Hearts & Mines is an emerging Canadian band with an eclectic sound which combines unique genres into authentic blends of alternative rock.

Since early 2009, the band has performed countless concerts, released their EP Pictures on Silence, appeared on several television shows, and made the cut to compete in the Ottawa radio station Live 88.5’s: Big Money Shot Contest.

The band was inspired by Ret. Corporal Matthew Luloff’s experience as a soldier in the Canadian Forces – deployed to Afghanistan. Canada’s role in the conflict has been a controversial issue for many Canadians.

As a combat soldier and political activist, Luloff has at times challenged the status quo on issues of morals, principles, and politics.  As a friend of Luloff, I am well aware of his ability to weave deep prose capable of inspiring anyone to question their beliefs.

I sat down with Luloff, who along with Hearts & Mines, will compete in Round 1 of the Live 88.5′s: Big Money Shot on May 28.

Riaz Sidi – BiasViewer: Hearts & Mines was formed after you returned from Afghanistan but when I talked to your bandmate Ryan Moore, he suggested he would never have joined ‘a war band’. How do you avoid being put in a box or labelled despite your story or your desire to bring awareness to changing the political landscape?

Ret. Corporal Matthew Luloff – Hearts & Mines: Ryan is correct. We are not a “war band.” We are neither for or against the current missions. I am able to separate my own opinion from what we wish to promote, which, honestly, is doubt. H&M is about asking questions. Why do we accept everything we are told as fact? Why do we still call the wars in the middle east the War on Terror when we know we cannot be at war with a concept or something intangible. We want people to ask questions and look for their own answers, not take the ones crafted for them.

Sidi: How do your bandmates complement that?

Luloff: First and foremost, we are an intelligent group of gentlemen interested in different areas. Grant occupies himself with questions of history – while technology and design interest Ryan and Jason respectively. We are all knowledge seekers encouraging others to do the same.

Sidi: To what do you attribute your early success?

Luloff: Really? Determination. Maybe the fact that everyone is afraid to ask me the hard questions about having been a soldier and they are looking for answers in the music.

Sidi: How do you plan to keep your music fresh?

Luloff: Because the search for knowledge ends only in more questions, we are sure not to run out of material.

Sidi: What are you doing to prepare for the Live 88.5 Big Money Shot? And when is your show?

Luloff: We have been busy with our stage show and dynamics, practicing twice a week. We are on at 9:50 p.m. sharp May 28th!

Sidi: Thank you for taking the time to sit down with me.

Luloff: It was great talking to you – and I just want to thank our friends, family, fans, and followers for their ongoing support for Hearts & Mines!

Check out the band’s official website and MySpace for the latest news and updates. You can also follow the band on Twitter and their Facebook fan page.

I will be following up with Luloff to ask the hard questions into his experiences as a soldier and for updates on the band.

Here’s a preview of what Hearts & Mines will be bringing to the Big Money Shot: 2010 Edition:

No related posts.

A viral Prophet Mohammad cartoon contest has enraged Pakistani officials who have temporarily blocked social media giants Facebook and YouTube throughout the Asian country.

Molly Norris was blamed for starting the controversy after she drew a parodized version of the religious figure to complement a recent South Park episode which was condemned and censored for its depiction of the muslim Prophet.

Norris was also accused  of creating the Facebook fan page ‘Let’s All Draw Mohammad Day May 20’. The page quickly gained 98,700 fans before being pulled. She vehemently denies being the group creator and links to a fan page which is against the original page from her own website.

The fan page has been countered by viral protests including a fan page called ‘We Love Prophet Muhammed’ which has 120, 595 fans as of this writing.

One of the wall posts suggests that now that the group has gathered masses through Facebook, that members collectively deactivate their accounts – how ironic.

Although Norris denies being involved with creating the fan page, she is taking responsibility for cancelling the event.

“I apologize to people of Muslim faith and ask that this ‘day’ be called off,” she said.

The Breakdown

The internet is anarchic. There are no rules – it is vile and ruthless. Are Facebook and YouTube to blame for the actions of its collective?

Where are the lines drawn between offensive content and freedom of speech?

Here’s the fundamental truth of the internet: an anarchist envionment cannot be controlled regardless of religious or political belief.

In this case, Islam understandably wants to maintain its sanctity. At the same time, this is compromised by democracy’s staple of realising the imagination and creating reality from ideas.

Although the two are not entirely opposing since both Islam and democracy do share many mutual commonalities, it is difficult to decipher how the global community will move forward when instances of this nature come about in the future.

In the western world, democracy and religion were a pinnacle of disagreement which is why the separation of state and church has worked so well since the Enlightenment.

My Opinon

If you are asking me specifically for an opinion on this particular incident – I will have to admit that I don’t have an opinion: no comment.

The function for this website is primarily to use these types of instances to reflect upon the media at large and to convey a course of action or to conclude that no resolution can exist.

For this case, I do not see a viable solution where governments can control their populations to such a magnitude.

We have seen China’s repeated attempts to censor what the government believes to be dissenting voices to their agenda. I think will be exceedingly difficult to maintain censorship with the emergence of revolutionary new forms to communicate messages.

To turn off the giant cyber-machine is to stand up and leave the dialogue without addressing the lesson – and as an advocate of communication and social media, this is one measure which I oppose.

How do you think the world can unite online while maintaing mutual respect for the many global cultures?

What is our best course of action?

- Riaz Sidi

Related posts:

1. Web 3.0: Semantic Web
2. UN Boycott: Absurd
3. UN Appoints Iran to Women’s Rights Commission!

Social media resources to communicate through cross-embedding and linking have evolved the Internet and society forever. We have experienced the applications and social networks of Web 2.0 such as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Now the next step is Web 3.0, but what will change?

Semantic Web

The semantic web will differ by growing  from the existing world wide web technology framework. Presently, the Internet is a data wasteland and web activists are pushing for a structured database to aggregate this information. The goal of this is create context for the relationships between web pages.

Ontologies

An ontology is a defintion for a word or web page. For example, your Facebook page is a landing page about you and the information you place about yourself on your page creates context for visitors about who you are. But what if artificial intelligence could compile information throughout the internet about specific items, people or topics to create context without a human. This would personalize the internet experience dramatically making each session a unique information experience.

Structure

Semantic web engineers are torn on how structured the semantic web should be – whether every internet page should be collated or if  room should remain for free flowing information.

Confused?

This a lot of information to consume and digest. So below is a documentary worth watching explaining the vision of semantic web and Web 3.0 technology.

- Riaz Sidi

Web 3.0 from Kate Ray on Vimeo.

Related posts:

1. UN Appoints Iran to Women’s Rights Commission!
2. Promiscuous Women Prevent Armageddon
3. Prophet Muhammad Goes Viral – Pakistan Bans Facebook & YouTube

A good question.

By now you may have heard the press going on about how the European country of Greece is broke. Greece has approached their European Union counterparts for a bailout and the global community has agreed to drop an estimated $146 billion US.

Greece is bankrupt based on several things:

1. The government spent more money on social programs than it could afford.
2. Greece has had a hard time finding outside investors and trade agreements in a slumping economy.
3. Taxes were too low to sustain spending.

Some in the blogosphere are suggesting Greece knowingly broke the rules. In an article from February 2010, James Turk claimed:

Greece broke the rules. The Greek government borrowed too much.  It spent too much. Because it broke the rules, it is not worthy to be included in the eurozone. So Greece should be expelled. Doing so would re-affirm the reliability of the euro and indeed, make credible the promise of every European government before joining the eurozone that it would follow the rules.

Two months later and the country is seeking aid. EU leaders who are being compassionate are being interrogated by their citizens.

Rippling Effects

German chancellor Angela Merkel lost a recent regional election after her party’s $28.2 billion US contribution left Germans stunned.

German opposition leader Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the Social Democrats seized this opportunity -

“No German government has managed to throw away so much respect and confidence as you have in such a short time…Where was the leadership? Where was the crisis management Mrs Merkel? We saw nothing.”

Unbalanced Budget

We are all used to hearing about private companies going bust, but the idea of a country going broke so rapidly is quite unusual.

Despite the aid pledges, many around the globe are urging Greece to rebuild domestically – basically save yourselves cause we don’t wanna get stuck with the tab mentality.

So Really, Why is Greece Broke?

After further research, it was learned that Greece, much like many other countries, had an excellent economy during the first half of the 2000′s.

Primarily, Greece’s shopping and tourism industries boomed.  As the recession hit the rest of the western world, Greece continued to maintain 100% GDP and invested heavily in structural development and social programs not anticipating the economic turmoil would reach its way.

This was not to be – other countries went broke and stopped travelling to Greece.

In terms of their ability to sustain themselves domestically, oil energy consumption was 400 times more than production in 2006. Since the world has reached peak oil, I don’t imagine it to increase.

The next few weeks will show us how the first, real, economic test will be answered by the EU – and whether Greece is an example of what’s ahead internationally.

Please add your comments below as to what factors you think have led to the financial situation in Greece.

- Riaz Sidi

Related posts:

1. UN Appoints Iran to Women’s Rights Commission!
2. Surprise! G20 wants Global Balance – LOL!
3. Web 3.0: Semantic Web

I will admit that I tend to highlight some stories which herald left-wing politics as superior and poke fun at gaffes perpetrated by the right.

However,  the National Post and Fox News are reporting an unusual decision which has been completely wiped off the media map: The UN has appointed Iran to the Women’s Rights Commission!

Documents from the Economic and Social Council meeting show the decision for Iran to become a member of this commission:

Next, the Council elected 11 new members to fill an equal number of vacancies on the Commission on the Status of Women for four-year terms beginning at the first meeting of the Commission’s fifty-sixth session in 2011 and expiring at the close of its fifty-ninth session in 2015.  The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Zimbabwe were elected from the Group of African States; Iran and Thailand were elected from the Group of Asian States; Estonia and Georgia were elected from the Group of Eastern European States; Jamaica was elected from the Group of Latin American and Caribbean States; and Belgium, Netherlands and Spain were elected from the Group of Western European and Other States.

The news organizations are calling-out the UN on this decision and I think this time the ‘right’ may be on to something. I am not concerned necessarily with political affiliation but after an Iranian cleric early last week declared that promiscuous women cause earthquakes it seems a bit ridiculous to have a country where this ideology exists to be elected to a body which promotes the rights of women.

Is it possible this move may in fact transition Iran as it ushers into an era of equality? I hardly think so but I am willing to listen to anyone who can somehow justify this.

Is this a masquerade designed to give Iran the false identity of a country which promotes equality? We shall see.

Not surprisingly, there is an uproar over this decision and it will be interesting to see how much media attention this decision receives over the next few weeks, if any.

Needless to say, I am somewhat startled – not only by this decision but by a lack of supposedly credible news organizations catching wind of this story.

- Riaz Sidi

Related posts:

1. Promiscuous Women Prevent Armageddon
2. Surprise! G20 wants Global Balance – LOL!
3. Why is Greece Broke?!

Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi has revealed the mystery behind devastating earthquakes -  promiscuous women!

“Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes,”  Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media.

This statement was then re-quoted in an Associated Press article and now here at BiasViewer.

According to meteorologists, Iran is a high-risk area for earthquakes and (obviously) how women dress or act will not change this – or will it?

Some women in the Western world are taking this unusually sexist statement endearingly.

Purdue student, Jen McCreight, organized Boobquake 2010 to determine whether women baring their breasts April 25, 2010, would trigger an earthquake of pandemic proportions.

According to reports, there were fewer earthquakes than the previous three days and now I am concluding that Boobquake 2010 may have in fact prevented an armaggedon!

Almost 66,000 people ‘liked’ Boobquake on Facebook and McCreight has continued the movement on other social media sites including Twitter.

This level of fear-mongering by Sedighi is outrageous and ridiculous. Why people who are put into positions of power abuse this authority is beyond me. I sincerely believe Mother Nature is pissed off at this guy…

…but without Sedighi there would be no Boobquake 2010 – so thanks  for putting up the challenge dude; great reverse psychology.

- Riaz Sidi

Related posts:

1. UN Appoints Iran to Women’s Rights Commission!
2. Baby Boomers Busted!
3. Why a Fatal Car Accident is NOT News

An article appearing in the Montreal Gazette suggests Canada and other G20 members are ‘coming to terms with addressing global imbalances’. They quote Bank of Canada Govenor Mark Carney with being the mastermind behind this epic revelation.

I think the article should be renamed: The powers that be accept the powers that shall be - because this shift in global imbalance has already been happening for years and the Western world ‘coming to terms’ with this change is not newsworthy.

The story speaks about the US not needing to discuss their fiscal plan with the world and China’s decision not to mark its exchange rate against other countries. So really, where is the sobering truth being addressed? It’s not!

Large imbalances materialized as developed countries, led by the United States, spent beyond their means and emerging markets financed the bill through the purchase of government bonds — in the process accumulating trillions in foreign-exchange reserves.

BINGO! The main point of the story or what is called the lead (because it should start the article and not be buried deep within it) is right here!

The imbalance happened because developed countries went on a spending spree, exploiting other countries for years and now we are realizing that global imbalance needs to be addressed? Sickening really.

To help address the problem, there will need to be a shift in demand. Households in emerging markets, especially China, have to save less and consume more, and that will require Beijing to improve its social safety net.

Yeah, good call guys, China needs to save less and consume more. They are going to do that anyway! This is not some revolutionary concept. Emerging nations are going to consume at a higher pace than Western countries ever did because for so long they struggled to develop while developed nations produced material waste which was manufactured in these 3rd world countries.

If I came into your house, took a massive dump, and clogged your toilet, wouldn’t you be a little cheesed off too?

Meanwhile, developed economies, led by the United States, have to get their budget balances back on track, and start producing more goods for sale abroad.

So the United States is going to start producing more goods for sale abroad? I don’t think so.

US plants are closing down fast while emerging nations who were working all these years to be more efficient to meet US consumer demands have become experts at production. Why would these developing countries buy products from the US when they can create cheaper with little to no import/export fees involved and minimal pollution?!

The Western world can feed me this story about Bank of Canada’s Mr. Carney and the G20 coming to terms with global imbalance but it doesn’t make a difference because as we the West lose power, the media will not be able to lie to us any longer about how much influence we really have anymore.

The Gazette article was meant to be an objective news piece as I did not see any signs of it being called an opinion-editorial piece – yet the rubbish which appears within it, although optomistic, is unrealistic and only attempts to blind us like the sheep they think we are.

Related posts:

1. UN Appoints Iran to Women’s Rights Commission!
2. UN Boycott: Absurd
3. Why is Greece Broke?!

The media claims Generation Y suffers from apathy and lacks socio-political participation.

Yet, it is my fellow millenials who are paving the way and defining the viral economy.  Those in charge of traditional media are missing the boat.

I do understand that there are many more distractions facing my peers but should this undermine our ability to thrive? And who is to blame if the Western world goes 3rd world in a decade?

Let’s see – the baby boomers were children of one of the hardest working generations; those who helped to recover the planet after two world wars.

Many boomers consumed their parents’ fruit without regard to pollution, death, racism, war, agism, carbon footprint, future generations – anything.

Yes, they enjoyed frivilously – shitting on some of the poorest nations in the world via the World Trade Organization and left the divide between rich and poor at a disgusting level. This can be seen in the following documentary on how Jamaica’s economy was exploited and erradicated by the US and the WTO during the ’70s.

This method was replicated throughout the world. Yes, this may have been the case for centuries but the level of natural resource exploitation this time around was disgusting.

So I digress, I don’t blame all boomers, in fact their motivation was positive. The rapid and dramatic change in economy has altered the traditional career path and thus the drive requires a change too.

‘Go get an education they said, work hard and you will get that great job – they claimed.’

Well, food prices are at astromonimcal levels. Oil, gas and house prices are atrocious. There are no jobs.

The boomers are getting laid off and their jobs are being given to people in my Gen Y for half the wage and twice the work – and more often than not, two roles are consolidated into one position.

The claims that the recession is over are absurd and simply mask the aforementioned obvious obstacles preventing an economic return – and according to Harry Dent Jr. who predicted the recession, we are headed for a depression by 2013.

You may disagree with me since I did not use any sources or primary examples to highlight this belief but telling me that Wall Street is recovering will get you an eyeroll. On the micro-level, my generation is feeling the brunt of this damage.

The politics of the last ten years were ridiculously corrupt and were executed in a manner which led to mass murder, torture and terrorism – with little to no regard on how our economy will survive and who will be flushed down the toilet with it.

…And so, everyone is wondering why we are so apathetic to participating in the social sphere.

Wake up people! You fucked up the world and now are gonna have to fix it – and yes it may be too late.

Well I still believe in Gen Y! And I am here on their behalf to deconstruct the media tyranny being perpetrated
by boomers….STILL!

You may think I am bitter and resentful – but I think my venting is miniscule relative to those who have been
harmed even more by the recession than me, those who went to fight unjustified wars, and those who have been left uneducated.

There is no one to blame so let’s just pick up the pieces together. All this garbage about my generation being lazy is such crap – we don’t care about the same illusion the media-crits have been waving in your faces for the last half century.

We care about things we can control and those we can’t are quickly losing clout. The participatory nature of the internet will clear that up in a few years.

This all said, the internet is fueling an ability for any niche passion (as ridiculous as it may be ie: Britney Spears, Pizza, what-have-you) to be profitable. Information is rebuilding the economy and this time around sincere media is winning – not the filthy lies which have been spewed and filtered for our ‘innocent’ eyes for the last however many years.

Gary Vaynerchuk is one of the pioneers behind this revolution and I thoroughly believe he has mastered the new economy.

* * *

Now I must note that this criticism is with all due respect. I have respect for the wisdom of all baby boomers and elders – I just needed to get that ‘off my chest’.

Now let me ask:

Do you fellow Gen Y’s think we will make it? Do you disagree with me? And how about you Boomers?

- Riaz Sidi

Related posts:

1. Peak Oil: Collapse
2. In Simple Terms, What is a Recession?
3. Promiscuous Women Prevent Armageddon

As economies continue to spiral out of control, a reaction is arriving which may benefit the integrity of journalism in Canada.

Canadian media empire Canwest is reaching its demise and bids are coming in from media giants like Quebecor and Transcontinental to take over. However, CRTC laws preventing media companies from acquiring certain publications or channels from competitors may bring an ‘independent voice’ to Canadian media and a return to regionally operated news.

Now, I am not necessarily saying that Canwest and their divisions have done a poor job. However, with any concentrated and monopolized media source, bias tends to surface. The newswire is narrow and what is considered un-newsworthy to Canwest’s interests may now receive a slot in the paper.

Talks of fracturing the company are already happening as a bid for 3 newspapers were made.

“Our partnership represents a cross spectrum of engaged Canadians committed to a vigorous, independent media voice for the communities that each newspaper serves. We are encouraged by the positive response we have received from investors,” the three consortium partners said. “We are firm in our view that there remains a bright future for newspapers supported by creative web platforms.”

- Toronto Star

Canwest is weighing the offer but maintaining a preference to an acquisition for the entire company.

So what?

A diverse spectrum of thought would only help to balance Canadian media.

These three investors may very well be leading us to believe that an ‘independent media voice for the communities’ is what will result from this transaction, and although they may be blindsiding us, a change of this magnitude will only help to transition media into 2010 by loosening the grip of monopolies in Canada.

How this would affect media and advertising consumption in Canada is still to be seen. Regionalism may surface with a return to sparse interests. Alternatively, a unified and diverse balance of Canadian interests may work to shape our identity in a different manner.

Regardless, I believe this is the shakeup the Canadian media needs.

When?

Ironically, the Financial Post, a sister-site of the National Post,  is reporting a deadline for bidders to acquire them both.

“The first phase of the sale will last seven weeks or until Feb. 26, during which bidders are asked to file indications of interest.”

No source is attributed.

No related posts.

The UN, Red Cross and world governments are providing relief for Haiti in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake which ripped the Caribbean nation apart.

The royal palace was destroyed; schools and houses shredded, and medical attention is still difficult to find as hospitals lie in ruins.

But, the earthquake and relief story will be shared and scrutinized by the blogosphere and news agencies around the world.

In this article, we will view an extremely disappointing human wrong. The sheer prejudice, racism and lack of concern on the internet. Especially in this instance, I see it as a symptom of an overarching problem seen over again, and frankly, I am in extreme disappointment.

This video is not editorialized with words and shows raw images capturing the damage and injured. However, it is the YouTube comments on this video which have left me in utter disgust:

WoWpallyftw: i wouldnt exactly consider them “people”

WeThrowPie:  a CHIMP breathes and eats and drinks, but it’s still just a chimp. Same with n******. They are subhuman scum.

Edjumakated: If they’ve truly gone through such abuse, then they will never grow up to be a benefit to society, carrying with them many psychological tortures. Hey, I have an idea. If we let all the poor and starving die off, guess what? NO MORE POOR AND STARVING! =D

Why?

Although there was a backlash of several people who felt as compelled as I did to retaliate and condemn these words, I am sickened by the prospect of having our future generations raised in a world so ignorant and so filthy.

To think that not only would someone seek out this video and watch it, but then come to the conclusion that this event was intended for this demographic? …that mother nature is justified to target this area because of race, poverty or disease?

I am ashamed for every human being today, not just the ones who reacted like this. I am embarrassed because when one is hurting, I would sincerely hope that a helping hand or compassion would be prioritized over differences. It is appalling that hate crimes of treason are committed like this against our own species.

I may be a bit naïve to hope the best for and in people, but I am justified in feeling betrayed by those who hold themselves on a higher rung of the ladder than the people of Haiti.

The universe is impartial, impersonal and a disaster of this magnitude could hit anyone at any time.

So to those who believe they are making a harmless comment on YouTube, I say this:

When seeing videos of people suffering, drop the ego, put down the salt, and take a long hard look at whether you don’t care because you are insecure or because you are so self-absorbed that nothing exists outside of you.

In either case, you’re doomed for failure when everyone realizes how self-righteous you are. So when you are lonely and typing comments on YouTube videos calling someone a racial slur when they are suffering, remember you are the only one who will suffer for screwing up your own life and the world at large; one comment at a time.

Optimism

After writing this, I saw an ambulance parked below my balcony. The paramedics were ushering in a patient from the building across the street.  A girl and her parents were leaving the building when their compassion for the patient led them to inquire.

The girl recognized the patient and obviously showed concern. She left her parents, approached the ambulance and I heard the girl ask her friend if she needed some water, and how she was feeling. The girl boarded the ambulance and proceeded to leave the scene to the hospital.

My Point

Posting a comment on YouTube which is callous towards anyone who is suffering is like walking past an ambulance after recognizing your best friend is in it. We must unite on all fronts concerning basic needs to achieve any progress. If we continue to allow differences to negate our essential human connection, we will continue to destroy ourselves and the world.

I am not going to say what race the family was or whether the patient was “different” or not from them, because it truly does not make a difference.

- Riaz Sidi

Related posts:

1. Endangered Species: The Disappearing Male
2. Baby Boomers Busted!