Leaks!

It was one of those things when it comes to writing this blog; I had every intention of making comment on Naomi Klein's opening comments at Klimaforum09. Klimaforum09 is an alternative climate change forum for NGO's, protest movements and groups not associated with the status quo. Their purpose was to give a different way of looking at things. The preamble to their declaration stated:

There is a solution to climate change. What people and the planet need is a just and sustainable transition of our societies to a form that will deliver a more fertile planet and more fulfilling lives to future generations.

We, participating people and organisations at the Klimaforum09 in Copenhagen, call upon every concerned person, social movement, cultural, political, economic or other forms of organization to contribute to this necessary transition. It will not be an easy task. The climate challenge is indivisibly linked to other critical ecological problems as well as to complex social issues.

The tone adopted by Ms Klein was dismissive and devisive about COP15. She was even critical of Hopenhagen, which she dismissed as being corporate driven. She pointed out that a major sponsor was Coca-Cola, for example. She wanted unrest, such as happened in Seattle:

Down the road at the Bella Centre [where delegates are meeting] there is the worst case of disaster capitalism that we have ever witnessed. We know that what is being proposed in the Bella Centre doesn't even come close to the deal that is needed. We know the paltry emissions cuts that Obama has proposed; they're insulting. We're the ones who created this crisis... on the basic historical principle of polluters pays, we should pay

I was going to write, what's the matter Naomi, jealous that Hopenhagen has better schwag and tees then your summit has? I was going to say that climate change is bigger then any one group and whether she may like it or not, big business, multi-nationals have to be a part of the equation of the solution.

By the way I still do believe it, all sides must sit at the table as equals to discuss and bring about solutions that will bring down the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere and commence the cooling of the planet.
Then i read this headline:

Copenhagen climate summit in disarray after 'Danish text' leak

It seems a draft treaty for Copenhagen was leaked to the Guardian. The draft treaty, which was written ahead of the conference, because that the way these things operate, seems to be different then Kyoto in the idea of who should bear the brunt of it all. The document, which can be read here.

Developing nations are very angry over it since they are the ones to bear the responsibility for cutting carbon emissions. It's as if, should interpretations be correct that to sell it to the developed world, its being made not so bad. To quote the Guardian:

The document is also being interpreted by developing countries as setting unequal limits on per capita carbon emissions for developed and developing countries in 2050; meaning that people in rich countries would be permitted to emit nearly twice as much under the proposals.

In fact the numbers quoted for carbon emission is on the order of "Not allow poor countries to emit more than 1.44 tonnes of carbon per person by 2050, while allowing rich countries to emit 2.67 tonnes." I suppose the thinking goes along like this, geez it's not as if those poor people have anything that makes CO2 gas, I mean they just use wood for fuel, the walk everywhere and have barely subsistent agrilculture and work, so they don't need to use as much. I mean look at the West, we've got SUV and jets to travel around the world going to conferences such as this. We've got microwave ovens and home theatre, no one can expect us to GIVE that up. It would be cruel and inhumane.

If I can be a bit serious, the West has such a large carbon footprint that cutting back as dramatic still makes the reduced level at double the people in developing nations. Again, we've got SUV's, and they don't.

I wonder about a few things, is this one of those 'the ship of state is the only one the leaks from the top', is it a trial balloon and that the real document will seem so much better in comparison. Which is rather wrong, why not start with a decent draft rather then give a bad one so that the final crappy one will seem great in comparison.

Or

It could be a very concerned person who looked at the draft and realized it was so horrific it needed to be exposed to the light of day.

Will it mean Copenhagen is a failure? Or perhaps something good can happen, that the West now chasticed for trying to pull a fast one, will come to the table and really discuss the issue of global warming, climate change and reducing CO2 emissions.

By the way, one of the world's eminent scientist on global warming is hoping for a failure. He believes it the only way to save the planet.

Copenhagen, Climategate and the Meaning of Life

So they have gathered today in Copenhagen. Three thousand or so people from all the nations in the world have gathered at this lovely Danish City. The purpose is to bring about a clinate change treaty that will keep us from destroying our planet. By the way I went to the homepage and the site can house 15,000 delegates. That's a lot of officials, semi-officals, media hacks, flacks, bloggers, cranks, cynics, supporters, troublemakers, hangers on and all the sort that gather at these conferences.

This is not to say it's already a failure, in fact it has opened with a great deal of optimism. The welcome speech from the Danish Prime Minister declared:

The UN climate change conference opened Monday in an atmosphere of hope for a deal in Copenhagen within the next two weeks.

“A deal is within our reach,” the Danish Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen said in his opening speech, stressing that the talks will have to overcome deep distrust between rich and poor nations on how to share the burden of curbing emissions.

The presence of more than a hundred world leaders meant “an opportunity the world cannot afford to miss,” Lars Løkke Rasmussen said.

The purpose of all this is to deal with the issue of global warming and the levels of CO2 emissions that are viewed as the direct cause of climate change and global warming. This is articulated in the Committment Seciont of the UN Framework Commission on Climate Change:

Develop, periodically update, publish and make available to the Conference of
the Parties, in accordance with Article 12, national inventories of anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol,using comparable methodologies to be agreed upon by the Conference of the Parties;
(b) Formulate, implement, publish and regularly update national and, where
appropriate, regional programmes containing measures to mitigate climate change by
addressing anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, and measures to facilitate adequate adaptation to climate change;
(c) Promote and cooperate in the development, application and diffusion,
including transfer, of technologies, practices and processes that control, reduce or prevent anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol in all relevant sectors, including the energy, transport, industry, agriculture, forestry and waste management sectors;
(d) Promote sustainable management, and promote and cooperate in the conservation
and enhancement, as appropriate, of sinks and reservoirs of all greenhouse gases not controlledby the Montreal Protocol, including biomass, forests and oceans as well as other terrestrial,coastal and marine ecosystems;

In other words, it is by the use and in particular the burning of fossil fuels that has increased the level of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and thus raised the overall temperature of the planet. This is seen in the increase of storms, the moving north and south of deserts, of the disappearance of ice, in particular at the Arctic, where more open water is being observed and the fact it is getting later in year for it to ice over. There are shifts in migration of animals and the potential for flooding.

This led to the Kyoto Protocol which was the first great attempt to articulate and spell out exactly what the Convention meant in terms of decreasing CO2 emissions. The onus was to be paid by the developed world, since we were the ones pumping that stuff out. The developing world was to be basically left out, I know that is a gross simplification. Then again, we've been told how difficult it must be, so we reject the thought we can do anything about it.

Still, there are now websites, songs and videos calling for change:



This site in question deals with climate justice, which is defined as:

‘Climate Justice’ is urgently needed by today’s and tomorrow’s victims of climate change. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people in developing countries die because of climate change-related crises. Environmental disasters cost governments billions, so people suffer even more as economies are hit. Climate Justice is needed by those whose communities and economies are ruined by abnormal and increasing tropical storms, floods, droughts and crop failures. Climate Justice is needed by the world’s children, because it is they who will face greater catastrophes tomorrow if something isn't done soon.

Another group calls itself 350.org. The title comes from what is believed to be the upper limits of safe and acceptable CO2 presence in our atmosphere. That's parts per million, by the way. For most of history, the website declares, the level was at 276, now it's 387, which is in the unacceptable range. Listen the belief is not necessarily we'll wipe out human life along with everything else on the planet, it's just going to be very bad for a very long time unless we get our act together.

www.350.org" width="480" height="60" border="0" />


Copenhagen may represent an effort that will finally make a difference. What is needed is honesty and transparency by all members. I want to say, forget carbon credits, which is a mugs game, and say, let's honestly reduce CO2 emissions. I know there is concern that if we do get off the diet of fossil fuels it will end our comfortable lifestyles. But it might also foster new technologies and unleash new creative energies that will make a difference for the planet and for all members. Right now, the West has enjoyed the lions share when it comes to the benefits of carbon based lifestyle- the next lifestyle will need to include the underdeveloped and developing world.

I was going to say something about climategate, let's leave that for later.

Twitter, the Word of the Year

Alright, as it is that time of year when people, places, things, news outlets, those that are into this sort of thing, announce the (blank) of the year. CNN, for example has the "Heros of the Year", Time Magazine has the "Person of the Year" and People Magazine has the "Sexiest Man/Woman of the Year". All these are something that people who want to write about this sort of thing.

At the end of November, the Global Language Monitor announced the most popular words of 2009 and I suppose to no ones surprise, although as I look at the other words, it can be considered a bit of a surprise, the top word is "Twitter". This organization monitors the use of the English language on the Internet, through news media, so it gains an understanding what words are popular. After all the carefull analysis, the people behind have decided to declare Twitter, the famous 140 character microblog as the word of the year, or the most popular.

I've been thinking about it and in one way, 2009 may be the year Twitter came to an age, I suppose. There seems to be one event, or a series of events that brings about and propels something to the front. One has to go back and consider that the First Gulf War was the event that brought CNN to the forefront. After that war, it became one of the most important sources of instanteous round the clock news. So with Twitter, I suppose it has to do with the events in Tehran, following the disputed Presidential Elections. By going on Twitter, one could follow what was happening. As the young people of Tehran protested, they Tweeted. They sent off messages about what was happening to them, what they were witnessing, all in 140 characters or less. I know some would argue the arrest of the dissident in Egypt may be the first real twitter event. As well, one of the eyewitnesses of the crash landing into the Hudson River of US Airways, posted his photographs on Twitter.

I was reading an article in The Huffington Post, regarding the announcement. One of the most interesting comments, and this might explain why Twitter has stayed around, perhaps not as popular as Facebook, but has maintained a presence is this:

Twitter has gone in the way of YouTube. At first, people thought YouTube was silly and weird; they didn't know how to YouTube and what a YouTube channel was. Now YouTube is synonymous, the industry standard, for online video -- for everyday people to watch, upload and share videos," Scott Goodstein, the text messaging expert who ran Obama's social networking presence during the campaign, told me. "Twitter is going through the same process. Twitter has become synonymous with quick, short opinion and perspective -- coming from anyone, going everywhere."

Which is true; Twitter has gone from the ubiquitous "I'm sitting in my beanbag chair, eating popcorn", to a source of news and information. After all, if I want to know what is happening, all I need to do is look at the popular topics on the front page. A lot of it might be driven by the day or popular culture, just consider how last week #TigerWoods was right up there, or at times you can see Lady Gaga, but every so often something comes along and makes it interesting to follow. Or one can put in a search and discover what others are saying about a topic of interest to you. For example, today I typed in "Climategate" and one of the responses was:

h8groupthink @cnni If ur not going 2 cover this scandal thoroughly ur aren't legit journalists http://tinyurl.com/y92eues #climategate science scandal

By the way, using that quote does not mean I adhere to the thought that Climate Change is not real.

Personally , I think I'm beginning to get Twitter. I didn't at first, I thought it was a waste of time and just another way to get more spam in my life. When I had my first account I signed up to 'get' more followers, big mistake. In fact may I suggest that you never do that, all you will get is people pushing their business plans. Like I said more spam in my life. There have been a few articles complaining about twitter spam. On the other side, one person asked the question, is it spam or good marketing? AS with all new topics, Twitter has unleashed onto us a plethora of books filled with everything from How To Twitter, to using twitter as a business and marketing tool.

Of course the irony of all these marketing books, is Twitter has yet to make money. It may be worth a lot, on paper, its value may be high, but is anyone getting a decent salary from it? Then again, perhaps the founders don't need the money. Who knows.

It has inspired a lot of people to create a lot of ways of connecting with, looking at, following twitter. Right now on my computer and on my Ipod Touch is TweekDeck, a stand alone twitter reader and poster that flashes up messages of those I follow. It's handy and makes it possible to follow, and occassionally post, while not having to stare at it all the time I'm on the computer. As well, as an app it's very handy. Of course there are a lot of apps that have to deal with twitter available on the iphone and iPod Touch.

As i have mentioned about photography, there's a number of ways of posting pictures to twitter. either directly or through agents such as Twitpic, Pikchur or Tweetphoto. There's a lot more.

This being the holiday season, I can't close anything about twitter without mentioning this, you can give the gift of a book containing your tweets. Yes, the company Tweetbookz will publish a book containing your tweets. You heard me right. It is the gift that will surprise and induce hours of joy as family and friends pour over your 140 characters. It is the gift that all will remember and probably question what sort of ridiculous shallow self-centred so and so you truly are. Would I get anyoone this gift, I'm not going to say. The concept has been reviewed, even by Wired.com.

So congratulations Twitter. May your failwhales be rare and your success grow.

Follow me on Twitter

Canada's Game, Canada's Team

After an amazing Grey Cup game, what else could I blog about but the Game. It's not going to be long, since you've been reading and watching the news stories about how the game went. No doubt if I read the papers in Saskatchewan, there would be the weeping and gnashing of teeth and questions on the strategy of putting 13 players onto the field, when only 12 are required at any one time. While a nice thought, it is clearly against the rules of football. Perhaps with the longer and wider field someone on the Saskatchewan side line thought it may be a good rule and good experiment. May I suggeset that it be brought up at the next rules committee meeting and not tried near the very last play of the game.

I discovered in the study that this game ranks as one of the most popular games ever played on television. It appears the Grey Cup was viewed by more Canadians then any game. Not bad for a league that was supposedly dead and all about buried. Those who can remember may recall the great expansion experiment of the CFL. While many thought it was a horrible idea, and I write this recalling that I do know where my Shreveport Pirates' hat is, it did give some benefits to the League. By the way, if you can remember the Shreveport Pirates, you are a true fan of the game. Quickly two of the best results of the expansion were at the Grey Cup game this year, one is the Montreal Alouettes, again history lesson, Montreal did not have a team for about ten years, not until 1996 when the Baltimore Stallions relocated north to the City of Montreal. Ten years before that, the Concordes collasped and Montreal was without a team.

The second benefit was the Montreal Quarterback, Anthony Calvillo, winner of now two Grey Cups was a member of the Las Vegas Posse. Although likely, as I read the history, I doubt he is mentioning that fact to a lot of people. When he makes it into the Hall of Fame, I think we shall see a lot more about his record with Montreal then with Las Vegas.

So the League has enjoyed some results from the American expansion. But this is not a history lesson, but to simply say, it was an enjoyable game albeit weird, but then again what do we expect from the CFL?

Some are saying Montreal did not so much win, as Saskatchewan lost. After all they complain, how does a team hold the lead for 59 minutes, 59 seconds and then lose on a defensive penalty. To all of them let me say this, the Montreal Alouettes are the champions because they managed to overcome their sloppy play in the first half. After the first half, there was no way Montreal should have been anywhere near winning the game on anything. They were down by 14 points and looked bad in all departments of the game, offense, defence and even special teams, they looked horrid. I mean how do you punt the football 7 yards? Saskatchewan on the other hand, had the game under control, they were shutting down the high power Alouettes, they made AC look human, in other words, it was all working.

Then Saskatchewan forgot the first rule of professional sports, when you have the opponents down on the ground, you never let them get back up. Montreal went into the half looking bad but they must have looked inside themselves and remembered all those feeling from last year, how bad it felt to lose like they did, even though they were the best team in the League. They got themselves back into a game that by the standards of the first half they had no right to be back.



Then the moment forever seared into the collective memory of a Province; Damon Duval attempted the game winning field goal. His attempted sailed far right and it was game over, let the celebration begin with RiderNation going nuts, but hold it, what are all those orange cloths on the field? A few of the on field officials did a quick count and discovered one more person in Green then the rules require, thus the penalty. The result, ten yards closer and the field goal. Cue the proper celebration, cue the Red, White and Blue confetti, cue a whole province now on suicide watch.

Quirky? Of course, what can you expect from a Grey Cup game? Just one more reason why the CFL is loved in this household.

Hopefully next year it will be a Hamilton Tiger-Cat, BC Lions Grey Cup Final.

South of South Colbourne Street

The Big News for Brantford is the south side of Colbourne Street is to be razed and a new development is slated. It is to included buildings for the University, both Laurier Brantford and Nipissing, a new and expanded Y, plus perhaps, Mohawk College. The latter is something, since the college just bought the Expositor Building and they are developing an urban studies program. Apparently the hope is this faculty will study the development of the core of Brantford, so the re development will form a very living laboratory.

Today I was driving past the area and noticed some interesting things on the back of the buildings.



It appears someone decided to grow a garden and wanted all who drove or walked past to realize this fact. For an area devoid of life, it has something interesting that should be preserved, perhaps not structurally, because some of the buildings are quite bad, but through photographs and writings.

One can also make out the ghost of businesses of the past, the building to the right was the "Grand River Canoes". Sadly the business only exists as ghost writing and when this building comes down, it will cease to be, not even in memory.

What is amazing, is the drop between the front of the buildings on Colbourne and the back, it's amazing these were built but they were, and the builders took full advantage of the difference:



It will be something to discover if they will fill the height and make it viable, especially in this section of the road.

Still, the back is worth recording and keeps it record alive.

The Internet? A Human Right?

The Times of London had an interesting article early this month, it was entitled "Is Internet Access now a human right?". The reason for the article is the fact that England is attempting to deal with internet piracy by threatening to cut off access to the Internet over those who are chronic abusers of piracy. Again, it's all about piracy, the government over there wants to ensure that people who download the latest whatever, music, movie, ebook, application, will never be allowed on the Internet ever again.

It's nothing the average ISP ( Internet Service Provider) want to be put in over there, it means they are effectively snitches for the music and movie industry. They are the spy on what each and every one of their consumers are doing at any one time. This was tried in France. The government attempted to enact a "three strikes and out" law in which scofflaws who abuse internet piracy would lose the right to access for the rest of their lives. The High Court struck it down, by the way. The Court ruled such a restriction is a violation of human rights, which is good for them. The rest of the EU however does not share this same view, an article Business Week declared that Europe was giving up on declaring Internet access a human right.

Much of this is being spurred on by the negotiations for the Anti-Counterfeit Trade Agreement, a new treaty to deal with international counterfeiting. Now when you think of counterfeiting, you may think of a group printing phony money, or a sweatshop some place knocking off a bunch of purses or shirts all bearing some brand name, or even Rolex watches. Certainly we can understand the need for rules to watch and control that, much of what is conterfeit is cheap, awful and potentially dangerous. However many have pointed out this treaty has more to do with intellectual property, rather then classic counterfeiting. In fact some have wondered if this is an anti-counterfeiting treaty, or a copyright treaty.

One of the problems with this treaty and there are a lot, is the fact it is being negotiated in secrecy. A document from the European Commission for Trade has this comment at the end:

As agreed among ACTA participatns, the negotiating papers are not public documents and therefore should be treated with reserve.

This is the Internet however, and nothing can remain a secret very long, can it? One of the leading proponents for Internet freedom, Dr. Michael Geist has almost been single-handed in his exposure of this travesty. His one article examines the chapters dealing with the Internet and it's not pretty. Many believe that acceptance of this treaty will lead to the establishment of a global 'three strikes and you're out' policy. The treaty contains information on protecting ISP from lawsuits when they act as agents of the State. As well, it will mean border guards will have the right to seize things such as mp3 players and laptops they believe contain pirated material. Now how these people will be able to discern downloaded from ripped is beyond me, I wonder if you ever have to cross an international border and have your ipod, you better bring all the cd's that have the music on it, otherwise you may be saying bye-bye to your player. I suspect this may happen the closer we come to a major holiday. What better way to get gifts for your loved one then seizing them at the border.

Truly the more you read about this treaty, the nastier it comes. Boing Boing has this article.

I've got more to say about this in an upcoming blog.

Smile for the Pikchur

Okay, you like social networks, I like social networks. You have signed up for a bunch of them, I've signed up for a bunch of them. You like to take and post photographs from your camera, cellphone, (some) mp3 players, I like to take and post photographs from my camera and cellphone. Especially of Isabelle, she is so cute.

You got your twitter, brightkite, facebook, plurk and whatever else is out there, accounts and you want to post pictures. I suppose you could go to everyone of them and post the photographs individually. That's one idea, oh I forgot, there's also posterous. Yes it's possible to simply post each photograph to each site individually- I'm sure that will take a great deal of time.

Or-

you can use a site such as Pikchur. Pikchur is a place where you can post your photographs and videos to all those sites. It happens in an instance too, upload the picture to pikchur and all the sites you've set up with get them as well. It happens quite fast as well. It is very simple to use, simply sign up for an account, add other accounts and start uploading. I've been using pikchur since March 2009 and it is a great site. As I said, uploading is easy and the fact it posts over a variety of sites and platforms adds to the experience. As with all social networks, you can follow and have others follow you. The great part about being able to post is that you allow more people to view your artwork.

Like a number of sites, it offers an upgrade to a pro package. For a reasonable sum and I paid $11.95 US for the pro upgrade you can read all about it here. It's great to have the statistics and gain an idea where people are coming from to view your photographs. As well, the phtograph is kept at its original size, while scaled for viewing on the main page, you can click and get the full size when you want. On top of it, you get to have 'pro' on your avatar. I mean how can you beat that, I don't think you can.

Other features I like is that you can decide which photograph to make public or private and you can include information as to where the photo was taken, so there is a bit of geocaching when it comes to pictures. You can upload on the computer, cellphone, iphone, practically anywhere you want. So while simple and straightforward, it does have a number of useful features for you to use and enjoy.

For the money, it is a great service. I do recommend it to you if you enjoy taking and sharing you pictures. It's one of the nice features of social networking isn't it, not only do I get to know what beanbag chair you're sitting in, I can see it because you've probably taken a picture of it on your cellphone.

I should also point out that the founders are pretty friendly guys.

so Pikchur, simple, straightforward and a boon to all us photographers who are also social network junkies.

You can follow me at pikchur.com/people/Paulthe. I can use the followers.

Dead Aid: A Review

A good book is not necessarily one you agree with, but one that makes you think and presents idea which, although perhaps contradicts your personal views causes you to evaluate, re-evaluate and generally consider the ideas brought forth by the author. If the author seems to be writing against convention, so much the better.

The book "Dead Aid: Why Aid is not working and How there is a better way for Africa" considers the subject of the abject poverty of the African continent and asks the question that doesn't seemed to be ask, why hasn't things improved? The author Dr. Dambisa Moyo has written what has to be a scathing review of the "Aid Business" and points out the flaws of funneling over 1 Trillion Dollars in aid over the past 50 years.

She is not an armchair quarterback, she was born in Zambia and although a great deal of her education has taken place off the continent, she does not forget where she has come from, she is an African who desires to bring her continent out of the mire of poverty and into prosperity. I should point out that she has garnered as much criticism as she has praise. Some have gone so far to point out the irony of her criticism when in fact, they say, her education has put her in the catagory of enjoying aid. To be fair, this is rather unfair, in that she has only enjoyed what many others from other nations have been able to take hold of, and that is scholarships. It has opened her eyes to a broader way of looking at life and with her degrees in economics, she has been able to bring this teaching to the question of aid.

So what is wrong with aid? That is the start of the book. There are three points to her thesis
1) it leads to a dependency of aid
2) it stifles growth of industry, business and entrepreneurship
3) it leads to corruption.

The last point is one that has gripped the continent of Africa, we are all aware of the stories of dictators pocketing huge sums of money that were supposed to be used to feed the people. Or the stories of only the people belonging to the leaders tribe being able to enjoy the aid, while the rest of the nation starves. She lists the main culprits and how they enjoyed the spoils of aid.

Perhaps the middle point is one that gets forgetting, Dr. Moyo tells the story of a man who developed a business of making mosquito nettings. For nations that deal with the scrourge of malaria, this is vital. His business employed some 15 others and Dr. Moyo reckoned 150 people were dependent upon this business for their livelihood. While it was a challenge to keep up to the demand, it was still a thriving business. It was going well, until some celebrity decided to make mosquito netting a major cause and began to fund raise for the netting. The appeal was a success and the nation benefitted from thousands of mosquito nets being brought into the country. However, with all these free nets, the business quickly went under. The owner had to lay off his entire staff and close shop. The result was, in the short run, netting for all, but they began to tear and quickly became ineffective. The long term was an rather successful business was closed. While this is one example, it could be repeated over and over in Africa. Just one has to consider the effect of sending our used clothes to Africa has dismantled the local garment industry, again, how does the local business compete against free.

To Dr. Moyo the aid has not helped, she points out that at one points there were nations in Africa that had better GNP then China or India, but that is no more, as those nations expanded, African nations either stagnated or retreated. The problem with aid is that it does stifle development, why develop she suggests, when all you have to do is bank the cheques.

There is an interesting video of her on youtube:


The title of her book, no doubt is a direct criticism of the famous Live Aid concerts of the mid 80s which started the golden age of aid giving to Africa. Although to be fair, Live Aid was about getting people food, not an unending supply of aid.

So she opposes aid, the question then needs to be asked, what can replace aid. She gives three major suggestions.

1) establishment of a bonds market
2) China
3) the concept of microbanking and microloans.

A brief word on all three. Instead of aid, African nations need to raise funds for development by floating bonds. That is, borrow money at rates of return and interest that would be establish by the bond markets. To her way of thinking, this would put the nations on the road of development because they would use such funds for infrastructure renewal and growth as well as modernizing industry and the economies of the nation. She points out that such a market would ensure no corruption, since if the money is squandered then the next time the nation tries to float a bond, it would be severerly punished by the bonds market by its rating and the fact no one will invest. So investment is part of the key. She points out the natural wealth of resources possessed by many African nations.

The second point has to do with the huge investment China has given to Africa over the years. There has been some criticism, especially Chinese development in Sudan, which some has said has led to the disaster of Darfur. To prove the size of the investment China is making into the infrastructure and industry, she tells a story of a man who rode a motorcycle to South Africa. What impressed the man was the fact he was able to ride on paved roads, not the dirt ones only that he had thought. Often he saw signs speaking of the assistance given by China for the building of the road. If you google Chinese Aid to Africa, you will have many hits and a lot of them ask the question is Chinese aid good or bad for Africa. One article from the BBC discusses the growth of aid from China and how there are drawbacks, in that Chinese aid some times have no strings to it, so it too can be used for corruption, although with the Chinese acumen for business and investment it is unlikely they would tolerate abuse of their aid for very long.

The third is one that excites many people, microbanking is growing. Since its inception in Bangladesh and the development of the Grameen Bank has brought dignity and lifted many from the grip of poverty. These loans are small ones that encourage people to invest in industry, buying a sewing machine, farming, buying a few goats and making money. It has been a boon to many, receiving loans when conventional banks would not even consider.

These to Dr. Moyo are the tools to a growing Africa, one in which people are no longer imprisoned by poverty but are building a brighter future for themselves and their nation.

The question of course, is she right. I noticed in the interview above she talked about the aid industry and the fact that the problem is not all aid, but the wrong type of aid. I suspect aid that has built schools and established health clinics would be considered the right aid to her, since they have been helpful in helping lives and educating the youth of Africa. She also encourages the nations of Africa to begin to ween themselves off aid, but lowering it, not taking as much and not making it such an important part of the economy. So not all aid is bad, it just too much of it, can be very bad.

Does that mean we stop writing cheques to charities that support aid and relief efforts to African nations. Probably not, but perhaps a more careful consideration as to the type of aid is what is needed.

I suggest looking for this book and reading it.

Getting Funky with befunky

If you go to my facebook page, or twitter, or pikchur, you will notice I enjoy taking photographs. When I got a new cellphone, I wanted something that could take photographs and videos, like people want to know how their cellphone is to make and receive phone calls, my that is so 1990's. When the family camera died, I wanted to make sure the next camera was an improvement.

I enjoy taking pictures.

One aspect that has been a major plus for all of us who take photographs is the availability of places to store our photos and also to edit our photographs. In fact last year, PCMag had an article on the various free online editing sites there are out there for the budding photographs. I encourage you to read it and use some of the sites listed, there's a number of very good ones. I prefer Picnik myself and have used it a number of times. You may go over the article and find a different one, and so be it, more power to you.

All the sites have a basic, read free, site and then they offer the premium sites, usually with more services, no ads and better resolution of the end results. Also if you get the premium service, you get tools that are not offered in the basic. Flickr offers such a thing, Picnik and Pikchur all make it possible to enhance your experience at a relatively reasonable yearly cost. I understand, for example, Flickr allows you to upload and store more photographs for $24.95 a year.

One site that I've used a few times is BeFunky. It's different in that it allows you to take your photograph and do some very interesting things with it. The header in the homepage states you can turn your digital photographs into 'works of art'. It is actually very good and you can do some fascinating things with regular pictures:





So quite impressive when it comes to the effects. I noted they even have an app on Facebook. You've perhaps seen the notices for 'cartoonizer'. That's BeFunky in action. If it's an app on Facebook, it is probably bringing in the dough.

It's a fairly recent company but it sounds like it has a good workplan for growth and expansion.

The site is clean and fairly user friendly. To make the necessary changes is also straightforward, although you might find the choices a bit overwhelming. The claim is 125 different special effects, so there is truly accounting for all sorts of taste. The work can be saved to a gallery, saved to the hard drive, emailed, shared and printed. You can also take your work and turn it into mugs, t shirts, stickers, magnets, post cards and postage stamps, USA only.

The company wants you to take out a befunky plus membership. It is a premium that offers first and foremost, the removal of the watermark, plus things such as better resolution and the ability to upload more photographs. It sounds like a great deal, but I've got to admit I do have one slight problem and I think if they change this, it would be an even better site.

The problem is the amount, befunky wants $50.00. It does mean no more of those annoying announcements and the slowing down of the work, but I wonder if the price is a bit much. As I pointed out, most other services offer premium grade for $25.00. I think this is probably the sweet spot for most of us. Fifty seems a bit much, but for half that I suspect they would get a lot more people. If they halved their costs I think I would look at it as an option.

It's something for them to think about.

Still, it worth considering as a service to enjoy.

Re-Discovering Star Trek

It is interesting to have watched a show and then stop for a few years only to pick up watching again. This has happened to me with Star Trek:The Next Generation. You may wonder if a geek such as myself could have ever stopped watching Star Trek, after all I did watch the JJ Abrams movie, and found simply the greatest. I don't know if I would say it's the greatest Star Trek movie, but certainly it is one of the best ones and did an incredible job re-starting the franchise. Let's face it, Star Trek Nemesis was basically a bust and besides it was all dark and dingy. The new movie had that new starship smell to it, it was bright, shiny and totally new.

By the way, the movie is coming to DVD on the 17th of November, start saving those pennies.

So, what about the Next Gen? It was an amazing series when you get right down to it. I've watched two episodes, the first being: "I, Borg" and the second "Inner Light". Both are amazing in they look at themes and ideas, which was one of the hallmarks of the franchise, Gene Roddenberry believed in concepts and ideas, and he expressed some very controversial topics through the Starship Enterprise.

The first episode considered the idea of individuality and how that may be the greatest weapon against the hive mentality. The crewmembers, just in case you don't know, come to the scene of a wrecked Borg vessel, most of the crew is dead but they rescue one, a rather younger Borg. They at first want to use him as a weapon by introducing a virus into his central processing unit. The hope is to infect the entire collective and thus destroy the Borg. Since the Federation is at war with the Borg, it makes for a good tactical plan. However, through encountering the crew, the Borg begins to develop a personality and an individuality, apart from the Collective. He learns that resistence is not always useless and there is something more.

Another Borg vessel is spotted and Hugh, as he is now called, is returned to the crash site, he is assimilated back to the crew, but just before, he looks at Geordi. The result of his encounter is played out in another episode.

The second episode is "The Inner Light". To be honest there are not enough superlatives for this episode. It is considered one of the highest rated of all the episodes of all the series. It won a Hugo Award, the highest award in science fiction. the Enterprise comes across a probe which sends a signal to Picard, he ends up fainting into a coma. In the coma he lives the life of a citizen of a planet that launched the probe. He becomes part of the society, raises a family and realizes the planet is dying. The members of the planet wanted to live, not by leaving their world, but becmoing part of Picard's memory. In the probe there is a flute, which Picard plays. To many the theme is remarkable and strikes a chord with many viewers.

As I said, it's amazing how great the writing and acting was in the series. Was every episode good? No of course not, there were some serious clunkers, but so what you take the good with the bad.

I'm planning to continue to watch and enjoy.

Live Long and Prosper

The Hadron Collider and Time

The news is saying that the Large Hadron Collider is going to be fired up. This after a number of what can only be described as 'epic fails'. It is ready to discovered the mysteries of the universe, or something like that, it's not going to cause a black hole and suck our planet into it and destroy all life. That's the good news, at least we think so.



However there is something odd going on with the devise. A number of newspaper articles have been reporting that there's something wrong and it may have to do with the fact the Collider is successful. Right now the Collider is going to search for the Higgs Boson, also known as the "God Particle". This particle is the elemental building block of all creation.

It is this search that may be the cause of all of the Hadron Colliders problems. Two scientists, Dr Holger Bech Nielsen and Dr Masao Ninomiya have written a paper entitled: "Test of Effect in Large Hadron Collider: A Proposal". In this article, the authors state that either nature or God hate the very thought of the Higgs Boson, that the very creation, which will take place in the future, causes a ripple in the time-space continuum so that it returns to the machine that made it to destroy it. The ripple tears through the fabric of creation to eliminate such a monstrosity from happening. It is odd to consider that it has been beset with some rather odd bad luck, such as that magnet overheating and failing, or the fact that one of the people involved has been recently arrested for terrorism.

The question must now be directed to the thought, what would happen if a Higgs Boson was created in its purest form in the labratory, would it bring about the end of the world, open a portal to another dimension, wipe out life and start over, or be the trigger which opens the Earth to invasion by others.

Another theory, which is being popularized is the fact the Collider is being sabotaged by time travelers. They are returning to destroy the Collider because they have lived through the creation of Higgs Boson. The two things will be the creation of time travel and the second is, something nefarious. Something that would make two brave time travelers through the centuries to bring about the end of their enslavement. If successful, the Higgs Boson will not come into being and it will be the Earth shall be saved. Of course, it will mean the end of Time Travel and thus the two who returned will be blotted out because they can't travel in something that hasn't been created.

If you don't believe me, then perhaps you should read the essay in the New York Times.

You know, people will watch very lame 'horror' movies and miss the real horror, the creation of the Higgs Boson. Those sad people will lay their heads on their pillow tonight, oblivious of the great struggle taking place throughout time, to keep them safe.

Makes one think.

A Night in the Vinyl Cafe

This past Friday, I had the pleasure of going to the Sanderson Centre here in Brantford to watch Stuart McLean and his traveling Vinyl Cafe show.

The Vinyl Cafe is one of those gems that gets produced by CBC Radio. While it might be said that CBC TV is dismissed as a wasteland of bad Canadian programming and a hotbed of anti- Conservatives and Separtists, the Radio is the crown jewel of Canadian Culture. If there is a glue that keeps this nation together it is the CBC and through programs

The Vinyl Cafe, if you follow the link, is a show that centres around the life of Dave and Morley. Dave owns a record stored with the name of the show, which is considered the smallest record store in the world, area.

The show was a delight, the Sanderson was filled with fans and the show, which lasted around two hours, with a intermission, featured stories and music. The music was provided by three travelling musicians who offered songs of the land.

With the music and stories, Stuart also shared some of his life. He gave the background of his parents and something of his growing up years. Then he told of his trip from Montreal to Toronto where he started work as a producer with a new radio show that didn't even have a name. Eventually they decided on the name 'Morningside' and after a few years, a man by the name Peter Gzowski, from that point the rest, as they say, became history. He worked close with Peter, even having his own segment each week and later developed the Vinyl Cafe as a series of stories as well as a summer replacement.

After the show, Stuart McLean came out and signed autographs. Part of the show featured the new CD and one of the Vinyl Cafe books, "Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe". Here are a few photographs of that time:







A number of the fans stayed and chatted with Stuart. I got to thank him for his work on Morningside, telling him that although I lived in a number of places in Canada, it was Morningside that was the constant of my life. His stories as well as the stories and interviews of Peter Gzowski, kept me in touch with Canada. For that I truly thank him.

The Colors of Autumn

Last year I spent most of the autumn in the hospital, so this year I am making the effort to get out and enjoy the season. This afternoon, I took my camera and walked around the neighbourhood.

There are some of the pictures I took today:








It was a great day for photographs, as you can see. The sun was shining and for the most part the sky was blue. I don't know how many more of these sorts of weekend we'll have, so it was a case of making the best of it.

Blog Action Day 2009- Climate Change

I've been around a few years, I've heard about global cooling and global warming. I know detractors of climate change will always bring up the fact that 'we've had dire warnings in the past...'.

If you're an environmentalist, you may feel that you are nothing but a Chicken Little type, always warning that the sky is falling and getting no results. It's easy, if you are such a person to dismiss everything with a swish of the wrist and mock the latest findings of scientist as more of the same old, same old.

Today, bloggers around the world have united with the same theme and that is to bring attention to climate change. Whether we like it or not, things are changing. But perhaps a bit more information. I'm not a scientist, nor do I have a degree in any biology or meterology, but I do know this- things are different. Just consider all the seasons, they seem to either start later or arrive earlier. Now I know within any given time, things like the arrival of spring can change by a few degrees now and then. Or a winter can be harsh or mild, just like summer can be wet or hot and dry. There are variables, and that is a given. But have you noticed how the variables are always changing. It's as if we're heading for extremes, and this may be the proof of climate change- if a summer is going to be hot, it will be a scorcher-breaking all records and becoming unbearable. We've had hot summers, but how about summers that are so hot you simply can't enjoy them at all.

As for winters, yes we can have the occassional green Christmas and then the next week record snow dumps are recorded. That's it isn't it. Records that have lasted 50+ years are being broken. It's almost as if we should expect unsettling weather to be the norm. Then there is spring and fall, they are almost forgotten now, they come later and last not as long. Perhaps we get a month of each, if we are fortunate.

I know a great deal has been written about social justice, and if you think about it, climate change may be the greatest cause of social injustice. If I'm unable to access clean drinking water for myself, my family and my livelihood, that is a violation of my civil rights. If climate change means the weather patterns have changed so that I either don't get the water I need when I need it, or I get too much rain at the wrong time- then I have a problem.

Right now, wars are being fought, or soon will be over water rights and access to rivers, lakes and aquifers. Why? Because the weather and climate is changing.

Continue to deny if you will; you have that right. Just consider this, open you mind, look around and ask yourself- are things different? That's all.

So you've done that and you agree, there is something happening with our climate. What next, and this becomes the exciting part. You can get involved. You can make a difference. You've heard about carbon footprints. You can read what it means, how about doing something to reduce yours. You can use this calculator to do your own math.

Learn more, get involved with some of the sites that consider climate change and discover what you can do beyond your own home.

Agitate, I don't mean going to the streets, but how about a few letters to all levels of government. Let your voice be heards. Write them a letter, express in your own words what your concerns are and some suggestions that they should consider. Ask your government to be involved with the UN Climage Change Conference this December. Right now the major economic nations are doing a little jiving and shucking, how about address them now, get out, learn what you can and tell your government, climate change is important and is not just economical. It deals with all of us as human beings. We share the same world, let's not ruin it for each other.

Steve Forbert wrote a song entitled "Good Planets are hard to find". We found the best, let's ensure it stays that way:

Good planets are hard to find,
Temp'rate zones and tropic climes,
True currents in thriving seas,
Winds blowin' through breathing trees,
Strong ozone and safe sunshine,
Good planets are hard to find.

Good planets are in demand,
Clean beaches and sparkling sand,
Land masses with room to spare,
Jet streams and perfect air,
High forests and low wetlands,
Good planets are in demand.

And the mind don't know
If the heart can't see;
Let the blind man go
To his destiny...

Good planets are rare indeed,
Rain fallin' on crops and seed,
Big rivers and good topsoil,
Fuel sources from cane to oil,
Green gardens of all we need,
Good planets are rare indeed.

And the mind don't know
If the heart can't see;
Let the blind man go
To his destiny...

Good planets are scarce and few,
Earthworms and caribou,
Strong food chains and tasty meals,
Textiles and plants that heal,
Iron mountains and skies of blue,
Good planets are scarce and few.

United Nations Climate Change Conference
Blog Action Day '09
Bloggers vs Climate Change

This Just In: Harper is Cool

By now we've all seen it, our Prime Minister strolling onto the stage of the Nartional Arts Centre and belting out the Beatles' song "With a Little Help from my Friends" with the great cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the Celtic rock group Herringbone. In one move, Prime Minister Harper appealed to classical music, Beatles and Celtic Rock fans, now how's that for a voting demographic.


Let's be honest, this could have been a huge mistake. First of all, as a 'hater' of the arts, Stephen Harper could have unleashed members of the Alberta arm of the Young Conservatives to pillage, rape and burn the NAC to the ground. After all, it's filled with art snobs which translates into "Liberals" in that part of Canada. Second, he could have flubbed the piano or he could have sung out of key. You know that such a bad performance would have been even wider over the place. I mean its okay to sing out of tune if you're doing a Bob Dylan number but that's about it. Instead he comes across as doing a good job and having fun. In the end that's all one could hope for.

A disaster would have been a disaster. If you can remember way back when, the then leader of the Progressive Conservatives, Robert Stanfield was shown dropping a football. He was playing catch with some people, it was a photo op, and apparently was doing a good job of throwing, kicking and catching. However he dropped it once and that was the photograph that made it into all the newspapers around Canada:


Mr. Stanfield was considered a true gentleman and many have referred to him as the 'Best Prime Minister Canada never had'.

What has interested me is the reaction of the Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, our friend Michael Ignatieff. Seems he can't do anything right lately. When news of Mr. Harper's piano playing gig, he responded with the usual fulmination:

This is a prime minister who a year ago was trying to make you embarrassed if you liked opera or classical music or the ballet or poetry," Ignatieff said. "I mean, come on, let's get over this. You can like hockey, you can like classical music. Let's stop playing Canadian against Canadian and taste against taste

Seems Iggy has been a doing a lot of that lately.

Consider:

he complains that the Prime Minister isn't doing enough for the Unemployed and threatens to bring down the government. That fails and so;

he complains the government isn't doing enough to protect Canadians against H1N1, and the the various provincial Ministries of Health come up with the convoluted plan to protect Canadians, the federal government promises to have enough vaccines ready. So he:

complains that the Prime Minister would rather spend time with ordinary Canadians, drinking coffee at the local Tim Horton's instead of being at the United Nation where he could represent Canada and put up with Muammar Ghaddafi's bizarre monologue or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's bizarre re-writing of history. "The Holocaust? Get outta Here..."

Although Mr. Harper did attend the G20 summit, which was how he got to do a gig with Yo-Yo Ma, his wife asked Yo-Yo about doing some song. Which is quite interesting.

What does all this mean? On the one hand, you had a good weekend for Stephen Harper and on the other, another bad one for Michael Ignatieff. He's trying to look decisive when all he managed to do was annoy the Quebec wing of his Party and do an about face. He first said he was in no hurry to appoint a Lieutenant for the Quebec wing, until he read the constitution which requires just such a person. Now whoever he chooses, will bear the brunt of being the "Bloc Toronto" man, just when the leader of the Bloc Toronto continues to shoot himself in the foot.

By the way, Iggy also sang the same song.

This leads me to the question of the day;

"What song will Iggy sing in his next political act?"

I'm thinking "You gotta fight for your right to Party", by the Beastie Boys

John C Dvorak-the Tech Grouch

Those of you who follow my blog know that I'm a big fan of John C. Dvorak. I watch his show, "Cranky Geeks" each week, in fact I own the t-shirt. It's both a great laugh and a great conversation piece. I also read his column in PCMag.com, I would say I read it in the magazine, but as you know PC Magazine went all digital like early this year and yes I'm still bitter about it.

Of course there is the main site, which is Dvorak Uncensored, his blog of all things which fascinate and infuriate him. The famous 'dvorak.org.blog' is almost a drinking game in itself and he plugs it on everything and anything he is on. If you watch This Week in Tech, for example he used to do it shamelessly for the show, of course at first he claimed to never get any spam by using a method of changing his email accounts every six months or so. It is all the news that he sees fits to report on and it has gotten him in trouble. He complains every so often that he is regularly blocked in China and Saudi Arabia, more so because of the title of the blog rather then any support he gives to the falung gong.

Now he has a new project, a project he was born to do and that is the tech grouch. As you can see from the first clip it is Dvorak at his best. He is at his ultimate grouchiest, spewing out the vitriol and not caring a whit who gets sprayed. As Leo Laporte mentioned on the recent TWIT, this doesn't come easy to John C but it is based upon years of disappointment and disillusionment. Only a person who has lived a life such as John C can vent as he can, and wear that costume. No doubt he wears it for the sake of modesty, after all, if he was to appear as he normally does, the crowds would have gone wild.

I expect a long and fruitful career with this new iteration of John C. Long may it continue

Congratulations Chicago!!

That's right, let me be the first to congratulate Chicago on NOT winning the 2016 Olympic Bid, it may be the best thing to happen to the City. Now I know most people would think it should be a time of sadness for the city, after all, aren't the Olympics a way to showcase a city on how wonderful it is and all that great stuff. Right and it's all about the motto: "Citius, Altius, Fortius".

We all know what that's supposed to mean, in fact here is the meaning listed on the Olympic website:

These three words encourage the athlete to give his or her best during competition, and to view this effort as a victory in itself.

The sense of the motto is that being first is not necessarily a priority, but that giving one's best and striving for personal excellence is a worthwhile goal. It can apply equally to athletes and to each one of us.

Great words, wonderful ideals. Now let's put it away and understand what the modern Olympic movement is all about: it's about a bloated and corrupt bureaucracy that is answerable to no one and it's the ultimate old boys and girls club. It's about xenophobia, jingoism and all the excesses of 'isms' we thought we could finally escape. It's about people winning medals one year and having them stripped away the next when it is learned they cheated. The only good out of this is for those athletes at the bottom of the list, just finish guys and gals and you may eventually, when all the elites are exposed as frauds, you might win a bronze. Mind you, there will be no official flag ceremony and most people will have forgotten all that, but at least you will have a medal.

So the winner is Rio De Janerio, a fabulous city in the Republic of Brazil. It is the second largest city in Brazil and one of the largest in all of South America. It is known for it's beautiful beaches, people, music and Carnaval. It is also known for its crime,

Rio has high crime rates, especially homicide, in poor areas dominated by drug lords, primarily in the North Zone.[80] As of 2007, the homicide rate of the greater metropolitan area stood at nearly 30 victims per week, with the majority of victims falling to mugging, stray bullets or narcoterrorism.[81][82] In 2006, 2,273 people were murdered in the city giving it a murder rate of 37.7 cases for every 100,000 people.[83]

According to federal government research,[6] the city itself ranks 206th (out of a total of 5,565) in the list of the most violent cities and municipalities in Brazil and first in total number of firearm-related deaths. Between 1978 and 2000, 49,900 people were killed in Rio.[84] The Urban Warfare involves drug-traffic battle with police fighting against outlaws, or even corrupt policemen on their side.

Rio de Janeiro's low paid and ill-equipped police are violent as well, it has been said.[85] In 2007, the police allegedly killed 1,330 people in the state,[86] an increase of 25 percent over 2006 when 1,063 people were killed, in 2003 that number plateaued at 1,195. In comparison the American police killed only 347 people in whole of the United States during 2006.[87][88] The average Rio policeman earns only R$874 a month or R$10,488 (around US$6,000) a year.[89]

Into this safe environment, thousands of people will descend in about 7 years to enjoy the various sports such as ducking bullets, handling wounds and calling the equivalent of 911. I suspect the IOC only saw the beaches and the beautiful people and thought this would be a great place for an Olympics.

No doubt the supporters of Rio will say the money used to build the infrastructure will also be used to build up the neighbourhoods and to make them safe. Also, they can meditate on the fact that the government will have to begin to pay the police a more humane and human wage so they won't be in the pockets of the local drug lords.

There will be the usual talk about this being a 'green' game- green as in moola, although people will speak of the environmental sensitivity of the Games.

Chicago, what did you lose? You lost the right to spend money that could have gone to infrastructure, public transit, parks, schools and libraries, and wasted it on facilities that would have been of no use. You can build community centres that will help the community, rather then a few.

You lost the right to squander the future of your young people on stuff that will be alledged for the 'youth of tomorrow'. You lost the right to have all those self-important members of the IOC strutting their stuff like they 'own' the place. You lost the right to put needed social services on the backburner and cause all sort of suffering for the people who are the most vulnerable.

Yeah Chicago, you lost a lot. Now go have a party.