Tuesday, July 13, 2004
In lieu of any new pictures to upload, or anything relevant to say, I'm just going to comment on a few headlines I noticed at cbc.ca
"Athletics Canada is sending 23 athletes to the Athens Games, 20 fewer than it sent to the 2000 Sydney Games."
At first I was upset about that fact, 23 Olympic calibre athletes out of a population of 30 million plus? Seems rather pathetic. If I recall correctly, the US sends something in the neighbourhood of over 200. I'm too lazy right now to check. Considering the US has a population of about ten times us, 23 is about on-par. The reason for the reduction in the athletes, is "due in part to stringent new qualifying standards, which Athletics Canada implemented in conjunction with the Canadian Olympic Committee. " Well, I suppose that paring the contingent down results in a higher quality team. I suppose we shall see if this is true.
NEXT
"The Philippines said it would withdraw its peacekeeping force from Iraq "as soon as possible," in accordance with the demands of the extremist kidnappers of Filipino Angelo dela Cruz."
After originally vowing to "not bow to terrorist blackmail," the Philippine government made its apparent about-face as the Tuesday deadline set by the abductors loomed.
Well, isn't that big of The Phillippines? Hey, at least they put on a brave face last week, or whenever dela Cruz was first kidnapped. If I lived in a country that had lost someone to Iraqi kidnappers, I sure would be pissed off at this country. In a way, it cheapens the sacrifices made by those countries who have lost hostages to the Islamic Army of Iraq, or whoever else has been kidnapping foreign nationals in the Mid East.
NEXT
Internet search engine Google Inc. will list on Nasdaq National Market when it goes through with its initial public stock offering.
I'm indeed looking forward to this IPO. Both because Google's pledging to run it differently from most any other, in that rather than having their share price set by a investment bank, plans to have their share price by conducting an auction, which should give the public a better chance of buying into the company before the stock hits the market. They also have other unusal things planned for the public company. The ones that come immedietly to mind is the fact that the company is run by a triumvirate, rather than a CEO/Chairman and a board. As well, I recall reading that they plan on making large investments in technology start-up companies... but I'll have to check their website/IPO again sometime. I'll post more on that later. It'll be neat to see how Google unfolds, and if they can keep up with all their plans for their 'different kind of company'.
NEXT
CALGARY - Alberta is now debt-free, due in part to the high price of oil and gas.
"Today I'm very, very proud to announce that Alberta has slain its debt," Premier Ralph Klein said on Monday in Calgary.
"Those days are over and they're over for good, as far as my government is concerned, and if need be we will put in place legislation to make sure that we never have a debt again," he added.
Go Alberta. Congrats on cutting public spending on things like healthcare to the bone, to the point of people in Alberta considering private, for-profit healthcare. "A lone protester heckled Klein during his announcement by saying the government paid its debt on the backs of Albertans who are having a hard time making ends meet.".
I think that's enough for now.
news quotes courtesy cbc.ca
Leave your response