Mayor Rob Ford

What has Ford ever accomplished? He sat on council a job that one could allege he inherited. Think what you will of John Tory, I like what he offers in general. So how do you digest that John Tory had to seek permission from Rob Fords mother to run for Mayor? Just think about that in Game of Thrones perspective.

GWB became president of the united states under much the same circumstance. Rob Ford was the worst candidate possible to do the dirty work of pushing back against the left and making the city accountable. So why was he run? Do you not feel like fools that the powers that be can run a guy like this and win?

Rob Ford is a very very rich person who likes to delve into dives. Despite this does not seem to be progressive in any way. If his suport does not evaporate over night I will tell you thats evidence that many people can not think independently. This guy has enough of a cloud around him that every one who wants good government should flee.

Global warming Wine

Demand is up, capacity is diminishing. Canada may be one of the few places in the world that can support a wine industry.

verisimilitude practitioners

verisimilitude practitioners are on the air
they are in your web
Spinning scary targeted half truths
directly into the bucolic lizard brain
verisimilitude practitioners are driving 
people insane
Once the truth was science
and science was the truth
and you had to be a scientist
to get a coveted spot in the truth booth
But now anyone with a great shoeshine
and smile can prevent Willie Loman's suicide 
with bionic guile 
make public policy drool and smile
for their partners over at
the golden mile

Choures repeat as needed

Sweet verisimilitude practitioners
you put to much sugar in my spice
Sweet verisimilitude practitioners
you are like excess porn
in a sweet married life
Sweet verisimilitude practitioners
I am going to cancel my cable
and live a natural life

People are confused
they do not know what to believe
the only thing they know for sure
is that every institution they ever trusted
has a whole division who 
does nothing but deceive

verisimilitude practitioners can argue 
it flat or round
and given the way the money flows
its the flat land for which
they mostly compose
their credible pieces with phony research
or a smear campaign that can besmirch
those with bulletproof research
If as a scientists they say
that's not the last word
on human natures search.
There is no truth
we hold so high
that can not 
be bettered
by the flow of histories
Immaculate eye

Pirate Party Travis

I just came across Travis McCRea's web site. He is one of the top official Pirate Party members in North America. I like their platform and this is the first time I have seen anything other than the flag. One huge omission is a call for proportional representation. I have written many times the reason Euros have such great government is because the government by the people for the people instead of by the special interests for the special interests. The only way to do this is to make sure the votes count. You can have run offs, graduated voting or what I think is the proven solution proportional representation. I think its best because on the party slate you can get good people in your caucus that might not want to face the voters directly. Look at all the incompetents that are the Minister of a portfolio in Canada, its shocking, stupid and handcuffs Canada's ability to compete with better run countries.

Platforms

Every nation is different in it’s culture and what works best for one country may not work for another country, and yet we should always learn and grow by taking the best part of all cultures and incorporating them into our own.

Two general platforms I have to make any government better are

• Advocate for all government agencies to use free, open source software to reduce government expenditures on purchases and overall maintenance of the computer networks
• Increase spending on rural communications projects bringing higher speeds of internet at an affordable rate to people in rural communities. The UN Charter of rights, in my opinion, declares high speed internet accessibility a human right. Every person on Earth should have affordable access to a high speed internet connection.

In the United States my main goals are to

• Eliminate the “Military Based Economy” which I refer to as the “Sticks and Stones” economy, and replace it with a science based economy which puts significant amounts of tax dollars into scientific research, development, and and engineering.
• Reform prisons and the legal system which allows more Americans per capita to be arrested than any developed nation in the world. This would include taking tips from nations which have far less crime and far lower reoffender rates such as Sweden and Norway.
• Work with other minor parties to enact meaningful election reform and ballot access, so that Americans can vote for a party that represents their desires vs electing two parties who have largely become the same.
• Improve social good by investing in programs which benefit all society. This includes transportation and healthcare.

and my Canadian specific platforms are to

• End any attempt to put U.S. “security” forces within Canadian borders and encourage Canadian Customs and Border Services Agency to be more open about their search / seizure practices.
• Join the IWC as an anti-whaling nation and let the rest of the world know that we will not tollerate facades of “research” mask commercial whaling.
• Implement an inexpensive internet forum and polling website where all ofVancouver Centre’s constituents can continue to make their voices heardin Ottawa after the federal election

I also promise to uphold the Pirate Parties platforms too:

• Copyright: Reinforce and protect fair dealing, decriminalize non-commercial file sharing, allow content creators to dedicate material to the public domain, and reform crown copyright to ensure open access to Canadians
• Patent: Reduce terms to 5 years, require a higher standard of originality, and reallocate funds saved in health care due to patent reform to public pharmaceutical research
• Privacy: Enforce the same privacy laws on electronic communication as the traditional postal service, strengthen the powers of Privacy Commissioner, and fight bills and regulation that violate Canadians’ right to personal privacy
• Net Neutrality: Reform the CRTC to prevent abuses, fund undersea cables to Europe and Asia rather than relying on American bandwidth, and ensure unfettered access to telecom infrastructure for independent service providers
• Open Government: Create a combined approach of proactive release of information to the public while easing access by request, expedite freedom of information requests and reduce costs by sharing information digitally, lower or eliminate the cost of filing of FOI requests, strengthen the PSIC, and establish an anonymous online dropbox system
• Whistleblowers & Free Press: Introduce legislation to protect journalists and whistleblowers
• Charter Rights: Stand up against violations of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, especially freedom of expression and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure

There will be no surprises though. If a topic doesn’t fall under those topics, then the decision will go to the will of the people in the riding. There is no point, in our age of technology, to vote for one party that thinks they have the answers to everything, people in different areas think differently and before there was no one party that could make the largest amount of people happy while also keeping true to its core values. I feel that in the future this is how all parties will be: A couple core platforms and then calling upon the voter to decide the rest.

25 Myths about the Flu Vaccine (shoot up dummies)

In addition it may prevent heart disease. The rest copied word for word from I09 And they copied it from RedWine and Apple Sauce.

Myth #1: The flu vaccine gives you the flu or makes you sick. (No, it doesn't.)

Myth #2: Flu vaccines contains dangerous ingredients, such as mercury, formaldehyde and antifreeze. (Not exactly, and the ingredients aren't dangerous.)

Myth #3: Pregnant women should not get the flu shot. (They should.) / The flu shot can cause miscarriages. (It doesn't.) / Pregnant should only get the preservative-free flu shot. (Nope.)

Myth #4: Flu vaccines can cause Alzheimer's disease. (They can't.)

Myth #5: Flu vaccines provide billions of dollars in profits for pharmaceutical companies. (Maybe, maybe not, but so what?)

Myth #6: Flu vaccines don't work. (Um, they do work.)

Myth #7: Flu vaccines don't work for children. (Again, they work.)

Myth #8: Flu vaccines make it easier for people to catch pneumonia or other infectious diseases. (No, they make it harder.)

Myth #9: Flu vaccines cause vascular or cardiovascular disorders. (No, they don't.)

Myth #10: Flu vaccines can break the "blood brain barrier" of young children and hurt their development. (No, they can't.)

Myth #11: Flu vaccines cause narcolepsy. (Not the seasonal flu vaccine, and not most others.)

Myth #12: The flu vaccine weakens your body's immune response. (It actually strengthens it.)

Myth #13: The flu vaccine causes nerve disorders such as Guillain Barre syndrome. (Not usually, and not as much as the flu does.)

Myth #14: The flu vaccine can cause neurological disorders. (No, it can't.)

Myth #15: Influenza isn't that bad. Or, people recover quickly from it. (Uh, it's pretty bad.)

Myth #16: People don't die from the flu unless they have another underlying condition already. (Actually, healthy people DO die from the flu.)

Myth #17: People with egg allergies cannot get the flu shot. It will kill them! (No, it won't, and there's an egg-free vaccine.)

Myth #18: If I get the flu, antibiotics will take care of me. (No, they can't.)

Myth #19: The flu shot doesn't work for me, personally, because last time I got it, I got the flu anyway. (It still reduces your risk.)

Myth #20: I never get the flu, so I don't need the shot. (You can see the future?)

Myth #21: I can protect myself from the flu by eating right and washing my hands regularly. (No, you can't.)

Myth #22: It's okay if I get the flu because it will make my immune system stronger. (Selfish, much? And no, it doesn't.)

Myth #23: Making a new vaccine each year only makes influenza strains stronger. (No, it doesn't.)

Myth #24: The side effects of the flu shot are worse than the flu. (No, they aren't.)

Myth #25: The flu vaccine causes Bell's palsy. (No, it doesn't.)

Furniture made from Airplane Scrap

I have seen pictures of Motoart unique creations for years and it was aboot time I documented it. The reception desk above is made from a 747 engine.  Go to LAX and see it in person, and you might as well fly there in a private jet, because that's the snack bracket for consumers of this furniture.

The six billion dollar Destroyer

Wow turning Science Fiction into real life sure is expensive. However this ship is the bomb. Unlike the littoral ships and the F35 the Zumwalt looks like the real deal. All the advanced features combined are not as mindblowing as a functioning rail gun.
H/T to Biz Insider (be sure to check out all 17 pics)

Driving Magnum PI's Ferarri

Loved that show and love this car. Over at Autoblog they drive it. One can no longer rent a 308 in Oahu. However late models are available for a grand a day.

Lego Minifigs

Who does not love Lego? So its no surprise the minifigs are a cultural totems.
H/T to Gizmodo

RIP Rock N Roll Animal Lou Reed

Lou Reed is one of those people nobody asks "what killed him?" Its more like what did not kill him in his 71 highly influential years. Reflecting today his greatest legacy may have been making being Gay socially acceptable to mainstream baby boomers. His only billboard hit "Walk on the Wild Side" climbed to  number 16 in 1973. It was a song unabashedly celebrating homosexuality and drug abuse.  A song incomparable to any other on the top 100 at that time. For example the top song was Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak tree, the seminal plastic ballad by Tony Orlando and Dawn. In a world dominated by pretty little love songs Lou illuminated a side of the world few had seen or could even imagine. I would never have called myself a Gay basher, but in 1972 the product of life in a very small town I would have had zero respect for Gays. My love of Lou Reed opened my eyes and changed my mind.
Listen to Rolling Stones top twenty picks here.
More great videos at Boing Boing
Twenty one more, they did not include I love you Suzanne which IMHO should have been a top twenty hit.
Dig the sound quality on NY Stars

NSA listens to World Leaders

Duh, looks like the world will be adopting the communications protocols of Al Queda. Go long on carrier pigeon or if you like GOT crows. Why spy on friendlies? Knowledge is power, knowing about an affair or other indiscretion, priceless leverage. Everyone is wondering just how deep is this well? For example is Stephen Harper being briefed on Justin Trudeau's communications. Or more probable due to Harper's bellicose towards Obama, is Trudeau being briefed on Harper's?

Saudis flex their oil muscles

Remember Bandar Bush. That jovial solid gold Rolex giving best friend of America. Well he is now royally pissed at the Obama administration. It has long been obvious that the Saudis and Israelis are best buds. For some strange reason Canada seems to be the only other country still hooked to these pair of strange bedfellows foreign policy. There is a lot of speculation that the saran gas attack in Syria was a false flag engineered by someones secret police.  Will we ever know the truth, based upon the results of the inquiry into the Kennedy assassination its doubtful. The fact is that the Assad regime had everything to lose from a gas attack and the rebels everything to win.

Al Queda was created in Saudi Arabia, the 911 hijacking was planned and carried out by Saudi citizens.  The Saudis are furious that the US will not be the Al Queda air force in Syria. They are also fuming that Obama has began detente with Iran. Saudi Arabia is a Sunni country, Iran is the most powerful Shiite country in the world. The Saudis are also ruthlessly fighting a Shiite uprising in Bahrain. A country that has Sunni royalty but a majority Shiite population. And it is home to the US 7th fleet. The Obama administration while not directly criticizing the heavy hand, is not turning the Bush administrations blind eye.

Essentially the Saudis are threatening to blow up the US reserve currency status if America does not fight Saudis battles. Owning the reserve currency has many advantages. Its estimated that it generates up to $100 Billion a year in revenues, it adds 10 to 15% to the exchange rate of US dollars, and most importantly it creates huge demand for US dollars that allow the treasury to print money without penalty.

For some artificial reason if you buy oil you must buy it in US dollars. Many have speculated that the main reason Iraq was invaded was Saddam's threat to trade oil directly without using US dollars. Now the Saudis are threatening the same thing. Obama has his nuts in a vice, this is going to be fascinating to watch moving forward. The US can not lose reserve status, if they cant borrow money the world economy goes boom. So either Saudi Arabia backs down or is invaded or Syria and Iran get liberated. Stay tuned.

The Senate Scandal

The senate scandal. Lets break it down in real time.

If you were a party hack or failed candidate or a high profile person

with what was considered enough juice to change a marginal plantation

you got a dream job. That is not to say that every Senator in their own partisan way was not working to make Canada a better place for the people to play.

That was the old school. You put in the hacks and paid your debts through a Senate position. Prior to Harper coming to power could the average  Canadian name a single Senator. Then Harper and his Republican consultants spotted a huge opportunity. Lets appoint media stars to the Senate, and they can ride on the expense account to electoral victory with no scrutiny. Senate appointments had always been a retirement home for hacks, what Harper did was energize the house by taking people at their apogee.

I am so glad it backfired, it makes me think that somehow someway the tricks the manipulator play will not win in the end. In fact the truth is our friend. Finding the truth nowadays is like being dropped into the Toyko subway system drunk and on acid.

The great thing about Canadian democracy is that we can experiment, the bad thing about Canadian democracy is that we have the first past the post system that really is a handcuff on democracy.

Van Morrison World

I am listening to Van Morrison as i type. Just stop for a second and listen to the magic. 

Could I live in a word ruled by van Morrison. Well how much worse could it be than the world that he said. Now that we are grown up democracy people do we not know that with leadership you have to take gregarious blows. Yes your going to laugh at the pols trying to bend reality to overcome circumstance  but the end result is that while you may work out religiously the power of government is going to be in your pants. In a world of psycho killers this should be some kind of romance. But the truth is really hard. For example did you know that in 1996 the most bad-ass citizen of the USA  predicted a jet airliner would be used as most asymmetric and non preventable bomb. Seems hard to believe none of the cowpeoples in the W administration had not had someone read it to them.

Hate is easy, understanding at the point of a gun is difficult. For anyone thinking killing people is a path to progress I ask you what about your tribe and how death effects you. Well I can tell you one truth that should really understand, its the worst thing we can experience in the mortal world. Those who can convince people to give up their life for some security  boogieman should be Zombie food. We live on plane earth. We have made this existence no different than living in a good neighborhood. Wake up Zombies we are heading into flesh eating days.

Suggested Sci Fi reading

Fifty five suggestions for those who still read.

We are all living in a myth, you can change the outcome

As Lenord Cohen brilliantly made into song, everybody knows. We all know that  the movie of our lives is filled with huge plot holes. Personal ones are trivial its the world that operates like a bad horror movie. Most people shrug their shoulders and worry about feeding. How did a couple of hundred people keep a million people under slavery, this is the real question no one is asking.

Its not a joke, so sign the petition if you like food.

http://action.sumofus.org/a/world-food-prize-monsanto-syngenta/11/2/?akid=2419.1515733.YSGMRH&rd=1&sub=fwd&t=1

Magic Cars

"They do not build cars like they used too"  During the 1970 and 80's that was a common refrain.  Planned obsolescence either by purpose or practice infected the auto industry. However we have come a long long way since then.

First vehicles are exponentially safer. Proving that size is only part of the safety equation.


Secondly for some brands rust is sleeping. In particular Honda, European Brands, and Toyota have virtually eliminated rust.

Third the power-plant has not only become essentially maintenance free, its power and efficiency have soared. While the Chey Volt pioneered a better hybrid, it may be Honda that reaps the rewards.

Fourth the creator comforts, HVAC, seats, and entertainment would have been considered Sci Fi  twenty years ago.

"Technology properly advanced is indistinguishable from magic." In 2013 every new vehicle has serious magic.

Meltdown not happening

I am a student of history, thus I have some perspective. If you ask me are we on the verge of a great collapse, I could answer nothing but yes. However we have so many reality distorting facilities in place that we should not worry. Understand that the world economic system is based upon fantasy. The only way our model could fail is for some body go rouge. So we will muddle through this, and in history it will be same old same old.

The Gas Plant Scandal

I wonder how much was incompetence and how much was corruption. Because when you spend a billion dollar the cracks are very absorbent and hard to detect.

As I understand it the liberal government made the brave decision to shut down coal. The conservatives would not have done this but I expect the NDP would have been all for. Coal is a cheap way to produce power, BTU per dollar its great. However everything else is bad, mercury pollution alone is reason enough to shut down these killers. Even if you can scrub the heavy metals its still a green house gas gasbag. There is another element to power that is never discussed. Ontario could buy all its power from green clean Manitoba or Quebec at a reasonable rate. Why not, I wonder why?
Nevertheless we are here today with a billion dollar bill. You cant really fault the government, the area was zoned for a power plant. If you look at a Map could there be a better place to put it? NIMBY reared its ugly head and it cost.
NIMBY is a force we must put in its place. Sometimes NIMBY loses when it should win. The airport train is a case in point. To many interests going after the same goal, and half of them pushing for failure.

Whats the solution, for Ontario its going back to Ontario Hydro, a stupid monolith that gave Ontario the best power prices in the world despite its elephant steps.

Girlfriend is better

If I was to think of something

something that should be said

I could count on forces

forces that we should dread

To say that I was misinformed

or in the worst case

dead.

Yep thats the world I live in

and if you live in a better place

friend me right now

I will take my backbackpack

remove the explosives from my fridge

leave my glocks in the garbage

and sit my skinning knife on the edge

Cause thats were I am after all the killing

and knowing only terrorists are dead.

I dream and think far away

I want six weeks vacation

and fourteen months pay

Is there any chance I could live

this way in a world dominated by the USA.

If the Chinese take over is there any chance

it will be better in any way.

An insders guide to the US shutdowon adn credit crisi

If you have not noticed because you are blissfully ignorant the US is the modern version of the Roman empire with less virgin births. Now the grind of funding is hitting home. Why drop a couple of trillion on the sands of Iraq and Afghanistan with little return except all the excellent health care the veterans receive at no cost.

I read the newspapers every day and today is a world I could never have imagined following the wisdom of those pulp paper prognosticators.  Terrorism is a gift to the losers in most equations. The USA should spend the GDP greater than most of the nations in the G20 on defending against men in caves is ridiculous.

Whatever outcome the masters of reality foresee, I think it will work out different. Best case in jail, most likely joining the innocents of the French Revolution,

Lisa Christensen gets the axe

Lisa Christensen was a straight shooter in an industry built on angles. She brought cold hearted facts to emotional listeners. Lisa had a radio show about car repair on Newstalk 1010. In a world occupied by first world problems, after our spouse, children and pets, for most our cars supersede our homes as our next love. Houses for the holli polli are a marriage of convenience, we can never love them because of all the flaws they exhibit daily. Rehabilitating a car is well within the reach of the majority. Lisa was a dynamite relationship consular guiding us through our anthropomorphism.

I have no way of knowing what the lack of thinking was behind the cancellation of her show after fifteen beloved years. Newstalk 1010 tends to operate like the Argentine government of the seventies, people just disappear with no explanation. Fantastically at Newstalk 1010 sometimes these Zombies reappear with great fanfare, 

The first to rise from the dead was Ted Woloshyn , a silver tongued but boring devil who was guest of honor for every Mike Harris event and could have carried enough conservative water to earn him a lifetime achievement for delivering toxic substances without indictment.

Now the brain trust under the control of Bell Media has decided we need the Motts in our lives. What are the Motts. No they are not a waterdowned drink of clammato. They are the perfect Harper couple spouting off defending emotion against best practices. Yes what they learned owning a horse farm can be universally applied. I think they only know about spreading manure.