Gary Killops

Cyber-bullying, as the name suggests is defined as the use of cell phones, internet or other communication devices to post images or text in order to hurt, embarrass, threaten or simply ridicule another person. It may include use of sexual remarks and humiliating victims in forums and posts through the use of derogatory language.

Cyberbullying is on the rise in the Canada and the United States and is not only limited to children but also affects adults (in case of adults it is also referred to as cyber-stalking or cyber-harassment) as well.

Comparison To Physical Bullying

Bullying has indeed gone way beyond the schoolyard. Compared to physical bullying, cyber bullies operate by remaining anonymous by using fake email accounts, fictitious names in chat rooms, IMs, text messaging etc. as disguises. Also, using the above-mentioned indirect ways of communication emboldens cyber bullies to stoop to any level when it comes to harassing their victims.

Unlike the physical world, cyber space often lacks supervision and cyber bullies make good use of this factor. Bullying through cell phones is a menace since they are personal devices and have to be kept switched on for legitimate purposes.

Cyber-Bullying Trends And Affects

Cyberbullying today affects almost half (42%) of teens. One in four kids have been bullied online at least once and I dare say that this has been increasing every year. One in five kids receive threatening emails and messages. Almost half of the under-15 cyber population have been threatened, embarrassed or mentally tormented online.

Cyber-bullying is not only limited to harassing children but adults as well, most of which happens at the workplace. A tenth of the people using the internet in America and England believe cyber-bullying to be a rising problem at their workplace. Cyber-stalkers are doing this by threatening a victim’s employment, income, reputation and security. Various motives whether romantic or personal dislike trigger such acts in people to resort to cyber-stalking.

Cyber-bullying adversely affects the emotional and mental well being of children and other victims. Victims show distinct signs of low self esteem, increased suicidal tendencies, fear, frustration anger and depression and may start to avoid friends and regular activities, often exactly what a cyber bully would want.

Already, cases of children committing suicide due to cyber bullying have been reported in United States. A lot of companies have lost revenues and faced defamation as a result of false postings. Victims have undergone serious damage to their finances and their reputation has been put at stake many a times.

Laws Against Cyber Bullying

Canada is a bit behind on this one. Laws against cyber bullying has been introduced in a number of states in the United States and many have been proposed that would criminalize acts of cyber-bullying and cyber-stalking. One of the laws passed in August 2008 has given school administrations to discipline children indulging in cyber-bullying. Stringent laws are still a far cry!

If you are a victim of cyber-bullying or cyber-stalking, do bring it to the attention of concerned authorities. Ignore all mail or messages from such people and do not indulge in arguments or accusations whatsoever. Stay Safe!

Gary

Cyberbullying should be made a separate Criminal Code offence the Canadian Teachers’ Federation said on Saturday as they voted unanimously to ratify their policy on the issue.

“Because it’s (cyberbullying) so new . . . we haven’t caught up and we’re trying to catch up,” said Emily Noble president of the federation.

“Kids go on, say Facebook, and make harassing comments about someone . . . If I_had written you a letter I would be up before the courts for harassment,” said Noble. “People do it online and it’s anonymous.”

The CTF, which represents 220,000 teachers, held a special session on cyberbullying at its annual meeting in Moncton, N.B. The new policy aims to reflect the changing environment for today’s kids.

“It’s (cyberspace) the new playground. We’ve taught the kids in terms of the face-to-face and the physical bullying but this is in fact the new space.”

But Noble said while bullying has always gone on, it is this anonymity that differentiates the cyberbully from the traditional playground thug.

“This use of computers is a new tool . . .We are finding it is much more pervasive because there is an anonymity to it,”_she said. “Kids can go online and they can pretend to be somebody else.”

A draft version of the policy said that it should be a punishable offence to use “information and communication technology to convey a message which threatens death or bodily harm or perpetuates fear and intimidation.”

The policy indicates a serious recognition of how common it is now for bullying to be carried out by text messaging, in online chat rooms, on blogs or social networking websites such as Facebook. The idea goes far beyond the expulsions and suspensions that some students have been punished with for bullying fellow students or targeting teachers.

“We will be lobbying the federal government to strengthen any gaps in the criminal code regarding misuse of the Internet,” said Noble.

A spokesperson for Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said it’s too early to comment on the CTF’s Criminal Code proposal, but Noble said the federation has already started to talk to members of Parliament and have so far found a receptive audience.

“It is an issue that will resonate, we believe, with the policy-makers and the legislative makers,” she said.

But she said that it could be a challenge to get across to policy-makers the seriousness of the issue.

“One of the major difficulties in terms of the Criminal Code is that we tend to think these are just people on the Internet and it’s fun to play games,” said Noble. “We need to work with the policy-makers to say ‘”this is more than just kids playing video games.”

Shaheen Shariff, an associate professor in the faculty of education at McGill University and an author on cyberbullying, is pleased the organization has finally developed a policy on the matter, but doesn’t think making it a crime will help eliminate it.

“I understand completely their need to come up with a policy,” said Shariff. “I would advise them to please emphasize an educational response; make sure their membership understands that criminalizing this issue ought to be the very, very last resort.”

Hey, if you are going to post SPAM comments here hoping to get them approved, forget about it. I manually approve each comment and delete all of the SPAm crap.

Gary

Well it is Victoria Day weekend around here. (Memorial Day weekend in the United States).

So I did a little research to see exactly what the difference in holidays was between Canada and the US.

According to wikipedia:

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday that is observed on the last Monday of May (observed this year on -05-). It was formerly known as Decoration Day. This holiday commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service to their country.

Victoria Day is a Canadian statutory holiday celebrated on the last Monday before or on May 24 in honour of both Queen Victoria’s birthday and the current reigning Canadian sovereign’s birthday.

It is a long weekend, and around here it is usually spring cleaning weekend and planting flowers weekend. The weather is so-so right now, looks like it will rain later this afternoon so the outdoor flower planting may get up on hold.

Have a great safe weekend.

Running on empty was not a good thing today while in Windsor. The price of gas just hit another all time high of just under $1.30 / litre. (129.9 to be exact).

I needed gas but was able to make it out into the county. When I saw gas going for th cheap price of 121.9 / litre I filled up the gas tank. What a bargain. Normally I do not fill up any more, a pit stop at the station to put in $20 or $0 worth of gas just doesn’t seem to hurt as much but when I saw the gas 6 cents a litre cheaper in Essex filling p was the only option.

I don’t even want to think what the price per litre will be this summer.

Author Michael Jeffreys personally interviewed 15 top motivational gurus in 1997 for his then upcoming book. After talking to gurus from Brian Tracy to Dr. Wayne Dyer, he distilled 8 Secrets to Success they all agreed upon. These secrets are still good today and are as follows:

1. Take 100% Responsibility for Your Life – In a society where people blame everything from their parents to the government for failure, those who don’t buy into this mentality or succumb to the “victim” thinking succeed. To blame something or somebody outside yourself is saying they have control of your life and not you. Someone else’s opinion of you doesn’t have to become your reality.

2. Live Your Life On Purpose - What separates motivational thinkers from the unsuccessful is that they believe they’re doing what they were put her to do. The difference between this and just living, is that the latter is just getting through the week with the least problems. But when you live your life on purpose, your main concern is doing the job right. For the entrepreneur this means finding a cause you believe in and building your business around it.

3. Be Willing to Pay the Price - Be willing to pay the price for your dreams. Wanting a big house, a luxury car, and a million dollars in the bank is all very nice, and everyone wants these things – but are you willing to pay the price to get them? This is one of the major differences between the successful and unsuccessful.

4. Stay Focused – Every day we’re bombarded with hundreds of tasks, phone calls, messages, and everyone competing for our time. Focusing requires giving up something in the present because you are investing your time in something that will pay off big-time down the road. Jack Canfield and Mark Hanson were turned by 30 publishers when they submitted the first “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book. Instead of giving up, they stayed focused on their goal and did four or five interviews per day for radio, TV, and newspapers, for five days a week for a whole year. Eventually, a small publisher decided to take a chance, and of course now it’s a best-seller that spawned an entire series that have sold more than 10 million copies.

5. Become An Expert in Your Field One striking factor all successful people have in common is how seriously they take their profession. They strive to be the best at what they do, and do almost anything to improve. If someone followed you around all day with a video camera at your business, would it be a tape you’d be proud of or embarrassed about? Make the decision today to work at being the best in your field. How? By finding out what the “best” in your field are doing, and do what they do.

6. Write Out a Plan for Achieving Your Goals - Write out an action plan/map for how you’re going to achieve your goals. Trying to reach your goals without a plan is like trying to drive from Los Angeles to Chicago without a map. A goal that isn’t written down is merely a wish or fantasy.

7. Never Give Up - Never, never, never give up. When you’re fully committed to achieving your goal, giving up is not an option. You must be willing do whatever it takes to make it happen. The power of perseverance is an awesome force. As someone once said, “inch by inch it’s a cinch”. Think of the lowly inchworm – if it pondered the length of the trip from start to finish before it started, it probably would never move. To a worm’s point-of-view, the garden path must look like a trip to Mars. Never give up! Keep on going like the Eveready battery bunny, and pretty soon you’re there.

8. Don’t Delay - Nobody knows how much time they have left to accomplish their dreams, and we must remember that we don’t have forever. The clock is ticking, and sooner or later your number comes up and you’re gone. Successful achievers know this too, but they don’t view it as a “negative”. Achievers use it to “spur them on”. They go after what they want as energetically and as passionately as possible, for as long as they have.

I had a friend who used to say, “Today is a check – cash it! Yesterday is an I.O.U. – forget it! Tomorrow is a promissory note, don’t bank on it!” I think that’s a pretty good summation of life, so go out there and cash in on that “today” check.

Forex trading has always been something that interested me. I just didn’t have a clue were to begin. I stumbled my way around and slowly figured a few things out, made a few mistakes along the way. if you share my interest in forex I invite you to check out the forex information site that I created.

You can view the information here: http://www.GaryKillops.com/forex 

Who is participating in forex market trades?

The forex market is all about trading between countries, the currencies of those countries and the timing of investing in certain currencies. The FX market is trading between counties, usually completed with a broker or a financial company. Many people are involved in forex trading, which is similar to stock market trading, but FX trading is completed on a much larger overall scale. Much of the trading does take place between banks, governments, brokers and a small amount of trades will take place in retail settings where the average person involved in trading is known as a spectator. Financial market and financial conditions are making the forex market trading go up and down daily. Millions are traded on a daily basis between many of the largest countries and this is going to include some amount of trading in smaller countries as well.

From the studies over the years, most trades in the forex market are done between banks and this is called interbank. Banks make up about 50 percent of the trading in the forex market. So, if banks are widely using this method to make money for stockholders and for their own bettering of business, you know the money must be there for the smaller investor, the fund mangers to use to increase the amount of interest paid to accounts. Banks trade money daily to increase the amount of money they hold. Overnight a bank will invest millions in forex markets, and then the next day make that money available to the public in their savings, checking accounts and etc.

Commercial companies are also trading more often in the forex markets. The commercial companies such as Deutsche bank, UBS, Citigroup, and others such as HSBC, Braclays, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase, and still others such as Goldman Sachs, ABN Amro, Morgan Stanley, and so on are actively trading in the forex markets to increase wealth of stock holders. Many smaller companies may not be involved in the forex markets as extensively as some large companies are but the options are stil there.

Central banks are the banks that hold international roles in the foreign markets. The supply of money, the availability of money, and the interest rates are controlled by central banks. Central banks play a large role in the forex trading, and are located in Tokyo, New York and in London. These are not the only central locations for forex trading but these are among the very largest involved in this market strategy. Sometimes banks, commercial investors and the central banks will have large losses, and this in turn is passed on to investors. Other times, the investors and banks will have huge gains.

http://www.GaryKillops.com/forex

Deciding on whether to stay on Disney or Non-Disney World hotels is sometimes challenging. To better come up with the best choice for a hotel accommodation, here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of staying on or off site.

Advantages of Staying Off Site

• When staying off site, the hotels usually offer more variety of amenities to compensate with its location and they also offer lower prices since staying at hotels situated near Disney World are quite costly

• Normally, hotels located outside Disney World are larger, one huge advantage for those who are traveling in large groups since these hotel rooms are good for 5 to 6 people while Disney hotel rooms are only good for four people regardless of the age of the guest.

• Most offsite hotels offer free transportation to Disney World as well as to other attractions such as Universal and Seaworld while hotels onsite only offer free transportation to Disney parks and they will not take you to the other area attractions in the city.

• Apart from Disney World, Orlando has many other tourist attractions worth exploring and by staying in an offsite hotel, there is an easier access to these smaller scale tourist spots all over the place such as shopping venues, great restaurants and golf courses too.

• A lot of these hotels also offer discounts for Disney World tickets as well as with SeaWorld or Universal if you choose to have you accommodation with them.

• As for the food, breakfast is free and last minute specials even on peak season while Disney properties have no freebies to offer and dining on these onsite hotels can be very costly for what you will get

• A lot of the Disney hotels are already a little old compared to a lot of new hotels being continually established offsite.

Disadvantages of Staying Off Site

• In terms of quality, there is a great difference between onsite and offsite hotels.

• A free transportation to and from the International Airport will be provided by these onsite hotels.

• A free shuttle service to all of the four parks in Disney World will also be provided. Unlike those in offsite hotels where some share the same shuttle services resulting to a crowded ride, there will be no difficulty finding these free shuttle services even during the busy seasons since they run for every thirty minutes.

• Disney World offers one Magical Hour as they call it to those who choose to have their stay in these Disney properties. The guests will be allowed to enter the park an hour before the guests who are not staying at the Disney World Resort gets to enter.

• Most of the employees working in offsite hotels are not very familiar with the Disney World or perhaps, Orlando in general unlike those who are staffed in these onsite hotels who are trained well to attend to your needs.

• Of course, if you will have your accommodation in these Disney hotels, you will be able to charge stuff to your room giving you a less hassle tour to the park.

• Disney guests also have the chance to have a character tuck the kids to bed before they have that wonderful slumber.

The server that host this web site was down this morning for approximately 6 hours. The server is now back online however everything seems to be running very slow right now. Perhaps time to look for a new server / host.

E-books: The Next (Really) Big Thing?

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