Home

March 2007

Well, You Do Need A Shovel

Submitted by David on March 25, 2007 - 8:21am

I've just finished John Stossel's latest book, "Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Get Out The Shovel - Why Everything You Know Is Wrong". I agree with him about one thing - you do need a shovel, though it is for sorting through the, ahh, garbage in this book.

Stossel, those my age at least, will remember as a consumer reporter for ABC's 20/20. But he has taken a sharp turn to the right since then, and this book will surprise people who recall his time as a consumer reporter. Don't get me wrong, there are some myths exposed in this book. Among them:

  • "Brand names are better";
  • "Premium gas is better for your car";
  • "Swimming after eating is dangerous"; and
  • "Experts can cure homosexuality".

But, these are few and far between. The rest of the book is right wing propaganda. The silliest section of the book is his suggestion that the evidence for climate change does not exist, and that the earth is just in a warming phase. He also suggests that price gouging in times of crisis is good for everyone (he uses the impact of Katrina as an example). As he would say... Give me a break.

Save your money - spend 15 minutes at the Bookstore leafing through the good stuff, and ignore most of the book.

Climate Change Petition

Submitted by David on March 23, 2007 - 7:13am

avaaz.org is sponsoring a petition about climate change.  The petition will be delivered at the next G8 summit.  It can be found at http://www.avaaz.org/en/climate_action_g8/?cl=3268117.  Please consider signing it, and forwarding it to others.

Who Are You?

Submitted by David on March 21, 2007 - 8:52pm

I've just spent some time looking at the stats for hits to this site, and discovered a few things I think are interesting.

  1. A page which links to a comment about comments is consistently in the top 5 most hit pages.  Go figure.  Oh, hold on, what does that say about the rest of the content?!  By the way, I do check for comments again - thank you Akismet.
  2. A shocking number of people get here because they have typed something like "stealing cable" into a search engine. I'm guessing they leave pretty quickly when they get a post that agrees it is stealing instead of one telling them how to do it.
  3. A fair number of people who searched things like "small zoos" or "bad zoos" are probably happier to find this post about them.
  4. Whatever competing browsers are saying, the overwhelming majority of visitors to the site use Internet Explorer.  On the other hand, the number of people using Opera doubled between February and March.
  5. While most of the days which have a spike in activity are days I posted something to the blog, there are also random days that see big spikes in activity without an apparent reason.

Oh, and I learned one other thing. All these stats actually tell me very little.

Appointing Judges, The Police, and Felons

Submitted by David on March 20, 2007 - 9:18pm

I've been quietly ignoring the Harper Government's decision to place a police representative on the committees which recommend judicial appointments (see story here). The issue is in the news again today as the Commons Justice Committee heard from legal scholars (that is, people who actually think about and study such things) about the issue. These legal scholars told the committee that this is a bad idea, and runs the risk of tainting the appointments process.

Well, ah, how do you say it... oh, right, "duh". How on earth can that not be obvious to everyone? Having the police - those who investigate the crimes judges,well, judge - makes about as much sense as having convicted felons involved in recommending judicial appointments. Now, I know someone out there is yelling "How dare he compare the police to convicted felons". But the point is this: the police, in a free and democratic society, should have no more role in judicial appointments than do convicted felons. That is to say, they should have none.

Carbon-Neutral Driving, etc.

Submitted by David on March 18, 2007 - 9:24pm

I recently attended a meeting where it was announced that the event was "carbon-neutral". After making some inquiries, I learned that the organization who hosted the meeting (The Ontario Secondary School Teacher's Federation) had arranged to contribute to carbon-reducing projects an amount necessary to offset the carbon produced by the meeting (and the transportation to get participants to it). While I knew plans like has been discussed, I did not know that they actually existed.

This motivated me to try to find a way to offset some of my own carbon emissions. I found a website called DrivingGreen.com, which is owned by AgCert International. This company provides a tool to estimate the emissions from driving your vehicle, holding an event, or taking a flight. This is then turned into an amount required to offset your emissions through agricultural projects. The cost is less than you might think (my driving costs about $24 US to compensate)- take a look.

While this is second best to actually reducing emissions, it is a start.

Action on Roadside Zoos - Help Now!

Submitted by David on March 17, 2007 - 7:55am

I've written before about the state of small roadside zoos. There is currently a private member's bill (see it here) to regulate them. You can help get it passed by writing your MPP, asking that he or she support it.

Two local politicians in London (Canada) are suggesting that the City support this bill (see story here). It will go to the City's Environmental and Transportation Committee on Monday, and you can help. The members of the committee are listed here (about half way down the page). Please send them an email (addresses can be found linked from this page) asking that they support the bill. If you are a constituent in their Ward, ensure you let them know.

My previous posts can be read here and here. The first post includes a link to a longer article about the Pineridge Zoo near Grand Bend.