Making headlines

Hello all!

I realise that my blog is usually the satirical, mildly offensive ode to my innermost musing but not this week. My Facebook news feed is overrun with news update that I feel the need to share with you all.

Who-go Chavez?

This week saw the death of Hugo Chavez. For those of you who aren't familiar with Mr.Chavez he was the President of Venezuela. He had been in power from 1999 till 2013, democratically elected. Chavez was a character -- he partnered up with the premier villiain of world politics, Iranian president Ahmadinejad. Bonding over their mutual distaste for the USA they had numerous trade agreements, all of which qualified Chavez as the rebel of international politics. If that wasn't bad enough he was also an outspoken Socialist. With his nationalization of oil production and other key industries he attempted to make Venezuela an economically independent state.

Painted as a the hero of a nation, Hugo Chavez will most likely be remembered as the caped crusader of Socialist Latin American.

In other news we have my homeland, Pakistan. A superficial understanding of Pakistan will dictate that it is country plagued by political turmoil, a society in constant threat of 'Islamization' by fundamentalists and, and with income disparity of proportions comparable to those before the French Revolution. Then again an in depth understanding of the state of the nation may afford you that very same conclusion.

Recently there have been a string of bombings in a tirade of sectarian violence. Karachi, the Toronto of Pakistan, is slipping into a state akin to that of anarchy. I woke up this morning to a mass bbm message saying that the army was going to march through the streets, cell phone service was to be cut off soon and that children are especially being targeted by kidnappers.

I went on Facebook and this is the sort of thing I read:

"Girls being kidnapped in large numbers all over the city and the only thing your family can say to you is 'if anything happens to our reputation it's your fault'. Wow."

                        

                      The Karachi I know

The Karachi I did not know

If you ask me what the link is between these two happenings I can not give you a straight answer. All I can say is that Pakistan needs a hero and Venezuela lost theirs.

Last but not least is the University of Toronto's recent string of awards and nominations. We also got ranked as the 16th best university in the world! Ah UofT you grant me intelligence bonus points in the world of academia. Not to detract from this great achievement but the fact of the matter is U of T is Canada's researching powerhouse. If the awards didn't go to us, let's be honest, who would they go to? We're big fish in a small pond considering those were national awards and if we took on MIT or Yale competition would be far stiffer. 

The world ranking is a far more interesting predicament. Bearing in mind the variable used to determine this kind of statistic are in accordance with principles the researcher emphasizes. That being said McGill slipped into the 30s as well as UBC. Thus U of T must be doing something right? Either way lets not get too fat headed about this. My grades are definitely not a good enough reflection of this great university's creme de la creme. 

Here's to hoping for the best! 

Over and out.

<3 Z