Hot stuff and the smell - its burning

I knew it. I just knew it.

I am hot. Really hot. Well in theory.

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The Primal Roots of Red Hair Revealed
By LiveScience Staff
posted: 24 May 2007 06:36 pm ET

Primatologists know humans, apes and monkeys can see red, but have quarreled
over what initially locked the adaptation into place. Did it first help
primates find meals, or was the ability to see a red-headed, red-skinned
mate from a mile away the first benefit of full-color vision?

A new study shows that apes first evolved color vision to help them forage
food, after which nature made red the sexiest color around and spiked apes'
evolutionary tree with red hair and skin. The findings are detailed in this
week's issue of the American Naturalist.

André Fernandez, an evolutionary biologist at Ohio University and co-author
of the paper, explained that neuroscientists have already found animals are
highly attracted to brilliant colors. "So, it is reasonable for primates
with trichromatic color vision to respond more when they see bright colors"
like red, he said.

To discover the true origin of red hair, Fernandez collected data on the
hair and skin color, color vision and sexual habits of 203 different primate
species. He then plugged the data into the primate evolutionary tree

According to the tree, or phylogeny, color vision arose first, followed by
the appearance of red hair, skin and advanced mating systems.

"It looks like red skin and hair became a sexual preference," said
evolutionary biologist Molly Morris, the other study's author. "So while the
benefits in terms of eating may not apply anymore," she said, it's still
socially-and sexually-relevant for an ape to see red.
http://www.livescience.com/health/070525_red_primates.html

Environemental crisis Part 1V - Phishy business

Yikes

Could it be that it is the tree hugging North American females that caused the collapse of the COD? Its timing would be perfect.

From the Globe and Male today's issue. If you are not a student, do not read this. If you are a student ...you can.

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Estrogen threatens minnow manhood

Released into an Ontario lake as an experiment, tiny amounts of the hormone wreak havoc on male fish

MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT

ENVIRONMENT REPORTER

May 22, 2007

Back in the summer of 2001, a team of Canadian and U.S. researchers spiked a lake in Northwestern Ontario with traces of synthetic estrogen used in human birth control pills. They then repeated the unusual treatment for the next two years and sat back and watched what happened to minnows living in the lake.

The results were nothing short of frightening. Exposing fish to tiny doses of the active ingredient in the pill, amounts little more than a whiff of estrogen, started turning male fish into females. Instead of sperm, they started developing eggs. Instead of looking like males, they became indistinguishable from females. Within a year of exposure, the minnow population began to crash. Within a few years, the fish, which at one time teemed in the lake, had practically vanished.

Details of the unusual experiment, conducted by a team of Canadian and U.S. government scientists, are being published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The dramatic results are likely to raise further concerns about the possible impact on wildlife and humans of drug residues in waterways.

In the experiment, the scientists added just enough estrogen to give the lake water the same level of the sex hormone found in water discharged from sewage treatment plants in Canada and in other countries where the birth control pill is widely used.

More than a million women in Canada and more than 100 million worldwide are on the pill, making it one of the most commonly prescribed drugs. Women on the pill pass on some of the estrogen in their urine, from which it gets into surface waters.

Although the doses in the lake's water were thousands of times lower than the amounts women on the pill receive, even this slight exposure was enough to skew development in both male and female fish, with males far more affected.

After treatment, the lake water had estrogen concentrations of about 5 parts per trillion, the scientific equivalent of almost nothing. A part per trillion is the equivalent of a few grains of salt in an Olympic-size swimming pool. The amount of estrogen added was about a fifth of a gram a day, or about one-tenth the weight of a penny.

The lead researcher, Karen Kidd, who conducted the project while with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and is now a biologist at the University of New Brunswick, was astonished that so little of a hormone used by people could harm fish.

"What's sobering for me is that we've shown such a dramatic response in fish population at these low concentrations," Dr. Kidd said in an interview.

It's not known what effect, if any, human exposure to estrogen in drinking water might have, although Dr. Kidd said it is an area that should be a research priority. Reproductive problems in human males, such as declining sperm counts and testicular cancer, have been rising in recent decades, and the causes are not known.

"When we see these kinds of responses in fish, it raises a red flag for what these compounds are doing to humans," she said.

There are currently no regulations in Canada covering estrogen or other drug residues in waterways. Municipalities typically don't check for them and it is not known if there are human health effects for people who draw drinking water from sources receiving sewage, a common practice in Canada.

Researchers with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also worked on the experiment, which was funded primarily by the federal government and the American Chemistry Council. One of the companies that manufactures birth control pills, Schering AG, donated the estrogen.

The researchers monitored fathead minnows, a species that breeds after about two years of life, making its population vulnerable to the reproductive effects of the drug sooner than longer-living fish.

After dosing the lake for three years, researchers monitored populations for the next two. It is expected that with time, estrogen levels in the lake, which was about 35 hectares, or about the size of a large farm field or a medium-sized cottage-country lake, will decline, allowing fish populations to recover.

To ensure that the population decline they were observing wasn't a natural phenomenon, the researchers tracked several other water bodies similar to the lake under investigation. There were no large population fluctuations elsewhere. The lake was located near Kenora.

Over the past decade, there have been a number of studies in North America and Europe showing skewed sexual development in aquatic life living near outfalls from sewage plants. This study is the first to show that exposure to drugs not only changes sexual characteristics, but can also destroy fish populations.

Dr. Kidd doesn't think women should stop taking the pill out of worry for wildlife. She said municipalities need to build more advanced sewage treatment plants, which are able to degrade more of the estrogen into harmless chemicals.

Because of the high expense of the project, estimated at $250,000 a year, the researchers didn't test the effects of lower estrogen levels on fish to determine if there is a safe exposure amount.

First past the post and last at the trough

For Northern Ontario proportional representation becomes an unmitigated political disaster. There is no benefit to any Northerner regardless of political loyalty.

Over the years Queen's Park drained every spare resource revenue from Northern Ontario. Never reinvesting unless the applicant is a major political supporter, the south only will accelerate its economic pillage unfettered by political audit.

All senior levels of government compose legislation satiating the inward desires of the urban voter in southern Ontario. The Gun Registry, the tax on diamonds, passports at the border, the banning of hunting contribute to the declines in northern commerce, in northern industry and northern populations.

There is no serious reinvestment in the North despite electoral campaign promises. Only a trifling percentage of those taxes revisit the North.

Depending on whether one defines Northern Ontario along the French I believe the North is left with eleven seats in the federal and provincial parliaments. Recently the federal government dangled twenty two new seats from Ottawa to Toronto.

No new seats for Northern Ontario though. In the last distribution the gnomes of democracy proposed one riding from Current River to the Western Border of Sudbury. Try being a representative of that.

Do the math. Even if Northern Ontario held onto its few ridings the proportional representation and the 22 new seats would add about 61 seats to the south. The North presently holds a bare ten percent voice which would fall instantly to four percent. A power reduction of more than 50%. Does anyone actually believe that ten percent of those proportional MPPs would come from the North.

Do you believe that any provincial party all of which are headquartered in Southern Ontario will pick northerners over thirty nine good old boys from 905? Numerically the growing Asian community in the Greater Toronto Area is a more important demographic than the few Northerners scattered over the vast land mass of Northern Ontario. Few no likely none of those 39 seats will be posted by northerners and I state none will.

This is a very critical point of time. If Northerners actually got together in a Bloc like party it would get no legislature funding because all of the seats must switch to be a party recognized by the speaker of the Ontario Legislature. In 2011 the party would have to win more than 16 seats for house debates and house funding. Consider that there is only a rump of 11 maybe 14 seats depending on where you define Northern Ontario. No Northern faction will receiver adequate funding.

Even then approximately 140,000 votes would be needed to qualify for any proportional representation. According to the new legislation a new party must get three percent of the popular vote to be recognized as entitled to add a proportional representative. And that would be only one representative.

If Northern Ontario was a separate province then proportional representation works politically. But when there is a vast discrepancy of population densities between the two parts of this province, then proportional representation works against the lesser population.

In 2011 it is very likely that Northern Ontario will possess no voice over its own affairs. Only 4% of the seats doesn't carry much weight in any caucus no matter what the present incumbents say.

Before that happens Northern Ontario must form its own political movement, its own political party for political separation to regain some form of self governance.

Its been proposed before and handled poorly. There was always time. Now that time has run out. Every single voter in Northern Ontario must vote against proportional representation. Let this referendum be the poll that asserts your rights. Deny southern Ontario its habitual oligarchy over your affairs, over your education system, over your power plants, over your resources, over your mines, over your roads, over your houses, and over your existence.

Best pitcher in Baseball

The best player in baseball I've seen. Its haunted me for 44 years. The answer boils down to two proper names.

I better set this up. I was 12 years old and it was a fall afternoon. Oh and darn it all. If I didn't come down with some illness forcing me to stay home that day. Strange that I was coincidently sick on some of those great moments of the early sixties. And just by a stroke of incredible luck this was Wednesday October 2nd the first day of the World Series.

[You know how I did it? I hope the statute of limitations is up. This was the days of the mercury bulb thermometer. Grade six science taught me that rubbing causes friction. Only idiots say that science doesn't apply to real life. If you heat mercury it expands. If you rub the bulb between the thumb and the forefinger without mom seeing it, this is friction. And as a result, you can put that little silver line anywhere. Personally, I always liked 100.5 F.

But be conservative. Another sick day before, I was too aggressive when I wanted to watch the Shepard launch and well I put it to 104 degrees and mother came back into the room before I could knock it back down by flicking it. Phhheww I almost went to the hospital. No ma... I don't want to go to the hospital. After all there was a space flight that afternoon. What luck, my temperature dropped back down before father came home.

And my mother. A nurse always believed the instrument, lucky me. She felt my forehead and was very suspicious. "Well if you are sick you stay in bed resting mister."

"Yes mother hack hack...oh woe is me. Can I watch television from the couch? hack hack."

"Well okay, but no playing around..."

"Oh yes mother...cahha, hack, hack"}

The table was set. I was sick home. Dad was working, mom was having her afternoon nap and my little brother had to go to school. I had the whole TV to myself. Oh yeah.

The past summer was a good year. I played right field in Little League with a .400 plus batting average in my first year playing. We won the Little League title and yes... our team name was the Yankees. I was a always a fervent Yankees fan.

I know you people don't like the Yankees but this was Canada, Northern Ontario and there were only three teams to pick from,,, the Dodgers, the Cards or yes the Yankees. CBS ruled. And it was 1963.

So about one o'clock I settled down and turned on the television clicking to Channel 6. WLUC TV of CBS streaming in across Lake Superior in snowy black and white. Changing with a real knob channel changer to watch game one of the World Series when it was the real championship, no playoffs, no seeds, no steroids it was man y mano. This was the World Series.

The game was announced by the great Dizzy Dean and along with Peewee Reese. I feel Dizzy was the best game caller bar none. The reason why. Well he was a player, a great player. And he made the game fun. Carey ( I like ) Sculley, well they're great but Dean played the game well and didn't take it seriouser than other things. Its a game. Its supposed to be funner. To let you other illiterates know; Dizzy Dean and fun are spelled the same way. So this was it.

And if all that wasn't just the perfect setting for ultimate victory my team, the Yankees, the mighty Yankees. They were absolutely had the best hitting line up ever, ever to take the field. They had Mantle, Maris, Boyer, Kubek, Pepitone, Howard, Berra, Richardson, Lopez, Blanchard. There was no DH. This was punch, pure power.This was purely the best offensive lineup to ever step up to the plate.

Some can argue and will. But I seen it with my own eyes.Nothing could be better. This was it. Another pure moment that every Yankee fan seems entitled to.

Oh yes. The table is set. Now, the hang over. Nemesis in two words.

Sandy Koufax

It didn't hurt the Dodgers to have Drysdale or Podres but Koufax did that game and game four. So not fair. The score sheet did not indicate the skill that Koufax showed. He crushed the Yankees. The Yankees didn't really recover from that series even to this very day and neither did Ralph Houk. Koufax burst the bubble. Tore the paint off the walls. It was all Koufax.

Koufax showed how to pitch the Yankees. It rattled them. They didn't win another WS for another 14 years. A lot of it had to do with the George but George couldn't have bought them because the Koufax diminished their value. And he bought them for a very low price. But that was a key series of games. Sandy Koufax. The best pitcher I've ever seen to ever take the mound, and he was a Dodger. Wasted day. A waste.

(Note, I am no longer a Yankees fan. I am a Maple Leafs fan of the ICB league)


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Perplexities

Today I don't feel like blogging. Which is too bad. There is a wealth of material. It makes for a set of perplexities. Some of which I should deal with in the coming days.

1. Susan Eng complains about being spied on by a renegade cop and Fantino the guy who can't seem to hold a job other than his part time work of stroking the fur of any politician and fondling the balls of the media. Spying on Susan Eng. She's pretty good looking. I grasp that. Juli stepped up a level to human in my eyes.

2. Harper's secret manual for screwing everyone... is published. I am paraphrasing his response. No big deal.... this is usual stuff... Oh yeah. Hey... manual part one... index this.

3. Black claims that he will be set free. He may be right. But when Conrad's trial ends I am stringing a fresh clove of garlic around my neck nightly before bed. One can never be too safe.

4. Still working on that Part IV. The Globe will not be heated by this brain.

5. Greyhound is on strike. I can't believe the abysmal ignorance indulging the media in Toronto. For the economy of much of Western Canada suffers far more than normal. There is not only an environmental downside but a cultural hardship. If this was GO or the TTC governments would have stepped in by now. A double standard.

6. The southern Ontario government continues its rapacious economic rape of Northern Ontario's resources and increases the extraction tax. Southern Ontario screwed up its car manufacturing and other manufacturing so bad that now these blood suckers will bite into the back of the poorest and largest region in Ontario.

7. The federal government caught supreme hell for giving Ontario an additional 22 ridings. Not enough says the puffing MacGuinty. By the way, those few new ridings or MPs that Ontario is supposed to be getting to you an FYI. Not a single one would be formed in Northern Ontario. Indeed the federal government may still reduce Northern Ontario another riding.

7. Related to this. The southern Ontario government decides to go to proportional representation. This will be a disaster for Northern Ontario. Do the Math and look at the people in charge of the parties. Has a single provincial political party delivered on any promise, I mean name any election promise given to the noncommercial sector of Northern Ontario. So there is no guarantee that any additional MPs will be mandated to Northern Ontario representation.

So effectively the rump seats of 11 will shink in proportion to the whole. Using present numbers, there are 103 seats in the legislature. That means Northern Ontario has slightly more than 10% political horse power. An additional 39 seats will severely diminish that percentage. Southern Ontario minority governments will no longer have to rely on Northern Ontario reps for it will have less than 6% of the total seats.

And that latter number is important. Lets say an independence movement does finally form in Northern Ontario. It would lose official party status in the provincial parliament because to be recognized as an official party you need 10 percent of the seats. Registered parties in the House qualify for extra funding. To win that status one hundred percent of all the seats in Northern Ontario must be won. And that is not likely.

That separatist party could not benefit from proportional representation. Do the Math. There are about 13million people in the province of Ontario which means about 4.55 million people actually vote at a good rate of 70% voter turnout.

In Northern Ontario with the population near the unlikely level of about 800,000 people ( more likely 700,000 or even less) 400,000 people are registered to vote of which 70% the usual voter turnout or 280,000.

There is a rule of thumb that says that one third of voters are obtusely resistant to change. It doesn't matter what it is this is the percentage of resistors. In theory the independence party can win all of the seats if forty percent of the voters side with any party.

To win the eleven seats the new political party which should be called Northern Ontario Political Empowerment (NOPE) will only need 112,000 votes to achieve 40 percent per riding to get all eleven seats but this is not good enough to qualify it as a political party qualified to get proportional seats. Under the new law Nope would have to get better than 136000... or 50% of the voting electorate.

What also really hurts Northern Ontario is that all of the votes including muncipal elections are always scheduled for the fall. Has anyone scheduled outdoor events in October in Northern Ontario? Any adverse weather will dampen the voting.

So you can see. All the government's ballyhooed electoral reform will only hurt Northern Ontario. There will be a referendum on proportional representation in the next election. I hope everyone in Northern Ontario votes against it. But most of these people obviously do not care. Lesser nations have gone to the political battlements on issues far more trifling than these perplexes.

9. All perplexities mix into a bowl and stirred by a perplexitor.

Snowbird Crash

Capt. Shawn McCaughey, 31, of the Snowbirds was flying inverted 300' above and down the runway at Malmstrom AB, Montana yesterday when something in the engine let go and he died in the subsequent crash. He is the sixth pilot of the Snowbirds to pass away in this manner.

The plane apparently was Snowbird number Two. These guys risk their lives in the quest to entertain and promote Canada. They are amongst our best ambassadors internationally. This is a very tragic event.

I just thought that I should express my sadness here over this needless accident by posting this information in this entry. If you have a drink of anything handy, please join me in spirit... to this brave man .... A Toast.

The Black Quandary

After reading the material about the Conrad Black trial I must say I am ambivalent about the whole affair. One cannot go by the media reports. And I wish not to succumb my brain to the personal agendas of these biased reporters.

If one read only one report from either the Toronto Sun (and Sun Media) or the Toronto Star one gets a rather biased viewpoint. The Black trial fertilized a subtext of political bias or simple bias in every report.

Jennifer Wells (The Star) interpretation of events often varies from the Mary Vallis (Sun Media/Canada.com) interpretation. Yes its the same facts appear the same but did they go to the same trial clearly noticeably when they broach neutrality into the realm of opinion.

One needs to read both to get a sense of how the real trial is moving. At no time does the bias leave the interpretation of events. Understandably Conservative papers such as Sun Media cheer Black's defense. The Liberal papers cheer Black's prosecutors.

In the Star it can be understood that Eddie Greenspan, the primary defense attorney for Conrad Black, simply sucked. While Sun media and the National Post tended make Eddie Greenspan out like the reincarnation of Clarence Darrow. Which is it?

And here is the problem and the irony. It had been Conrad Black's an Radler's efforts to trim costs and extract every dime out of the newspapers operations. They literally led in the layoffs of many good reporters. What was left was a group of reporters very susceptible to political and personal bias. No middle ground appears to exist.

I know for a fact that Conrad Black is not as a hard assed character as he appears in the press. Neither is Barbara Amiel for she suffers from some really biased press. Lets put it this way. Their marriage has stuck together through some very tough times recently. Many a woman would have done the Adios on Black by this time. So to her credit and as corny as it sounds... it is true; she's stuck by her man.

On Victoria Street just north of King Street in Toronto just to the south of the parking lot for 10 Toronto Street, I used to start the day with a breakfast and a coffee. A maintenance person of that building also cleared the snow for 10 Toronto's lot contracted by Lord Black himself. His view of Black private character was quite opposite to that spun out by the media on both sides.

The Conrad Black he knew, the one not doing business, not putting out a public face was a quite friendly down to earth fellow. He is a totally different character out of the lime light of work or politique. This is quite the opposite character portrayal in the media whether friendly or not. It is quite the opposite from the wordy almost arrogant persona he displays in public view.

One must remember that Radler had been his closest friend and confidante outside of the spouse in Black's life. Apart from the morality of the play, in essence Radler appears a traitor not to a nation but to a long friendship. On the trial coverage the Liberal view is that Radler lied, to the Conservative Radler is a liar. This is a subtle but important difference.

The Conservatives brought this on themselves. In the mid 1980s the biggest complaint was that all the media possessed a Liberal bias. Despite that declaration one cannot help but note that conservative governments got elected.

The greatest fear of the Conservative was never the openly Liberal biased reporter. The greatest fear of the Liberal was never the openly Conservative biased reporter. Both sides absolutely detested the neutral reporter who reported only the facts. They are the most dangerous. They can't be co-opted ethically. They report the truth. As a result both sides assailed the 5th estate so that in today's journalism schools bias is okay.

Neutral, politically indifferent reporters have been completely purged from the media. Without that severe neutrality, court reporting emerges as inaccurate. The clash of the courtroom must be reported in a neutral reportage. Bias loses accuracy.

Having reported and written on several trials and commission hearings I can honestly say that what happens in court almost never is successfully reflected in the reportage. Editors almost always want an angle or slant to every article. The only goal of a trial judge is the truth. The goal of the reporter is a good story. A false story is always better a tale than the real factual truth. And any journalists writes in a way to maneuver that story as close as possible to the front page as possible. The story's position headline and prominence is entirely determined by the editor.

In the case of Conrad Black I am trying to understand the course of the trial by reading a variety of sources. I still get no sense of the real Conrad Black, the one that the snow clearing maintenance guy once related. And I tend to trust that guy's evaluations before the evaluations of today's journalist.

Mr. or rather Lord Black did some rather ethically challenging business deals. None of which has been successfully identified as clearly illegal under the law. Under Canadian tax law, the maneuver of non-compete fees is so unique that there is no law yet against that. The prosecutors have lined up the charge sheet with an array of charges clearly the most of which Black is not guilty of. In Canada Black was not even charged with the removal of those storage boxes even though it was either a case of court contempt or adventurous gambit.

Here is the problem with the trial's star witness. Radler fessed up in exchange for a sweetheart sentence. This is acceptable and common practice in today's justice world in the US and in Canada (e.g. Karla Homolka plea bargain). Despite the fact that he plead guilty doesn't mean that the actions the others took was not factually illegal.

The shareholders of the American version of Hollinger accused these executive of seconding the money despite the fact that it was the same shareholders voted for these executive year after year and in every annual meeting before. And this despite the fact that the same shareholders made a lot of money on the sales of the newspapers too. No one lost money or had their pockets picked. The only question is that the shareholders wanted even more money.

Indeed as the information gleaned from the trial indicates that KPMG and the company lawyers in Toronto state that as far as they knew, these non-compete payments were quite okay. According to all the testimonies to date, the payments were legal but all the advisers consistently advised that the payments be kept fairly out of public knowledge.

The audit committee on the Board of Directors passed the reports. If there had been an objection to the payment fees then that should have been the time to bring it forward. While individual members of the Board of Directors may not have individually recalled such disclosures it was incumbent on the directors to also seek out that information if it related to the higher levels of company decisions. In short, they may not have done their jobs.

Over the years I rather think that Black has put himself into a mask that he cannot throw off. One can get the sense that if Black does testify he will suffer the same sort of withering and astute cross examinations by the prosecuting attorneys that Radler endured with the parade of defense attorneys. In every other trial Black was his own worst witness. Unlike the short version of answers demanded of Radler, Black will be encourage to answer in the long form. And it is common knowledge that publicly Black's rhetoric remains rather long and colorful.

Indeed the only question remaining is whether or not Black takes the stand in his own defense. And here is where it is important to actually be in a court room. If you actually sit in the whole proceedings one quickly sees why a trial will course to a conclusion. The question is whether this jury expects to hear from Black. If not. And they want to go home. He then is protected.

If the jury sets its final judgment related to Black's failure to take the stand, then he may lose. If they don't care. Black will likely walk free. If he does testify, to win he must drop his knightly persona and simply be a straight up guy.

Democracy hypocrisy

What doesn't add up here? A poor woman in the Caribou-Chilicotin of British Columbia suffered a fatal blow from the strike of a tiger's paw recently. Authorities felt that it was necessary to euthanize the tiger despite the fact that the tiger was only doing what tigers do.

The entire media went into a frenzy. Politicians at every level promised swift and decisive action to regulate exotic animals. Too the ramparts for everyone in Canada is at threat from a rampage of Tigers.

Now lets stand back a minute. Lets stand way back. And take a look at the sheer quantity of hypocrisy swirling around this little pool.

When younger I hiked and hunted alone in very hazardous wilderness. Rest assured, with little thinking about this extremely likely event; had I seen any moving creature with orange and black stripes prowling in vegetation yonder; and despite the ever longing for anything pussy; and without regard to the pertinent legalities of discharging a weapon, I will shoot the sucker. Tigers are dangerous people.

Not only do I know this. But apparently everyone else on this planet but this poor woman knew it too. Even the legal owner of the Tiger knew that these animals were dangerous. Unlike dogs Tigers are not group animals.

The media must be cited for demonstrating again just how low they have descended too since the ultra conservatives have gained controlling interest in these businesses. Such ownership spreads its attitudes to management because they pick people to manage newspapers who best mimic them. Yes most news editors are arrogant buffoons.

Why is this? First if the victim was a male. Nobody would make a fuss. The idiot victim moved too close to the Tiger with children witnessing the event which was first described as a mauling. Well yes a lot of life lessons are best taught with real life experiences swathed in trauma. You'll bet none of those kids will get too close to any animal from now on.

Then as the articles were revised all this further information emerged. First there was no mauling, it was a single paw strike which even the household cat does when something gets annoying. Initially the media got it wrong.

Now the political weirdness begins. All this fuss. All these new laws to protect Canadian society from Tigers. They claim to hold life precious. This is only one person. Just how many people on average get killed by Tigers in Canada. I didn't know it was such an epidemic.

These are the same governments that license and tax cigarettes and participating in the annual deaths of thousands. These are the same governments that sell or license the sale of alcohol to its citizens which directly causes the early deaths of thousands. Tens of thousands of people die either directly or indirectly due to the avarice greed of government. Now these hypocrites get in a righteous moral snit over a single unfortunate death.


****30*****

Comments on comments... number two

Oh the ongoing discussion. One suggestion from a commenter has been that there be more graphics. Well nothing more I would like than to provide graphics.

Now you see I got to deal with this so that everyone must understand and put behind this. Its also the same people who also take me on about copyright. Its also the same people who have unlimited access to the internet. Also one must understand that the other blog, the one that got destroyed by the evil empire possessed a lot of graphics.

Here's why.

1. Connection. I do not have a permanent connection to the internet. I must rely on free or low cost internet.

2. Time. Looking for graphics takes time. When I had the 360 Yahoo site it had graphics but creating, browsing, searching, finding, selecting and uploading those graphics takes time. For every word I write it takes three hundred words per hour on average, edited. However every graphic at 360 took on average about another hour. So in my case its definitely a time consideration.

3. Cost. I survive on eighty dollars per month. Thats for everything from tea to bumwad and food. Every blog costs me a dollar guaranteed if I go to the cheapest internet cafe. Thats not charging for time in writing. People forget that I was once paid for my writing. Blogs get no income. When I had 360 there was more money available.... Yes I do get free access to internet but thats for only 16 times a month.

4. Copyrights. The laws governing graphic copyright regulation is far more legally tenuous than the written word. You can plagiarize a plot line as long as you change the words. Every writer from Shakespeare on knows that. In written copy there there is a legal right exemption in Canada and other Commonwealth but not the greedy USA copyright regulation, to educate students especially on news based common knowledge based news items.

However in graphics that exemption really doesn't exist. And it is so hard to morph an image away from copyright law interpretation that one might as well create an original image. Copyright regulation covering photo, art or logo regulation is far more onerous than printed or written copyright regulation.

Creating an image requires money, equipment and time. None of which I have at the moment. Writing a blog is more recreation.

So I am sorry. I don't have the resources to create or upload the fancy stuff. This can be called - Blog Raw.

Blog update and commentary on commentary.

Part IV will be delayed for at least a couple of days. The reason for this is that I spent a couple of days out in the country - visiting. Far East Scarberia. Very apporroopppooo.

Comments on comments

One commenter had a problem on me making comments. The person pointed out that sometimes I put a comment while often I will cite or introduce a newspaper clipping without commenting.

Firstly I defer to the intelligence of the reader and the skill of the writer whose narration often exceeds mine thereby carrying far more authority. It doesn't mean I don't have an opinion on it. Rather it likely means that the article is fairly straight forward requiring little or no embellishment whatsoever.

Its like repainting a Mona Lisa. Another coating of paint is unnecessary.

If an article winds up in this blog it is very likely that I agree with the gist and focus of the work. Otherwise I probably would say something. In my blogging you will note that I work like an advocate placing information in front of a bench judge. The reader is the judge.

Also it sometimes is important to establish a context. In the instance of the blog about Mi Hyun Kim it was necessary to establish a context for the positioning of the article in this blog. Otherwise my erstwhile intelligent readership, despite their patently reknown skill at life would likely not put lady golfer, charity, into quite another category. "What's that old idiot geezer writing about now! A golfing chick he's got the hot's for. Horny old fool!"

In that case it was necessary to establish a foundation of why I place it into a blog. Anyhow back to the next bloggith.

Front page, the

Special gestures should take front stage. They should be noted. The single criticism of news media that carries weight is that the editors take note of the ugly and violent events. It sells news. They wish to blame the reader.

Too often occurrences that should be front page, are not. One story today emerged from being buried deep in the sports section by newspapers or if it was printed at all. This is only a lowly blog. There are other stories or comments that can be made but this story makes it to the front page of today's blog.

Why? You see Mi Hyun Kim is a golfer on the Ladies Professional Golf Association. And she is a very special person. Michele Wie gets a lot of undeserved attention for someone who has never won any tournament. While eight time winner Kim gets little.

The overpaid, self centred athletes of MLB, NFL, NHL, NBA get a lot of press focus. All front page entries. I mean Barry Bonds, or Vince Carter, or Pete Rose, or Floyd Landis get a whack of press if they blow their noses. They get upset if the story is printed, and likely some get upset if it isn't. If Bonds passes Aaron for the most home runs it will be reported on the front page (but never here).

Kim is one of the very few elite athletes that actually deserves attention and respect. Its a very small club. Clara Hughes, and Terry Fox remain the only other athletes worth this level of genuine respect. So the following is this blog's monthly front page story and comment.

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L P G A
Kim makes $100,000 donation to aid victims of Greensburg, Kan., tornado

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., May 8, 2007 -- Mi Hyun Kim, an eight-time winner on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour and champion of last week’s SemGroup Championship Presented by John Q. Hammons in Broken Arrow, Okla., announced after her win that she will donate $100,000 of her winner’s paycheck ($210,000) to the United Way Greensburg Disaster Fund to aid the victims of the tornado that destroyed the Kansas town last weekend.

“I was just happy that I won the tournament,” said Kim. “Sunday and during the week, the tornados came out of the middle of nowhere. I felt like I needed to do something for them. Winning a tournament on its own was a good thing, but I just decided to donate some money.”

“We’ve already seen a tremendous outpouring of support for the residents of Greensburg and I know this very generous donation from Mi Hyun Kim is truly appreciated. The citizens of Greensburg have a tremendous spirit and are determined to rebuild their community. It is my honor to acknowledge this donation on their behalf,” said Governor Kathleen Sebelius today.

Kim, 30, is currently seventh on the 2007 LPGA Official Money List with $315,341 in season earnings. She moved into 10th all-time on the LPGA Official Career Earnings List with her victory at the SemGroup Championship last week. She has earned more than $6.5 million since joining the Tour in 1999.

“Honestly, I made a lot of money in the United States on the LPGA Tour,” said Kim. “Most of time, I get the money here and donate to South Korea. But, I want to help people here, too. The win was a surprise for me and I think God gave it to me like a special present or he is using me like, ‘okay, I give you this, but after that you give to help the people.’”

# # #

Comment: Thank you.

Cheeks

It was a tongue in Cheek comment unfortunately the Cheeks belong to a rear end television network. About two days ago a story about a new provincial tax on diamonds wound up on the firing line of this blog. I was encourage to contribute to the dialog in TVO comment site.

TVO is a provincially owned agency that operates a substandard television network chalked full of CBC wannabees, use to bees, and general quasi functional intelligentsia. Actually when I had cable if it weren't for the Saturday Night at the Movies I would be the first to ditch this media dinosaur. But the topic was this horrid tax.

Below is the text that I submitted to the TVO discussion website. To date it hasn't appeared. Open and frank discussions about Northern Ontario are not allowed. Why did Rob Woito trust these guys?

****************


For almost forty years I have been advocating the division of Northern Ontario from Southern Ontario. For that reason I actually hope this tax does go through. Something is needed to spur the movement to separation. And this tax will be it.

I take the contrary view. It will help.

There is no point in reiterating in this forum the spectacularly long list (southern ontario media insist on misusing the religious word litany) of grievances. All actions specifically directed to harm Northern Ontario. It goes from the Spring Bear Hunt, Softwood Lumber, Gun Registy, underfunding of schools, over taxation of Northern industries, provincial sales tax and more.

Now this wholly inappropriate mineral tax comes from the greedy minds of Queens Parks politicians. I mean it keeps getting longer every day but something like this is totally good. First its a sneaky tax. Second its specifically maliciously directed against Northern Ontario.

And like. Its not that any southerner really cares. I mean the mineral money goes to them.

So this tax makes the dream possible. Most Northern Ontario people are gentle loyal hard working and private people. They would prefer quiet isolation of a park than the fiery political environment necessary to achieve political self determination.

The separation of Northern Ontario will take place in major two stages. First, Northern Ontario must leave Ontario. Second Northern Ontario must convince Canada to recognize it as a full independent province within Canada. It requires the formation of an aggressive political party never seen before. And it doesn't matter whether or not the party is "officially" registered in Ontario or Canada.

As far as the mechanism of independence from the province it will be totally peaceful begun by a referendum enacted by the municipalities of Northern Ontario. I am a fan of Ghandi. A series of peaceful protests and substantially important commercial disruptions will occur. Caledonia will look like a tea party hosted by the Daughters of the Empire.

This should encourage a separation concession by Southern Ontario or face decades of economic and political disruption. If that unlikely event occurs I should also state I am also a devoted fan of Clausewitz.

And such a sequence of events cannot be accomplished without the greed and avarice of Southern Ontario. Every successful revolution really needs a trigger any silly little trigger will do. The American Revolution had a lowly tea tax. The French had cake. Vietnam welcomed the French colonial fleet into Haiphong. Any little thing.

So heck. I am really in favor of this tax. I say bring it on. Make my dream.

Can't resist. This is hilarious

This was really too much. Some things sort of explain themselves. If you are a student then you can read this. If you are not a student... Don't read this.

from Toronto Star, the best paper in the hole world today....

Mysterious spy coin simply poppycock

STEVE WHITE/CANADIAN PRESS FILE PHOTO

The poppy quarter, billed as the world’s first coloured coin, was introduced in 2004.

May 08, 2007 04:30 AM

Tim Harper
WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON–They jam parking meters, are spit out by pop machines and tossed back by insulted news vendors.

But at least the inglorious history of the sadsack Canadian coin south of the border no longer includes espionage allegations, now that the great "poppy quarter" spy caper has been unmasked as poppycock.

It turns out that the strange coin found in the cup holder of the Canadian car a U.S. defence contractor rented was, well, a quarter – with a red poppy inlay and a minting date of 2004.

Six of them would have bought him a large double-double at Tim Hortons, which distributed the special coins, and he would have been handed back something strange called a nickel.

Instead, the ominous-looking coin gave rise to an even stranger spy tale in this country – with the U.S. Defense Security Service warning that mysterious coins with radio transmitters appeared to have been planted on American army contractors as they travelled through Canada during 2005 and 2006.

Turns out the American officials were befuddled by protective coatings on the coin, which had been put in place to try to keep the red colour from smudging, something that marred the early 2004 printings of the coin, leaving on some a red blotch on the face of the Queen on the reverse side.

One contractor marvelled that the coin didn't seem to have a power source, but was filled with some sort of "nano-technology."

Another wondered how those things got into his pockets after he had put his loose change in a secure plastic bag.

"And you wonder why our war effort isn't going too well," said John Pike, a security and military analyst at GlobalSecurity.org.

The Canadian embassy tried to remain diplomatic.

"We knew loose lips sink ships, but loose change ... ?" said spokesperson Bernard Etzinger.

The mystery of the Canadian coins with the radio transmitters had haunted cyberspace for four months until it was resolved by the Associated Press yesterday.

The entire story appeared absurd, but the longer it lingered, the more it rankled, Canadian officials admit, and some observers are now wondering whether the original tale had now entered the pantheon of urban legend and will forever stick.

The fear is that it could be the next urban myth that Canadians must deal with down here, joining a list headed by the persistent tale of the 9/11 hijackers coming across the northern border.

"There will be a certain element which will never believe this story because they will believe the media is part of the conspiracy for covering this up," said James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, a rare American who actually owns a Canadian poppy quarter.

"And now I guess I'm part of the conspiracy. And all I got out of it was something worth 22 cents American. I can't even buy a Coke with this"

Documents obtained by AP showed the Canadian worries that the spy coin would enter the world of assumed fact.

The story making the rounds was that rivals of America – maybe Russia, China? – had counterfeited the coins and planted them on the U.S. contractors.

"That story about Canadians planting coins in the pockets of defence contractors will not go away," Luc Portelance, now deputy director for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, wrote in a January email to a subordinate.

"Could someone tell me more? Where do we stand and what's the story on this?"

Others in Canada's spy service also were searching for answers.

"We would be very interested in any more detail you may have on the validity of the comment related to the use of Canadian coins in this manner," another intelligence official wrote in an email. "If it is accurate, are they talking industrial or state espionage? If the latter, who?"

The identity of the email's recipient was censored in the documents obtained by AP.

Patrick Basham of the Washington-based The Democracy Institute says the original story could stick with the right-wing in America, which is convinced Canada is soft on terrorism. Stories of foreign enemies counterfeiting Canadian coins and using them to spy on Americans play perfectly to that constituency, he says.

"Two, three, four years from now I can see the (ambassador) Michael Wilson of the day earnestly explaining to some congressman that those coins were not really a security threat."

The Defense Security Service backed off its warning after it was publicized and a spokesperson said the information was never properly vetted.

"While these coins aroused suspicion, there ultimately was nothing there," said spokesperson Cindy McGovern.

The CIA has acknowledged using coins to transport bugging devices or film in the past, but no one could quite figure out the logic of planting them on adversaries.

"They have been used to hide a secret document or in co-operative tracking," said Jeff Richelson, an intelligence expert and author who has written extensively on U.S. espionage. "But coins are meant to be put in circulation. People don't keep them very long."

Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists, which tries to ferret out government secrecy, said the coin spy caper shows the type of military paranoia that can lead to overreaction.

"You just have to laugh because this case is an example of the excess of zeal in the intelligence community which has not been critically examined."

As Pike says, when spooks talk to other spooks, they rarely step back and ask simple questions that might be posed in the real world.

Blog updates and notes

1. Environmental crisis - part IV is still in drafts. It will be published soon with a fifty percent chance by morning next Sunday. It really depends on the re-read. Its been three drafts to this point.

2. Belinda Stronach. If you mirror Belindas picture and change her hair color to a dark brunette, there is a distinct resemblance to Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

3. Bill Gates. Some flamer using "the name" tried to sling one by. But unfortunately the information registered in the comments crossed the line to slander. This happens. He also claimed I didn't know copyright laws but didn't cite a single example of where I went wrong. I rather suspect he or she or both rather doesn't know them at all.

American copyright laws do not have the education exemption as of 1990, the last time I worked in journalism. It is one reason why the American education is so stupid. Common knowledge is copyrighted there. Canadian copyright laws work differently.

The major changes to Canadian copyright legislation in recent years involve electronic media and broadcasting... and graphic images aka photos. I cannot recall reading about any major changes to print copyright legislation. If you have anything actually uniquely intelligent to say, take another draft at it.

4. Radler is on the stand for day two. So far testimony has been as predicted. The bizarre thing is the persistent defense claim that Conrad Black didn't know about anything about it. Ya sure. Tens of millions show up in my bank account tax free, and I don't know anything about it? I don't think any jury member will believe that one.

5. Paris Hilton is off to jail. Apparently she claimed that she didn't realize that a suspended license also meant that she couldn't drive. One might suspect that there is a very remote possibility that Conrad may be her true father otherwise there might a definite genetic relationship. They seem to use the same legal excuse.

Hey! Maybe Paris will become a Canadian citizen too! Less jail time.

6. Several Toronto Police are up on corruption charges. They come from 14 division. They are alleged to have persistently run a referral service for the tow trucks. As yet the supervising authorities making these charges haven't come up with how the individual policemen benefited from such a relationship.

Last I looked a key component to making corruption charges stick in court was the amount of pay off and just what was the pay off. So these charges are just show. Any dimwitted defense lawyer can beat this set of charges from the information provided. Hell even a family court paralegal can beat these wraps.

The allegations so far published are really sketchy. And since this involves only one police precinct is this the only precinct? Read the story for yourself students. If you are not a student don't read this story.

Officers misled motorists, police allege

Use of towing firms called into question

ALAN CAIRNS

May 8, 2007

Four police officers are accused of forcing drivers of crashed and disabled automobiles into using certain tow-truck operators, according to internal discipline documents released yesterday.

The accusations involve 100 crashed cars that were whisked away by tow-truck drivers without owner permission, all of them in west-end 14 Division between January, 2005, and the summer of 2006.

In some cases, damaged vehicles were towed from accident scenes on an officer's order, even when the owner wanted to use a different towing company, according to the notices of hearings concerning the internal Police Act charges that were made available to reporters yesterday.

Dozens of vehicles were wrongly deemed unsafe and unnecessarily towed, the notices of hearings allege. At one accident scene, a woman who disagreed with an officer's assessment that her car had a bent frame and should be immediately towed was threatened with charges, it is alleged.

Toronto Police Constables Shawn Howard, Christopher Lee, Douglas Schouten and Joseph Labelle, all of 14 Division uniform patrol, collectively face 40 Police Act misconduct charges. None of the allegations have been tested in court.

There is no indication that the allegations are in any way linked, and the 40 charges give only a few details about the alleged tow violations. No motive is stated, nor suggested.

No tow-truck company is named in the notices of hearing.

The majority of incidents described in the documents stem from about 90 road accidents involving almost 100 drivers on streets like Dundas Street West, Bloor Street West, Dufferin Street, Lansdowne Avenue and Ossington Avenue.

Police procedure states that in the event of an accident, either the driver or the vehicle owner can choose the tow-truck company.

If the vehicle cannot be driven or cannot be safely removed from the road, or when the owner's tow choice cannot attend within a reasonable time, police officers - provided they have the driver or owner's permission - can call on a list of approved tow-truck companies.

Howard Moscoe, chairman of Toronto licensing and standards committee, declined to comment about the internal charges yesterday. "But I will say that the tow-truck drivers in this city make most of their money making illegal deliveries for garages ... and they will do anything to get the vehicle to their preferred garage," he said. "Some of them are extremely inventive. I would not be surprised to know they use some of their influence on police officers to direct tows."

The allegations came to light last week when the charges were mentioned at the police tribunal in front of reporters who were there to observe an unrelated case.

Mike Abbott, director of uniform services for the Toronto Police Association, was there on behalf of the absent officers and waived a reading of the charges on that day, as the matter was put over until next month.

Reporters requested the Police Act notices of hearing, and after a four-day wait they got the documents yesterday.

Constable Lee faces 14 charges, two of which refer to allegations from 34 different accident scenes on major west-end streets. The notice of hearing alleges Constable Lee "arranged or directed" the towing of vehicles "without the direction, or contrary to the direction of the owner or driver."

Constable Howard is alleged to have directed the towing of 17 crash vehicles and "misinformed" 10 other people that their vehicles were "unsafe to drive and required towing" when it was not necessary.

Constable Schouten allegedly directed nine cars to tow trucks and directed two other vehicles to a non-contract pound.

Constable Labelle allegedly directed five vehicles to be towed and two vehicles to be unnecessarily towed.

The notice of hearing also alleges that in an accident between a civilian and a tow-truck driver, Constable Labelle verbally "chastised" a woman who complained that the tow-truck driver had refused to give her any licence information.

"You shouted at Ms. D.T. and chastised her for calling the police. You asked Ms. D.T. if she was aware that that police had better things to do than attend such a minor call," the charge alleges.

Toronto Police Service spokesman Mark Pugash declined to comment on the charges yesterday, saying it would be "improper" to discuss any case before the tribunal.

- Globe and Mail, today...

A Surprise

Oh here's a surprise. Now its I told you so time. Almost forty years ago, before it was fashionable, I was urging Northern Ontario to aggressively separate from the hideous leeches of Queen's Park.

While you read this article from today's Star and if you are a Northern Ontario resident, remember this crap next time. And realize that not a single farthing, or penny collected from any tax like this will go back into Northern Ontario, it all go into things improving the government limousine service in Toronto or a thirty pay increase for southern a$$hole politicians.

Conclusion. This is an I told you so article. Its time for a Northern Ontario Party specifically representing Northern Ontario and working feverishly for a new province or completely separate country if Ottawa proves equally ignorant to the long ignored Northern Ontario. Its time to leave.

* The following article is sourced from that money pig, Liberal loving, Northern Ontario hating newspaper the Star ...today's issue. Its purpose is solely intended for the education of the many students that read this blog and not for commercial purposes.


**************

Diamond tax dooms investment, northerners say TheStar.com - News - Diamond tax dooms investment, northerners say

May 06, 2007

Chinta Puxley
Canadian Press

A paragraph buried deep in the Ontario budget is crushing burgeoning optimism that northerners will see a renewed mining boom fuelled by exploration for diamonds, nickel and other mineral deposits.

The province's first diamond mine is one year away from starting production, but that didn't stop the governing Liberals from quietly introducing a new tax of up to 13 per cent on any diamonds mined in Ontario in their March budget.

To many in the province's north, that paragraph in the stack of budget papers – which came as a surprise to northerners and the mining industry alike – represents a grave threat to hope that's been building in remote communities.

Many say the tax is a signal to prospective investors and exploration companies that Ontario is prepared to single out any mineral and slap on a royalty before any mine even begins operation.

"Are they trying to kill the north?" asked Wayne Taipale, mayor of Moosonee, Ont., just south of James Bay. "What are they trying to do? Stop the development? Right now, we really need it. With the timber industry dying, there are no jobs."

Hope has been scarce as well, Taipale said. Young people don't see the point in going to university or college since they are just going to drive a cab or work behind the counter in a local store, he said.

The De Beers Victor diamond mine in nearby Attawapiskat changed all that, he said. The diamond giant is spending $1 billion to build the mine, employing many local people in the process and creating 400 local jobs, he said.

"I've been here for 49 years in Moosonee, I've never seen work like that," Taipale said. "We're all feeling the same way. We're very uncertain now what's going to happen here. This just feels like someone has put nails in the coffin for the north."

The tax isn't enough to stop the Victor project, but Timmins Mayor Tom Laughren said it's enough to deter other potential investors. It's a short-sighted tax grab given just one more $1-billion diamond mine would inject more into provincial coffers than this tax, he added.

"There is a lot of exploration going on in the north, specifically for diamonds," Laughren said. "My fear is it may trigger people to look elsewhere just because the tax regime will be uncertain."

That's a distinct possibility, said PriceWaterhouseCoopers mining tax expert John Gravelle. Exploration companies look for stable tax regimes – something Canada and Ontario has always offered, he said.

"This makes Ontario look less stable given that it has increased its tax quite substantially – two-and-a-half to three times higher," Gravelle said, adding companies also look for a fair application of taxes.

"There is no real reason why diamonds should be taxed any differently than other metals such as gold and nickel."

Opposition Leader John Tory vowed to roll back the tax, if he is elected premier in October, on a recent trip up north.

But Finance Minister Greg Sorbara said there are several good reasons behind the tax. Ontario is simply following the lead of the Northwest Territories, which has a similar tax rate, he said.

"We have to remember that the diamonds that are going to be extracted belong to the people of Ontario and we have to make sure that there is a fair return for the people of Ontario," Sorbara said in an interview.

To suggest that having a "single and similar royalty rate for the diamond extraction industry" will scare away other investment in the north is just "fear-mongering," Sorbara said.

Singling out any other Ontario metal or mineral is "simply not in the cards," he added.

Tory said it's not surprising that other companies would lose faith in the government's word given that the Liberals hiked diamond taxes less than a year after Premier Dalton McGuinty welcomed De Beers with open arms at their ground-breaking.

"To have that very same government turn around and just shaft these people and do a tax grab in the middle of the night, I think is inexcusable," Tory said. "It sends all the wrong signals . . . to every industry."

The province should roll back the tax before sitting down with people in the mining industry to set a fair standard going forward, said Tory.

The company that inspired the tax in the first place said it doesn't expect the government to change its mind now.

The best De Beers can hope for now is a "tax holiday," which would give the mine a chance to get up and running, said De Beers spokesperson Linda Dorrington. The mine represents a sliver of Ontario's overall mineral production value, she added.

"We feel that they've not really thought this royalty through," she said. "For a small amount of income coming into the government treasury, they're creating a very big negative effect."

MSN and the "Street"

Stock market analysts are wetting their pants. The prospect of Micrsoft and Yahoo merging is driving little dreams of all those wonderful commissions they are going to get. That is if the merger goes through.

And reports are totally conflicting. One report says they are talking others say they are not. Is MSN contemplating hiring JP Ricciardi for this job?

"The Street" forgot one thing. The users of Yahoo. I use Yahoo because I detest Microsoft's (MSN) online product with its overwhelming unfriendly memory gobbling internet slowing software. I am not alone.

Stock market analysts love this sort of thing. They go 5+5=10. So wrong. They forgot Yahoo's clients.

"The Street" probably should do more research because obviously their analysts do not get this. Anywhere from half to as much as eighty percent of Yahoo's present customers will move away from Yahoo most likely to Google.

Gates is getting hypoxia from to many high flights in the biz jet. Ever since he semi-retired to bath in the milk of his wealth his company has been wallowing in technical farce.

If MSN wishes to improve its market share then it has to clean up its user pages, remove 50% of the ads per page and get fundamental. Another hint, restore the adult sites that MSN arbitrarily removed last year. Without much notice MSN in a fit of

Indeed a couple of years ago Yahoo decided to get a new aggressive CEO. Well guess what. All those nitty plans didn't work out. Religious people complain about adult group sites only because they are under the idiotic belief that if a person isn't looking at porn they will click over to their website to be saved.

The level of advertising on Yahoo is also increasing especially on its Messenger software. About two years ago it closed in on thousands of adult oriented group sites. Then they have the temerity to complain about loss of business. It too is getting ad heavy.

Google gained that business that Yahoo, and MSN abused. There is a fine line between being concerned with extreme porn sites and complete prudishness. In today's world the top five internet activities are Porn, Music, Photos, Blogging and Chats. MSN and Yahoo abused their users in most of those activities in the last two years.

Google succeeds because their software works cleanly and appears more unobtrusive in every single category. That does more for their success than anything.

The MSN and Yahoo merger looks good on paper. But in rl (real life) its going to be the biggest waste of 50Billion in the internet planet's short history.

Woe the Modern Philosopher

Woe the modern philosopher
Unemployed by society
Once the choice of babe groupies
Now the ghost of empty rooms
Lost loves in confusion
Romance gravely slow
Stuck in moral piety
The frustration of the real goal
Wanting to learn how the Universe works
Now that I know it
Only to find that no one wants to know...
They got Black Berry's.


© All rights reserved, Toronto 2007

Microshopht decides to buy Eiawhooo

A break from saving the planet.

Tis really big. Well the reason I state that the proposed stupid idea of Mykroschopht buying Yaywhore is actually close to reality is because where I first heard it. I heard it, a full minute report, on a media station which didn't report the Virginia Tech Massacre until it was six hours old and then only one line of script. Yes I heard it over the all sports station theFAN 590.

This is BIG. OH very BIG.

****************

And here is the stupid thing about the deal. People who use Yaywhore positively, absolutely and to the grave, detest Mykroschopht and the Bush loving swinging gates. It only means that most of these alienated customers migrate to join Goooogull. So the winner of the merger will only help the last named company. When the purchase is made it is Gooooooogull that will win the bulk of those clients.

I don't think any government will interfere since such a transaction will mean the disruption of so many liberal types. Its a done deal. Except if the people at Mykroschopht realize that this is a monumental brain fart and a complete waste of an enormous amount of cash.

In one way I hope this deal does enter the next phase. I wanted an answer to whether any executive is really all that stupid. We are about to witness such an event.

Environmental crisis - part 3 - The Real Impact

Impact... Interesting word striking an effort. In the last two blog entries of this series we began exploring the crisis. This week Al Gore stated that the present environmental planning of the Conservative minority government regarding global warming was a fraud.

Certainly John Baird walks the fine line of appearing like a tiger regarding the environment while protecting his investment portfolio and his network of staggering rich buddies. The Conservative led minority government certainly appears new to the environment game. And a game it is.

Flying

Impact of flying. You see. Al Gore is flying around Canada. So is John Baird. A single traveler would cause less environmental damage by driving from city to city than to fly the distance. Also note that the great David Suzuki also flies around Canada trying to stop Global Warming.

Modern communication technology and modern architecture has eliminated the need for airplane travel. Business men do not have to travel from city to city. They can Conference Call by phone. With cameras over the internet a large group meeting can take place. And so on.

Choices. What if you said to a Chief Executive of any company who wants to fly to a branch plant a thousand miles away that he was only allowed to go by ground in a car or train, one can bet that there would be a phone call or internet chat as the alternative. Anyone should realize the majority of all airplane trips are unnecessary.

Driving

Much the same ratio applies to cars. If the gas prices are high people finally start asking whether or not this particular trip to the local corner store is really unnecessary if one finds that the car broke down and the short journey must be on foot.

One of the greatest ironies of modern North American or European existence is the use of a car to drive only a couple of miles to allow a person to go exercise at a gym or park. Long known is that a good long walk of any speed is the best possible exercise.

Indeed, every country could easily meet most of if not all Kyoto targets by restricting all unnecessary trips. I heard once an accurate assessment. It isn't the car that pollutes. It is the driver.

The Real Impact

One doesn't have to go too far to understand the real impact of global warming. The modern evaluations of the impact of Global Warming to paint the environment with a latex like coating of palatability. What is being expounded in most media is actually the best case scenario.

What is patently obvious and totally understandable is that the environmental wizbangers are just as guilty of understating the environmental impact of carbon fueled motive systems. People complain about polluting cars but not about the polluting jet aircraft that will wing them to a tropical winter vacation. So a large measure of self interest pervades the detail of the real problem.

The direction of Global Warming is far quicker than even the Kyoto Treaty solution. Kyoto was a comprimise solution. Anyone who actually studies this problem and is cursed with an embedded amalgam of honesty realizes that none of this will work. The Kyoto solution only slows the problem not reverses the direction of the gasification of the Terran biosphere.

Pretty snazzy words huh. But they are meant to convey a muted image of the real scenario by the use of techie bureau words.

The truth. The impact of Global Warming. In plain language.

100% certainty

Dislocation of large numbers of humans. And why?

About one hundred metres rise of sea levels in one hundred years globally. That is one metre or three feet per year on average.

All of Holland. Most of Denmark. Guyana. Vietnam (Mekong), Bangla Desh. Friesland in Deutshland. The Amazon basin. Prince Edward Island. A lot of Maritime Canada. New York. All of Manhattan. Any city in less than 80 metres ASL all gone.

One fifth of all humans rich or poor, regardless of race, on this planet will be displaced if our present lifestyle doesn't change. And they will all move to high ground.

Most of the coral islands in the Caribbean and Pacific. And every single major estuary under water. And this includes Canada.

Small minds surrounding John Baird give poor advice. They paint a rather sketchy sketch. What they are not telling anyone is that the rise in water will move the Atlantic up the St. Lawrence all the way up to Toronto. The new beach of a saline Lake Ontario will lap at King and Bay streets.

Grenadier Pond will have to be renamed Grenadier Bay. The recently renamed Skydome to Rogers Centre will get another name change to Rogers Marina. The ACC will have a new sport... water polo. Ontario Place will become Ontario Reef. And the suggestion about replacing the Gardiner, no problem it will be a causeway. And Captain John's floating restaurant will be wharved at the Royal York.

All those fancy homes on Toronto Island gone. Toronto Island Airport gone. Under 80 feet of salty water. Half of Hamilton all of downtown gone, okay so not all is that bad. All of Kingston, Belleville, Coburg. Fifty percent of Montreal... gone. Blub blub.

Its easy to figure out. Lake Ontario is listed about 230'ASL on the flight charts. Thats one hundred feet too low. Get one of those topological maps and draw a line around the 350' level. That's the new beach.

On the west coast. All of Victoria, Nanaimo. Port Alberni most of Vancouver, Richmond, Surrey, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, gone. Oh all the west coast cities including Hope, Prince Rupert. Blub blub.

And here is the real irony 70' feet of water weighs a lot. So that not only will there be flooding but the extra weight of water on that part of the earth's crust will cause that area to sink further. So in two hundred years that high water mark could be as much as 380' and sinking annually.

Niagara Falls will fall directly into this new saline estuary. Its simple take a look at the altitudes. Remember anything under about 100 meters or 330' ASL will be under water if all the planets ice melts. And there is no diking system build that will cope with all the damage.

Now the John Baird, the MacKenzie Institute, and the Harper Conservatives whine about the cost of Canada's participation without giving the gigantic relocation costs if we do nothing. These alleged business people fail to extend the total cost profile regarding global warming.

Worst of all most of the globally dislocated peoples will look around for High Ground. And these are genuine refugees will move to that high ground. Canada will be forced to accept these refugees or face war.

80% Certainty

And don't Global Warming doesn't work. Not all the planet will get warmer. The Ocean currents are certain to either change or disappear. But this change is still unpredictable so we put it into the lower certainty.

It is likely that Norway, Sweden, Finland, Britain... Oh hell. All of Europe. All will get colder, much colder approaching. Iceland will truly be a land of Ice.

A Bowl of Cornflakes

If the Arctic and Antarctic Ice Caps disappear it means that the cold southerly flow of cold water will change and the Gulf Stream will certainly change course if not disappear altogether. It will make for a change of climate in Greece from the present balmy climate to the equivalent to that found in present day Hay River or Thunder Bay. So much for that years olive crop. France will have to learn to make Ice wine or Bourjelais de Ka Ka. The entire agricultural capacity of Europe will disappear including that of the Russian and Ukraine Steppes.

For the sake of brevity, I will not go into the huge damage to the natural environment. Hundreds of species will become extinct or to perilously low population levels. Vegetation will need time to adjust to the new climates. Huge tracts of agricultural land will become non-arable. Human starvation on a massive uncontrollable scale will occur.

These forecasts are accurate. They come from forty years of study, observation and impersonal discussion. I just want to impress on the reader the real face of Global Warming. It is poorly named. It should be called Global Heating. This is the face, the real face of the crisis. It isn't like a Love Canal or the Chernobyl disaster. Those were local issues, serious issues yes but still a localized problems. Humans and governments can cope with those issues.

This effects the planet's atmosphere. The improper and careless use of carbon fuels effects all the planet because the atmosphere blankets the entire planet not just part of it. It effects everyone. It effects future generations of humans and all life on this planet. We are pissing on a bowl of our own cornflakes.