Why Nick should not get alimony

There are circumstances in which alimony is only fair. For example, a fifty year old stay-at-home mother who sacrificed her career to raise their children. It is unlikely that she would be able to find a job to maintain her standard of living after a divorce. In other instances, alimony is ludicrous.

Nick Lachey is filing for spousal support. Plee-asee, Nick.

Arguably, one may think that since the money Jessica’s company generates is directly related to Nick, he deserves alimony. He was indeed instrumental to the success of the “Newlyweds”, the show that made Jessica so popular. For this reason, he sure deserves 50% of her assets uptil now.

In matrimony, Nick benefited from the profits of her company, but he also shared the risks and assumed possible losses. It seems very unfair that now divorced, he would continue to get his share of the profit without taking any risks. We’re having this discussion because her company is profitable. If she was losing money, would Nick be obliged to pay her debt?

Judge Smarties suggests that Nick be awarded half of her company (like a shareholder). In this case, he would profit from any success but would also lose should the world realize that there are no reasons for her popularity.

The Cartoons: Taking it a step further

I thought I was done with this topic until I came across the following article by Eric Margolis.

As I explained in my February 7, 2006 entry, freedom of speech is self-regulated by political correctness. Recently, New Brunswick's Moosehead Breweries was forced to pull out an ad which stated that "The average woman speaks 10,000 words in a day. Roughly 9,950 too many”. It is allowed to make fun of women; it’s just not socially accepted.

Margolis take a step further the idea that freedom of speech is moderated by political correctness. He writes: “This whole ugly cartoon business is really about anti-Islamism – the modern version of 1930’s anti-Semitism. Today, promoting hatred and scorn for Islam and Muslims has become one of the few socially and legally acceptable modern prejudice in western society.”

The mere fact that such cartoons were published is a testament that making fun of Islam and Muslims is socially accepted. Clearly, freedom of speech allows for the publication of the cartoons. What the real question should be is why public opinion allows for this type of publication.

Valentine’s Day aka Another Commercial Holiday

I hate holidays. The more socially constructed, the more I hate them. Valentine’s Day ranks at the top of my Most Hated Holidays list, right below “Grand-parents Day”. I kid you not. Given that September is a pretty dead month as no one buys cards for Labour Day, Hallmark introduced “Grand-parents Day” on September 11 (of all dates).

I hate cards. Why would anyone spend $5 on a card? Send me an e-card instead. Thoughtful, free, and easily disposable without guilt.

I hate teddy bears too. Men, do not kid yourself. Girls enjoy receiving teddy bears, women don’t. What would you do with a teddy bear? Exactly.

I like chocolate, but not the overpriced kind in an ugly heart shaped box. That's just eww.

I like dinner and wine, but restaurants are just overcrowded on V-day.

Happy 2nd Anniversary To Us

Yesterday was our 2^nd year anniversary. Time flies when you’re having fun!

February 11, 2004

February 11, 2006

Parents and Friendship

I find it hardly possible to have a friendship with most parents, especially mothers. It’s like they pushed their brain with their placenta. They live in a goo goo ga ga bubble. I cannot relate to breastfeeding, co-sleeping, bodily fluids, and potty training. Whatever happened to the other person? The one who used to have intellectually stimulating conversations about politics, travel, and wine?

Another observation on parents and friendship. Parents make friends really quickly through their children. Two soccer moms meet and the next day they are best friend. They really have nothing in common other than their children, but that’s enough. Who needs to talk about anything else, but the kids anyway? It’s weird to me because the fact that someone has a cat won’t make us best friends instantly. I need to have something else in common with this person.

One more, random observation. Not all adults are cute. By that rational, not all babies are cute. Touché.

The New Age Student

I went to library at Carleton U last week. Some things, like books, never change. The most recent book was probably bought in 1976. Everything else is different.

Since I finished my Master in 2004, the university has become a society of leisure. New to me was the popularity of "The Page Break Café” where one can buy Starbucks coffee . There are brand new couches located throughout, new computers with flat screen monitors were added, and the walls have been painted a pleasant colour.

Two years ago only, it was impossible to find an electrical outlet to plug-in your laptop. Not very many people actually owned a laptop so it didn't matter too much. Now, all students have laptops, ipods, and wireless Internet. I didn't see too many students writing papers, but MSN messenger was sure going strong. They all have cell phones too. As a matter of fact, the staircase appeared to have been converted into a ‘talking’ room (like a smoking room but for cellphoners.)

I am witnessing a cultural shift. I saw more students playing than working. Playing with the ipod, the cell phone, chatting, drinking up their mocalattapuccino something, or even sleeping on the couch. I used to go to the library to study. I guess that's passé.

On the different note, I am utterly annoyed. I need a 1960 article on the interaction between the quality of work and global quality of life. Well, my very article was ripped off the journal!!! I hope this person never graduated. He/she clearly lacks common sense. This article is not online. Now I have to go to the ‘other’ university to find my article. Grr.

And More Caricature Drama for you

An Iranian newspaper wants to start a Holocaust caricature contest. They wonder if the West will still value 'freedom of speech'. Granted, it’s très infantile, but I am particularly interested in finding out too.

Of course, the Iranians know that this wonderful "freedom of speech" concept is a continuum.

Simplified Western Conceptual Model of Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Speech  --------------- Political correctness

In Canada, freedom of speech is self-regulated by popular opinion. What the masses like is freedom of speech. What the masses don't like is apolitical correctness. What they like and dislike is dynamic. Hell, *we elected a homophobic party when I thought most Canadians were open-minded. (*Note: "We" positively excludes the author)

Although all Canadians are allowed to express any opinion they like, it gets a bit trickier when it's unpopular. They won't be sent to jail, but we have a special treatment for them. They will be excluded, socially alienated and labelled as 'evil'...Until the masses does a 180 that is. Then, they shall become our beloved elected government.

Of course, following the same train of thoughts, the media is allowed to express whatever they wish. The only issue is that newspapers sell to the masses. What the masses like to hear is published. What the masses don't like to hear is not published.

I stand by my values. There should be no double standards or "degrees" of freedom of speech.

The Caricature Drama

For the full story, see my good friend Wikipedia

In September, a Danish newspaper published caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. In one of them, he was wearing a turban shaped as a bomb. The Muslim world freaked. What was the fuss about? First, no one is allowed to draw or sculpt Muhammad. Second, the caricature was very derogatory making all Muslim people look like terrorists.

A couple of months later, newspapers in France, Germany, and New Zealand published the caricatures again claiming freedom of speech. Some Muslim countries (and individuals) retaliated. A Palestinian asked for an apology, Syria wanted to punish people responsible for the publications, Danish goods were boycotted, there were bomb threats, Saudi Arabia and Libya recalled their ambassadors from Denmark.

I can sympathize with Muslim people protesting against the West for many reasons: stealing their oil, oppressing their people, ‘liberating’ them, implementing puppet governments, etc. These are all good reasons. A caricature is not a good reason.

First of all, no one cares around here about caricatures. Until someone wreaks havoc about them, no one even notices them. Secondly, does George W. Bush, Celine Dion, or Queen Elizabeth II ask for apologies? No and freedom of speech does not exclude religious matters. Thirdly and most importantly, do we burn down Saudi Arabian embassies because women are not allowed to drive or Pakistani embassies because women who don’t obey social norms are killed? Let me think. Hmm. No.

Caricatures in newspapers are part of our lifestyle. So is freedom of speech. We would highly appreciate if no countries took sanctions against us or vandalize our properties because of our way of living.

Job shadowing

I don’t talk about work very often, but I thought that sharing this recent experience may be useful to some of you.

My team leader believes that the only way to learn statistics is to sit behind someone else doing statistics. This is what I did for the past two days. In a nutshell, I sat behind my co-worker and asked a billion questions as she analyzed her data. My team leader was right. It’s unbelievable the stuff you learn just by observing. I went back to my desk and replicated the analysis with my own dataset. Having taken multiple statistics courses in the past, I can testify that shadowing is more effective.

So this entry is for all managers out there. Job shadowing works! Of course, it helps that my co-worker and team leader are passionate, hard-working, motivated, and intelligent women (no, they don’t read this blog so I am not sucking up). Observing them do their work is a pleasure, shadowing an arrogant twit may not be as fun.

Companies often invest in external training which is awesome. However, they should really look into implementing mentoring and job shadowing programs as well. It’s a great source of learning at a small cost.