Go Out and Get a Little Fresh Air

Today was an incredibly beautifully awesome spring – almost summer-like day. The sun was shining brightly across a brilliant light blue sky, dotted with the occasional speck of cloud. On warm, sunny days like today – it is 18C as I write this – many have often wished they could work outside.

It’s too nice to be stuck in a stuffy office, where the windows don’t even open, many have thought – possibly even you. I know I have – I’ve even on occasion thought about tossing a chair through those hermetically sealed windows, but I haven’t.

Enough thinking, and time for doing – today I took my laptop outside and began my daily work routine truly mobile. I had access to the network and the Internet thanks to the wireless high-speed network.

I wanted to do some real work, completely wirelessly – for years we’ve had the technology, but can it be done.

Is it possible to do office work, sans office?

Truthfully, for the first 20 or 30-minutes, I probably didn’t get a whole lot done. I was too excited, too enthralled, too mesmerized by the fresh air, the sunshine, and all the natural distractions around me. I could hear traffic from the street below, the birds from way high up, and wait . . . what’s that smell? Fresh air! There’s something we sadly miss in our hyperbolic ultra-enclosed cubicle worlds.

Eventually, as the wonder wore off, I began working. It wasn’t all that hard at first, checking and responding to emails, re-tooling an image in PhotoShop, and hammering out this blog in Word.

But then came the sun. In all it’s brilliance and warmth, the sun came a beaming down upon me and my laptop. It was nice to be immersed in the warmth of nature’s most powerful light source, but my laptop’s LCD screen almost vanished.

I tilted the screen way forward, but then it was too dark. After tilting it way back, and playing with the brightness and contrast levels, I was able to see the screen again. But they weren’t representing the true colors of the world, as I had to really lower those levels to make the screen visible in the bright sunlight.

As the direction of the sun changed throughout the afternoon, I had to constantly change the angle and levels of my LCD screen. These changes were more of a nuisance than anything else, and probably had to be changed every 45-minutes or thereabouts.

The further back I had to tilt the LCD screen, the less comfortable I was reading off the thing. And finding my mouse cursor at times was like finding Waldo – you know he’s there somewhere, but where?

After four-hours, I was unable to change the levels or the angle of the LCD screen enough to compensate for the brilliant sunlight. No matter which way I moved the screen, or adjusted the levels, the sun still shone too brightly for me to see it. I tried changing my sitting position, moving my seat to a completely different spot. But this just complicated matters and made it even harder make out what was on the screen.

So, I powered down the laptop, packed it up and came back inside.

It was nice getting some much needed fresh air, and working in a different environment from the typical one. And, I even managed to avoid the usual distractions you typically get from colleagues stopping by.

Ironically, one of the very reasons I went outside was the cause of my early return – the sun. As brilliant a light it is, and as pleasant it is to bask in its warmth, the sun was just too bright for my LCD to handle.

Yes, it is possible to work outside in our wireless world, but only for a limited time, or in shaded spot, away from the sun’s rays. It demands a bit more focused attention to get things done at first, but that may not be always the case, after you get used to working in the great outdoors.

And depending on your laptop and the applications you are running, you may have less time outside than you need. The more processor-heavy applications will use greater computing power, and in turn drain your laptop’s battery faster.

Working outside to check and respond to emails, type documents in Word, or even create presentations in PowerPoint are all fine. But once you start to edit photos in PhotoShop, develop web pages in Dreamweaver, or even attempt to edit a video in Premier, you’ll be using so many processor-heavy applications, you will seriously limit the time you can spend outside. That and of course the brightness of the sun and it’s affect on your ability to see the screen.

Overall, I found this to be a great experience, and I look forward to taking the occasional timeout from working indoors, to enjoy working outdoors.

Presidential Bobble Head Released Too Soon

American politics is often more colourful than our Canadian-home grown variety. Just compare our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to American President Barak Obama, and you’ll see quite a contrast in character, and popularity.

They even have action figures and bobble heads of the recently sworn-in American leader. While doing some window shopping the other day, I happened to see a sight which I’m still not sure how to react too.

I saw the President Barak Obama bobble head. It is a dignified – or at least as dignified as you can get in a bobble head – miniature of the man, in a sleek and stylish tux, with his face forming the trademark over-sized head.

The back of the box for this toy tells the story of how President Obama grew up, to become the first black president of the United States. Very patriotic, and if it wasn’t for the silliness of the whole thing, emphasized by the constant swaying of the giant head, I’d be impressed.

I can imagine kids waking up for Christmas, ripping open their presents, and jumping for joy at their own President Obama bobble head. Now they can all pretend to be the 44th president of the United States of America.

Today, action figures were released of President Obama, and his wife, the first-lady Michelle Obama. They even have a special effect built-in, you can pump up their muscles, by pressing a button which fills them with air.

Maybe I don’t venture into toy stores enough these days, but I don’t remember ever seeing Canadian prime minister bobble heads, or action figures.

I guess Prime Minister Brian Mulroney – despite doing an Irish jig with then U.S. President Ronald Regan in the 1980’s – just wasn’t bobble head material? And maybe Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau just was too direct for a kid’s toy, he did tell reporters to go f**** themselves on more than several occasions.

Though I don’t know why our current prime minister isn’t an action figure, he’s already managed to lead by misleading his way through not one, but two prematurely called federal elections with exactly the same results. Surely that calls for some sort of toy in his image? If not a bobble head, or action figure, maybe a Pez dispenser – though with all the dirty words flung around Parliament Hill these days, it probably wouldn’t be Pez which came out.

The real irony in seeing all these cool toys come out based on the American president is that although President Obama promises many wonderful things to come, he’s still too new in his job to have delivered on any of those promises.

Yes, he’s passed his economic recovery plan, begun the long and painful process of closing Guantanamo Bay, and has pledged to help various industries and sectors – most famously the auto industry – with government seed money to make it through the economic depression.

However, all of these – and many more of his programs – are still in the infancy of just getting started. We won’t know the results, good or bad, for some time.
Should we really be making President Obama into an action figure, before we even know if he’s one of the good guys – like G.I. Joe, or one of the bad guys – like the evil Scorpio?

President Obama’s leadership is historical, in the sense that he’s the first non-white leader of the States. This shows a much needed progression away from racism, bigotry and other forms of prejudice in that country.

But the real measure of any great leader isn’t by his or her victory at achieving the leader’s role, it is measured in the end, by what he or she did while running the show.

I think I’ll hold off getting my President Obama bobble head doll until I know a little more about how good, or bad, his leadership was for the States, for Canada, and for the world overall.

iPhone Isn’t the Smartest Phone

I remember when Steve Jobs did one of his famous rants about how the iPhone would revolutionize the mobile lifestyle we enjoy today. Dressed in his trademark black, on a stage in front of technological savvy Apple worshipers, he went on about how his soon-to-be released iPhone would be the must have gadget, because it could do so much more than any other phone.

Jobs was right, and Apple’s iPhone still is one of the coolest little gizmos I’ve seen, not just because of the technology it comes with, but because it opened up a whole new niche market where companies could create applications for use on this tiny metallic box.

Third-party applications allow people to check their Facebook from their iPhone, locate the nearest Italian restaurant, even make the occasional phone call – imagine, a phone that lets you still make a call!

Joking aside, smart phones have come a long way, thanks to the iPhone. Prior to the iPhone, you had to rely on the usually cheesy applications with limited use provided by either the phone’s manufacturer or your mobile carrier.

Despite all the iPhone’s smarts, the designers gave it a dumb design – especially if you live in cold and wet climates.

There have been numerous complaints about the inability to operate the iPhone while wearing gloves – the phone just doesn’t want to respond to big bulky fingers I suppose.

That’s more of a nuisance than anything else, just take off your gloves and there ya go – problem solved.

However, a more costly problem arises with the iPhone and moisture. Common sense tells us that most mobile electronic devices and water don’t mix. Just ask anyone who has accidentally left their cell phone in their pants pocket, and then washed those pants.

To protect our mobile phones, most have a moisture sensor in them, which will activate and disable key components upon reaching a critical level of moisture. For most mobile phones, these moisture sensors are located in a compartment buried beneath the battery. This makes sense, as the last thing your mobile phone can tolerate, is a wet connection between it and its power cell. Also, the battery itself offers some primitive protection, sort of like a thick umbrella of sorts.

Not so with the iPhone – it’s moisture sensor is located just inside the headphone/earphone port. Although I’m sure that’s a bad spot for water to enter as well, it’s so readily accessible that even the smallest molecule of moisture will activate the sensor, and shut off key features.

These key features include the ability to use the speaker, even the ability to turn on or off the phone, though some have resolved this by severely shaking it.

Once the moisture sensor goes off, the only way to really fix it is to send it off to Apple to be repaired. Apple will repair it; they value your business and want you to enjoy the benefits of their iPhone. But that repair will cost you – under the terms of it, and most mobile phone manufacturers, water damage isn’t covered by your warranty.

This isn’t a problem for most mobile users, because in order to set off the moisture sensor, you really have to have dropped your phone in water – like a sink, a toilet, or even a puddle from a rainstorm.

But because of the poor design of Apple’s iPhone, the sensor will go off simply from a bead of sweat from your hands – this actually happened when a person plugged in an earphone, while at the gym.

This is ironic and sad, because the whole point of our mobile society is to have the freedom to use these electronic gadgets in our daily lives. Yes, if you accidentally drop the thing in the toilet, it’s your own fault for using it there – I hate it when people talk on their phones while in the bathroom.

But sweat is a part of life, you don’t even have to be at the gym to work up a sweat. It could have just been a hot summer’s day, and you wanted to make a call. And when you can’t make a call on a hot summer’s day – away from the pool and other bodies of water – just how smart is this “smart” phone?

GM’s EV1 Could Have Saved It From Today’s Money Woes

Most North American automakers are hyping their hybrids these days. As the global depression continues to worsen – statistics show we lost over 61,000 jobs last month here in Canada – everyone is looking at cheaper ways to live.

That and the high price of gas, mean instead of selling the sex appeal of a shiny red sports car, the raw power of a 4X4, or the amount of leg room in a mini-van, car companies are selling economical realities – mainly fuel efficiency.

You can see how very deep we`ve fallen into this global depression. Towards the end of last year – some five-months ago – these very same car companies were selling safety. They knew we were in an economic crunch, so sex appeal, speed and size weren’t the focus of their ads.

Now that they really are desperate for your business, they are going right for your bank book – claiming you`ll save money by driving a hybrid.

Hybrid vehicles use a combination of gas and electronic engines to drive them. While motoring along at low speeds in big city traffic (usually under 40KM/Hour) the electric engine silently powers the vehicle. Anything faster and you’re still using the standard gasoline-based engine. The electronic component is powered by a series of batteries, which are charged while driving the vehicle at higher speeds – when the vehicle is using the gas engine.

Hybrids do save money, because they save fuel costs. You won’t spend as much money at the gas pump driving a hybrid as you would if you were driving a non-hybrid, regular vehicle.

However, you’d save even more money on fuel if you didn’t have to pay for it at all.

What?!?!

Back in the 1990’s General Motors test-launched their first fully electric car in Southern California. The General Motors EV1 was the world’s first completely rechargeable electric vehicle. These cars were small, and sleek, and could simply be plugged into an electrical outlet to be charged.

When GM first test-launched the EV1 in 1996, it was an instant hit. Thousands of people signed up for a chance to test drive the world’s cleanest and most efficient vehicle, built by one of the largest companies in the world. Only a handful was given the opportunity, and all those who had them gave them very positive reviews.

GM allowed those in the test group to lease the vehicles for a maximum of two-years. At the end of the lease, GM collected the car – unlike most leases where you have the option of buying out the remaining value of the car, or even re-leasing it, GM took the car back. Most of those in the test group didn’t want to lose their cool electronic car, begging GM to reconsider. But in the end, all but a couple EV1s were destroyed. Those that were left have been altered so that they no longer function, but can be displayed in museums.

Originally, they had a limited range of 96 to 112KM (60 to 70 miles) on a single charge, but they were improved and eventually could travel 177KM to 257KM (110 to 160 miles) on a single charge. One of the engineers that created the original battery went on record to say that they could even go up to 482KM (300 miles) on a single charge, if they incorporated some of the technology from lithium ion batteries. Lithium ion batteries aren’t uncommon, they are the same type powering the laptop this blog is being written on today.

Clearly, the distance one could travel in the GM EV1 weren’t an issue – even the initial low range of 96KM (60 miles) per charge is below the average most Canadian’s travel in a typical day between home and work and back home.

Remember, this was back in the 1990’s, during the George W. Bush reign in the White House, and long before our current economic woes.

President George W. Bush – a former oil tycoon – and his administration was said to have placed a lot of pressure on GM to kill the EV1 project. Bush had the might not just of the American government behind him, but also the rest of the oil and gas industry, which would lose millions if people stopped buying their products.

Time shift to present day, and GM just announced the layoffs of over 50 engineers at their Oshawa, Ontario plant – they have already laid off thousands of employees worldwide. The company’s shares dropped so much today, that the constant talk of bankruptcy is looking to be more than just talk – General Motors, the largest automaker in the world may actually go bankrupt.

Yet GM, along with Chrysler and Ford, are hoping their hybrid vehicles will save them in this brutal economy.

Had GM not scrapped the EV1, they’d be in a far better position than they are today, because they could offer their customers real economic savings and something the oil and gas executives don’t want you to have – choice. We’re forced to rely solely on the oil and gas industry to power our travel. You can’t choose to buy an electric – or any other alternative fuel-powered vehicle – anywhere. Everything on the road is powered by some form of petroleum.

But instead of being on the leading edge of technology, catering to the real needs of their customers for fuel efficiency, they dropped the ball and are begging governments around the world for loans to stay in business.

Yes, the big scary American government and oil and gas tycoons had a part to play in this story. But it was GM’s product, GM’s research and GM’s innovation which made the first fully electronic car possible. So, in the end, the blame falls squarely on GM, for failing to take advantage of that product, research and innovation.

Had GM continued the EV1 project in the 1990’s, it probably wouldn’t be on the brink of bankruptcy today. Like the invention of the mini-van by Chrysler in the 1980’s which saved the company from going out of business, the EV1 could have kept GM afloat, in today’s troubled economic waters.

The Real Horizon – Where Earth and Space Meet

Sunsets are amazing things. Beautiful, brilliant streaks of light dividing the sky from the depths of space. But where does the sky end and space begin?

According to the Canadian Space Agency and researchers from the University of Calgary, that would be 118KM above the Earth – that’s about 73 miles straight up.

To give you a – pardon the pun – bird’s eye view of just how high that is, your average commercial airliner cruises at about 7.3KM above the Earth – that’s about 4.5 miles, or in pilot lingo 24,000 feet.

Scientists at the University of Calgary placed their Supra-Thermal Ion Imager on NASA’s JOULE-II rocket, which was then launched from Alaska on January 19, 2007. The Supra-Thermal Ion Imager is a new invention from the scientists, which measures the flow of charged ion particles.

By measuring the movement of these ions in the atmosphere, the scientists were able to determine the border between our relatively calm winds, and the raw violence of space.

See, despite all the wild weather we get here on planet Earth, our atmosphere actually protects us from the dangers of open space. Where the average winds range from none to 50KM/hour here on Earth, due to gravitational forces in space, objects can reach speeds well over 1,000KM/hour.

Down here on Earth, storms with winds over 100KM/hour are classed as F1 tornadoes – the most powerful of which are F5, with wind speeds over 400KM/hour.

Ion particles were used to measure the distance between the Earth’s atmosphere and the icy depths of space due to the lack of wind in space. Scientists knew there is movement of objects in space, caused by the gravitational rotation of stars, planets, even asteroids and other large rocks can generate their own gravitational pull.

Using this information, the scientists were able to calculate the speed of the particles, and concluded that our sky ends at 118KM above sea level, and that’s where space begins.

Understanding where our atmosphere ends and space begins will help scientists studying our climate, global warming, and space travel. It gives scientists a “big picture” of how energy and matter change and react when they cross that boundary – be it solar energy from the sun beaming down on Earth, or the Space Shuttle rocketing through that boundary from the Earth to the International Space Station.

Knowing how energy and matter pass through the atmospheric boundary – called the ionosphere – may even help meteorologists make more accurate weather predictions. We know that the tides here on Earth are directly linked to the different phases of the moon, because the distance between the moon and the Earth changes the relative gravity between the two, which impacts tidal formations.

So next time you’re watching the sun go down over the horizon, you’ll know just how high up that horizon really is – 118KM!

The Last Dragon Has Died

One of the imaginative inventors of the world famous “Dungeons & Dragons” game died today. David Lance Arneson, lost his battle against cancer, he was 61.

Back in 1974, Arneson and his friend Gary Gygax created the now internationally famous role playing game. The game enjoyed a cult-like following, as players became characters in an interwoven imaginative world, where they could be fighters or wizards, elves or dwarfs. These characters are all on a quest, for the hidden treasures, which are skilfully guarded by evil monsters.

These games were so intense, they could take days, weeks, even months to complete, depending on the skill, interest and time of the players.

I remember the phenomenon back in the early 1980’s when “D&D” clubs, user groups, and parties became all the rage. There was even a “D&D” support group, for people who felt that the game had taken over their lives, and they needed help and support to wean off of its magnetic draw.

But there was more to the game than personality, strength and intelligence points earned through the game. The “Dungeon & Dragons” game spurned on other role playing games, opening up a whole new world of game play.

Instead of having to choose between the common shoot ‘em up type of game, a sports game, or some silly cartoonish game based on a hit popular television series, role playing games gave people a chance to immerse themselves in the realm of fantasy, and use their imaginations.

These days, it isn’t uncommon to find role playing games – also called RPG – everywhere. From dating simulators, where you play a dateless wimp and have to bulk up at the gym in order to win over the beautiful blonde babe, to games where you are the mayor of a town, and have to run the whole city.

Sadly, the two co-creators battled each other outside the “D&D” world. After 1982, sales of the game topped $20 million, but Arneson didn’t think he was being credited enough for his part of the invention, so he filed a series of lawsuits against his co-creator, Gygax. Eventually, the law suits were settled, but the damage had been done, creating a rift between the two, which is ironic as their game gave millions of people a reason to spend time friends and family.

Gygax died last year, and with Arneson’s death today, none of the founding fathers of the “Dungeons & Dragons” world remains. But what they leave behind is far more than the original game, the video games, novels, cartoon and movie which were developed directly out of their creation. The fathers of “D&D” have left behind a whole concept in gaming, one where imagination and intuition are just as important an element of winning, as strength and weaponry.

Many criticized the original “D&D” game as being overly violent, some even blamed it on problems in their own families.

However, the “D&D” games were more than just your common shoot ‘em up game. They empowered players to be creative in solving problems, to think their way out of challenges, and that having a winning personality can win the game.

Local Politicos Poke Fun at Residents Expense

Municipal politicians in Canada’s largest city may have inadvertently lowered some resident’s property values, because of their own poor taste.

Toronto’s city council recently changed the name of a local street from “Connfield Lane” to “OMB Folly” after the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) approved development of the land, despite the city’s opposition. The OMB is a provincial government body, which regulates many municipal functions across the province of Ontario, and can overrule local city councils.

New homes on the now named “OMB Folly” range from $690,000 to $920,000 – that is unless the name of the street starts deterring people from living there. Many residents are furious – and rightly so – because of this inside joke, at their expense.

Although Toronto’s council will be voting on reversing this name change later this month, this lack of sound judgement raises the question, what were local councillors thinking?

With the depression currently sweeping across the globe, increases in property taxes, and a municipal election in 2010, isn’t there enough on Toronto city council’s plate, without having to resort to childish name games?

That’s in a sense, what this really is – a childish game. Toronto city council didn’t like being overruled by the province, so they publicly decided to ridicule the provincial body that did so, by calling it a name. Unfortunately for those who live on the affected street, that negative name became their home address.

What’s next – will Toronto city council throw spit balls at anyone who dares to challenge them? Maybe they will have a pen fight with their counterparts at the provincial level? How far will Toronto city council go before it is too far?

Though some may say Toronto city council already has gone too far, because their childish stunt affected more than just their relationship with a provincial government body, it actually affected people who had little to do with this battle – those who have homes on the affected street.

I always thought you had to be a fully functioning adult to run a big city, but after this whole affair, I’m thinking a 10-year-old child would have made a more adult choice.

Speaking of choices – where was the mayor of Canada’s largest city when this happened? Although he isn’t responsible for the individual actions of his councillors, he is ultimately responsible for the outcome of their combined efforts. When his council voted to change the name of this street to something less than kind, shouldn’t he have stepped in and put an end to it before it actually happened?

Was Toronto’s mayor playing hooky, or just out to lunch?

Chances are all but the handful of Toronto’s residents who live on the affect street will forget this embarrassing incident by the time the city holds its municipal elections for mayor and councillors in 2010.

But then, we shouldn’t have to babysit our leaders – at any level. Running a town, a city, a province or a whole country is not child’s play.

Harnessing the Power of Green Pills

Recently in Canada’s largest city, green pills started popping up on doorsteps, advising them to take them to avoid nuclear radiation. The pills were distributed within a 30-km radius of a nuclear power plant, near Toronto.

Urban-intelligent residents didn’t take the pills, but instead called the cops. Police then issued a public warning about these mysterious green pills.

Turns out, the green pills were nothing but sea salt tablets, from the internationally renowned environmental action group Greenpeace, which incidentally got its start here in Canada.

Greenpeace says it spread the green pills throughout the communities near the Pickering Nuclear Facility in an attempt to alert local residents about the dangers of nuclear power, and their campaign to shut it down.

This isn’t the first time the environmental group has used scare tactics to get its message across. They have used other such tactics, including protests where participants chant highly disturbing chants, while carrying just as disturbing signs and posters. They have chained themselves to trees to prevent clear cutting of forests, crashed boats into whaling ships to prevent the slaughter of whales, and who can forget the images of baby seals, bloody from the seal hunt?

I’m a proud environmentalist – while in university I minored in environmental studies – and whenever I can, I always promote the health and well being of our home, planet Earth.

However the use of scare tactics by groups like Greenpeace sends the wrong message.

Oh, there was a time, a long time ago, when scare tactics worked. Back in the 1960s during the peace movement – which eventually spurned on the environmental movement – scare tactics worked. Think about it, the peace movement was against the war in Vietnam, the development of atomic weapons, the American draft – all of these things are very violent in nature because they are connected to war. Images of war can be very frightening, from bloody battered corpses lying on the ground, to the big tornado-like dome of smoke left after an atomic bomb blast.

Fear counters fear – which is ironic because the peace movement was anything but peaceful, with some violent protests of its own. As more people realized peace was the answer, eventually world leaders caught on too. The war in Vietnam ended, as did the draft in the States, but atomic weapons became nuclear, and so began the Cold War.

The dangers of atomic – now nuclear – weapons led some in the peace movement to look into what happens to our planet. And the birth of the environmental movement came to be, sometime in the late 1960’s or even early 1970’s.
Naturally, those in the peace movement familiar with scare tactics would continue to use them – they had some success with this method of protest. As more academics, scientists, and others able to actually test and verify much of the theory grew, so too did the environmental movement.

Now, the environmental movement had hard core facts about what really was going on with our global home. But many still disagreed, claiming these facts weren’t justified, and were just another scare tactic.

As landfill sites started to over flow in many major city centres in the 1980’s, acid rain’s damage to statues, cars, and more importantly bridges crossed by thousands of people by foot and by car, we started to realize the ugly truth which the environmental movement had been fighting to prove. When the massive oil tanker, Exxon’s Valdese, crashed into rocks off of the Alaskan coast, images of oil-soaked birds, turtles, whales, fish and other wild life were beamed across the globe.

These images, along with many environmental concerns occurring in our own cities, woke us up to the need to be environmentally aware.

Big business even started getting in on the action, creating products which were sold as being “green” or “environmentally-friendly.”

Greenpeace, and other environmental groups became household names, often being sought out by the media as authorities on many environmental issues. Governments became more environmentally aware, creating recycling programs to reduce waste through the use of this new fangled thing called “the blue box.” The need for scare tactics was no more – we’re with you, we understand, we want to protect our environment.

So, why do environmental action groups like Greenpeace still resort to scare tactics, like the one they recently deployed in Toronto, with those green pills?

With social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, the way to get your messages out these days isn’t by fear, but by creating an open sense of community. Even U.S. President Barak Obama uses a Blackberry, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he had some highly guarded personal space on Facebook.

But perhaps the leaders of Greenpeace are so focused on the outside environment, they know little about the one inside? And that is a shame, because the way towards change is to know how to get your messages out – and these days, it’s all about technology, text messaging, blogs, webspheres – but not fear.

Has Technology Created a Society without Faces?

I get a lot of emails – many of us do. Email is such an efficient yet invisible form of communications. There are so many forums on the Internet where we can communicate with complete strangers, never having seen their faces.

It used to be only on online chat forums that this completely faceless form of communications ruled.

But now I’m finding more and more people are willing to actually do business without ever actually meeting the person or persons they are to be working with.

I know the days are long since gone where you’d conclude a deal with just a handshake. But at the very least, that handshake gave you the opportunity to look your business associate in the eyes.

By not seeing the people we are conducting business with, we’re creating a very different society than what we have been used too.

Email lacks the character in a person’s voice. There’s no body language to see if everyone really is on the same page. And there’s no small talk.

That’s the real loss. For years cultural anthropologists have told us we are social animals. We thrive in communities driven by many social interactions -- surrounded by small talk.

Small talk, water cooler chatter, even a simple smile and a warm “good morning” are all disappearing thanks to the faceless office of today.

It’s so easy to send off a quick email to a colleague, asking about the wife, their kids or them – but do you really expect them to give you a detailed answer? If they do, do you respond with heartfelt sympathy or concern?

Usually not – email isn’t the forum for doing such things. If you were really concerned, you’d call and ask – but as our society becomes more digital and less personal, that phone is getting all the heavier to lift.

And that’s really very sad, tragic even, because it is the social interaction in life which makes life worthy of living.

Sure, we have those funky characters called emoticons which are used to represent our feelings, but these can’t really replace the real thing. And, to muddy the waters further, most professional consultants advise the higher up on the corporate ladder you are, the less you use emoticons.

It may be cute if the receptionist sends out an email announcing the company picnic with emoticons scattered throughout. But when the president sends out an email full of winks, smiles, and maybe even the occasional rolling-on-the-floor-laughing, you start to question the minds of those in charge. You may even start looking for another job, fearing the worst.

I know the economy is global now – so it may not always be possible to simply walk over to the next cubicle to say "hi," or stop over at a colleague’s office for a quick coffee. Many companies have offices spanning several time zones, so that coffee break for one person may actually be in the middle of the night.

But it’s still sad to see the end of real interactions with real people – as technology makes it all the easier to hide behind our computers.

Not Another Cold War?

Over the weekend, North Korea’s government took a lot of heat over their test launch of a rocket. They claim it was going to put a satellite in space, other countries on the other hand see it as a potential threat. The rocket actually crashed in the ocean over part of Japan.

There is good reason to worry about North Korea – for several years they have been working on developing their own nuclear technologies. They’ve always insisted it was for the greater good – to create nuclear power, and for use in nuclear medicine.

Many other countries see it as a real threat to global security and safety, as the North Korean government is anything but a friend to the democratic western world. North Korea’s government has had a long and bitter battle with many other world leaders, and there is a lot of fear about the use of rockets to launch nuclear war heads.

The real cause for alarm is the potential of another Cold War. When the United States and Russia were locked in the midst of the Cold War, people really were scared that one side or the other – or worst case scenario both – would destroy our home, planet Earth, by simply pressing “the button.”

I grew up during the Cold War, and I remember the fear. And it was a fear that spread right through to those very people who ultimately decided the fate of the world.

I remember hearing several stories back then, about just how close we were to global annihilation. One commonly known story I remember very clearly. NORAD’s radar screens went ballistic with what appeared to be a Soviet nuclear attack against North America. NORAD quickly scrambled its fighter jets to investigate, but because of the wicked weather conditions at the time, the fighters weren’t able to take a direct route. Apparently, there was a lot of heavy storm activity in the area.

NORAD was placed on its highest alert, commonly known as DEFCOM (military speak for defence readiness condition), the president of the United States was notified, as were military leaders in both the Canadian and American governments.

Everyone was anxiously awaiting word from the fighter jet squadron. Those who have access to launch the nuclear missiles were literally waiting with their fingers reader to fire – all while the blips on NORAD’s radar screen drew closer and closer.

Just as these flashing streaks of light were about to enter North American air space, finally the lead fighter pilot radioed in.

Turns out, a flock of Canadian geese had almost started a nuclear war – we could have faced global destruction over a handful of birds.

Their lies the real dangers of the controversial test launch of North Korea’s rocket this weekend – fear.

Yes, if North Korea does develop nuclear weapons that would be a very bad thing. But a far greater threat is the fear caused by such a development.

Imagine if nuclear weapons were fired off back during the Cold War, because of those geese. The “Ruskies” would have a legitimate reason for firing back, destroying much of North America – just as our missiles would destroy much of the Russian and European continents.

The truth about nuclear war is obvious – no one wins. The Cold War was all about fear, and a lot of talk. Both sides alluded to the possibility of using their “nukes” against the other, but both sides equally knew the real outcomes should they actually carry out that threat. But back during the Cold War, neither side knew this, that’s where the fear factor really came in.

Here in North America, we were led to believe that the Soviet “empire” was ruthless, and would stop at nothing to continue the spread of Communism, even if it meant destroying part of the world. Meanwhile the Russians were taught much the same thing about the American’s.

It was this constant fear on both sides which really could cause an inadvertent nuclear holocaust – with both sides so caught up in the propaganda, all it took was a flock of geese, a volcanic eruption, even weather balloons all were said to have put NORAD on edge, and ready to fire.

The Cold War thankfully ended years ago, but we could be starting all over again – thanks to North Korea, and that “f” word – fear.

No More Sticky Floors

One of my biggest gripes when I go to the movies these days is lack of imagination. It seems all the great ideas that ever were to be created have been, because we are stuck with much the same story and plot lines.

But one thing you may not have to complain about in the future is that sticky movie theatre floor. A Mexican company has imaginatively created the world’s first biodegradable chewing gum.

Unlike traditional bubble gum which is made from rubber compounds, the Chicza Mayan Rainforest Chewing Gum is made from the sap of the chicizapote tree. These trees grow in the Mexican rainforest, hence the name of the gum.

Because of the natural ingredients in this product, compared with the artificial petroleum-based products found in most chewing gums, this new gum breaks down over time. It loses its stickiness when dry and – according to the company that makes it – will turn to dust within six-weeks.

Environmentalists are happy with this new rainforest product – apparently used gum accounts for over 60 percent of the crap stuck to our public sidewalks, roads and other outdoor spaces.

This got me looking down, while I was out and about the other day. Sure enough, if you look down you will see used gum littering the sidewalks. Though I suppose I’ve never really noticed before – if I constantly stared at my shoes while walking, I’d probably walk into a pole, a person, or a big wad of used chewing gum.

Biodegradable gum is a sound solution to part of our disposable society. If it really does as the company says, eventually, our outdoor public spaces could be gum-free, meaning no more sticking to that movie theatre floor.

However, as with most things in life, the problem isn’t going to go away just because of one cool invention. The real cause of the problem lies with you and me.

Although you probably cart your blue box of recyclables to the curb or local recycler as a good environmentally conscious citizen, my scanning of our sidewalks found traces of more than just gum-waste.

Cigarette butts probably outnumbered the gum, and then there were all the used coffee cups, fast food containers, even a shoe – who the hell leaves one shoe?!??!

Obviously our society still tosses things to the curb, without really thinking about the consequences.

Cigarette butts are full of residual chemicals that are very harmful to all living beings, and most of the stuff found in those tiny bits of paper don’t break down naturally in our environment. Meaning smokers aren’t just polluting their lungs when they smoke, their polluting the environment too.

Smoking is an increasingly harder thing to do in our civilized world, thanks to the knowledge we’ve learned from science over the years. When cigarettes first came out, even some doctors were said to have prescribed them for medicinal purposes.

We now know that wasn’t the case, but we still have issues with their remnants. Just as a very creative company came up with a solution for chewing gum, maybe one day someone will resolve this problem for those who need a smoke.

But then, it really shouldn’t be necessary in the first place – we all should be aware of our role in the greater global environment, and just not toss away anything – even something seemingly as small and harmless as a chewed stick of gum, or a cigarette butt.

Bending the Rules for the Rich and Famous

Musical diva Madonna’s application to adopt a child from a third-world country failed today. She previously adopted from Malawi before – and one would have thought she would have no problems again.

Under Malawi laws, in order to adopt a child, the adopter must have resided in the country for a whole year. This law was overlooked on Madonna’s first adoption, because of her celebrity. But not this time – this time the judge cited her lack of residence in the country as reason for denial of the three-year-old girl she’s gone all gaga over.

No one is saying Madonna is an unfit parent, but the law is the law and that is that. Or is it?

Should the laws be flexible for the rich and famous?

Celebrity status does put an enormous amount of pressure upon a person – with screaming fans stalking your every move, going to the corner store for a jug of milk is almost impossible. And then there are those who get so involved in their characters, that they have trouble separating reality from the roles they portray. Then there’s all the money, what to do with all that money . . .

Okay, so being a celebrity isn’t all that bad. But because these people are constantly under the public’s microscope, should we cut them a break when we can – so long as it doesn’t harm anyone else?

But then, who are we to determine what does and doesn’t harm someone else?

If Madonna were to be granted her adoption, despite the laws, what about all us normal, non-celeb-types that still have to abide by the laws? If I wanted to adopt a child in Malawi, and knew the law said I had to reside there for a year, I’d be fuming – while swatting flies and mosquitoes – living there to follow the rules of the game.

And in a sense, that is what the law is – a game rule. These rules are there to protect us, and in the case of child adoption, to protect the child.

There is nothing wrong with Madonna’s motives; she’s trying to build a family, while saving a child from poverty. And Madonna has donated money to Malawi for those she can’t adopt, as well as already adopting a child from the region – so her heart is in the right place.

But a good heart, a thick bank book, and lots of paparazzi following your every move are not valid reasons to change the rules of the game for just one person. The good of the many, must be considered over the good of the few.

Because if we change the rules even just once for one person, then pretty soon we’ll be expected to change the rules for others. And that may have a negative impact on the many.

Case in point, when Canadian actor famed for movies and his lead role on the FOX hit 24, Keifer Sutherland was busted for drunk driving this past summer – he went to jail. This wasn’t his first offence, and he didn’t kill or injure anyone, so it was a short time, in a minimal correctional facility.

Could you imagine the public outcry had he been given a slap on the wrist, fined a small fortune, and asked for his autograph?

Just because someone is rich and famous doesn’t put that person above the law – so the rules of the game should apply to them just as they apply to you and me.

That way, no one passes “GO” unfairly.

Images More Than Just a Photo Op – It Could Cost Us Valuable Land

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper – for those who were out of the room when the item came up on the news – was apparently in the bathroom when 20 of the most influential world leaders got together for a group photo.

The photo, part of the pomp and circumstance of the G-20 Summit being held this year in the United Kingdom, was a photo beamed around the world. Prime Minister Harper appeared, for a re-take of the photo, but by then a handful of leaders had already left the room – presumably to discuss really big and important worldly things.

We can laugh at our leader, as I’m sure most others around the globe did when they heard this on their local newscasts. It really isn’t that big a deal, I mean, it’s just a photo shoot – right?

Wrong.

Being present and accounted for is more than simply showing up – it’s about being aware, informed and interested about what is going on, so that you can make a worthwhile contribution.

We all have to go to the bathroom – that’s just a basic biological bodily function. However, unless you have an illness which makes you “go” more often than others, chances are you can, and have, held it in so that you don’t miss important things.

Maybe Prime Minister Harper doesn’t like having his photo taken? Who knows – who cares? But what his absence said was that his presence – and in turn Canada’s as a whole -- really isn’t all that important.

Essentially, by not – ahem – holding it in until a better time to go to the bathroom, Prime Minister Harper said to the world Canada doesn’t matter.

We’ve got a long tradition of compliancy when it comes to global issues. During the often heated softwood lumber disputes with the United States, we lost much ground in the negotiations, not because we were going up against Big Brother USA, but because our reputation preceded us as peaceful and non-confrontational.

When American battleships and subs conducted Arctic manoeuvres without first seeking Canada’s permission to do so back in the late 1980’s, America’s initial response was one of compliancy. They didn’t need to ask permission to run about and shoot missiles in our country – because they didn’t think we’d mind. Just ask the surprised locals who thought we were under attack if we minded. Eventually, the American government apologized, and does get consent before coming up here – but it took a lot of politicking before we got that apology.

We Canadians have a sad reputation as the ones to always concedes to whoever challenge us. This is because our leaders lack substance, and don’t take issues on the world stage seriously.

We’re currently being bullied by Russia for control over the Arctic – and despite Canada’s claim on this continental shelf since we officially became a country, the Russians may actually win this fight, because of our wimpy leaders, not being present on the world stage.

I can’t believe the United Nations is even considering the debate about the Arctic being part of Canada. Since the earliest days of the Hudson Bay Company, when fur traders hunted up in the north, establishing trading posts. These trading posts eventually became communities, which today are cities and towns. These cities and towns were born from the great Canadian fur trade and later the gold rush which followed.

But our Canadian politicians are too wimpy to defend our land – Prime Minister Harper’s government is participating in the contest for control over the Arctic. This contest – more like a bid where both Canada and Russia put forth proof as to who can best manage its resources and the UN will decide the victor – began because of claims that there is over 25% of the world’s untapped oil reserve deep in the Arctic Ocean.

By not being present among the world’s most powerful leaders, our prime minister has once again told the world that Canada’s opinions, ideas, thoughts and concerns don’t matter – we’ll just go along with what everyone else wants.

It may have just been a missed group photo, but if Canada loses control over a land mass which we’ve managed, defended, and called part of our home and native land since day one, then we’ve lost more than just a portrait to hang on the wall. We’ll have lost a bit of our heritage, our history, and most of all, a part of our home.

The Redundancies of Technology

Remember your first electronic gadget?

Mine was the electronic version of the game Simon Says. It was a big, bulky black plastic flat-dome shaped toy, with a red, a blue, a green and a yellow light pad.

You’d turn it on, flip the switch to select your level of difficulty, and then one or more of the coloured pads would light up. As each colour lit up, a very low tech buzzer would hum, slightly differing in pitch for each colour.

The object of the game was easy, simply do as Simon did, immediately after the toy flashed its buzzing colours, you had to press each colour in the exact same way. All levels started easy, say green, green, green. But eventually, it got all the quicker, until the different colours seemed to blur into one.

I miss my old electronic Simon Says game – back then electronic toys were simple. Technology hadn’t advanced to the point we have today, with all the 3-Dimensional graphics, the seven-to-one stereo surround sound, and the life-like animations.

There isn’t much use for my old Simon Says game anymore – though I bet if I still had it, and it was in somewhat decent condition, it’d fetch a good price on eBay by some collector.

I started thinking about all this out-dated technology recently, when I popped an old disc with some video content I wanted into my computer. The video was recorded back in the late 1980s, just as CDs were entering the marketplace. The video files were standard AVI format – something that has been around a long time. But my Windows Vista, with the latest version of Windows Media Player couldn’t play it. It gave me an error message, saying I was missing the CODEC to decode the video files.

So, I clicked on the link provided in the error message, but was told the CODEC was no longer supported by Windows Media Player. Imagine technology that goes bad just like the milk in your fridge.

Being a bit of a geek, I just shrugged it off, and began trying other media players – I tried Windows Media Centre with the same result. RealPlayer, even Nero’s Show Time video player – none worked. On my last legs, I decided to try Apple’s Quick Time, and hey – it worked.

The video was 15-frames-per-second, pretty crappy compared to today’s standards, but it worked.

But now I was concerned – and you should be too – what to do with all your old technology?

Audio tapes have been long since replaced with CDs and MP3 players. Good old fashioned VHS tapes have been replaced with DVDs, and DVDs have now gone the way of the technology grave yard, being replaced with Blueray discs. Some people reading this blog may never have even seen a record before, yet they know what a record store is.

It isn’t all that complicated to plug in your tape deck, VCR or DVD player to your computer, record their content digitally onto your hard drive, and then burn them to a more current format – say a Blueray disc (provided you have the right software, hardware and cables).

There are other cool technological solutions to some of these historic forms of storage. I’ve seen new record players, with USB cables, allowing you to play a record, and record the audio digitally onto your computer’s hard drive. Many sound editing applications even have filters, allowing you to clean up the old “raw” and scratchy sounds produced from playing the record, so that it doesn’t sound much like a record at all. It won’t be nearly as pristine and perfect as a pure digital file, as the original recording was made using analogue technology – but it will be sans the hiss, which is often caused by the friction from the needle hitting the vinyl.

Needle? Vinyl?

YOU KNOW – R E C O R D S! Those black shiny round things with grooves?

Oh forget it!

Comedic Medicine and Other Altered States of Being

Yesterday, I went to the Most Races Show on Earth, an annual comedy fest showcasing the best in multicultural humour.

This was my second year attending this show, and both times were amazing.

Laughter really is the international language we all understand, regardless of the colour of our skin. Aside from exercising my funny bone, it’s a great cause too – proceeds from the show go towards the Canadian Anti-racism Education and Research Society (CAERS).

There were comedians from all ethnic lines – from Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Italy, Lebanon, Poland and more. A live band warmly welcomed each act, and gave those of us in the audience a much needed breather, to catch our breath from all the laughing.

Multiculturalism was the dominant theme – but altered states of being seemed to be just as prominent.

Although I’m a fan of the drug-influenced comedy of Cheech and Chong, I was surprised by just how much of this drug culture played in last night’s show.

Almost every comedian made jokes about doing marijuana. If the jokes weren’t about how hard it was to get the stuff, they were about what they were like under its influence.

“I went up to a fellow Brother, who had dreadlocks down to his ass,” said one comedian. “He’s got to have, just look at those locks man, but he didn’t even know what I was asking him about.”

“What about Sugar Crisp – man if there’s a spokesman for us – it has to be Sugar Bear,” said another comedian. “Can’t get enough of those Sugar Crisps . . .” he continued, acting like the famed animated character, only as if the cartoon bear were stoned.

Many famous people have been known to dabble in the so-called drug culture – or counter culture depending on who you talk too. Robin Williams has admitted to being on various controlled substances when he was much younger, and has spent many years in and out of rehab facilities. Robert Downey Jr. has also spent time in and out of rehab for drugs – but this past summer he had one of the most successful movies of the summer-blockbuster run, with Iron Man. Hunter S. Thompson, the founder of the gonzo journalism style of reporting was known to pen his best stories under the influence of many drugs. Then of course, there’s the most famous comedy duo, which made getting high a comedic riot – Cheech and Chong.

However, when you go to a comedy festival which is supposed to break down the barriers of racial discrimination, and highlight our similarities spanning our cultural differences, aren’t there more similarities than smoking up?

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the show last night – all the comedians were funny, energetic and entertaining to watch. But I was disappointed that the majority of the jokes revolved around marijuana.

There are so many different stereotypes, it would have been nice to see the comedians play off of those, rather than falling back to the easy and over-used stereotype of the druggie. Part of the point of the show, from my understanding, was to poke fun at the various cultural stereotypes, and show that despite all these common images, we’re pretty much the same.

But instead of poking fun at various cultural stereotypes, I felt I was watching an old Cheech and Chong movie. Or maybe I was watching Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Hunter S. Thompson in the movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, where we actually see the world through the altered states of mind of one of the best drug-influenced writer’s of all time.

No wait – I was at The Most Races Show on Earth, so how come I have the munchies?

Unlucky 13 Isn’t So Bad In Space

The number 13 often gets a bad rap. Friday the thirteenth is one of the most dreaded days on the calendar – it’s even the name of a well known horror movie franchise.

Many buildings don’t have a thirteenth floor – my high rise is one of them. The numbers in the elevator go from one to 12, and then 14 to the penthouse. Technically, that means people living on the fourteenth floor are physically on the thirteenth floor – but don’t go telling them about it.

Not everything associated with the number 13 is all that bad. A baker’s dozen includes one more than a true dozen, so in a sense it’s like buying 12, while getting one for free. The history behind this actually is based on compassion – not fear of the number 13.

During The Great Depression in the 1930’s, bakers often would reward customers purchasing a dozen muffins, cookies, bagels and other baked goods, by tossing in an extra one at no charge. They did this as a sign of patronage to customers who came back to get more baked goods, despite the economic hardships.

Today marks another triumph for the number 13 – space exploration. Every year, a handful of extremely lucky – and brave – souls ride rockets out into space. The number of humans floating around high above us is usually quite small.

Unless you consider 13 big – that’s the number of men and women orbiting us in space today. It marks a milestone in the space race, as that’s the most people ever to be in space at the same time. The last time there were almost this many people in space was in 1995.

NASA’s Discovery Space Shuttle is currently circulating the Earth with a standard crew compliment of seven. Three astronauts are currently calling the International Space Station home, and three replacement astronauts are in space, en-route to that space station, via the Russian Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft.

So the number 13, often associated with bad things like walking under ladders, black cats, and broken mirrors, isn’t all that bad, especially if you’re in space. Though I suppose when you’re that far from home, luck is the furthest thing from your mind.

Cell Phone Danger – Walking and Talking

Recently, an average, everyday person – someone just like you – was killed while using her cell phone.

We’ve all heard the horror stories about how overuse of these devices has been linked to brain tumours. But as Arnold Swartzenager famously said in one of his movies: “it’s not a tumour.”

This person was killed when she walked into the back of a truck stopped at an intersection. You read it right – she collided with the truck – not the other way ‘round. The driver of the truck didn’t see her, and drove off, trampling her under the wheels.

How could someone simply walk right into a vehicle? In this case, the blame is partly due to her cell phone. She was chatting on the thing, not paying attention to where she was going, and now she’s dead.

Though some of the blame must be put on the truck driver for not noticing something odd – you’d figure there would have been some sound when she struck the vehicle, and definitely when she fell under its tires.

The real culprit here isn’t the cell phone, but the poor victim herself. There have been far too many stories about people getting into accidents while driving, walking, even cycling, all while they talked, surfed or typed on their mobile devices.

With so-called “Smart Phones” taking over, there are even more distractions on these little wonders. You can watch live streaming video, play your favourite songs, check the latest weather forecasts, even participate in an interactive video conference (assuming your mobile device has a camera).

These new communications devices make it all the more possible to do just about anything anywhere. I remember hearing one guy break up with his girlfriend over his cell phone, I couldn’t help but listen, I was sitting in the bathroom stall next to him.

And these devices have been marketed to us as time savers, allowing us to do just about anything anywhere.

This is why we do use these things to do just about anything anywhere.
But there are many situations when doing just about anything anywhere is not only inappropriate, but dangerous as well.

Although breaking up with one’s girlfriend while sitting on the toilet may be inappropriate, it’s hardly dangerous – unless you fall in I suppose.

But walking along busy streets and sidewalks can be quite dangerous, as we’ve seen most recently. Far worse about these types of accidents, is they are so preventable, because we are in control of the situation.

If we get so involved in something on our mobile devices – be it a game, a cool application, a conference call, or just a simple person-to-person call, we should be bright enough to stop whatever else it is we are doing.

I mean really – dying from walking into a truck!?!? That’s a pathetic way to go, and chances are all this woman had to do was stop move off to a coffee shop, or even just a secluded part of the sidewalk and she’d still be alive today.

But now she’s dead, simply from talking on her phone.

Sponsoring a Canadian – A Fools Game

We warmly welcome anyone into Canada – even on an individual basis. If you travel to another land, meet someone, fall in love, and want them to come back with you, you can almost wrap them up and bring them over.

So did Percy Whiteman – to a degree. Whiteman fell for stripper from China, working in a local strip club, so he sponsored her immigration to Canada. Though one wonders how she managed to land a job in Canada, prior to her sponsorship?

Whiteman married this stripper, got AIDS and is now suing the strip club, the stripper he married, and the Canadian government for a total legal claim of $33 million. He’s suing the federal government for failing to follow up with the necessary HIV AIDS tests prior to allowing her into this country, and I presume the strip club for providing a place for him to hook-up with her – but that just seems silly.

This whole story has a foul stench to it – could it be that cheap stripper perfume?

NO! It smells like everyone is using everyone in this sordid tale of love (or is it lust?) gone wrong.

Suwalee Iamkong, from Hong Kong, China used her female prowess on a Canadian-male to work here and live here legally. She knew she had HIV before coming to Canada – she was tested in her homeland prior to arriving in Canada and tested positive. She simply denied the results, claiming they were inaccurate.

Excuse me, but if I found out that I had some life-threatening disease for which there was no cure, even if I didn’t believe the results, I sure as hell would have done something about it right away. Say, get a second opinion; maybe even have another test conducted?

Instead, she apparently ignored the test results, so that she could get into our wonderful country – and quite possibly take advantage of our free healthcare system.

Whiteman on the other hand, met Iamkong at the strip club, wanted her for more than just a private dance, and pursued a relationship with her.

Now I’m not knocking strippers – hey if I had a nice Double-D cup and an ass shaped like a peach, maybe I’d get up on stage and shake it to make some money. NOT!
There are more – ahem – respectable professions in this country. Or at least, I hope so. I know the depression in the economy has hit us hard, but please tell me there are still jobs where you don’t have to remove your clothing!

That said, Iamkong is in the sex trade. Granted, she’s not calling herself a prostitute, and she didn’t say anything about having sex for money. But guys – and girls – don’t go to strip clubs just to hang out and drink over-priced, watered down suds. Needless to say, one must question Whiteman’s choice of meeting spots for finding a potential mate.

Regardless of where you go to meet people, only a fool these days would engage in unsafe sexual behaviour.

You can get sexual diseases from anyone anywhere these days, so it only makes sense to have safe sex until both parties have been tested. Hell, common sense is to practice safe sex with anyone you meet, until you see the black and white documents proving you and your partner are both clean and free from all things evil. Having unprotected sex without knowing for sure is just asking for something nasty, and as in the case of Whiteman, deadly.

I assume they still even do those blood tests prior to marriage, so that once you’ve tied the knot you can cut loose and be free, and presumably have kids and start a family. How come the now unhappy couple, didn’t get tested before getting married?

Another question remains, should Canadian tax dollars really be spent on recruiting and sponsoring strippers?

If Canada is to remain competitive in the ever shrinking global economy, just how competitive will we be as a nation, if we’re spending money on bringing in people to take off their clothes for money, instead of engineers, scientists, chemists, philosophers, even sculptors, writers and other professional artists – surely these career paths add more to the fabric of a nation, than a stripper would.

Though they are nice to look at, and I suppose they assist with beer and other alcohol sales . . . take it off! Take it all off!

Fox News Bashes Canada – Says We Are Frigid Rednecks Dependent on America for Survival

International relations between countries are all the more important in our global economy. Which is why I find it puzzling that a major American network would air something which intentionally creates ill will with us Canadians.

The obviously light-hearted current affairs panel on the Fox News network called “Red Eye with Greg Cutfeld,” began discussing how our Canadian Forces will be pulling out of Afghanistan in 2011. Naturally, an American show will have an American spin – while our Canadian news and current affairs shows discuss how many soldiers lives have been lost, the ethical dilemmas involved in any war, and the cost to Canadian taxpayers to support an American-made war – the American spin often revolves around how Canada is helping aid American efforts to fight the war on terror.

Not so with Greg Cutfeld’s show. Cutfeld even starts off his show by equating the Canadian military’s ending of the Afghanistan mission with a holiday, saying that: “certain members of the Canadian military are looking to take a well-deserved break. And by certain members, I mean all of them.”

He goes on: “Meaning, the Canadian military wants to take a breather, to do some yoga, paint landscapes, run on the beach in gorgeous white Capri pants.”

This well spoken but highly mis-informed American on the boob-tube fails to mention the over 3,000 soldiers from all nations across the globe via the United Nations, assisting his country’s war. A war which originally was begun “to get Osama Bin Laden and those who stand against America’s interests,” as proclaimed by then-U.S. President George W. Bush, but now has been nothing more than another Vietnam, as Bin Laden continues to haunt the world with his broadcasts calling for violent acts against America and its allies.

Nor does Cutfeld mention the 116 brave Canadian soldiers killed in the line of duty, serving in Afghanistan in his country’s war. Though Cutfeld did indicate that we “shared a border with the most powerful country in the universe.”

Guests on Cutfeld’s show got into the Canadian-bashing, with even more outrageous mis-informational insults slung our way.

“We have police officers, they have Mounties,” said one guest on the panel. “Our cops ride heavily armoured cars, they ride horses. We have bullet-proof vests, they have wonderful little red jackets that can be seen a mile away. This is not a smart culture Greg!”

Another guest chimed in, supposedly in our defence.

“Yes, but to be fair to the Canadians, they are up there where it is frigid, where it is very cold, they are a hardy people, good allies of the United States, this is why I’m so disappointed in them,” she said. “So they are getting manicures, they are getting pedicures, everybody needs a little time off.”

Maybe those coming back from Afghanistan will get a pedicure, but I’m sure it won’t be nearly as an important a moment in time, as when they first see their teary-eyed spouse who hasn’t seen them in over six-months, the baby that was born while they were away and have never seen, or even just the comfort of landing on home soil, where it is safe.

The sacrifices our Canadian soldiers and the various civilian support staff that spend many months, and in some cases years, overseas, defending the interests of our nation and our allies is far greater than the need for well groomed nails.

What this show – on a news network, of all things – did was to degrade, alienate, and offend a whole nation, by downplaying the hard work, dedication, and above all else, the sacrifices our nation has made for another country’s home-grown war.

Granted, the Fox Television Network is known for it’s edgy, often in-your-face shows which aim to be anything but politically correct. The network’s founding shows included “Married with Children,” about a shoe salesman more interested in nude magazines than taking care of his family, “In Living Color,” a show which poked fun of racial stereotypes by reversing and exacerbating those stereotypes, and the very popular “The Simpson’s,” which often shows how a dysfunctional family can be quite functional.

However, Fox News is a news channel, and news channels should have a sense of obligation and respect for the content which they broadcast because chances are, unlike a made-up show with made-up characters, news is about real people and affects real peoples’ lives.

Or at least, maybe that is one of our Canadian traits that our American neighbours still need to learn.

Made In Canada – Not For the Government

One of the easiest ways to help people keep or get jobs in a recession is to support local products and services. This has been one of the many methods governments have used to us get out of economic crunches in the past.

Even U.S. President Barak Obama has been tossing around the “buy American,” protectionism slogans, to encourage his citizens to purchase products made in the USA.

You’d think Canadian governments would know this too – this isn’t the first depression we’ve been in. We’ve seen our fair share of recessions, the Great Depression back in the dirty-thirties, and now today’s depression. Though most aren’t using the “d” for “depression” word, we’re obviously in one – because economists agree this is the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

However you name it, our economy has sunk to new lows. So, why is it that our governments aren’t buying Canadian?

The provincial Ontario government admitted this week that many of the provinces flags and provincial police uniforms are being made in China and other Asian countries.

At a time when people are losing their jobs in this country in record numbers, you’d figure our governments would encourage job growth by at least buying Canadian.

But instead of having Canadians make the various products and services our Canadian governments use, they have chosen the cheapest bidder, sending these jobs to other countries.

It’s almost like watching your mom, dad, brother or sister suffer in poverty, while donating large sums of money to a third-world. Granted, there is nothing wrong with donating to poor countries, but shouldn’t charity start at home? Doesn’t it make sense to help those nearest and closest to us first?

There is a downside to protectionism – in a global marketplace, it isn’t always wise to turn down a business opportunity just because they aren’t local. But, in this depression, we must resolve our own locally-grown financial issues before getting back onto the global money train.

Because that global money train of international trade isn’t going to stop for long, in a country which isn’t going to be able to pay for those goods and services. So it makes fiscal sense – as well as ethical sense – to invest in Canadian-made products and services first, and foremost.

Eventually, once this depression has long since gone away, leaving prosperity and growth in the marketplace, then, and only then, should big business invest in the world outside our borders.

However, that begs the question, should publicly funded tax dollars ever be spent on goods and services made outside of our borders?

It is one thing for a private corporation to decide to go to China, Mexico, or any other country to get the goods and services it requires. But it is quite another for our governments to do so – because we ultimately are all investors in that government.

The role of governments should always be to promote local products and services. To use another family analogy, it is like your mom asking you how come you could never be more like some other parent’s kid, why’d you have to turn out like you?

What a horrible thing for a mother to tell her child. And what a horrible thing for a government to do to its citizens.

Late Night Talk Shows New Way of Politicking

U.S. President Ronald Regan became famous for his live nation-wide broadcasts from the Oval Office during prime time on television. Even the British are known to use the mass media, with Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s famous radio addresses on Sunday nights.

Tonight, U.S. President Barak Obama takes on Jay Leno, as he appears on The Tonight Show. Oh this isn’t the first time an American president has appeared on late night talk shows. Remember when President Bill Clinton jammed on his saxophone? But unlike President Clinton’s appearance on late night talk, President Obama’s will be the first time a current president of the United States appears as a guest on a late night talk show.

President Clinton’s appearance was during the 1992 presidential campaign, on the now defunct Arsenio Hall Show. President Clinton was trailing badly in the polls to Ross Perot and President George Bush, but after that brief musical interlude, he took the lead and won the presidency.

President Obama is certainly not hurting in the polls – he is the most popular American president of all time, even more popular than John F. Kennedy, according to many reports. So why is the American president doing the talk show circuit?

Some have scoffed that he’s promoting his own style of politics, and trying to sway the American public opinion his way. But he’s already got that on his side – it has even been branded “Obama Mania,” by the media.

I’m hoping that President Obama is doing late night talk shows to build the economy. See, much of the energy, drive, and even depression in an economy is powered by investor confidence in the market. Unless you keep your money in a dirty sock under your bed, chances are you have a bank account – that makes you an investor in the market.

Banks invest your money to earn interest. Granted, the amount of interest is laughable when you deduct all the service charges banks force us to pay, but we still are investors of sorts.

If President Obama is smart, he’ll use this late night talk show opportunity to encourage us to invest in the market, which in turn will hopefully stimulate something within our sagging economy.

However, a lot depends on the host Jay Leno. Prior to the U.S. presidential elections, Obama appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman. Surprisingly, Letterman rose to the occasion, tossing away his comedic funny-man hat, for that of a more sobering interviewer. His interview was warm, well thought through, and managed to keep the mood light, but serious. Letterman was able to intelligently discuss the issues, without the expense of poorly placed jokes.

Can funny-man Jay Leno accomplish the same thing – or will he be constantly depending on his humour to carry the conversation tonight?

I suppose we won’t know the answer to that until after the president’s appearance on Leno’s show. But for the good of the global economy, let’s keep our fingers crossed, and hope for the best.

How to Completely Ruin a Good Thing

I had a meeting with a potential client not too long ago. As is often the case, there usually are several phone calls back and forth prior to the meeting, where each side gets to ask all the preliminary questions, to ensure there is a good fit.

After much telephone tag, we both agreed a face-to-face meeting would be in order, as there was the potential for us to work together. We agreed to meet at the potential client’s offices, and that they would provide a projector, and possibly even a sound system so I could hook up a laptop and go through my very slick – if I may say so myself – presentation.

When I first got to the offices, a bitter taste was already tormenting this meeting. The projector I had requested wasn’t there, and the key management-type that should be running the meeting, was letting someone else run his show.

I carried on, sans slick presentation, but to my dismay, I was being bombarded with the very same preliminary questions which we had already answered over the phone. They were worded slightly differently, but essentially they were the same questions.

Being a communications nut, with a lot of management experiences, I tried to steer the meeting towards the discussions that needed to take place to move forward. But the person running the meeting on the potential client’s side – who really needn’t be in the meeting at all because he wasn’t a key stakeholder – kept drawing things back to the initial basic info, which I thought was already well known to all involved.

What should have been a pleasant next-steps meeting, turned into a complete waste of time, because of the potential client’s own political baggage.

Essentially, from what I understood upon reflection and discussions after the meeting, the person running the meeting was the former manager of the person who should have been running the meeting.

See, the real key player here, the Manager of Learning Development was recently appointed to that role. Previously, he worked for this other arrogant bastard, who was leaving the team, to pursue other professional avenues. Why someone who had chosen to leave their team was even in on the meeting is beyond me. But what happened is clear.

It was a pure show of political might – at the cost of us doing business with them.

The new manager was put into an awkward position, because his former boss had taken it upon himself to continue to be his boss, even though he isn’t. Though the new manager, should have – and probably would have if he had more experience and some – ahem – balls – told his former boss that this was his meeting, his project and he was running the show.

I don’t know if this happened because the guy was forced to leave the team, and was essentially getting back at his soon to be ex-bosses at the executive level, or if this happened just because this guy is arrogant as hell, and I don’t care.

But what a loss! Everything looked so very good from our emails and phone calls prior to meeting, but then everything crashed and burned.

Hopefully that outgoing manager will be gone sooner than later, else the project which this company really wants and needs, may never happen.

Obama Presidency Brings in New Form of Color Coding

It’s a good thing when we see more color in the White House. With U.S. President Barack Obama’s new administration, we’re seeing good things happen in a house traditionally home to upper-class white dudes.

But, the election of the first non-white person to one of the most powerful positions in the world is having an unfortunate racial tension elsewhere.

The other day at the office, during an informal break at the water cooler, one colleague joked that they had to make several changes to allow President Obama to retain his Black Berry. I was thinking this colleague was going to mention how they had to implement new security protocols, and specially encrypted digital lines, managed on a special highly secure system of servers and satellite uplinks – which they do. Most American presidents aren’t allowed to keep their personal mobile devices, for security reasons – President Obama is the first person holding that office able to do so.

However, instead of discussing the technical wonders which make it possible for an American president to have a Black Berry, this colleague said: “they had to change it from Black Berry to White Berry.”

Is this an off-color joke, a racist remark, or just a really bad play on words?

Since President Obama took office, there have been other similar comments – some suggesting changing the color of the White House to “Black” House, there is even talk in the entertainment industry about who will portray the first black James Bond.

A black James Bond?

I didn’t think much of all the different Bond’s over the years – to me the original Sean Connery was and will always be the only true Bond, James Bond. Changing the color of a legendary film character to mirror American political changes doesn’t make any real sense. But it does reflect a changing and potentially unstable mood sweeping across America, Canada, and possibly the rest of the world.

Call it the new form of color coding – turning anything and everything traditionally associated with a specific color – other than black – and making it black.

Having someone who isn’t your traditional white male in the White House is progress. Intentionally making others mirror his color isn’t progress – it’s a form of discrimination – or reverse discrimination depending on your point of view.

Cracking jokes about this new form of color coding is racist – that comment about a “white berry” was uncalled for and I gave my colleague a look of disgust upon hearing it.

Real progress wouldn’t be to change everything white to black, but to ignore a person’s skin color completely. Wouldn’t it be nice to live in a world where it didn’t matter if you were white, black, yellow, olive green, brown or any other color really had no impact on your social and professional life? Isn’t that what President Obama really represents?

Ford Canada on the Right Road

For months, this blog has stressed how the Canadian, American, and other global governments should not be pumping bail out money to big business. Publicly funded tax dollars should not be used for private corporate gain.

Finally, one of the big three North American automakers has come out against these government bail outs.

Ford Canada’s chief executive David Mondragon told a Canadian parliamentary subcommittee that federal government bail outs are not the cure, but offering more reasons to buy a North American-built car is.

By promoting the environmentally-friendlier cars now being made by North American automakers, the fuel economy, and the price savings over purchasing an import, Mondragon says people will see the benefits to buying locally made vehicles. He also added, having financial incentives, say more money for trading in a used vehicle towards the purchase of a new one, would also help.

Bravo Ford Canada! Bravo!

Mondragon says the biggest businesses in the country should be pulling their own weight, showing leadership by example through the recession, as opposed to looking like beggars wanting a handout.

"What we need to do is provide an anchor in the sea and right now there is no anchor in the sea for our ship," Mondragon told a parliamentary subcommittee meeting Monday night. "There are great opportunities for governments to help the industry and the economy find the bottom."

If big businesses – hell all businesses – held that attitude during these tough financial times, maybe this recession would end sooner – or at least it wouldn’t be as rough a ride.

Instead of complaining about all the doom and gloom, and then threatening to put thousands of people out of work unless governments toss over bail out money, Ford Canada has taken the high road.

U.S. President Barak Obama is all about buying American. The popular U.S. president says if people buy American-made goods and services, then the people working for the companies providing those goods and services will continue to have jobs.

I think Canadians should buy Canadian – but specifically buy from Canadian companies with healthy attitudes like Ford Canada’s, which don’t hold Canadian taxpayers hostage.

I’m not currently looking for a new vehicle, but if I was, I’d certainly consider Ford above all the other North American manufacturers. The others are pretty good whiners, and maybe even good at securing government loans, but that’s not what we need in this economy.

We need – as Mondragon has said – solid anchors in these rough economic seas. It is one thing to be cutting edge, and have the latest technology. And once upon a time, the cutting edge ruled. But these days, you have to have more than a “wow” factor – you have to have strong leadership, which is committed to the future.

General Motors and Chrysler’s constant bickering about government bail outs doesn’t wow me. But Ford Canada’s ideology that longevity is based on what a company’s leaders does with the company, now that does have some “wow,” and it should influence who you choose to do business with.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather do business with a company that was able to solve its own financial issues, and make it on its own through the rough times, than one that required public funds just to stay afloat.

I Smell Burning

For those who follow my blog, you’ll know I occasionally write about the nuts in my building. Not that I live in a nuthouse – though some of you may think I should.

I love living the high life in a high rise. It really is different up here. I enjoy an exclusive view of the world, while maintaining a certain level seclusion, because people can’t see way up into my palace in the skies.

My building is pretty old, but that’s a good thing. Today’s buildings are made of so-called space-age materials, which is just a fancy way to say “Made in China” crap. My building on the other hand is built like a bunker. I should know, every time I hang anything on the walls, I have to use excessive force just to make a dent.

Despite its toughness, occasionally scents and smells from the neighbours creep in. Usually when this happens, it is because of the lady on the floor above me cooking. Or rather, the lady above me is attempting to cook.

Usually when she’s cooking, it just doesn’t smell all that good. It either stinks like grease, smells like she’s hauled in some rancid road kill and is roasting it, or everything just smells like burning.

I love to cook, and take pride in creating an atmosphere where not only the food interacts with the pallet, but the scents play with your nose. Anyone who’s enjoyed my home cooking, always tells me: “oooh that smells good,” long before the meal reaches the table.

Having the demon cook above ruins that ambiance; it throws out the whole thing. My homemade meals don’t taste any worse, but I don’t get to savour the smells of good cooking, because bad cooking stink overpowers it.

Maybe it is part of our animal instincts, to warn of us about potential danger by making our nose pick up stinky smells more over the nice ones. Or maybe I don’t have enough air circulation to vent out the upstairs neighbour’s bad aromas. All I know is no matter what I cook, if the lady upstairs is cooking, her grease fired excuse for a meal will stink up my nice smelling kitchen.

And grease fired probably isn’t far off. It wouldn’t surprise me if she’s set off the fire alarm on more than a handful of her cooking adventures. Of all the stinky stunk that emanates from her place, burnt is probably the word to best describe it.

I’ve tried everything to contain the stink. I’ve opened all the windows and doors, sprayed air freshener until the can runs empty, even turning a bit of my own heat up, by adding some more spices to my cooking. Nothing works, short of calling 9-1-1 and reporting a fire in the unit above me.

I’ve often thought of running up to her place, breaking down the door, barging in with a fire hose, and just washing out her mess of a meal.

But spending a night in jail isn’t exactly my idea of a fine dining experience.
So, I suppose I’ll just have to open all my windows and doors, spray as much air freshener as I can without suffocating, and hope that I don’t see flames coming from the ceiling.

But hey, at least I have a good meal on my table.

Not Another Bail Out

Another private company falls victim to the global economic crisis – U.S. Steel Canada, says they are temporarily closing plants, displacing at least 1,500 jobs.

Rumours are already circulating of yet another publicly funded government bailout for yet another private company.

At this rate, with all the public funds – meaning yours and mine funds via tax dollars – there won’t be very much we the people don’t have a vested financial interest in.

Though you will never have a say as to how those interests are managed, funny how the more we spend the less we have control.

Wait a sec – isn’t that wrong? Shouldn’t we have a say in how our dollars are spent? Who’s to say these companies won’t just continue to make the same mistakes which got them into their financial woes? Who will be held accountable should these big global mega-giant privately run businesses fail, with our publicly funded tax dollars?

Yes, the economy is to blame, yadda yadda yadda . . . there is more to it than just a bad economy. Economists for years have been predicting a global meltdown; it’s just part of the cyclical nature of our market-based economy. It always goes up and down, there are highs and then there are always lows which follow.

Even if you don’t want to listen to the economists publicly warning of the impending economic crunch, most – if not all – of these mega-corporations have very well paid, and supposedly very knowledgeable economists of their own. They should have seen what was coming, and worked with their executive and other business teams to ensure the longevity of their company through the economic downturn.

It shouldn’t always be up to publicly funded governments to save the private corporations of the world because they simply failed to plan for tomorrow.
For years the North American auto market has been in a slump of sorts. This all started several years ago, when gas prices started to rise. People started realizing that those big SUVs would bankrupt them at the gas station. So, when it came to looking for a new car, they started looking for more fuel efficient models.

The North American automakers were still churning out big gas-hogging vehicles, but the Japanese automakers saw the light, and were selling hybrids – part electric, part gas-powered. These were the real first gas-saving vehicles introduced over here, and they were stealing business away from the North American automakers.

Although all automakers are feeling the pain of the global economic crisis, those foreign to North America are feeling less pain, because they had good leadership which continued to make vehicles for their customers’ needs and wants. The North American automakers on the other hand, completely missed the boat on this one, and are now demanding publicly funded seed money from governments worldwide, otherwise they will put thousands of people out of work.

Losing one’s job ain’t pretty and isn’t something we would wish on even our enemies. But the role of publicly funded governments does not extend to keeping private companies afloat – especially when those companies are to blame for their own mismanagement.

That’s the nature of our capitalistic market-driven society. By having public government funds going into private businesses, it is changing the rules, and making our society a more socialistic, communistic-driven society.

Unless, maybe we are just naturally heading that way. Bring back the Iron Curtain, the Cold War and a society so fearful of the power of its own government that no one dares speak out in protest.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the sound of that.

Watch You Speed – Or Technology Will For You

Last Friday, the Toronto media was hyping a mega-rolling-roadblock which was to disrupt Canada’s largest morning rush hour come Monday.

Today, that travelling roadblock never happened.

Over 200 big rig trucks were supposed to descend upon Queen’s Park – the Ontario legislator – mid-morning, protesting the province’s mandate requiring all large trucks to have functioning speed limiters. Prior to their arrival, they were to proceed from central areas of the province, in a convoy of sorts, slowing traffic during the peak of rush hour.

Only a handful of trucks actually made it to the destination, and traffic chaos was averted. But not because the issue was resolved – the truckers just didn’t show up.

Regardless of their numbers, the truck drivers have the right idea.

The Ontario government is requiring all trucks – even ones from outside the province – to have mechanical devices which limit their maximum speed to 105km/hour. They claim lower reduces accidents.

The truckers say it isn’t the odd truck speeding to blame for all accidents. Many are caused by the weather, other drivers, and even their own truck driver error. They say, limiting a truck’s top speed can actually cause accidents, because then the driver won’t be able to accelerate when needed.

There are times when trucks do speed – just as in any profession, there are bound to be a few bad apples in the bunch.

But for the most part, truckers are highly skilled and well trained in far more road safety prevention than the average Canadian motorist.

Limiting the top speed a truck can travel may prevent a truck driver from actually performing a necessary task, which could lead to an accident or worse, a fatality on our roads.

There are other safety issues in trucking which need more of our government’s attention, than forcing them to limit their speed. Drivers are often placed on outrageous time tables, where the only way they can arrive at their destination in time is to drive non-stop for days.

There have been more incidents caused by truck drivers falling asleep at the wheel, than speeding over the past 10-years. No one can go without sleep, no matter how many “Red Bulls” – or other high caffeine beverages – one consumes.
The laws have been put in place, but the industry still for the most part regulates itself in terms of ensuring drivers get enough down time.

Technology is an amazing thing. Through technology we can keep track of where our shipments by truck go, thanks to Global Positioning Systems (GPS). That same GPS technology even is useful by the drivers, using real-time maps and satellite imaging so they can find their way. But technology can’t be a be-all end-all to preventing accidents.

Using technology to limit a truck drivers speed is just a lazy-ass excuse to avoid the real issues of safety – lack of sleep.

Even fitting trucks with so-called “deadman peddles” isn’t the answer. These devices force the operator of the truck to interact with them, either by pushing a peddle, or a button over a period of time, to ensure the driver hasn’t fallen asleep. If the deadman peddle isn’t pushed in time, it will turn off the engine.
Deadman peddles have been used in planes and trains for years, with mixed results. Early versions could – and often were – disabled, simply by placing a heavy item on the peddle, like a brick or a lunch box. Newer versions require several items to be pushed, but even these can still be tricked by those sneaky enough to do so.

The real solution to safer trucking is more enforcement, to ensure truckers aren’t being forced to deprive themselves of much needed sleep, to get their goods to the market in time.