Some news just has to be shared with the world.

A woman in Chicago is getting sued over a tweet she posted through her twitter account. Here is the tweet in question -

Now this woman had twenty followers and they are sueing her for 50k. Now since they have sued her the number of people who have read about this has gone up just a little bit. Lets do some math together shall we:

• Her 20 Followers
• + my 58 followers (I'm fairly certain I have more then that but lets go with that number)
• + All the subscribers of the Chicago Now Newspaper
• + 2.7 million people who read digg.com on a regular basis.

Now my math isn't the best but I'm fairly certain all that adds up to a crap load of bad publicity.

The folks that comment over at Digg have offered up a number of way to express your thoughts on this law suit to the company and I would encourage everyone to check them out.

http://digg.com/world_news/The_tweet_the_launched_a_50K_lawsuit

There are also some comments made by a representative of the company

http://www.suntimes.com/news/24-7/1687436,CST-NWS-twitter28web.article

Jeffrey Michael, whose family has run Horizon for more than 25 years, said: "The statements are obviously false, and it's our intention to prove that."..."We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization," he said, noting that the company manages 1,500 apartments in Chicago and has a good reputation it wants to preserve.

The saddest part about this whole thing is that I was honestly waiting for it to happen. We all knew it was bound to happen at some point.

Obama in Canada

So yesterday was the first visit of the new American President to a foreign country. While I do find it a little laughable that we are consider a foreign country. I suppose the term does apply. The meeting apparently was short on policy and anything that would make any real difference judging by news paper reports.

Prime Minister Harper promoted things like Free Trade and other accords already in place with the US. While President Obama confidently down played the "Buy American" portions of the stimulus package that was just recently signed in to law. The two of the did offer up one thing "The Clear Air Dialogue" which effective states that they would talk about the environmental issues we face. Nothing about Harmonizing efforts or even working together just that they would talk.

Now the real winners out of this whole thing were threefold. First and foremost winner of the meeting is Prime Minister Harper. Who despite looking like an old man next to President Obama was able to do an about face on Enviromental issues. He claimed he was awaiting the advent of a new administration in Washington, in hopes of implementing his activist, environmental agenda. This will unlikely get the play it should in the media. Since when does it matter who is in power in the US to Canadian policy? In the end he did a masterful job of coming off looking like the good guy that he isn't.

The next winner is the two stores that Obama stopped in to make a couple of purchases. Oxxo Silk and Gift & Byward Market where apparently he popped in to pick up somethings for his two girls. One of the girls collects keychains and all of whom am sure will enjoy the Maple Cookies. One Shop own was surprised when he pulled a $5 Canadian bill to pay for things. While according to reports the other shop owner just gave him the cookies. Then sold out of nearly everything in her store minutes later after people where allowed back in.

The final winner was the Governor General of Canadian Michaelle Jean. Who like Obama is the first African American person to hold that office. A quick aside - is the term still African American if she is Canadian? The two of them spent some time talking right after his arrival, then visited for an additional 26 minutes later in the day. 6 minutes longer then planned.

Two last points that I feel are important to mention.

I am a huge news junkie and would happily watch CNN all day most days. When it comes to things like American Politics I tend to get even more interested. I followed the 2000 elections with great interest, and the 2008 one with even more interest. The funny part is for the most part I could careless about Canadian politics. Americans at least make the whole process interesting.

The final point goes out anyone and everyong in the Canadian Media. We know President Obama is Black and that he is African American. You no longer need to describe him as "the charismatic black president."

Road Side Memorials

So today in the Winnipeg Sun they have an article about roadside memorials. For those of you who might not be familiar with them basically they are a memorial put up at the scene of an car accident involving death. Now these memorials are put up by friends, family, loved ones and come in all different shapes and sizes. Finally they can leave them up for as long as they like, even replace them year after year. All of that has changed now with a new law that passed yesterday here in Winnipeg. Now they have to follow a few new rules including

• 90 day time limit
• Size limits
• A ban on glass elements (like vases)
• a requirement for contact information
• The article in the paper suggested that there were other rules as well but didn't include them.

A lot of people are up in arms about these new restrictions and guidelines. Now on one hand I can completely understand how they feel after all people need to be able to remember and deal with the lose of a loved one in their own fashion. At the same time though what about the rights of the people who live in the area, have businesses near by, or have to work in the area. Don't they have rights as well?

As a home owner would you want someone memorial to be the first thing that you see every morning when you look out your window? What would happen if you tried to sell the house? I can pretty much promise that a memorial on your front lawn would impact the sale price. The same types of questions come up in the case of businesses. Some people are superstitious and wouldn't shop near a place where someone died.

The last example is one that I feel deserves special attention and thats the city workers. What happens if a watermain breaks right near a roadside memorial? Is it fair to ask them to move these memorials so that they can do their job. I don't think so, but that is what they are having to do right now. In talking to a few of them over the summer I learned that they move them and then put them back as best they can.

Wouldn't someones memory be better served by doing good in their name? Maybe volunteering time, donating money in their name. At all the site of their death is just that a place, their spirits do not live there, they are not trapped there.