http://hugh.tigblog.org/ What's on the minds of young leaders from around the globe? en-us http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/238565
Every time I ride the subway, another face is flashed across the screens installed in the stations. Today, it’s sadly the same kid who I saw on the screen last year. The people on these bulletins have usually been missing for five years or more. Is there even a point of searching for them anymore?

I always wondered how the police could not find a missing person. Perhaps they did not wish to be found, but many of the faces I saw were only kids. They could have at least sent a letter saying they were okay.

Being so close to this investigation gave me a grim look into the search for a missing person. With no transactions on bank accounts and no sightings since leaving Toronto, there were no leads for police to follow. After a month of investigation, police divers searching the waters close to the cottage and countless friends searching surrounding areas and camp areas, everyone came up empty.

The question begs: Where is his silver Honda? Where is Bob? And why can no one find him?]]> Thu, 02 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/238565 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/160993 Facebook. Facebook was originally created specifically for university students to network, send messages and share photos, among other things. At one time, it was only open to university students and you could only signup using your registered school email account.

While not all of my friends have Facebook, those who don't login using other user's accounts to check what is happening regularly -- without doing it, you find yourself out of the loop on friend's lives. This just goes to prove that right now, Facebook is essential to most student's social lives.

Today, anyone can join -- students at any age level, adults, teens and even those who are not attending school. I find now that more than ever, my life revolves around Facebook. Want to know what everyone is up to this weekend? Check Facebook. Want to see photos from the other night? Check Facebook. Need to message your friend who isn't online? GO TO FACEBOOK.

I find that increasingly, it becomes a central place for friends to meet online and share what is going on. Without it, those who are not already insanely social miss out.

Similar to checking email and phone messages, most students today seem to login to Facebook at least once per day -- and that's just the start. More and more frequently now, people will reply faster on Facebook than to emails, especially when it comes to social interaction and with that, people are on MSN less often.

What I wonder is this: Will there be a day when online social networks such as Facebook, MySpace or even TIG will become a manditory part of your day? Let me know what you think!]]> Tue, 06 Feb 2007 16:34:00 EST http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/160993 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/43687
All day, I was extra careful with my camera bag with all my new toys in it (new leses, etc)

When we sat down for lunch, you ordered and then sat down and they would bring your food. I sat down after ordering to let my mum go order and I put my bag down and basically looked out the window. While I was waiting, I suddenly felt my spidey senses tingling and turned around to notice a man leaving with a bag similar to mine. I quickly looked down quickly to check on the satus of my bag and put it together -- he had MY bag. I immediately got up and ran after him as he was quickly making his exit out of the restaurant. As he got to the door, I grabbed the bag and him, and told him that he had my bag as well as adding a few choice words in Spanish that I learned from Yaz (thanks!!) and walked back into the restaurant to the surprise of some Spanish citizens who had figured out what had happened.

Had I lost it, my camera and money would have been gone. NOT FUN.

So, lesson # 2 learned. Don't detatch my bag from my body -- ever.]]> Tue, 19 Sep 2006 13:22:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/43687 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/43685
Things that are great:

- It's warm!
- It's a really livable city. Lots of boulevards and walking space for people. I have also never seen so many people in the streets in any city before that I have visited. It seems that people very much enjoy walking with friends and going to large street cafés.
- People are friendly and generally helpful
- Taxi's are really inexpensive compared to Canada
- Lunch is super cheap! (Self made salad, rice with meat and then a drink all for $10!!)
- The city it super clean

Things that aren't so great

- Few tourist places actually have English interpretation. Often they have Spanish, Catalin (local Spanish variant) Italian and German, but rarely English even though staff only speak Spanish and English.
- Tourist things are expensive ($20+ to enter, each)
- Taxis are near to impossible to actually get
- Restaurants have absolutely awful customer service


We went to a number of places today and I especially enjoyed a building which had no flat walls. ie. they were all curvy. This included doors, windows, everything. The builders must have gone absolutely insane building it.

We went to a restaurant and it had some absolutely hilarious translations and scary practices.

We were waiting for a table and watched a waiter place salad on a plate with his hands. Clearly not sanitary. Not so bad until he got the asperagus out of a can and placed those on a plate as well. Needless to say, we didn't order any salad.

On the menu, I first noticed the homely haddock (as in ugly) but it got better!
Another one of their specialities were appearantly roasted kid. Frightening.
Next came the grilled or roasted angler. I guess they weren't a good fisherman.

On the wall we previous notable people who had visited the restaurant. Next to us were Charleston Heston (without a gun amazingly!!) and Robery Di Nero. DIrectly next to me was OJ Simpson sans esposa. :|

Tricky robbers!!

When leaving the hotel before dinner, some American's in front of us in the taxi line (who were more than happy to directly remind everyone that they were first, who were also dressed in hokey teeshirts and hats) had had a nice little incident. One of the women had appearantly been standing on the corner when someone on a motorcycle drove by, slowed down, and grabbed her purse. Lucky for her, only her glasses were in it, but lesson learned for us -- safe guard our things like a hawk!]]> Mon, 18 Sep 2006 13:05:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/43685 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/43679
So here was my first and last adventure to the bus station in Montreal.

1. I decided to grab a map and see if I could figure out where to go, so after not having any idea where I was, I went outside and found a big pole with directions, but couldn't figure out where I was on the map. Shortly after, a homeless man approached me with a whole speach about how he was $4.76 short of getting his student ticket (clearly was NOT a student) and if I could help him out, he could tell me where things were. For $2 I thought it was worth it and he helped me out and went off finding 3 more "victims" before I left the area.

2: I decided to walk towards a nice Church and take some photos but noticed a number of unsavoury characters including one woman who wouldn't stop hitting herself so I left that area.

3: Next I found a nice looking street and decided to check it out. Half way down, another homeless woman approached me and said something about God and a nice day. Turns out she went on and on and before long was asking me for $20 for crack or coke. She kept saying F this S on that and kept tying Jesus and God into crack and asking for that $20. Weird.

4: To make me feel better about my experience so far, I decided to go to Zing, which was awful with their new TINY bowls and expensive good. Zing was also graced by my crack lady again. *sigh*

5: I walked uptown (or something) into a nicer area which was boring so I walked back downtown which went from nice to ghettoized quickly. First came the homeless man with at least 7 dogs all attached to leashes and to him. Not sure how that all worked.

6: Next came the nice gentleman across the street who turned out to be a crack dealer. Best dressed crack dealer I have certainly ever seen. First he sold some to random people and then to a quite unattractive hooker.

7: I get to the airport and the airline people are finally there. As I'm waiting, a guy who wanted to fly with Czech airines 10 minutes before his flight with 1 suitcase and 2 tires for a car, one which is sealed and one appears open and used is denied boarding. Then he can’t understand why he can’t get on the flight, as there aren’t even agents from the right airline there anymore!!

Oh well, hopefully the flight is better :D]]> Sat, 16 Sep 2006 12:49:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/43679 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/42127
Some of the highlights of the past two days are:

Stephen Lewis - Stephen Lewis Foundation
William Blair- Toronto Chief of Police
Tony Clement - Federal Health Minister of Canada
Dr Anders Nordström - Acting Director General of WHO
Mark Richmond - UNESCO Global Coordinator for HIV/AIDS


Yesterday, there were also some very influential people such as:

Dr. Peter Piot - Executive Director and Under-Secretary General of UNAIDS
Mark Wainberg - Co-Chair of the XVI International AIDS Conference
Matilde Maddaleno - Regional Advisor Adolescent Health, WHO
Mariam Claeson - Coordinator of South Asia, World Bank


To check out the commitments themselves, take a look over here!]]> Thu, 17 Aug 2006 15:34:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/42127 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41970

We had what I would call three "celebrities" today at the youth hub.

First we had Mayor David Miller, who was actually really nice and said some great things about TIG (see my other post)

Then we had Bill Gates swoon by with his entourage of people (no less than 10) with his wife Melinda who also signed an Adult-Youth Commitment

And finally we had Mary Robinson the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights who was also super cool and spoke with us for quite a while.



Funny moment of the day: When a woman tried to plug her USB key into a monitor port on the computer. It took me a while before I could figure out what the problem was -- we both seemed equally confused.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 23:20:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41970 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41951
Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:10:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41951 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41950
Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:10:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41950 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41949
Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:10:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41949 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41948
Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:09:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41948 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41947
Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:09:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41947 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41946
Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:07:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41946 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41945
Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:06:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41945 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41944
Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:03:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41944 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41943
Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:01:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41943 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41942
Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:00:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41942 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41941
Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 16:59:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41941 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41940
Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 16:58:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41940 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41937
Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 16:05:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41937 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41935
Posted on behalf of other Podcast Composers.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 16:03:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41935 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41934 Mon, 14 Aug 2006 15:59:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41934 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41922
Good times!]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 14:15:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41922 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41914
Working at the Youth Pavilion today, I’ve had the chance to take a look at what is around me and who is here. It seems to be a running theme that adults consistently overpower the youth, even though ½ of all new HIV infections are among young people under 25. The Youth Pavilion aside, which, by the way, is completely run and operated by youth and youth organizations, we sit across from a group called the “China Youth Network.” As I look over, I can’t help but notice the only people who are actually at the booth (except for two kids under 10) can’t be less than 50 years old. Sure, I understand that it isn’t necessarily or feasible to bring five youth around the world for a conference, but what about someone who could at least personally relate to a young person?

At the Youth Opening Reception on Saturday, sponsors were consistently recognized, yet not one of the partners were mentioned. Even within this, to my recollection, the Toronto Youth Force wasn’t even mentioned except for some of the principal organizers. So sad that even at a youth focused event, youth were still barely recognized.]]> Mon, 14 Aug 2006 11:00:00 EDT http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/41914 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667 http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/36358
Subject: Gouranga

Body

Call out Gouranga be happy...
Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga
That which brings the highest happiness!


Did some spammer email me a nice (although very strange) poem?


UPDATE: Atfer a little research, it seems to be a well established email. From Urban DIctionaryGouranga is a word that is used by Hare Crishna monks meaning be happy!

www.gouranga.com is owned by people who love the PC car computer game, GTA. I don't think I'll go over how you get "gouranga" to appear in the game, it's pretty mean.

wikipedia also seems to have a good history of it.


A spam message to try and spread happiness? Well, I'm impressed!]]> Wed, 08 Mar 2006 10:23:00 EST http://hugh.tigblog.org/post/36358 43.6666667 -79.416666743.6666667-79.4166667