Oh, the guilt

It's not that I find blogging a chore, but I definitely feel guilty both when I haven't posted something of substance in adequate frequency and when I feel like I'm procrastinating WHEN I am posting something of substance. I just can't win. Oh well, here're some nuggets, for those still interested in reading:
First, Ken Jennings (yes, that Ken Jennings from Jeopardy) writes an obviously satirical post about how Jeopardy should be improved. Anyone who reads it will agree with me that he is quite obviously sarcastic and not at all serious. What's interesting is that Michael Starr of the New York Post took it seriously and publishes it, which gets picked up by AP! Ken of course takes it in stride, but someone really needs to buy Mr. Starr a clue (for $400, Alex...).

Number two, thanks to his infamous stunt in the World Cup final, Zinedine Zidane's name has now been verbed.

Finally, here are three very interesting posts by Declan on transit and the Stats Canada report about commuting times. Part 1 briefly talks about the report, the major thing being car travel and transit times are up (except in Vancouver) and transit times are higher than automobile travel times. Part 2 deals with why that might be and how traffic demand works in big cities. As an urban planner to be, I am ashamed that I can't answer his question to my own satisfaction mainly because I've read very little on traffic issues. What he says makes sense to me but I can't say for sure and frankly it's going to make me procrastinate for an hour or so trying to find an academic paper that confirms this. Finally, part 3's a doozy. It's funny and at the same time a bit sad. He rebuts a Margaret Wente column with this issue and it's funny because Wente's column is JUST TERRIBLY WRITTEN AND ARGUED. It's sad because a fair number of Globe readers will have read it and a percentage of that group will agree with her erroneous statements and will in no way help to bring better transit to Toronto. Let's hope that these people will read Declan's rebuttal...

1 red paperclip = 1 house

As many mainstream media outlets had been following this story, Kyle MacDonald's been slowly bartering things from his one red paperclip to his goal of his own home. His goal has been reached. As of July 7th, 2006, he's traded a spot in a movie to the town of Kipling, Saskatchewan for a house on 503 Main Street.

An Inconvenient Truth

Al Gore's documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" is interesting and good in a variety of ways.

His arguments and presentation of facts about global warming isn't new, though compelling. For someone who have studied the science of climate change, he or she would find this film a little light. Rather, it is a good primer for those who are skeptical or know nothing of the situation. His solutions, also, aren't new or provoking. But that's the point. The solutions and technologies are out there. It's a question of whether people will accept the responsibility of our actions and the necessary change in the way we live.

The visuals, are like most good visuals, stunning. Like the works of Ed Burtynsky, you can't help but feel a little shock and disappointed by the massive change humanity is causing, particularly the difference in glacier sizes around the world.

And while most of the film is Al Gore "giving" his presentation (the one he's delivered in thousands of places across the world) to a small audience, it is also partly a documentary into his life and his fascination with the issue throughout his political career, from being in committees in Congress to his stint as VP and through to his presidential bid and its aftermath. Not only does this prevent the film from being a 90 minute slideshow presentation, it provides a glimpse into a man who could be raking in $50,000 fees giving speeches about his political career, but insteads decides to travel around the world talking about ice cores and global ocean currents and carbon dioxide emissions.

It is the loss in 2000 that spurred him to return to his lecture on climate change. And it seems as though the title has two meanings, one for the audience and one for him. In that, while for us, the inconvenient truth is of course, the way we live is impacting the Earth and our own future severely, for him, it's that perhaps he was never meant to be the President of the United States. While one might argue that he would wield more political clout as the President to affect change, it's interesting whether he would have been bogged down by the responsibilities to his country and to the office to be truly effective.

Instead, his responsibility is now to the world at large, and he has given the scientific community something else: A face and a voice. Perhaps this is his niche, his role: to be the Paul Revere of climate change, to warn us of the dangers ahead.

He seems suited because he straddles both the scientific and political community. He understands the language of the scientists. But having served in politics, he is a much better and more recognized orator than any scientist could be. In doing so, he could deliver the message, like the film, with effectiveness, using both scientific studies, but also with a little bit of humour (his presentation includes a clip from Matt Groening's Futurama about global warming) and visuals to cement his argument. Besides, with all due respect, I doubt most people would be able to pick out NASA scientist James Hansen (one of the biggest voices about climate change in the scientific community) from a line-up. It was a little annoying, though, during the film when he'd drop names like Carl Sagan as if he was a bowling buddy. But conversely, his connections with so many climate change scientists just shows how much attention the scientific community is paying to him.

I don't, however, share Gore's optimism. The people who should see this will probably not because it wouldn't interest them. And that's the problem. The people who would see this move have or will change their behaviour. The rest don't see it affecting their lives. But by the time that it does affect their lives and the clamour for change finally happens, it'll be too late. It seems that as much as we don't want to be told what to do, we need government to force this change upon us. Humans rarely change behaviour unless they are forced to. And either we can force the rest of the citizens to change now through our laws, or we can let the resulting consequences from global warming do it for us. That too is an inconvenient truth

Playing catch-up

This post from Treehugger just gives me an excuse to berate Queen's about how much catch-up they have to do on the sustainability front. Basically, it's a story about University of Calgary's initiative to provide free bikes for students to travel around campus. And while we have the Yellow Bike Action here in Kingston, it's a community group effort, not the university. The bike program itself is part of a broader Sustainability Initiative.

Now, having done research on campus sustainability, we already knew that UBC and UVic were ahead of us in this category, not to mention many US universities. UofC pulling ahead just goes to show how hesitant Queen's is to change. A student position was finally created by the AMS to study and possibly coordinate sustainability efforts, and that was with much teeth-pulling from my friend Anjali Helferty.

The problem isn't that there isn't enough students willing to be involved. The problem is the lack of support from the Administration. And while Campus Planning can say that they've all these great projects in progress, there's no one to market them. There's no broad strategy to coordinate efforts. Queen's is planning to build this great LEED-certified building, but buildings won't create sustainability. A shift in mentality does. A change in how Queen's operate does. Now, Anjali deserves all the praise for her work, but until the administration is willing to put money behind creating a real sustainability officer within the administration structure and give it real power, Queen's will continue to fall behind with its piecemeal projects even as it's trying to catch up with the 21st century.

It's so easy too. It already has most of its students living in less than elegant housing in close proximity to the campus. Take advantage of that. You have engineers who construct an elaborate set piece for their formal. You have a show like "From the Ground Up", where professional contractors and subcontractors oversee youths building and renovating homes. Why not do a similar thing, except have the university pay the pros to oversee student volunteers who build a house or two over the summer. In exchange, they learn extra skills, they get to live there for a year rent-free and now Queen's has new housing to rent to other students. Incorporate some simple environmental design like strawbale walls, solar orientation, and efficient appliances, and you have a sustainable house. Obviously, it's not so clear-cut and there'd be some legal issues to deal with. But this is me coming up with an idea at 1:21 AM. Imagine someone who's paid to come up with these ideas and make them work...?

That's what we need. Or we won't even get to where U of C is.

my dealers...of music

I don't know what brought this about, but most of you may already know of the bands of which I'm about to speak, so bare with me.

My music collection is probably defined as "alt-rock indie" (with a smattering of other genres) at best and "mainstream bandwagon indie-hopping" at worst. However, my favourites are due solely to the friends around me who either dragged me to a concert or lent me their CD to listen to and of course, I was blown away by what I was hearing. So this post is for them. In no particular order of favourites:

Mike Rate: he was a master's student in my lab when I was doing my undergrad thesis. To kill the many hours of driving, he brought along a well-honed collection of CDs of the hard-rock, punk persuasion. He re-introduced me to Queens of the Stone Age and Less than Jake. Less than Jake's "Anthem" was probably not the best ska-punk CD in people's minds by far. I don't know what it was, but I could listen to that CD over and over and over...and I did. It also spurred me back on to the punk train, to look up good ol' bands like the Ramones, the Clash and the contemporary ones like NoFX and Bad Religion. I had actually listened to QOTSA's "Songs for the Deaf" one time at Future Shop but couldn't get into it. It took listening to Mike's CD for 2 months straight to get me hooked. 65 minutes of damaging guitar hooks and Dave Grohl's drumming deliciousness was an energizer during the hellishness that was coring in the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia.

Wesley Fok: Ahh, Wesley, proud owner of Chrominance and Angels Twenty. He dragged me to the Merchant one late May evening and blew me away with Joel Plaskett's onstage presence... So much rock-goodness, drunken bass guitaring and catchy lyrics that should be and usually are cliches, but when he sings it, they just sound so original. Each of the Joel Plaskett Emergency's records sound different from the last one, but you can hear the progresssion and the, I don't know, earnestness, I guess. Though Wesley doesn't enjoy him as much anymore, and his song "Nowhere with You" is now schilling for Zeller's, I would still drop everything and catch him in concert, no matter what town he and I might be at the same time.

Christina Cheung: Christina gave me a few mp3s from the Decemberists "Castaways and Cutouts" and I was immediately hooked. They were unlike a lot of bands I was listening to at the time because a lot of their songs were ballads of olde. Stories about legionnaires, chamisoles, countess and courtesans using guitars and accordions and a bevy of other instruments. And that's their schtick and they're good at their schtick. They are so much fun and their stories are always so catchy. They're like a good Pulitzer-prize winning novel, but for my ears! Their new album is coming out soon and I'm ever so excited. "Castaways and Cutouts" and "Picaresque" are equally good.

Wade Guyitt and Christine Lee: I had low, low expectations for the Final Fantasy concert. Especially when the opening acts were beyond weird and uninteresting. When Final Fantasy finally started, it ended up being one guy and a violin. Good thing that one guy happened to be Owen Pallett, who has not only been on the Vinyl Cafe but also collaborated on Arcade Fire's superb "Funeral". He was absolutely brilliant onstage, and if you don't believe me now, would you believe me then? Judgment's still out on his newest record, "He Poos Clouds", though.

My music collection would be so much worse if it wasn't for these people. And I thank them. But I was thinking. Where do they hear the next brilliant band from? I mean, I'm clearly 4 or 5 steps from the source (of "good music"), but they're definitely a few steps closer. Does it even matter that it takes me this many steps to discover a new, great band? Or does this have to do with the personal sense of "discovery" and "ownership," of knowing a great band before everyone else? Still, I'm curious how (and really it's just) Wesley and Christina keep tab with the burgeoning music scene, even though some of their recent recommendations haven't hit me the same way as the others...? I mean, I know where pot dealers usually get their merchandise, where do Wesley and Christina get theirs?

Beauty and the Beast

Courtesy: City of Sound

Beauty: This goal by Argentina against Serbia and Montenegro during the opening round of the World Cup. 8 of the 10 players on the field were involved in the play, 24 passes in total. Complete domination.

Beast: A giant centipede completely overwhelming this mouse in an aquarium tank. Not for the faint of heart. Trust me on this. No picture though, I don't need to see it everytime I look at this post.

Messing with a good thing

So our Premier Dalton McGuinty could've avoided the mess he stepped in this week, but chose instead to keep on walkin', leaving a nice, dirty trail behind.

The pooch that left this mess? Whoever thought it was a good idea to spend $220,000 to redesign the logo for the Government of Ontario!

picture courtesy the Toronto Star

Now, leaving aside the extravagant cost (an undergrad graphics designer could come up with something like that for a few hundred dollars, probably, remember THIS that was much more loved than "Toronto Unlimited"), the possible partisanship in awarding the design contract for this thing, and the possibile similarities with Liberal or NDP logos (because there's enough people talking about that), was there even a need to redesign the logo?

Right now, the logo's well known, simple and effective. You could even say that it's iconic. Now, the question becomes, is the new logo so much better that people would remark that it represents Ontario that much better than before?

Probably not. There was never a need to rebrand the government logo. It is not a business firm that needs to stay 'current' and 'edgy' for brand recognition. The government will not collapse because of a lack of it, as much as people may want. The government is here to stay.

Now, as of right now, the government homepage still uses the old logo. I wonder how long it'll take them to revamp all the websites? How much chaos will that create?

What an idiotic idea. They need to repay us, and quick. Or at the very least, whoever approved the idea, have them take money out of their own pocket and put it back into government coffers.

The design firm won't return the government check for sure. But we sure as hell shouldn't have to pay for this nonsense.

CBC: we hardly knew ye.

The CBC's being killed slowly but surely.

It's being choked off from external and internal threats. They lose broadcasting bids for the Olympics and the Curling championships. They create a TV development division strictly devoted to Reality TV. Then, it released a fall line-up that consisted of mostly reality TV shows based on American and British concepts (Dragon's Den, The Underdog, etc.). It's going to simulcast an ABC American Idol rip-off at 10pm, bumping "the National" news program (the CBC anchor show) to a later time til the end of summer. And to top it off, a Senate report was just released calling for the CBC to drop professional sports programming and to eliminate advertising as revenue. Instead, it called for the CBC to be completely taxpayer-funded.
So, will the CBC become a Canadian PBS, showing no sports, but mainly news and current affairs (though, I can't see any Conservative government willing to pump more taxpayer dollars into the CBC)? Or will it become any other Canadian TV Channel, sans-public funding and fighting with the 800 million other networks on the dial, eventually to be bought out by one of the major media conglomerates? These seem to be the only two directions that people are advocating.

Either fate seems unfortunate for the venerable station that can now only reach every part of Canada through Hockey Night in Canada, all the while being forced to cut back on regional stations and programming because of a lack of revenue. Part of the blame goes to the Canadian viewer, who wouldn't know good programming if it bit them in the butt. Partly goes to CBC, who rarely attempts to back and promote dramatic programs for the long haul (Da Vinci's Inquest is the only recent example I can think of). When CTV shows more Canadian programming (Degrassi, the New Generation, Corner Gas, then the CBC (and kudos to them for doing so), you know something is wrong.

The next few years will be rough on the CBC. They'll have to work hard to justify its existence to the public. They can't rely solely on the National and HNIC to bring in the viewers. But hocking reality-schlock does the Canadian public no justice either. It's a chicken/egg conundrum when it comes to figuring out the lack of Canadian drama on TV and why people aren't watching them. I don't believe that we aren't interested in our own stories. If we're that faithless with ourselves, then the CBC should stick to just news and current affairs. Otherwise, it needs to take risks in people who are willing to tell our stories.

The CBC will change. I'm just hoping it'll change to something for the better.

Procrastination x Websurfing + Rube Goldberg = Blogpost!

Two videos of Rube Goldberg devices came to my attention today and they're such fun things to watch:

Presenting...Ramen!

and

In the Outdoors

A superstitious lot...literally.

Catering to superstitions will get you nowhere. An example.

I've just finished helping move my parents into a new condo in Markham. There are sixteen residential floors, except there are no fourth, thirteenth or fourteenth floor to be found. Why you ask? 13 is unlucky in the western world, but 4 and 14 are considered unlucky to the Chinese because the pronunciation of these two numbers sound very close to "death" and "certain death", respectively. And being in Markham, with a more predominant Chinese community pervading, Tridel decided to cater to their likely clients.

The punchline: 'removing' these floors from the elevator has left this condo into having 13 floors! You see, you just can't win when it comes to superstition. So don't bother trying.

Now, as long as this building wasn't constructed over the gates to Hell or something ala Buffy, we'll be fine.

Thesis Title

I'm in a bit of a funk right now, not getting any thesis done or anything productive, for that matter. Hell, I'm even having difficulty blogging! Not a good sign; I should see a doctor about this. On the other hand, PhD Comics continue to amuse me to no end. And just as I was "discussing" over the weekend with a friend about what her Master's report title should be, This day's strip popped up, only 3 days too late. Still, it does fit with what Matt and I have always believed report titles should look like:

Copyright Jorge Cham

It's a sure-fire formula for success! Ok, I promise. Next post will either tell the 3 readers I have that I'm out of my funk, or at the very least, be a post about something of actual interest.

I have an outline!

Copyright Jorge Cham
http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=715

This is, in effect, my life right now. I wonder if my advisor/spouse/parent would allow ME to get away with this?

The Do-Nothing approach: works every time.

I've given PM Harper the benefit of the doubt and even agreed with him on a few issues, not much, but a few.

But I'm once again exasperated at the mismanagement of the entire issue of climate change and the environment in general.

First, you appoint Rona Ambrose as minister of the Environment, who has little experience in the field, thinks that tapping maple sap for syrup "hurts trees", and doesn't seem all too excited about the portfolio in the first place.

But how could he top that? Why, by sending her to chair the next round of discussions on targets and mechanisms for the continual implementation of the Kyoto Protocols. Brilliant!! How hypocritical can we be? Let's find out.

First, to be fair, we did little under the Chretien and Martin government and as a result, our emissions increased a lot and there's probably no chance of us meeting our targets. So her solution: blame the previous government, ask the other delegates (who's actually trying to meet their required targets) to give Canada a free pass on missing our goals and ask for breaks for our industries. That's like telling my supervisor that I'm not going to graduate because I haven't finished my thesis, but let me get my degree and convocate anyways, and hey, why doesn't he help me fast track my accreditation? Simple, right?

How can Harper be more two-faced, you asked? Why, let me tell you. He's told the nation that he wants a "Made in Canada" approach to reducing climate change. And yet, we're somehow still committed to the Kyoto Protocols? How does that work? You can't have it both ways. You either commit Canada to Kyoto or back-off and face the consequences, nationally and internationally. Minister Ambrose also gives other half-hearted excuses, but Gwyn's more or less nailed them all.

It gets even better though. So, what was the "Made in Canada" approach that he favours?

"The Conservative ministers said all federal dollars for the environment will be spent in Canada to help the private sector take the lead in developing technology for such things as cleaner use of fossil fuels and renewable energy."

So if that's the case, why are the Conservative government cancelling a program (Energuide) aimed at helping homeowners get access to these technologies, thereby increasing demand and pushing the market towards green technology? And not just middle and high-income earners, they're canceling the program for low-income homeowners too, the people who probably benefit most from energy-efficient housing? So, what was their excuse? Why, let me share it with you, from the Toronto Star article:

The Conservatives say EnerGuide is being dropped because the cost of the audits was too high. Last year, audits in support of homeowners' energy renovation grants totalled $15.1 million out of the total $44.3 million cost of the program, Natural Resources officials said.

"We are going to ensure that every single Canadian taxpayer gets value for their money," Lunn said yesterday when asked in the Commons to justify the decision.

So, because audits require specialized professionals, it's expensive. If there were more demand for audits, we'd need more professionals, there'd be more competition between them, which lowers the price, etc, etc. Simple economics, right? But we need more people to buy-in, and as North Americans are usually slow on the uptake with respect to the environment, we tend to need a bit of carrot from the government. But how does Natural Resources Minister Lunn want us to get value for our money?

By taking the carrot home. Clearly, that's the best solution overall.

I can rant on and on but there's no point. No one listens, least of all the Conservative Government. I'd hate to say it. Maybe we need a nationwide blackout, coupled with massive freak storms and complete ecosystem collapses. Maybe that'll finally wake us up, I don't know. Because logic and reason doesn't seem to work anymore.

An actual mirage?!

No, this isn't a picture of a mist-covered city. It's actually a mirage of a city out in the open sea. This is actually Penglai City, in China's eastern Shandong province.

I didn't think mirages actually occur to the detail that this does. I mean, the only time I'd ever hear about mirages are in movies or TV shows when they're set in the desert or something. And even then, it's usually a mirage of a Dr. Pepper vending machine (...tip of the hat to Family Guy).

This though, is quite fascinating. Nature always finds a way to surprise.

CBC, hitting a new low.

As an ardent supporter of CBC Television and an occasional listener to CBC radio, I defend this public institution with vigour and verve when I can. I am proud that it distributes programs on TV like This is Wonderland, Twitch City, This Hour has 22 Minutes, Trudeau, Made in Canada and many others.

But when they decide to create an entire department devoted to adapting foreign reality-TV shows for Canadian production and distribution, and call it 'factual entertainment programming,' they're just giving me one more reason to never buy a TV again.

They promise not to pander to the lowest-common denominator by putting on shows like The Swan, but instead look to programs like Wife Swap (?!) to connect with Canadian communities?! Clearly, swapping a wife from Calgary with one from Toronto is going to help us understand our regional disparities? Why didn't I think of it? It's genius!

Bravo, CBC. I applaud your lack of creativity. Thank you for giving up on helping to create a better Canadian TV landscape by filling it with more mediocrity.

If I didn't know better, I'd say the idea to create this sort of department might have been some crazy scheme hatched from an Apprentice-type show. But I do know better, and this would be WAY too ironic for even my liking.

May Days

The term's over, summer's arriving, and it doesn't seem like I've much to show for it. It's been a strange year all around, but it's neither good nor bad, just strange. Much of my friends have already left for distant shores (well, cities, anyways) while others will soon be leaving (lookin' at you, Karen and Jenny) such that I will probably not see them as frequently as I used to this year ever again. Again, neither good nor bad, but it's nostalgic moments like this that I know I'm just procrastinating.

I've been meaning to post something critically but nothing's really stood out. A lot more urban and environmental issues seem to have come up as of late (at least in the Toronto Star anyhow), which while doesn't automatically create solutions, at least we're discussing and thinking about them. I've even started reading the Condo and Home section in the Star as of late because of pieces on LEED and environmental technology.

A re-awakening of Toronto?

I've been mulling over this post for a while now mainly because I hadn't given myself the impetus to write it. Oddly enough, my thoughts took shape during a job interview with a planner for the City of Toronto when he asked what the biggest problem Toronto was facing currently.

To me, it was that Toronto could be such a great city, and be better than what it is. It had such potential. But it was faced with a lot of problems: financial, politicial, perception, etc.

But that seems to be changing.

Things once talked about are finally taking shape. On the cultural front, The Royal Ontario Museum renovations are being completed. The Art Gallery of Ontario designs are being finalized, to name a few.

Regent Park is being revitalized, re-integrated back into the city fabric, de-segregating that community while perhaps building one of the few true "sustainable" communities (environmentally, socially, economically) in Canada. The West Don Lands project, talked about for so long, are finally starting to take shape.

Architects were invited to tour our waterfront on behalf of the Toronto Waterfront Revitalization Corporation to get an idea of the context for their designs. Bring Back the Don has been trying to repair the ecological damage wrought on it by the planning of its day for many years now. The environment has slowly, but finally been pushed further forward in our priorities.

Finally, apparently there have been buzz in the Toronto blogging circles about the Toronto Star's (whose Sunday section have been putting out very interesting articles lately) What If series, asking its writers how they envisioned Toronto in the future and asking its readers to put their ideas, any ideas, forward.

So it just seems that, the forces are finally coming together for the city, and people are finally excited about what Toronto MIGHT be, if we can keep the enthusiasm up.

Two fun links

http://oneredpaperclip.blogspot.com/

This has been floating from the web for a while but has finally reached mainstream. This man from Montreal started with a simple paper clip, and has slowly, but assuredly, bartered his way to more and more prominent things. His goal is the ownership of his own house. He can currently rent an apartment in Phoenix for free for one year. Now THAT's return on investment.

Piled Higher and Deeper: a grad student's comic strip

Where was THIS all my life? Just a humourous serial webcomic that every grad student should read.

24: HA HA HA HA

How is the US in the show 24 still standing with the type of people running it? No one trusts each other. Every other sentence coming out of their mouths are lies (which may explain the last part). Every level of government has their own secret agenda. Everyone double-crosses each other. Everyone's intelligence shifts 180 degrees in a few minutes (for example, when did Chloe learn to pickpocket in one instance but be dumb enough to not reroute her phone call if she's secretly helping Jack?).

How do the terrorists still LOSE when they've got better organizational skills then the US government?

Windows on Intel Macs?!

Let the conspiracy theories, teeth gnashing, and hair pulling begin!!!