently put out some new infromation on their websites about the Coalition Government idea and about the Prorogation of Parliament.
I thought that I'd post them on here because it seems like too many people (especially too many people in Alberta aka. the Alberta separatists) are saying things about this even though they don't know much about it.
Here's some FAQs about the 2 topics: http://www.law-faqs.org/wiki/index.php/Coal
Here is a special article explaining about what has been happening in Canadian politics lately: http://www.acjnet.org/nanews/default.aspx?id=22893

Also, there is the Amnesty International Write-a-thon tomorrow! This is where people from all over the world write letters to important people in different countries asking them to be fair to their people. I encourage everyone reading this to please write a few letters.

What Does All This Mean?

I’m back on the topic of the coalition government idea here in Canada. Before all this happened, I had no idea what a coalition government was. But now I’ve researched it, at least a little bit. So now I’ll just tell you what I think about this idea.

I think that a coalition government would be a good idea. It would allow all the parties to express their ideas and opinions and bring forward their ideas the loudest.

Also, if there was a coalition government with the Liberal, NDP and Bloc Quebecois parties, my MP, Linda Duncan would definitely play a big role in it because she is the only non-Conservative MP in Alberta.

Also, this coalition government idea has been proven to work! Germany has had many coalition governments over the years. The FDP (a German political party) had a coalition government with the Germany Green Party from 1998 to 2005. And at different times, the CDU/CSU (another German political party) had a coalition with the SPD (yet another German political party) and the CDU had a coalition with the FDP.

So, I don’t really have that much information about this topic, but I have enough to voice some starting opinions. I will write more about this as the coalition government idea progresses.