centsless

I don't get folks who are attached to the penny. "prices will go up because businesses will round up." balderdash. obviously these people underestimate competitive forces (either that or they are too lazy to change their buying habits).

I mean, i can understand why we needed a penny when it was worth say 1/50th of minimum wage. but now that the NDP is talking about raising minimum wage to $10, what the hell do we need a 1/1000th coin for? I mean, it takes more than four hundred of these stupid things just to buy a medium popcorn at AMC. C'mon people, let it go once and for all so i don't have to wait in line behind you while the cashier counts up her 1/400th-of-a-grande-latte coins!

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2007/10/10/penny.html

first greenwashing, now pinkwashing

whatever happened to marketing ethics?

Pinkwasher: (pink'-wah-sher) noun. A person or company that purports to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon campaign, but manufactures products that are linked to the disease.

http://www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org/

monarchy by any other name

"The Americans, with their penchant for firsts, are attempting the political equivalent of Olympic synchronized swimming, a sort of political double helix manoeuvre - father-to-son (the Bushes), interwoven with husband-to-wife (the Clintons), and all this seamlessly, in just 20 years."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/reportsfromabroad/murray/20071004.html

obey democracy - support our troops!

Ottawa City Hall bowed to pressure (from exactly where I can only guess) to alloworder Support Our Troops decals to be applied on city police cruisers.
This strikes me as being wrong, in a way very similar to the way the PATRIOT act was passed - the unspoken message being "this may be a bad law, but if you don't support it (we'll make sure that) you'll be perceived as unpatriotic/against our troops."
Why do I think this is a bad idea? well, for practical reasons really:
1. cost - of ordering, applying, and eventually removing/replacing faded decals. you ever try to remove an old bumper sticker?
2. divisiveness - those who aren't displaying decals MUST be AGAINST our troops!(???)
3. forcefulness - city hall ordered ottawa police to apply decals to all vehicles - what are our troops fighting for again, freedom?
4. partiality (opposite of neutrality?) - if a city is to function smoothly, it has to make everybody feel welcome. Branding city assets with decals for various non-charity-event causes that highlight one particular segment of the population, no matter how legitimate, undermines the faith in the institution that is necessary for other segments of the population to feel like their ideas will be welcome; worst case, they'll shrink away from the table and spiral their frustration into a tight little explosive Waco-style knot that nobody will have seen coming. what's that other thing our government sent our troops out to Afghanistan for - democracy? Can't have democracy without dialog, and you sure can't have dialog without trust.

PS. I realized that the title was a little off-point and misleading so I changed it. Just to be clear: I do support our troops. I think its very important for our troops to know we (the general public) care about them, and that we aren't tearing them away from their families willy-nilly. I also think that *forcing* displays of affection robs them of their emotional impact.

Battle of the (Youth) Bulge

wow - shocking, politically unsavoury, but surprisingly sympathetic and logical:

We have two million jobs that we cannot fill - and a welfare-dependent population of six million, and the two do not meet. The welfare group grows each year because of new babies, but the vacant job slots are not filled.
...
Some American strategists are beginning to question whether the USA, with its one-son families, ought send out troops to fight populations with many sons. That is the mistake we have committed in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you have to go in because you have been attacked, then you must do it, but as soon as the danger has been defeated, it is necessary to withdraw. It is up to the Iraqis and the Afghans themselves to ensure that there is a balance between the size of the population and the number of positions society can offer. And as far back in history we look, we can see that this balance has been maintained by young men killing each other. We have done it in Europe, and it has happened elsewhere. We cannot allow them to send their young men over the borders to kill others.

German sociologist Gunnar Heinsohn, who believes that the game is over for Europe. See full interview at
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2007/06/continent-of-losers.html

wtf - a green tax?

I've had been holding back on throwing out various junk electronics until I had a bin worthy of a trip to the local "Take It Back" program participant. I was prepared to pay a "small fee" as posted, which ended up amounting to $30. I dutifully consented, thinking the only alternatives were to keep them in the garage until a museum came begging me for them, or tossing them to landfill so the PCBs and heavy metals could leech back into my drinking water.
Then I looked at the bill.
I was dumbstruck.
So much so that it wasn't until the next day that the disbelief turned to resentment and insult.
At cause were two simple lines:
GST 2.10
PST 2.56

How can any self-respecting government CHARGE TAX on DIVERTING TRASH from public landfills???
I'll chalk this one up against Ivory Tower Ignorance and write a letter to the newspapers and politicians. If it turns out waste-diversion handling fees are already exempt from sales taxes, then you can be sure I'll get that participant educated (by having them dumped from the free advertising TIB brochure).

git yer head back on, Tory

What's with all the fuss over politicians and their "promises" these days?
Sure it's election time, but when I go to the polls I vote for who I think has the best leadership, long-term vision and management ability to improve our collective lot. I don't want them to make promises, I want them to tell me what they stand for and how they intend to achieve it! Later I will judge them on their ability to monitor the situation as it evolves and implement the most appropriate course of action toward the long-term goal.
If the ruckus is merely because roasting public figures has become a media sport, well, lets just designate a family as useless incompetents, dress them up in silly uniforms and robes with swords and crowns and an orb, and chain them (and their descendants) to government forever so people can get their jollies. Meanwhile, the members of the other branches of government could get on with their jobs of actually governing this country responsibly and with dignity.

He saw it coming

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism
lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy,
which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a
dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The
effects are apparent in many countries, improvident
habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish
methods of commerce, and insecurity of property
exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or
live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of
its grace and refinement the next of its dignity and
sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every
woman must belong to some man as his absolute
property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine,
must delay the final extinction of slavery until the
faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among
men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities, but
the influence of the religion paralyses the social
development of those who follow it. No stronger
retrograde force exists in the world.

Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant
and proselytizing faith. It has already spread
throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors
at every step; and were it not that Christianity is
sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science
against which it had vainly struggled, the
civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell
the civilization of ancient Rome."

Short speech reportedly by Sir Winston Churchill, in 1899.
(The River War, first edition, Vol. II, pages
248-50, London: Churchill saw it coming.)

why i don't trust them

Thou shalt not lean too far to the right
globeandmail.com, September 22, 2007
Words of wisdom from Tom Flanagan, a professor of political science at the University of Calgary and a former Conservative campaign manager:

"...People don't vote just for good ideas; they vote for potential rulers whose character they can trust and who inspire passions of loyalty and support. Conservative statecraft has to be more than the logical deduction of policies from philosophical premises if it is going to succeed. It has to be an artistic combination of sound policy with the deft communication of conservative values, such as integrity, reliability and fortitude."

Then, in the next two breaths,

"Staff must avoid the limelight and let the communications department deal with the media. Candidates must talk about the platform, not their personal beliefs, and (except for designated spokesmen) concentrate on local rather than national media."

and

"Conservatives have to conduct thorough opposition research and make use of the results, run hard-hitting, fact-based negative ads, and do whatever is legally possible to jam our opponents' communications and disrupt their operations."

followed by:

"A conservative party stresses individual choice and responsibility in a competitive marketplace. That gives it a special responsibility to deal with voters as individuals, to find out what their concerns are, and to give them a stake in the political process by making it easy for them to donate time and money."

Besides the fact that I don't know why Conservatives believe the role of the prime minister is supposed to be a despot, how can they talk about demonstrating such contradictory values as "trusting character," integrity, and reliability at the same time as running attack-ads (based on stories that could only have been avoided if they were in full control of the media) and stressing individual choice and responsibility while forbidding personal beliefs; how can I go about convincing people to "donate time and money" to me (without any strings)?

PS. http://ago.mobile.globeandmail.com/generated/archive/RTGAM/html/20070921/cover22.html
and, in case it gets censoreddeleted:
http://mqup.typepad.com/mcgill_queens_university_/tom_flanagan/index.html

you call this leadership?

Caucus dissent grows over schools policy
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070925.wonttory25/BNStory/ontarioelection2007/Ontario/

Bill Murdoch [Ontario Progressive Conservative MPP] said in his rural riding of Bruce-Grey-Owen Sound that he could no longer defend his boss' plan to extend public funding to Jewish, Muslim and other religious schools. He said he came to that realization after hearing "loud and clear" while campaigning door to door that residents are predominantly against the policy.
At a campaign stop in Guelph yesterday, [Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory rather childishly] dismissed Mr. Murdoch as a "maverick" and said his views are not representative of the other 24 caucus members.
"Bill Murdoch is sort of like a jack-in-the-box, where you wind the handle and you don't know when something's going to pop up with Bill and it popped up today" Mr. Tory said.
"I think you will find we have good support for this policy," he said. "I mean, when you look up maverick in the dictionary, you find his picture there in colour."
[Granted, ]Mr. Murdoch has become renowned during his 17 years as a member of the provincial legislature for speaking his mind [, but] At least five other [PC] caucus members have expressed reservations about the policy, including veteran MPP Bob Runciman. He recently told The Canadian Press that: "It's not playing well. I am not hearing from people [who are] supportive, by and large."
Meanwhile, John Tory is running TV ads blasting Dalton for broken promises and praising himself as a good leader. I wasn't sure that slandering a member of the team, a well-seasoned MPP was a appropriate behaviour, so I looked up the definition of the term "leadership." Oddly enough, John Tory's picture was not there.

Save the Lawn Lamps!

The days of the soft white (incandescent) snowball lawn lamps in my earth-friendly, simple-lined, well integrated, 1970s heritage neighborhood are numbered.
The city of Ottawa wants to tear them up and replace them with one of several gaudy and garish "pre-approved" models (majority vote by street) and increase overall illumination levels.
Other than the recommendations affecting Katimavik and Beaverbrook, the draft policy is quite well done.
I do NOT want high-mast high-pressure sodium replacements - the dull orange glow sucks the color out of everything, and, being so much higher, they are often obstructed by trees and cast shadows across peoples' faces. This style clashes severely with Teron and Campeau's visions of building pedestrian- and earth-friendly neighborhoods, which is specifically what attracted me to this area. Brighter lighting will strip the pedestrian character of the streets and encourage drivers to drive even faster.
I've spoken about this to my community association, contacted my city councilor and emailed two city officials on this. I want a change of course. The one-size-fits-all just doesn't.

Producer responsibility

I don't know how much of this I've blogged compared to how often I've written notes on the way home from work on this topic, but I'm very much of the opinion that manufacturers have to be taxed on the crap that they are bringing to the Canadian market, both product AND packaging. Not made in Canada? No problem: tax the Importer. This tax would correspond to a portion of the environmental cost of disposing the product at the end of its useful life in an environmentally-friendly manner. For example, the cost of gas would increase by (a fraction, initially, of) the cost of capturing the major pollutant gases and transforming the for reuse elsewhere. Why? so we stop wasting energy violating the planet extracting her natural resources and throwing the waste products right back at her. That's no way to treat a woman, let alone your mother (earth). Anyway, I'm really glad to see that this idea is getting traction and even got exposure at the debate between the local candidates for Member of Provincial Parliament. Partial transcript follows (formatting mine):

Legend
All points are paraphrased as best as I could interpret them.
"Stuff in quotes are verbatim comments, as best as I remember them."
[Stuff in square brackets are my personal comments.]

EMC Press question: Where do you stand on the Carp Dump expansion?
Norm Sterling (PC, incumbent): I was the first in the riding to oppose it. I opposed it in the legislature.
- McGuinty promised 60% diversion of waste but this was nowhere near achieved; the environmental commission in Ontario decried his lack of action in this area.
- I want to ban organics in landfills.

John Ogilvy (Green): We have to focus on the long-term, and we have a plan to divert waste from the industrial and commercial sector.
- Says NS had 30 years to do something about this.
- Believes in producer responsibility laws, where the creater of a product is responsible for its eventual disposal.

Michael Hadskis (NDP): Reduce! Reuse! Recycle!
- Producer responsibility laws: yeah!

Megan Cornell (Liberal): When NS was MoE, he reduced funding for blue box recycling.
- The Liberals have a plan that will work.

Norm Sterling: Said that gov't blue box funding was cut because it was replaced by funding from a fund which was paid into by the packaging producers themselves. This saved taxpayer money!

Thanks to Michael Low for taking the time to transcribe this and distribute it after the debate.

ain't this the truth

the ultimate facebook song. really. amusingly truthful.

DO NOT CALL service

I signed up for the DO NOT CALL service at the CMA. I'm also curious to see if also selecting the DO NOT MAIL option makes a dent in the amount of crap I recycle every week.

greening vs greenwashing

I was pleasantly surprised to find a Top Ten list of questions for product design on the Canadian Marketing Association's website. Then again, naturally, they would want to show they really do care about the environment and want others to follow suit... sure... maybe its just their implementation of a greenwashing strategy?

computer costs

Did You Know
A computer that is on constantly uses approximately $165 worth of electricity per year. However, if it is on continuously, but goes into 'sleep mode' , it will cost $84 per year to operate. If you shut it off at night, it will cost only $28 per year.

From the Canada School of Public Service's Green Procurement course (C215).

Too bad they don't state the electricity rates or actual power consumption so we can calculate difference at today's rates wherever we happen to be. Still, should be enough to convince people to power their PCs down when not in use for a large chunk of the day.

urinal social-awareness devices

just to give those bladder-shy guys out there something else to worry about:
electronic talking urinal mints
don't miss the embedded video.

first time

I went to my first community association meeting tonight. Been wanting to go for a coupla years now but this was the first time I actually (a) had open schedule and (b) had something of grave enough concern that the local paper and city councilor wrote up on it last weekend (councilor even sent out an email to those on her list).

locals stayed mostly for the grave part: correctional svcs ontario is relocating a parole/probationary something services office just down the street from a "less to-do" area closer in town. my assessment is that us locals feel that our beyond-the-greenbelt non-ottawa-proper-community status has been violated, partly adding to the still simmering amalgamation resentment. Now "they" want to move ex-cons and parolees and other such people under community surveillance (from "in town") out into "our" neighborhood in the middle of two grade schools, several day care centres, a womens' shelter, and its just beyond a little forest running behind some of our backyards. Go figure. "Oh and by the way its opening next month we're just here to advertise our program really, and reassure you that only the high-risk people will be visiting twice a month, with no extra surveillance in the area. Did we mention there was only one death associated with such a program in the past 20 years? You see, nothing to worry about. The two other facilities in Ottawa are in a high-traffic street in an industrial park and at the provincial courthouse. We thought your little bedroom community is perfect for us here in the west end."

Its a major case of NIMBY, and I am just as apprehensive as the other residents who attended tonight; I don't like it one bit.

After the rather tense Q&A period that ensued, everybody except the community association executive and the local councilor cleared the room. I stayed behind, paid my dues, listened to the issues being discussed, and threw in my two cents' worth (though perhaps too forcefully for a newcomer - but hey - there weren't any rules of engagement and I haven't been around these things to know any better).

Having already thrown my regular caution to the wind, I can only hope my credibility didn't go with it. I will only know after the next few meetings. >:) (evil grin)

outstanding in french fields

bill-maher-aime-les-francais

deeds, not words

I remember my dad got letters from the Prime and Defence Ministers' offices in response to a complaint he sent them about nuclear submarines many years ago - must have been under Mulroney. Later, under Chretien, I received email responses from the PMO from most of the comments I sent them via the PMO website.
In contrast, I still haven't had any response whatsoever from any of the various emails and comments I have submitted to the current PM and his ministers. Seems to me a small army of public affairs people responding to individual citizens' inquiries is a good way to show you truly take personal accountability to heart...

footprints

Our current standard of living is like a frat party that has no intention of cleaning up after itself. Is this how we want the Earth (or at least future civilizations, if there are any) to remember us?

Low, even by Conservative standards

The enemy within...

CBC Covers Harper's SPP Police Provocateurs in Montebello TV broadcast from CBC local news

SPP Police Provocateurs Outed in Quebec Actual video footage taken by demonstration organizers

Police Pose As Protesters At Montebello Summit TV broadcast on CTV NewsNet

Quebec police admit they went undercover at Montebello protest Article on cbc.ca/news

another great initiative

A forum/channel dedicated to Green IT news.

Awesome initiative

There is a city called Dongtan being built in China - designed from scratch - to be as self-sufficient and sustainable as possible.

CNN newsclip

Developer's website

Ubercool. I really hope they succeed as a role model for other developers and governments everywhere around the world.

economic liability / guillotine

Apparently self-storage is a multi-billion dollar industry in the US. If I understand correctly, people are paying to store stuff that was replaced by new stuff bought, with maxed out credit cards...

I dunno, but I figure that not too far from now, when banks start threatening to repossess mortgage collateral, we're gonna start seeing a lot of this junk (new and old) hit the second-hand market all at once. I'm glad I'm not in that situation because I suspect a lot of them are gonna find themselves even deeper have-nots than they are trying so hard to avoid admitting today... If I still have a job by then and civil unrest doesn't loom too close to my home, I might go on a buying spree. Either that or I'll establish a security guard and compound business! :)

Fixing the imbalance

Being green is in the long-term economic interest, although it is primarily perceived as against many Canadians' financial interests, at least in the short term.
Unfortunately, manufacturers know they cannot count on the "early adopters" (those who are willing to pay a premium to get the latest technology) phenomenon because many of those that are green at heart cannot afford it. This is why I believe the following steps are necessary to restore a little ecological balance to the financial system: 1. promote the perception of value of green; 2. label goods with their environmental footprint; and 3. adopt more holistic financial incentives to encourage suppliers, investors and consumers to make, sponsor and buy more "green."

1) Promoting the value of "Green". Cynics will be quick to undermine any public awareness campaign as being motivated by personal gain (some under-educated author of a letter-to-the-editor called David Suzuki a "light-bulb salesman" for his part in the PowerWise campaign - I am still ashamed of that). You and I know that in the vast majority of cases, that is simply not the prime motivator, and even if it is, they can't be faulted for working within the capitalist/free enterprise system (or does that make them feel betrayed? hmmm). What has to be made very clear is that green buyers are motivated by something a lot larger, a lot more honorable, than greed.

2) Footprint labeling. It is very difficult for consumers to "vote with their dollars" when there are no effective means of comparing the environmental footprint (harm caused in the production and eventual disposal) of one product over another. And how to know which is better when marketers and advertisers flaunt their wares with such meaningless terms as "all-natural" and the like? There is also no standard for the "organic" certification. If manufacturers are unwilling to self-regulate, the federal government should impose regulations and standard labels much like those for nutritional value in foods and hazardous materials in... just about everything.

3) Holistic financial incentives. On this point I believe the Ontario government deserves a lot of credit: they have eliminated the PST on qualifying EnergyStar appliances, offered mail-in-rebates for hi-eff furnaces and air conditioners. All these programs reduce the cost barriers to the acquisition of environmentally-friendly yet more expensive products. Another incentive, much less known, is a pay-per-output mechanism where companies must share the cost burden of recycling all the packaging materials that accompany their products. If this cost-sharing mechanism were to be extended to cover the recovery and recycling of their actual products, manufacturers would pay a little more attention to what materials are used in production. These costs would have to be shared with consumers, so products compete on the basis of the cost-efficiency of raw materials, transformation, AND end-of-life recovery. The flat rate deposit per item (tires, engine oil and most recently electronics in Ontario) doesn't provide this kind of competition. One thing I am glad every government has firmly resisted is reducing the gas tax - such a move would be a counter-incentive and confuse the pro-environment image they are all currently trying to create for themselves.

Being green shouldn't mean buying less, it should mean buying better. Implemented together in a concerted effort, promoting the value of green, imposing footprint labeling standards, and extending financial incentives and burden-sharing programs will effectively harness the competitive forces and neutralize the barriers to adoption of a more sustainable lifestyle for all to enjoy for generations.

polling for policy

I participated in a telephone poll recently on the subject of national policies and political parties. How could I resist? They asked questions like "Do you agree with the course that the Stephen Harper government is currently on, and do you believe they will maintain this course if they form the next majority government?" and "How well do you know what Liberal Leader Stephane Dion stands for, and is he doing a good job at making himself known to Canadians?"
The obvious slant of these sample Q's is due to my selective memory - I was continuously trying to detect whether there was any bias in favour of one party or the other, but overall, I just couldn't tell for sure (though I suspect for the Liberals, if any at all). So I asked at the end who commissioned the poll, and when and where could I see the results. Naturally the minimum wage pollster and the part-time mcdonald's hamburger team leader supervisor didn't have that information.

I can't decide whether to trust these polls enough to justify spending my time answering them. On the one hand, I'd like to believe that they are legitimate research leading to actual policy making, in which case I'd be happy to participate and have my say. On the other hand, I just can't shake the suspicion that they are used for spin doctoring, marketing or advertising existing policies (or digging for personal campaign-style attack material).

From now on, if I want to be heard (or at least have my say, whether it is read or not), I'll express my opinions in a letter (or two or three or more) to my MP. It's free, I can take the time to research and justify my opinions, and is the way of influencing public policy (at least in theory). But then again, when used properly, poll results can sway public opinion (if only indirectly as it affects what newspaper editors include in their editions), and somebody out there is surely trying to force a little yang to my yin so it has to balance out.

Speaking of balance, perhaps, as with all other things, a multi-pronged approach is probably best. Sounds (small p) political, doesn't it? There - I've successfully talked myself out of having to change anything I do.


PS. Poll in question was Insight Canada Research, 1800-363-0499, number 994.

sad sad day for humanity

what's the importance of reaching mutual understanding, when you can send robots to "defend" your position?

The American Dream, in its current incarnation obsessed with bigger and better by the fewer and fewer, is threatening ever more rapidly the delicate balance keeping humanity off the brink of implosion.

the veil has been lifted

Islamic officials and romaticists may try to convince me that the veil (or burqa or niqab) is a symbol of humility and respect for their spouse (who is supposed to be the center of their universe and should be the only person privileged to see them without), but below is the real reason why I suspect militants want so desperately to impose the veil. Not altogether surprising coming from those who dispense with the "thou shall not kill" and other such formalities on their way to martyrdom.

According to PAKISTAN'S RED MOSQUE SHOWDOWN on Spiegel Online:

"Aziz was arrested Wednesday trying to flee the mosque in a woman's burqa. He was spotted by a female police officer because of his height and large stomach. Aziz, who was still dressed in the burqa he had used as a disguise during his interview, ..."

More at Mosque Chief Arrested Trying to Flee in Burqa on The Australian

reckless foray into the origins of public health - and social impact

Too many people believe theirs is "the truth" (miracle cure, solution, prevention, answer, whatever), not willing (or perhaps unable) to accept or admit (or understand) that they found a "whatever" that only works for their particular combination of factors including genes, health, age, state of mind, nutrition, activity level, environmental exposure, medications, etc. Emboldening these people is that given the vast number of people they know and the high probability that, through mutual yet independent choices, they know them because, as they say, birds of a feather flock together, it is highly likely that the "whatever" will work for most of them when shared; if it doesn't, the embarrassment of failure and aversion to accountability usually influences them to turn their backs on anybody who does not respond positively to the "whatever" as expected. Too often, this can be poisoning or death.

I am pretty sure greater minds than most of us today are willing to recognize came to this realization a few generations ago and actually had the opportunity to impose a concept called "public health" - investigation of the collective wisdom from witchdoctors, grandmas, religions and other sources of such "tribal knowledge" - and prescribe of a course of action that is demonstrated to be safe and effective, regardless of whatever factors made up your life. The problem with this is twofold: (1) public misperception, due in no small part to the arguments they used to justify imposing their program to a simple-minded public and vote-eager politicians: these prescriptions are NOT designed to promote actual wellness, just a reduction/delay in the immediate badness and increase your chances of not dying right away (aka "greater longevity"); and (2) they contribute to the decline of individual responsibility for the choices we make on a daily basis because they filter out anything that is not safe and effective for the vast majority of combinations and permutations of aforementioned variables, contributing even more to the social absolution of personal responsibility for one's health. Besides, there'll be a similar-purpose fix for anything that may go awry in the process. Naturally, the mega-food industry is a major willing (if unknowing) partner in and benefactor of this phenomenon, as they have inherited carte blanche to provide us with non-nutrients that sell well because they are pretty and last weeks longer than the natural stuff, despite actually preventing the body from fixing itself and silencing our own body's cues designed to improve our lifestyle.

So: We continue to make (and sustain) poor life choices (including letting the mega-food industry slowly poison us) because we naively believe big-pharma and public health will cure us, after too many people suffered from the misguided broad application of "tribal knowledge" that came as a result of a lack of understanding of the root causes and respect of individual factors that is typical of faith-based approaches.

The "cure" for this is, if there is any, is education - about the importance of the state of our bodies at any given time, and how to take have control over what we can (inputs, stresses, and compensators). This requires time and resources, and the will to commit them despite high competition from the immediate profits of investing in today's instant-gratification economy.

In the end, I guess, it comes down to respect for the individual and human rights in general, so that each can respect him/herself sufficiently well to perceive and address what they need to be healthy. Unfortunately, that creates highly inconvenient demographics for marketers and overzealous leaders hungry for control, so they target the public to influence the election of representatives who strangle the funding of once-important public institutions, leaving them with little choice but to exchange their purpose and credibility for funding (and direction) from big-pharma and mega-food inc.

it's funny cuz it's true

wiiitis - i can relate!

Atheist?

Having evolved to a point somewhere between cocksure ignorance and thoughtful uncertainty, I firmly believe believe that "God" does not exist as we "know" (or have been led to believe) him to be. Most major religions have some parts of it right, but over generations too many bits of folklore and interpretation have been mixed in to make the explanation easier to remember and associate to (for instance, we are taught we were cast in his image, when that is probably the other way around simply because we cannot fathom him taking any other form).
He is everywhere, being everything around us here and beyond. He is us, casting judgment through history on others after they have fallen. He is omniscient, noticing everything because every bit of universe is him, and as far as humanity is concerned, he is us because we as a society will eventually be aware of everything. He is omnipotent, as natural forces are part of him, but he has no will (a distinctively human trait) other than to explore, discover and observe. He is the Borg hive and we are but semi-random cogs in the Collective not fully aware of each other, blinded as we are with our infatuation with our "independence." People and animals and rocks and planets are all just tiny little bits of him, and the more we learn, the more we are aware of his full extent. The scientific method really should be embraced by everybody so they can discover just how amazing "he" really is, but they'll have to get over their mortal insecurities, release their childhood teachings, give up their religious security blankets, and accept that we individually are meaningless other than for the connections and experiences we contribute to the human experience.

I am not atheist. I am pantheist.

Et tu, Roomba?

Roomba picked up an inordinate amount of unrecognizable crap on its second tour of duty this morning, including several pieces of macaroni and corn chips. Based on the fact that we haven't eaten any such foods here in at least several months, I conclude that (a) the house is dirtier that we thought it was; and (b) it found some new areas that it missed on its maiden voyage yesterday. I shouldn't be too hard on it, though, since the cleaning lady has been missing those same areas, consistently, for a long time...

Addendum: I just had to rescue it because the bin was full. Apparently it has no problem eating toddler socks. With the HUGE amount of dust also in the bin, the cleaning lady obviously hasn't been sweeping under furniture in the kid's room either. I expected lots of plaster dust from renovations, but entire dust bunny tribes?!?

I love my Roomba

fantastic piece of kit. i felt like i was in high school again, flipping chairs on top of tables at the end of the day so the cleaner could do his bit. i love my roomba!

purpose

found this note from a long time ago:

I like to think that by providing people with information, I can raise their awareness and their interest of the context, meaning and importance, so they feel empowere and confident to make decisions that better reflect their vision of how they want things to be.

Hm. Interesting.

does this apply to taxes?

"No man has a moral right to withhold his support from an organization that is striving to improve conditions within his sphere."
- Teddy Roosevelt

Toxic Care

Dangerous chemicals in personal care products compromise health

If all this is true, which it probably is to some extent, I wish the government would extend the direct-to-consumer ban on advertising of pharmaceuticals to ALL household products, because they seem unable to safely control or regulate what goes in them.

I'm beginning to suspect that Lucas' allergies, in fact the epidemic of food allergies in North America, might be related to this toxic soup we use ironically enough for "hygiene" purposes.

when is progress too much?

Though a lot of fun to play with and show off with, I'm not sure adding all sorts of new capabilities in mobile phones is such a good thing. First, I'm getting a little uncomfortable with the increasing popularity of bombarding us with ever more E-M waves, and second, wave after wave of new cellphone technology certainly isn't good for the environment:

If there must be new models with new gimmicks every few months, why can't there be a single charger or transformer that can be used interchangeably by all companies' products and from year to year? Why can't there be some sort of standard? How technologically advanced is a cord such that it must be replaced with a new model every six months? The proliferation and sheer waste of this type of practice is mind-boggling.

Someone has to pay for all those disposable cords, chargers and adapters, to say nothing of the products themselves. That someone is all of us. And not just for the product, but also for the pollution created when it's made and disposed of - right back into the biosphere. It's time for producers to take responsibility for their products' entire life cycles and not just pretend like they can wash their hands of the problem when it goes out the door.
-David Suzuki

with us, or...

"The concept of a collective guilt is a flawed morality," she says. "The idea that 'We're on the side of God and everyone else is evil' has and always will be disastrous."
Shadia Drury, a philosophy professor and Canada Research Chair for Social Justice, and author of "Terror and Civilization: Christianity, Politics and the Western Psyche."
Another book for me to read (someday).

http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/story.html?id=249e7155-1044-463f-a1d4-6f5cafa5912b&k=80884

value of recycling paper

By Recycling 1 ton of paper you save:
17 trees 6953 gallons of water
463 gallons of oil
587 pounds of air pollution
3.06 cubic yards of landfill space
4077 Kilowatt hours of energy
thanks toiletpaperworld

correlations do not imply causal relationships!

After receiving a chain mail about the "dangers" of microwave ovens and then pointing out that Snopes.com proved it to be a cheap emotional attempt to promote nonsense, the sender mentioned that "microwaves for being around for several decades....hasn't cancer also been on the rise in the last couple of decades......"
Those that know me know that I can't let that kind of invalid association go unchecked. I replied the following:

as are synthetic fabrics, plastics, toxins from industrial processes, processed foods, and the erosion of natural habitats that buffer human pollution. On the "up" side, we have longer life expectancies, political stability, education, careers, internet, ample food and clothing, infrastructure to keep us warm in winter, cool in summer... the only thing you can sustain indefinitely is balance, but nobody seems to agree as to where the right mix is or what factors to include. why? because human nature does not appear to be programmed that way since, sadly, the only way we can keep our mental and physical skills at their best is through continued conflict.

This is why civilizations rise and fall, and ours has already peaked.

pride versus responsibility

I recently asked the following question after reading a ridiculous disclaimer buried deep within a website that claims a more natural lifestyle while denouncing big industry.

If you believe in your message as much as your products, why the lengthy and extensive disclaimers?

This is nicely linked with my general observation that once marketeers or accountants take over a business, the company is doomed because their product is no longer the focus of operations, becoming an annoying detail that they need to hire lawyers to protect them from if ever their neglect or misleading claims leads to someone's harm.

Thought for the Day

Thought for the Day
"The American Indians found out what happens when you don't control immigration."

INTERESTING STATISTIC

Along the lines of the Queen revoking their independence:

INTERESTING STATISTIC
Regardless of where you stand on the issue of the U.S. involvement in Iraq, here's a sobering statistic:

There has been a monthly average of 160,000 troops in the Iraq theatre of operations during the last 22 months, and a total of 2,112 deaths. That gives a firearm death rate of 60 per 100,000 soldiers.

The firearm death rate in Washington D.C. is 80.6 per 100,000 persons for the same period. That means that you are about 25% more likely to be shot and killed in the U.S. Capital than you are in Iraq.

Conclusion: The U.S. should pull out of Washington

Senate defamation

In the conclusion to his speech to the Senate on bill S-4 on Sept 7, 2006, Prime Minister Harper said:

In conclusion, I would like to read a quote from a book I reviewed recently. On page 206, the author writes, and I quote:
"Probably on no other public question in Canada has there been such unanimity of opinion as on that of the necessity for Senate reform."
The author is Robert MacKay.
The book is The Unreformed Senate of Canada.
The year is 1926.
Honourable Senators, this institution, the Senate of Canada, must truly change.
And I hope you join us, the Government and the Canadian people, in being a constructive partner in that change.
Passage of S-4 would be a modest move forward.
And after that, we will continue to move forward with further proposals.
- As part of our plan to give Canadians the accountable, democratic institution they desire - and deserve.

Why does he imply that the Senate has not undergone any change since 1926? I cannot bring myself to believe that he is not aware that:

In 1927, Canada's highest court ruled that women could sit as Senators. Four months later, the government of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King recommended for appointment Canada's first female senator;

Since 1965, newly appointed members may not sit in the Senate after reaching the age of seventy-five; and

Since 1985, the Speaker is authorized to appoint another Senator to take his or her place temporarily. (This last change appears minor, but is significant in that it allows the Senate to continue functioning despite the absence of the official Speaker.)

Despite the fact that there have been many attempts at revamping the senate, all of which have failed, it drives me nuts to witness deliberate misinformation. All the more so since it originates from the most influential office in Canada.

There are many other reasons why Senate reform should be pursued. Why did he choose to invoke such an outdated assessment? Why doesn't the Senate sue the PM for libel/slander? Now THAT would be exciting!

(sidenote: this came close:

Bellavance, “Senator Files Defamation Suit against Bloc MP," A8. In April 1998, then Bloc Québécois MP Jean-Paul Marchand sent his constituents, at taxpayers’ expense, an anti-Senate leaflet in which certain Senators, myself included, were named as collecting a House of Commons pension along with their Senate salaries. In response, I launched a defamation suit in Québec Superior Court. Senator Céline Hervieux-Payette, who was also smeared by the leaflet, filed a similar action. Mr. Marchand later apologized, calling his own actions “a deplorable mistake.” Eventually, he agreed to pay an out-of-court settlement. On the other side of the chamber, former Senator Ron Ghitter (PC – Alberta) successfully filed suit against Rob Anders for remarks made by the Calgary MP in a Reform Party fundraising letter.

Unfortunately, despite any possible excess of self-interest, I really don't think the Senate has enough influence to compete against Harper and the best lawyers oil money and tithing can buy.

sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Senate
http://www.sen.parl.gc.ca/sjoyal/Joyal's%20book%20docs/Introduction%20(Eng).htm

Templeton Prize

I could have come up with this too! Wait a minute, my ENTIRE BLOG (nearly) is about this!
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/03/14/taylor-templeton.html?ref=rss

Geekiness

1. Happy Pi day !~!
2. Physics graffiti: "Heizenberg may have been here"
3. Engineering mantra: "Cows are round"

mercury fillings

When the universal quest for health collides with greed, the collision is loud and dangerous. People get hurt by those they expect, at minimum, to do no harm.

http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/mercury.html

I love this text despite how much I hate:
a) the snake-oil salesmen it exposes,
b) the infotainment "news" industry that shines a spotlight on them and attract the naive, and
c) the bottom-line-hungry scammers that try to capitalize on the resultant yet unfounded shift in public desire.

reasonable accommodations

Neat - this more of less explains the social framework for reasonable accommodations: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laïcité

It also puts a finger squarely on my strong but heretofore inexplicable resentment toward Harper's speech-enders:

Laicite relies on the division between private life, to which religion belongs according to it, and the public sphere, in which each individual should appear devoid of ethnic, religious or others particularities, and as a simple citizen equal to all others citizens.

federal bilingualism - a constitutional supply and demand problem

Le livre "Sorry I Don't Speak French" dont traite cet article est un constat intéressant et franc de la politique fédérale de bilinguisme; surtout l'énoncé sur les aspirations des étudiants universitaires. La fonction publique a beau essayer d'être bilingue, les institutions académiques gérées par les provinces n'y accordent aucune importance.

Comment alors régler ce problème d'offre et de demande constitutionellement au-délà des compétences fédérales?
Meanwhile, if somebody wants to buy/or lend me this book... :)

democracy - where it isn't today

Been thinking lately about "democracy," what it means and why it arose.
Why? Well, doing the same thing and expecting a different result is insanity.
I find it helpful to examine a problem from a different perspective, and a higher-order point of view provides me with a clearer sense of the purpose and the overarching aims of the situation at hand.
People don't usually have a problem with facts, but Truth (being "what you believe" according to George Costanza) is a matter of Faith and cannot be justified nor debated rationally without compromising one's feeling of integrity and place in the world. Traditionally, when societies believed they needed more control out of fear of lack of resources or to counter a perception of weakness, the leader (whether self-made, appointed, selected or inherited) would send people to fight so that the one "perspective" could be imposed (and -what a coincidence!- the power structure that it justifies) allowing for the majority to enjoy peace through oppression. Economic stability depended on this social stability, which typically is short-lived because power corrupts and the system collapses. A better model was required.

Democracy provides a forum where people of different ideas, different ideals, different values, can (and should be encouraged to) share their views, exchange their experiences, discuss their priorities, and come to a greater understanding of the problems affecting each group/region and find solutions for the greater good. In principle. In practice, proportional representation democracies are too unstable to advance any particular cause, and the major parties in first-past-the-post democracies become too self-absorbed to actually work for the greater good or establish programs beyond the next winner-takes-all election.

I feel Canadian politics is in this particular state. Ottawa is becoming stale. The Conservatives, barely on life-support during the Chretien years, have been born again and came back to the Hill like a starving rabid dog finally let loose in a schoolyard. The Grits are still finding themselves after too many years under one man. Canadian voters are on the brink of sending them through the same purgatory. This would not be to anybody's benefit beyond the sadistic pleasure of revenge of a few, as we would be hit with too many changes too far in the opposite direction, the government will lose what little precious respect it has left, and people will start turning to other forms of authority (like - gasp - religion).

But I try not to care. I try to remind myself that people need to come to their own conclusions and if that means cutting off their noses to spite their faces, so be it. It just hurts so much to watch them bleed and stain the rest of us and then claim that this is His will.

path of least resistance

Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage - to move in the opposite direction.
-Albert Einstein

That makes me feel better about always taking the path of greatest resistance.

the importance of sunset clauses

"There is a momentum behind change - we cannot put the genie back in the bottle."
-Jack Straw, British Commons leader, cited in http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=8f0ef114-32bc-4f0a-8e1c-cabfe7059461&k=26337

Sober second thought has always been one of the main functions of the Senate, but since that is changing too, I think it is extremely important that sunset clauses be added to all major new laws, especially reactionary laws, so they may be revisited in a few years' time once tempers have cooled. Otherwise we might end up too far down a certain path before realizing that's not where we were wanted to go.

Canada's Best Think Tank

At least, so believes Thomas Axworthy, once executive director of the Historica Foundation.

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=ArchivedFeatures&Params=A254

Aside; I highly doubt Mr. Axworthy is an avid reader of www DOT canadafreepress DOT com. I'm not endorsing them by providing a hyperlink for two reasons: (1) their website is loaded with popups and advertising; and (2) the content is mere right-wing pomposity. Peruse at your own risk.

how computers are revolutionizing the world

Fascinating how technology, that is to say those in control of technology, creates/sets the standards and changes the world. just like the romans did with their calendar 2000 years ago and the french with the legal system 1000 years ago, the anglo-cum-american empire is synchronizing the drums to which the world beats via programming and networking standards.

http://archives.neohapsis.com/archives/openbsd/2005-06/2259.html

This thread illustrates the problems with regional peculiarities. Sooner or later people will figure out it's a heckuvalot easier to simply adopt a standard and get on with it, cuz the local customs just aren't worth the hassle of accommodating. The unfortunate thing is that this takes time and cannot be imposed; it is a grievous process and everybody has to have their chance to decide when they're ready to let go.

wrongful claims

Red Cross denies Tory claims about detainees

Hmm. Minister O'Connor is normally pretty solid, so I wonder: is
(a) somebody in his department intentionally trying to discredit him? if so, why?
(b) somebody in the PMO trying to discredit him? if so, why?
(c) he signing secret agreements with dissident elements within the ICRCross/Crescent? not likely, but highly unethical.
(d) he making stuff up to make him/his party look good and its backfiring?

I find this titillating because I am sympathetic toward this gentleman, and believe something fishy must be going on because this is quite out of character for him.

Defining Success: update

Well, I applied for the higher position within the project, and met with the client to discuss my motives. I don't think I'll get the job (if all the experience etc he said of candidate no.2 is true, which I have no reason to doubt) then I see no reason why he should accept me in this new position, unless he really values my frankness.

delusions of grandeur and self-righteousness

Ref. Prime Minister Stephen Harper attends the Chinese Lunar New Year Event
ugh - this would be an excellent speech if it wasn't for the open and uncalled-for display of contempt for the opposition parties at the beginning, and the closing statement "May God keep Canada strong and free." Sure, it's in our national anthem, but it's about as relevant today as the crucifix in the Quebec National Assembly. I am thoroughly against that because he appears to be posturing to take it upon himself to restore God's plan if anybody or anything threatens the "strong and free." Delusions of grandeur and self-righteousness are not traits becoming of a PM - we all remember the financial mess the Trudeau government left us with - but at least a debt can paid back. It's much harder to mend the tears in the social fabric that holds Canadians together after it has been subjected to such polarizing forces.

the politics of "religion" and profit

I truly admire these guys for what they did:
2 Florida men charged with using religious fraud for travel to Cuba

Papal Impropriety

Monumental indiscretions at the highest level of the Christian heirarchy
Not altogether surprising, but still rather disturbing. Makes the people behind the Prayer Palace in Toronto look like Boy Scouts.

MADD about fundraising

MADD's `exorbitant costs' anger charity's volunteers
Senator Marjory Lebreton (Leader of the Conservative Government in the Senate) is chair of MADD's board of directors... Sounds like a Conservative Shawinigate to me.

if only...

>if only the rest of the world could be like this:
>
> Muslims Find School Kosher
> About half the students who attend the Jewish primary school King David, in Birmingham, England, are Muslims, and in fact, their parents work hard to get them in because they so respect the school's ethos and its halal-like diet. All students learn Hebrew, recite Jewish prayers, and celebrate Israeli independence, but there is a Muslim prayer room, also, and Muslim teachers are hired for Ramadan. However, confided one parent, the school tries to keep a low profile so as not to inflame the religious rabble-rousers. [The Independent, 2-4-07]
>

Heb: thanks for digging this up.

coincidence?

After spending most of the day thinking about career planning and making changes (and then blogging about it to affirm it to myself), I just watched this clip that somebody emailed me last week. Is there really such a thing as mere coincidence?
http://www.212amovie.com/

South Hérouxville Park

I got this in my email today, it looks like something presented on the news. Very South-Parkish:

fertility futility

I found this joke quite funny (sadly, really) since it illustrates the sheer ridiculousness of hollow technological progress:

Avec toute la nouvelle technologie concernant la fertilité, une femme de 75 ans a donné naissance à un bébé. À sa sortie de l'hôpital, ses parents et amis vinrent la visiter à la maison et tout naturellement lui demandent:
« Pouvons-nous voir le bébé ? »
« Pas tout de suite » dit-elle. Je dois d'abord faire du café et nous jaserons un peu, d'accord ? »
Trente minutes plus tard, quelqu'un lui demanda encore « Pouvons-nous voir le bébé maintenant? »
« Pas encore » . . . répondit la mère.
Quelques minutes plus tard, ils demandèrent avec impatience «Bon, quand pourrons-nous voir le bébé ? »
« Quand il pleurera » dit-elle.
« Quand il pleurera ? Mais pourquoi devons-nous attendre qu'il pleure? »
« Parce que je ne me rappelle pas où je l'ai mis, Saint-Cimonack!!!»

Defining Success

I'm not entirely happy with my career status.
I feel like I've been meandering from one job to the next, with ad-hoc jumps based on convenience or flattery (i.e., I take something if somebody thinks I'm good enough for it).
This approach hasn't taken me where I want to be, nor do I like where I expect it to take me.
I want something that I can be more passionate about, since passion captures the imagination, unleashes creativity, and fuels perseverance. (Anybody who watched the first two seasons of The Apprentice might find that sounds familiar.)
The following Einstein quotes indicate that this is something that preoccupied him somewhat also (enough to make these statements, anyway):

Science is a wonderful thing if one does not have to earn one's living at it.

Strive not to be a success, but rather to be of value.

Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person.

Love is a better teacher than duty.

I'd rather find something that deals with promoting and protecting the environment - jump into the green revolution, so to speak - and make keep ensure this world is one where humans and nature coexist harmoniously, a place where honour, happiness, righteousness, and responsibility are all valued more than the vain pursuit of the American Dream, which has been instant-satisfactionized to winning the lottery by hollow technological progress, an endless barrage of marketing drivel, and political pandering to the rich and poor at the expense of the increasingly frustrated middle class.
I believe that knowledge and honour can never be eradicated, merely suppressed, even as we descend into the next dark age, blinded by the fantasies of a corrupt system rotting from the inside out like a drug addict on overdose. Like so many authors portrayed themselves in their characters (the Encyclopaedia Galactica, the Jedi, Winston of Oceania, the lovely-filth-collecting Dennis of Monty Python's Holy Grail, Neo, and countless others), I refuse to accept the pre-fabricated just-add-water world that corporate america is promoting, and I do not want to take part in it either.
Ok, enough armchair-philosophy. Back to the green revolution and the career plan. Where do I start if I want to have the most effective leverage (i.e., positively influence the behaviour of the masses)? What experience do I need to establish the credibility required to eventually make that possible?
My first priorities are to get some form of "manager" title on my resume and tap into the local environmental sustainability networks (without getting caught-up in the tree-hugging bear-legged hippie clubs content with living off the grid). Like Henry Ford did with the automobile and Honda and Toyota are doing with hybrid cars, I want to make environmental sustainability accessible to all.
Anything less is mere ego-flattering self-deception.

Quotes on society

The mark of society is not by the actions of the few, but by the response of the many.
-me, trying to remember the next one.

The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.
-Albert Einstein

human rights

"Canada has not got a very good track record, that's very well known," she said, blaming its spotty commitment on the politics of a minority government "trying to keep its job, rather than do its job."
Canadian activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier

Well said.

Merck bows to public pressure

...or at least, they are regrouping to focus on another, less socially unacceptable, demographic target.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/20/AR2007022001335.html

Rockin' Rona

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3j0qFWizl6c
work it baby, work it, yeah that's it!

thanks Maclean's

realistic clean air approach

There are a few approaches to clean up our air being discussed in the public forum, but each has significant flaw:

charging a $10,000 tax on gas-hogging SUVs and a $10,000 tax rebate for gas-sipping hybrids would never work because (a) it's not the class of vehicles that pollutes, it's their consumption (mpg or L/100km), and (b) north-american carmakers would find all the little loopholes that their friendly/bankrolled legislators left in there for them anyway;

setting meaningless 40-year targets that everybody knows are completely unenforceable;

tax fuel at the pump for the cost of sequestering the corresponding amount of pollutants it would release, but any econo-political leverage mechanism (e.g., to ease the burden on politically-strategic industries suddenly unsustainable) would no doubt require at least a few hundred or so dedicated bureaucrats to manage, and last I heard methane was still on the "bad" list.

Here's my idea that I think everybody could accept: a proportional tax program on new car sales with progressive targets. Say 9.0 L/100km is the mark for 2008. Cars consuming more than that (on the label) are flat-taxed relative to that, and those that consume less than that get a flat credit relative to that. Then every year the target gets lower: 8.8 in 2009, 8.5 in 2010, 8.1 in 2011, 7.6 in 2012, 7.0 in 2013 etc. Competition (and profit margins) under these more-representative-of-true-cost conditions would shift the auto-industry's attention to more efficient engines rather quickly. The progressive target would also give everybody - the auto-industry, investors, the alternative technology industry and consumers - time to adjust.

Of course, the penalty/incentive amounts would have to be important enough - other parents looking for daycare spaces can attest to the ineffectiveness of symbolic economic measures...

shooting from the hip

wow, this is the first time anything Arnie leaves me with a favorable impression!
Open Mike Arnie (note: French article)

charter of rights and freedoms

If this continues, the Supreme Court will soon hear the case of an American-Canadian soldier fighting for his right to wear the latest Armani suit on parade, rather than the GI uniform, citing freedom of religion.

If I had to ask...

Intelligence: one part ability to think things through, weighing the evidence, and one part ability to read the audience. Put them together and you can effectively voice ideas. Not enough of the former and you're a bluffer; but what if you don't have enough of the latter?

Updated 9 Feb with:

Success is roughly 10% about what you know and 90% about how you present your case....
- Anonymous (cited on a toastmaster's ad)

Great. Thanks Toastmasters, that helps a lot.

need a new system

Capitalism - every man must fight for the right to make decisions for themselves, resulting in the rich and powerful lacking a sense of social responsibility.

Socialism - every man is born with the right to everything, resulting in the poor lacking a sense of individual responsibility.

Somehow we have to figure a system that can better balance these two, because as the wealth gap widens, the increased polarization increases the social risk (revolutions, unrest, etc) of international investors, who will seek other (more stable) countries to exploit and leave us with sore behinds and not so much as a courtesy wank.

Best Little Whorehouse Clinic in Texas

Capitalism: unbalanced runaway economic system focused more on standard of living than quality of life, and in which the rich are encouraged to buy power to make more money without regard to human costs. (and they say socialism begets irresponsibility - bah!)

On Friday, Feb. 2, Texas governor Rick Perry issued an executive order that bypassed the will of the people and the entire Texas legislature, mandating the vaccination of young girls with the HPV vaccine sold by Merck -- the same drug company that reportedly gave thousands to Perry's campaign efforts. The vaccine is absolutely worthless as a medical treatment according to top docs in the alternative health field, and in my opinion, the so-called "science" supporting the vaccine as the only prevention for cervical cancer is an outright fraud.
[...]
Given this environment, is anyone supposed to believe we will see anything resembling honest debate or genuine science about this HPV vaccine? The entire industry, including drug companies, doctors, medical journals and the mainstream media, is twisting the facts to create the illusion that these vaccines are both safe and effective when, in reality, they are probably neither. Nor are they necessary.
[...]
It's really just a grand moneymaking scheme that exploits the bodies of young girls, marketed to look like compassionate health care.

Since they don't know how long the vaccine will last (it could be as little as 5 years, so by the time the majority of these girls start becoming sexually active, they'll have to pay for a booster.)

But hey, first one's free!

More on this contempt of humanity at NewsTarget.com

Humble Hubble

After correcting an initial problem with the lens, when the Hubble Space Telescope was first launched in 1990, the floating astro-observatory began to relay back to Earth, incredible snapshots of the "final frontier" it was perusing. Recently, astronomers voted on the top photographs taken by Hubble, in its 16-year journey so far. Remarking in the article from the Daily Mail, reporter Michael Hanlon says the photos "illustrate that our universe is not only deeply strange, but also almost impossibly beautiful."
http://tinyurl.com/tzk5x

This is one of the reasons why I don't believe most earth-based religions - I just can't understand why they would shun science so when the worst it can do is expose even greater mysteries and wonders to humble us!

Cause (et solution) mal comprise

Hier soir à Tout le monde en parle un auteur français (Pascal Bruckner, "La tyrannie de la pénitence") disait que "la laïcité était la meilleure façon qu'on connaisse pour permettre à des gens de religions et descendences différentes de cohabiter pacifiquement." (de mémoire, donc à peu près). J'y crois. Bravo au conseil municipal d'Hérouxville. (Note à ceux qui prétendent que la leur est une position raciste ou xénophone: laissez-faire les diverti-jounalistes et prenez le temps de lire le texte original pour vous-mêmes.)

muzak limbo

"...and one of our agents should be free in a moment OR TWO."
that double uncertainty is a quadruply disconcerting.

la cause de la controverse...

... mais quand même pas sa source:

Hérouxville's Statement of Cultural Expectations

J'aime bien comment ils présentent ça - "pour que les conditions qui leur ont fait fuire ne sauront se reproduire ici."

Mais je ne comprends pas pourquoi les portes-paroles religieux s'y opposent tant - les pratiques interdites (explicitement non-désirées) ne sont pas des pratiques spirituelles mais bien culturelles. La laïcité force la suppression des expressions culturelles justement pour permettre l'harmonie entre tous et chacun, et consacre la religion à son état pur, c'est-à-dire à la spiritualité (communion entre soi et son dieu) en privé. Les artefacts (armes, bijoux, habits) sont des traditions culturelles provenant d'époques lointaines et qui ne sont pas justifiées s'ils violent leur raison d'être originale en créant un désaccord dans notre société.

Big Pharma

I'm just as leery of Big Pharma (and the entire stock market approach to capitalism) as I am of little witch-doctors popping up everywhere looking for a quick buck. At least you can (or at least try to) sue big pharma if something goes wrong, and hope for a settlement to keep it quiet if there is evidence (or credible appearance) of wrongdoing or negligence... try doing that with the local snake-oil salesman!

One day, by promoting independent thought and awareness, the internet is going to re-democratize our institutions and restore the sustainability of our economy. That is, unless/until Big Telecoms succeed in overturning Net Neutrality.

Assume yourselves!

Most logical, rational people make a decision based on the best possible outcome, take ownership of it, then focus their energies on accomplishing it. Others, however, focus on their energies into maneuvering all stakeholders into eliminating all options but one, so they can get what they wanted without taking any responsibility for it. That disgusts me.

Star Wars - in today's world

Chavez getting powers to rule by decree reminds me of Senator Palpatine scheming to get the council to grant him "emergency powers" to deal with the rebels...

All hail Darth Hugo!

Hedonism

"Mankind is safer when men seek pleasure than when they seek the power and the glory."
-Geoffrey Gorer, as reported by Michael Kesterton of the Globe and Mail, 2006-12-05

Plainte ridicule (part deux)

The Christian group challenging the supposed blasphemy Madonna's in show is not unlike some people's reactions to certain words (nigger, wetback, honky, jew, wop, etc). These are trigger words for people who have associated them with very strong emotions, but for everyone else, they are relatively harmless (if not indicative of poor taste and/or insentivity).
Emotions, good or bad, are what energize us to seek change (some degree more, or less) of their cause; although sometimes it may not be easy or possible to channel it appropriately, leading to further hurt of self or others.
I see no harm in the innocent use of these words, as long as there isn't any deliberate blame or derogation association, either explicit or implicit, intended specifically to arouse these emotions.
For example, calling me a honky means nothing; call me that if you want. but if you say I am nothing but a stupid honky or that I do/did something because I'm a honky are thoroughly inappropriate and unfair gross associations, whether accurate or applicable in that instance or not, that I simply will not stand for. Mel Gibson, I hope you're listening!

Plainte ridicule

It pleases me to see that specific interest groups can get sufficiently mobilized to challenge a perceived injustice through official channels, doubly so in that it also means the official channels have the respect and the credibility to make the challenge worthwhile.
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20070129/CPARTS03/701291087/1017/CPARTS
In this case, the court decided to halt the challenge, but even if the missile was a dud, I'm certain the intended recipient heard the shot being fired and expect that it caused her to reflect somewhat on her actions.

5-minute break for climate change

just received this tonight. I'm in! hard to say how effective it might be but hey, it's free and you have to do basically nothing for 5 minutes!

> Be part of the widest action plan of world's citizens against global
> warming and climate change!
>
> To protest against Climate change around the world, give the earth a 5
> minutes break. February 1st from 7:55 pm (19:55) to 8:00 pm (20:00),
> Everyone should close all lights and electric facilities for 5 big
> minutes. Do it respecting your local time zone, therefore the
> demonstration will be active according to time zones around the world.
>
> This isn't about sparing 5 minutes of hard labor and energy use, it is
> about protesting about something bigger. It is about raising the issue
> into political debates, be it in Canada or in Europe... or anywhere
> else.
>
> We hope for an important media coverage of this action, but for it to
> happen, we need everyone's participation.

the Desperates - misguided at best

posted the following on a CBC.ca article: http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_mallick/20070126.html
First off, I must say that this is the best description of the horrors of socially unacceptable addictions that I have ever read. However, I strongly disagree with the position that all drugs should be available to all adults: many leave trails only of destruction and despair, hurting not only the consumers but those that love them, more dangerous than alcohol in their extreme addictiveness. And how exactly would making all drugs available at fancy little boutiques prevent atrocities such as the one that inspired this article? I posit that official red-light districts offer much greater protection to these Desperates: routine medical exams, safe worksite, and more importantly, social acceptance (if at least from a peer support group) and a modicum of dignity. Fighting the conditions that lead to addictions is far more effective than picking up the pieces of the lives they have destroyed.

product ideas/patent suggestions for the clothing industry

In these days of low-rise pants, surely I am not the only one bothered by undershirts and shirts that creep up and out all the time. I would seriously consider buying adult-sized onesies (onepiece undershirt and briefs with appropriate uhm, logistical features).
Alternately, shirt restraints (imagine suspenders) that fasten the front and back shirttails together (although this would probably lose the tradeoff battle between logistic simplicity and crotch comfort).
Should either of these products make a credible (or even noteworthy) appearance on the market, it would encourage shirt manufacturers to counter-attack with an extra couple of inches along the torso. Either way, tall people win (or at least, catch up with what short people have been taking for granted for so long).

daylight technology

here's an example of a brilliant concept (though not cost-effective for residential applications): two parabolic mirrors focusing light on a large bundle of smaller bundles of optical fibers (each connected to a light "fixture" inside the house). It can even track the movement of the sun for optimum light! image

reinventing the wheel, using what's freely available, cutting out transformation processes, and undoing decades of bad economic modeling:

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/060806/ft/4.0.html

I love it.

Khan's "Coming Out" Hurrah and Conservative "Accountability"

Closet cases all around the world can follow his example:

-----Original Message----- (pared down and emphasis added)
WAJID KHAN JOINS CONSERVATIVE CAUCUS
January 5, 2007

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today welcomed Wajid Khan, Member of Parliament for Mississauga-Streetsville, as a Conservative member of Canada’s New Government.
The former Liberal MP volunteered to serve as the Prime Minister’s Special Advisor for Middle Eastern and Central Asian Affairs last June. As they worked together, the Prime Minister said, “both of us began to realize that politically, we have a lot in common.”

“I have come to admire the Prime Minister and his government over the last year,” said Mr. Khan. “Eventually I came to the conclusion that my ideals and priorities, and the interests of my constituents, would be better served if I sat as a Conservative MP.”

I can just imagine the setting in which they came to this realization: a little gazebo at twilight, Harper in a little Austrian postboy's outfit, Khan in a dress handmade from old curtains...


Anyway, I did a little research and pulled this discussion from Hansard:

Mr. Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, Canadians have a democratic right to be represented by the political party that they elect to represent them. The Prime Minister offended all Canadians when he seduced the member for Vancouver Kingsway over into his camp and talked him into crossing the floor.

Floor crossing undermines the democratic process and fuels cynicism. Will the Prime Minister use his new accountability act to put an end to floor crossing and these musical chairs once and for all?

Right Hon. Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, I do not think I have ever been accused of seducing anyone, even my wife.

Mr. Pat Martin (Winnipeg Centre, NDP):
Mr. Speaker, I do not think the government believes in true transparency and accountability any more than the last gang did. The Prime Minister will not even talk to the media. He holds his secret cabinet meetings at midnight in the Diefenbunker and he is stripping out the ATI provisions from the accountability act.

There is plenty of room in the accountability act to answer this serious concern that Canadians have. They care about this. They want the practice stopped. Will he commit today to ending the practice of floor crossing once and for all?

Right Hon. Stephen Harper (Prime Minister, CPC):
Mr. Speaker, as I have said before, I believe members of Parliament should have that freedom and be accountable to their constituents for their decisions at the next election.

Harper's smugness makes me sick; you could deepfry entire turkeys with that kind of crap.

courtesy wank

at least Canada's (self-proclaimed) New (ugh) Government has the finesse to tell us they are taking "real action our Government is taking to protect the health of Canadians and the environment" in curbing residential pollution, while committing to quintupling the dirty power-hungry exploitation of tar sands for our neighbour's Mall-Terrain-Vehicles and enable them to "punish" their current suppliers of oil who don't toe the line well enough.

-----Original Message----- (pared down and emphasis added)

PRIME MINISTER HARPER UNVEILS ECOENERGY RENEWABLE INITIATIVE
VICTORIA, January 19, 2007
[...]
"The ecoENERGY Renewable Initiative is yet another example of real action our Government is taking to protect the health of Canadians and the environment," said Minister Lunn. "It will help make renewable sources of heat and electricity a more affordable and realistic choice for more Canadians. We expect to add enough clean renewable electricity to power about one million homes."
[...]
This investment will create up to 4000 megawatts of renewable energy and is expected to deliver greenhouse gas emissions reductions equivalent to taking one million cars off the road, as well as significant reductions in other air pollutants. As such, it is an important part of the Government's suite of ecoENERGY Initiatives to boost clean energy supplies, help Canadians use energy more efficiently and reduce air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions from conventional energy sources.

pfah!
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad the Liberal party was finally able to pressure them into doing at least SOMEthing about the environment. Although such prostitution may be good for western pocketbooks, raping the environment such does nothing for our national credibility!

normalization

Collaboration and group cohesion requires normalization of its members' expectations/behaviours/attitudes.
When there is no rational basis for either of two arguing parties to be right, but inexplicably, they both agree the "truth" needs to be determined and enforced.
They can:
(a) each hold their respective positions, agree to disagree and live parallel lives, forever guarded and cautious of not crossing each other's paths for fear of offending/insulting each other;
(b) agree to codify that blue is last, with exceptions made for purple, keeping bureaucrats, lawyers and journalists gainfully employed and future generations perplexed;
(c) recognize that the colour sequence is really a non-debatable personal aesthetic issue, ignore it, and move on to higher order needs for collaboration and social cohesion; or
(d) refuse to recognize the stupidity of the argument and nuke the hell out of each other until one emerges victorious (whether he/she still has their sense of sight at that point is moot).
Either way, there isn't a problem if all parties (and their respective supporters/followers, plus innocent bystanders) agree to the same solution and abide by the result. But that doesn't happen when one side has the arrogance to ignore what they're told and the other the desperation to do whatever they're told, now, does it...

Appalling Silence no more

We will have to repent in this generation,
not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people,
but for the appalling silence of the good people.
-Martin Luther King, Jr., (1929-1968) American clergyman and civil rights leader.

Couldn't agree more. Good thing the world invented blogs, else we'd all be going deaf.

card houses

Oppressive regimes give people a reason to free themselves; and
Benevolent regimes give people the means and the confidence to be free.
Either way, all socio-political structures are destined to fail.

Success

I recently read the "newsmaker of the year" article on Harper in Time Magazine (or was it Maclean's?). Aside from the suspiciously overly pro-conservative slant, the statement that Harper really started shining when he finally learned to trust his instincts struck me.

One or two days later, I read that one of Warren Buffet's words of wisdom is something like "Don't do anything you can't defend; if you don't understand why you're doing somehting, don't be doing it." This struck me too.

One highly rational, the other highly intuitive. Both are shining examples of success. There is no "best" between them, as the choice depends on the context (achieving authority/attaining power, or investing). Whose guidance should I follow? It probably depends on what objectives I seek and what kind of company I will have on that journey: the rich with an unquenchable thirst for money, or the societally ambitious and power hungry? Trouble is, I can't really stand (competition with) either crowd. I've long and often struggled between the two, never quite satisfied with either, and I suspect I am not alone, and this is probably one of the reasons these men have achieved such success. There must be another dimension in which I can exploit my potential; I just have to find it, quick and stick to it!

Warren Buffet's words of wisdom on Journalists and Society

from Forbes.com

Let's talk about the words of wisdom in your book. I like No. 44: The smarter the journalists are, the better off society is.

It's true. I mean, all of our information that we get now, whether it's for investment ideas or just the morality of life comes from the media. So we're really dependent on journalists for accuracy, and for the analysis of what's going on. You want intelligent people doing the job.

I would add: Intelligent people doing the job, with access to accurate information, and the freedom to print it.

religious (mis)understanding

"Nothing in life is to be feared. It is only to be understood."
-Marie Curie

Increasingly distant government

Touting increased accountability, yet creating another hierarchical level to further distance the select few ministers he appointed to cabinet with so many responsibilities that they can't discharge them efficiently by themselves. what a power hog. sigh.

PM Harper strengthens ministerial team
PM pledges active agenda for second year in office
4 January 2007
Ottawa, Ontario

Prime Minister Stephen Harper today presented a strengthened ministerial team to lead Canada’s New Government during its second year in office.
[...]
Six Secretaries of State have been appointed to play an important part in the Ministry.

Each of the Secretaries of State has been given a specific area of responsibility, in order to assist one or more Ministers consistent with previous Canadian practice and the practice in other Westminster governments. Secretaries of State will discharge this role in a number of ways, including:
• representing their Minister, or the Government, at events;

• meeting with stakeholders and other groups;

• demonstrating policy leadership on one or more specific initiatives relating to their assignment, and at the direction of the responsible Minister; and

• appearing on behalf of their Minister in Parliament and before its committees as may be required.

The Secretary of State and Chief Government Whip has been made a member of the Ministry in order to reflect the critical role of the Chief Government Whip in advancing the Government’s legislative and House agenda. This reflects the practice of some previous Canadian Ministries, as well as similar long-standing practice in the U.K.

Unlike Ministers, who will remain full members of the Cabinet, Secretaries of State will not be members of the Cabinet. (Senator LeBreton will remain a full Cabinet Minister). However, each Secretary of State will attend meetings of a Cabinet Committee, in keeping with his or her specific areas of responsibility.

As members of the Ministry, Secretaries of State have been sworn to the Privy Council. They will be bound by Cabinet solidarity, and will be bound to respect Cabinet confidences. Ministers will remain fully accountable for the powers vested by statute, and for the direction of government departments and agencies within their respective portfolios.

conservative spinning mills

http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/media.asp?category=4&id=1480

Prime Minister Harper will deliver a brief statement as Canada's New Government prepares to enter its second year in office.

wow - seems to me they just stopped celebrating their "100 days in office" - how quickly they change gears! but how much longer do we have to wait until they stop calling themselves Canada's "New" Government?
I'm pretty sure the parliamentary year does NOT start on January 1, so technically it would be rather misleading to call this a 'second' year in office... They must have recruited their media advisors from the infomercial/shopping networks.