Dreadlocks remain grey area? Canada’s Wonderland prejudice again? racism? sterotype?

In basic terms, Jessica Devnani is a brunette, yet, her dreadlocks hairstyle is a grey area in terms of employment at Canada’s Wonderland.

“unnatural colour and beads” ?

So, maybe it’s no surprise the initial park employment staffer who interviewed Ms Devnani didn’t see her hair as extreme, but in the eyes of another, in the human resources department a little more than a week later, it was a non-starter. Even within Wonderland, the dreadlocks were a grey area open to interpretation, depending on who was looking at Ms Devnani’s hair at the time.

Many will remember last summer when the Ontario government’s cabinet office received a black eye. A mistakenly sent e-mail sent to a University of Toronto student that had applied for a position found out his appearance may have had a role in him not being considered.

A cabinet office staffer coined the phrase ‘Ghetto Dude’ in describing the young man’s appearance, a black man with dreadlocks, to another member of her department. Many were outraged to read about his story.

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Girl Refused Wonderland Employment Because Of Dreadlocks

Jessica Devnani was excited about the prospect of starting her first summer job at Canada’s Wonderland, but in the end, she found no amusement in the park’s request that she cut her dreadlocks, or find work elsewhere.

“I went in for my interview and they hired me on the spot so a week later I went for my first day of training,” she explained.

When she showed up she was given the bad news — the hair had to go.

“I was angry they didn’t tell me at the interview when they saw my hair,” she adds.

As a private company Canada’s Wonderland is entitled to a hiring policy and they have a rule of no extreme hairstyles.

A spokesperson for the company declined an interview.

“They got my hopes up with the job and then telling me I had to resign,” Devnani complains.

Canada’s Wonderland says it will look into better communicating its hiring policies and Jessica doesn’t plan to take any action against them, but she just hopes it doesn’t happen to somebody else.

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Tar sand investments now a dead duck?

As one Canadian newspaper put it. Ducks in Alberta died a crude death. One of the species of ducks that died on a pond filled with crude oil polluted water.

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Ontario legislature orders Toronto’s transit workers to end - Strike is over for now!

Ontario’s legislature has ordered Toronto’s 9,000 transit workers to end their suprise strike that idled the country’s largest fleet of subways, streetcars and buses. All parties supported the bill, introduced personally by Premier Dalton McGuinty, who called a rare Sunday session of the legislature to pass the back-to-work legislation.

As a result, subway trains, streetcars and buses should be rolling within hours, well before Monday’s commuter rush begins - welcome relief to the 1.5 million people who use transit weekdays.

The legislation imposes fines on individuals and the union if they don’t heed the back-to-work order.

The city was caught flat-footed when the transit workers walked out with barely any notice at midnight Friday night after rejecting a tentative contract.

McGuinty called on transit users to extend courtesy to transit workers.

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Toronto Transit Strike - The people are mad as hell!

A midnight strike by the TTC caught many people off guard, some showing up early this morning expecting a train, bus or streetcar only to find the lines abandoned. Last night, clubgoers poured out of bars when news of the strike spread.

“No way, no way,” Jorge Bayona, out with friends at Yonge-Dundas Square, said at 11:40 pm. “You’re kidding me. We live an hour away.” The shock on his face escalated to panic, and he and his friends started trying to conjure up contingency plans.

Danielle Consett, 25, also expressed anger at the TTC’s union for voting against the tentative agreement – in favour of a last-minute strike.

“It’s a danger to society,” she said. “It’s selfish. We have rights, too. We have the right to know about a strike 48 hours in advance.” In subways, an announcement was made at 11:23 p.m. telling ticket collectors over their private intercom that service would be shutting down at midnight.

A public announcement didn’t start until almost 11:30 p.m.

Many people showed up this morning at bus stops and subway stations on their way to work unaware therewas a strike.

“It’s closed?” asked Dora Loyuk, 27, watching someone try to open doors at College. “I had no clue…” Loyuk was heading to work in the Richmond and Peter Sts. area. She said it will take her about a half an hour to walk.
“I’m going to have to call in and say there is no subway today. If they can give me more time to walk, then that’s fine.” At the Pape station, commuters who had not yet learned of the strike were stunned to find the doors locked.

“They should be shot,” said one man, apparently stranded from reaching his job. “Some people have to work, you know,” he said.

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Condoleezza Rice Addresses The Issue Of Race In America

“Black Americans were a founding population,” she said. “Africans and Europeans came here and founded this country together — Europeans by choice and Africans in chains. That’s not a very pretty reality of our founding.” As a result, Miss Rice told editors and reporters at The Washington Times, “descendants of slaves did not get much of a head start, and I think you continue to see some of the effects of that.”

“That particular birth defect makes it hard for us to confront it, hard for us to talk about it, and hard for us to realize that it has continuing relevance for who we are today,” she said.

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Ubuntu + Sun = Very good idea

I had dinner with a good friend tonight from the open-source world, and we ended up having the same conversation I had with a few other friends from the open-source business community at lunch yesterday. The conversation began with Sun and ended with Ubuntu. In between, the two came together.

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Microsoft: June 30 Windows XP cut-off set in stone

Microsoft made it official on April 3: There will be no new reprieves for Windows XP (other than on Ultra Low-Cost PCs).

Some customers and partners had been hoping the company might extend again the deadline for all PC makers to be allowed to preload Windows XP, rather than Windows Vista, on new PCs. But today, Microsoft officials said the current June 30, 2008 cut-off date would remain in place for the vast majority of machines.

The one new exception, as some were anticipating, are Ultra Low-Cost PCs (ULPCs), which Microsoft defines as systems like the Asus Eee and Intel Classmate — “significantly more restricted hardware with less expensive processors and more limited graphics capabilities. ULPCs should not be confused with the higher-priced and more robust UMPCs, or Ultra-Mobile PCs (a k a “Origami” devices); Microsoft is continuing to encourage UMPC makers to build their systems around Vista.

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Tories stand by MP who made homophobic remarks

Tom Lukiwski rocks back and forth in the camera frame while pontificating about the differences between alpha and beta males.The camera operator fiddles with the zoom a bit to frame up the future Member of Parliament’s face. Lukiwski looks for the red light to make sure the tape is rolling.

The Saskatchewan NDP found the jaw-dropping tape when it moved into its Opposition offices after losing the provincial election last fall and released it Thursday for the whole world to see.

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Toronto Queen streetcar named among world’s best

National Geographic includes the TTC’s Queen streetcar, the 501, one of the top 10 trolley routes in the world. It’s a crowded ride, but oh, what a view. The 501 has become emblematic of the stretched service on the TTC. But finally there’s a glint of good news for the much-maligned queen of Toronto’s streetcar routes. The venerable 501 – known as the Queen car – has made National Geographic’s list of the world’s top 10 trolley rides. It’s a distinction shared with streetcar routes as far-flung as Melbourne, Seattle and Lisbon, part of the contents of the coffee-table book Journeys of a Lifetime: 500 of the World’s Greatest Trips, published in October.

“Throwbacks to an earlier age, the great trolley routes we selected let you jump on and off with the locals while riding through some of the most scenic and historic districts of each city,” wrote National Geographic editor Larry Pogue of the selections.

According to the book, the Queen streetcar made the list because it is one of the longest routes in North America while showcasing “lively downtown Toronto.”

The 48.9-km. line stretches from Long Branch on the Mississauga border to the city’s easternmost streetcar loop at Neville Park.

“It is a wonderful route,” said TTC spokesperson Marilyn Bolton. “What I love about it is the interesting, shops, buildings and architecture you can see.”

Along with being the city’s longest route, the 501 has a reputation for being among the most troubled. The TTC’s estimate of 43,500 riders each weekday in 2006 is down from 63,000 in 1981.

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Macworld 2008: Steve Jobs keynote speech leaked? True or Fake?

Steve Jobs’ keynote speech, that he is due to make on stage at the Moscone Centre in San Francicso on Tuesday 15th January, has apparently been leaked via Wikipedia.

With highlights including a 16GB iPhone, details of the SDK for the device, a 13-inch 0.8-inch thick redesigned MacBook and direct YouTube for Apple TV, it would not be a dull keynote if it’s all true.

In its entirety, if the sources are to be believed, here is what Monsieur Jobs is to cover during tomorrow’s time on stage:

MacWorld January 2008 Keynote
Rough Outline; draft 5

Greetings! Welcome to Moscone Center
Quick Overview: iPod/iTunes
- iPod has been extremely profitable for us this holiday season
- Sales figures, market share
- Our new models are doing better than ever
- 3 iPod games released last month accidentally (supposed to be for today)
- Another new game today: Chess
- iTunes doing extremely well (sales figures/market share)
- Today: 30 indie labels releasing their entire catalogs in iTunes Plus
- Many more to follow in the next few months

iPhone
- Best iPod ever
- Sales figures, market share
- Sales beyond our wildest dreams
- Much more than the 1% market share we asked for in January
- Starting today: 8GB $399, 16GB $499
- Four times the memory as original iPhone for the same price
- iPhone is coming to Japan in March with NTT DoCoMo
- SDK is unveiled!

iPhone/iPod Touch SDK
- Apps and Widgets
- Using Cocoa with Objective-C
- Developers submit programs as source code, not executable
- Specify iPhone or both iPhone/Touch (certain features iPhone only)
- Set your own price: Apps $0-$6.99, Widgets $0-$2.99
- Users buy/download in iTunes Wi-Fi Store / iTunes Store (Mac/PC)
- Automatic updating wirelessly or docked

- Demonstration of exporting from XCode 3 to iTunes Store
- Submits source code to Apple for validation (make sure that people aren’t abusing the system, prevent malware and viruses)
- If using microphone or GSM, iPhone only; otherwise, available for both iPhone and iPod Touch
- Apps can be free or up to $6.99; Widgets free or up to $2.99
- Developers recieve 70% of revenue for their products
- Licensed under Apple Mobile Software License
- Can download wirelessly from iTunes Wi-Fi Store or docked to computer from iTunes Store
- Demonstration of wirelessly downloading (and running) the app submitted earlier
- Apps and widgets can be rearranged on front screen; front screen scrolls to show all apps/widgets
- Resubmit updated versions of apps; when added to store, iPhone/Touch will ask you to update it next time you use it (or next time you dock the iPhone/Touch)
- Developers can get their hands on a beta version of the SDK tomorrow on ADC and start developing; final version due early February
- iTunes 7.6 and iPhone/iPod Touch Software update 1.3 allowing for Apps mid-February

Example apps/widgets
Apps:
- iChat (coming with 1.3 update) (AIM, Jabber/Google Talk)
– Quick demonstration
- RSS Feed Reader (coming with 1.3 update) (read feeds online or off)
- One of our partners made something cool: Last.fm (scrobble tracks played on iPhone/touch wirelessly without syncing w/ computer)
Widgets:
- Dictionary (coming with 1.3 update) (quickly look up words, translate, use wikipedia)
– Quick demonstration
- Yellow/White Book (coming with 1.3 update) (search for contacts, add them to your address book directly from the app, will sync back with address book on your Mac/PC)
- Sports Ticker (coming with 1.3 update) (choose your sports and teams, get updates on their progress)
- Another partner: Twitter (update your Twitter on the fly, see your friends tweets)
- Try these out on the show floor today

Mac
- Sales are getting better and better every day
- Hardware sales figures/market share
- Leopard released October; doing spectacularly
- Sales figures/market share
- Selling extremely well; estimated to overtake Tiger in terms of marketshare by June if you only count the new Macs that come with it preinstalled; even quicker if you include boxed copies
- 10.5.2 out today - many bug fixes, also addressing a lot of issues and complaints users had such as list view with stacks and certain HIG non-compliance issues

New MacBooks!
- What would MacWorld be without a new Mac? (sorry about last year)
- Completely redesigned MacBook
- Completely aluminum body like MacBook Pro
- 13″ screen at 1440×900
- Two colors: Black and Silver
- Looks gorgeous at 0.8″ thin
- A major feat of engineering - patents abound
- DVD drive pops open on side when eject button is pressed
- New on all notebooks and iMac: iSight HD (720p)
- New backlit keyboard based on recent Apple Keyboard revisions (keys slightly lighter than that of laptop casing, colorwise)
- New matching MagSafe cable (Aluminum ends, cord color matches that of keyboard)
- New matching Apple Remote (slightly smaller with larger overall buttons)
- Intel GMA X3100 graphics
- 3 models
- Completely phasing out the combo drive on all product lines today
- BTO models can upgrade all the way to 2.6GHz/4GB Memory/320GB hard drive
- 4.5 hours of battery life
- Starting at $1199

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Everex debuts $399 ultramobile PC

At CES, Everex is launching a $399 ultramobile that will be sold through Walmart.com starting January 25. The low-cost Everex CloudBook uses the open source gOS V2 Rocket operating system and VIA 1.2GHz C7-M ULV processor, same as the $199 Everex gPC. The Cloudbook is designed for Internet usage, not for heavy duty graphics applications. Like the gPC, it will come with software or links to FireFox, gMail, Meebo, Skype, Google Documents & Spreadsheets, Google Calendar, Google News, Google Maps, Wikipedia, Google Product Search, GIMP, Blogger, YouTube, Xine Movie Player, RhythmBox, Faqly, Facebook and OpenOffice.org 2.3.

The unit weighs 2 pounds and is 9.06 x 6.73 x 1.16 inches. It has a 7-inch TFT screen with 800 x 480 native resolution, and has a 30 GB drive and 512 MB of DDR2 533MHz SDRAM. The Cloudbook averages averages 5 hours of battery life with its lithium-ion battery, according to the company, and also includes a 1.3-megapixel Webcam.

For input and output, the Cloudbook includes a DVI-I port, 2 USB 2.0 ports, a RJ45 Ethernet port, headphone/line out jack, microphone/line in jack and 4-in-1 media card reader. For connectivity it offers 802.11b/g and Ethernet.

The gOS is based on the Ubuntu 7.1 Linux desktop developed by an open source startup of the same name. “The gOS is an alternative operating system that makes it apparent that Google is your entire computing experience,” said gOS founder David Liu regarding the release of the gPC in October 2007. “When you make Linux look pretty and put ton of Google apps on it, you pacify it for consumer. You could say gOS is Google inspired but not official stamped.” gOS uses the Enlightenment window manager and has taken cues from Apple in designing the interface.

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