All the help

Politics haunts the land. For the global problems, us digital watchers seek outside help.

Millertime

Miller backs away from running again.
People snicker in the knowledge that he wouldn't
have won again.

Its a conspiracy of the left. David Miller abandoned
the left wing and now he can't garner support
from the same group.
The civic strike did him in.
Much like torture though,
it will take 14 months to see
the saloon door slap that ass.

Hidden spignals

Wifi signals lack strength today. It means no photo. Been conspiring to get goal posts for rugby and soccer. For the park. They are needed.

Back at ya in 24.

uMine

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Car Freak day

Today is car free day. I am in there. No car at all. Busy as heck though.

She didn't leave any room on her bench for any company.

So I won't tell her where to pick up the free car.

In memory of a person and the national folly

Remember the name and face of Jonathan Couturier, who achieved the age of 23, and no more. Couturier represents the worst fear of a Conservative government perilously clinging to political power. In its short mandate, the Conservative government of Canada changed the operational goals of the Canadian military from one of security and reconstruction to one of outright combat and killing. Couturier died because of that flawed strategy. Couturier's words beg to haunt the Canadian government unlike any other critic before.

An obscure Taliban soldier ended Couturier's promising life by setting up an explosive trap. On the one hand, the political supporters of this war would have you believe that this was a cowardly terrorist attack. Nothing could be further from the truth. That Taliban was a soldier who planted a weapon to rid his homeland of an invader. Terrorists attack unarmed noncombatants indiscriminately. This was an attack on another armed soldier who was carrying a weapon pointed at his interpretation of freedom, and his life. Its the type of message not likely to be spread in Couturier's homeland. Couturier, a private, the lowest rank in the army, recognized the patently obvious about this war, he said, referring to his own army in the third person "... they are wasting their time over there."

Couturier appears not to be the only one in the army who died and expressed those same opinions. It appears that their is a schism in the ranks of the Canadian military. In the view of those with the rank of Major and higher, the war is a good thing. It appears that at the company level and down there is growing discontent and another message permeating through the army. One problem that the Stephen Harper led government will be encountering is that in a democracy the word of a Private carries the same validity as the word of a General.

Couturier's words ring true. He was fed up. He did say that we are wasting our time. He died the 131st Canadian casualty in that futile war.

Lets put this into context. It was in 2002 that Canadians entered Afghanistan. Only 131 Canadians have died. This is a terrible number, but compared with most wars, compared with most deadly conflicts it is barely a scratch militarily. It is about the number of a single company of infantry complete with officers.

The problem remains in the original goals. Our original goals were to rebuild their infrastructure to usability and train their army to defend itself. Ultimately its the Afghans who must defend themselves and provide their own security. Its been about seven years. Just how long does it take to train a fucking police officer or soldier. In the Canadian army its eleven weeks of boot camp. In the Canadian police academy, about two years to train a constable. Just what has our military been doing over there. Obviously not what they say they were going to do, obviously they lack the competency to train an Army or that would have been done a long time ago.

It is a good dedicated person just like Couturier who points us in the right direction, much like another hero Terry Fox did. Unlike any other soldier who might desert, Couturier died at his post. He did not abandon his duty. Lets get focused on training up the Afghans and getting the hell out of their country.

Greyhound update

Good news for a change. Greyhound Bus Lines and the government(s) of Canada are sitting down and talking. The bus company stepped up first and withdrew its ominous threat to withdraw vital transportation service to the more remote areas of Canada. The provincial and federal governments stated they are more willing to help Greyhound if the company was willing to provide it with the financial data on the routes that were not economically viable at the present time.

Greyhound's profit margins have never been over the top. Recent rises in fuel costs and the sudden economic decline impacted the areas that would have seen a cessation of bus service. Economies are cyclic and resources the same cycles and more so. The government(s) supported other sectors of the economy why would Northern Ontario and Manitoba not likewise supported. At the moment, bus service has been preserved.

Warning, warning about H1N1

Warning, Warning about H1N1

This you should be aware of. It concerns H1N1 influenza or Swine Flu.

The contagious period for Swine Flu appears to researchers to be longer than first thought, and much longer than the normal flu virus. This is perhaps the reason why the disease continued to spread out of Mexico so swiftly despite quick response and detection by local health authorities.

Apparently, humans continue to shed the contagion about two weeks after the symptoms have completely disappeared from the host. Normal influenza hangs on for about 24-72 hours after the symptoms abate.

From USA Today,

"We were a bit surprised to see patients who were still positive on Day 12," Lye told the American Society for Microbiology in San Francisco.

This means that instead of going back to your work, or having co workers return to the work place on short turn around from the flu, companies should keep these employees on a 14 day leave after the disease appears clear in the victim.

So if you do catch this influenza be aware that you are still sick for two weeks after you feel you're not.

Greyhound crisis

Greyhound thinks its in a driver’s position in its fight to get $15M out of the various governments. Holding peoples of Northern Ontario and Manitoba hostage appears to work for the Limeys and Yanks that now run the bus line. To save a lot of ink, simply they are vile kidnappers and extortionists.

If I were residing in Northern Ontario I would crapping furious. It matters little if Greyhound backs out of its position and maintains service. The thought of it steams me.

For the last thirty years, I’ve been advocating Northern Ontario independence. This stands as another reason to set a course to freedom. A long list of federal and provincial governments, constantly mismanaged the northern economy. Compared with the early 1960s, its in tatters.

There are countermeasures that can the municipal governments in Northern Ontario can take now. They must be united though. Simply put, they ban Greyhound from entering their jurisdictions. If every community on highways 11 and 17 forbid the bus line from stopping, servicing or refueling or switching drivers, this would cause Greyhound second thought.

It all depends on the Cities of Thunder Bay, Sault St. Marie, Winnipeg and Sudbury falling into line. It would mean that every Greyhound bus travelling north of Parry Sound would not be legally able to stop til it reached the Saskatchewan border. No bus carrying people can do that.

Greyhound assumes that it still can keep the Winnipeg to Toronto run going. The province must step up and remove an exemption that Greyhound has always enjoyed. The provincial government could insist that all buses which are not permitted to stop and pick up or discharge passengers, must now stop in every truck weigh scale and endure safety inspection. There are about four stations to the Manitoba border.

People in each community, Greyhound serves now could protest. Having demonstrators meet the bus at every stop carries a powerful message.

In the winter, snow plowing personnel can stall all these units. What the Yanks and Limeys forget is that all these bus routes work fine in the summer and warm weather but it’s a long way from Parry Sound to Winnipeg and back. There are just so many things that people can do.

Of course this may seem weird but I also find that the Greyhound request for aid is totally appropriate. They did give good service to these areas. And the decline in the economy has hit these areas hard. It hit Greyhound similarly. The federal and provincial governments gave out billions to underwrite their stock broker and banker buddies. The federal government sends billions to prop up drug running warlords in Afghanistan.

It would be inexcusable not to help Greyhound maintain essential service during this economically difficult time. Its not the level of support for Greyhound, it’s the method of their request that truly makes one furious.

Ban the bike part 4

The interview with Prof. Rellim Van Otnorot continues. Part four.

Otnorot finishes:

Factual evidence provided by the pro-bicycle lobby is spurious at best. One instance of the deceptive information is the issue of bike lanes. To support the argument they trot out the example of Holland to be applied to the Canadian context. The only thing similar about Holland and Canada resides in the people and culture. Out of 180 nations in the entire world, they trot out Holland? In geography, climate, topography, and sheer size generates no comparative whatsoever.

They want bike lanes along narrow routes dedicated, exclusively to the few bicyclists that commute in Canada. They cite road safety as we discussed before. What most cyclists really want is a free pass through traffic. They pay no road related taxes. They are not required to have any liability insurance. The vast majority of cyclists run stop lights, run stop signs, and open doors of street cars. The vast majority of cyclists use sidewalks beyond necessity. They will only adhere to laws when it is convenient for themselves.

The police practice lazy fair when it comes to enforcing traffic laws. Oh sometimes the senior staff has a brain wave and conducts “a blitz”. Blitz is bureau speak to encourage their staff to actually do their work which is to enforce the law. Never mind the blitz. When a bike is stolen, the police rarely makes any move to recover it. Law enforcement practices discretionary enforcement in the area of cycles. A stolen bike, is stolen property, period. For the victim its as serious as if a bank was robbed. The attitude of police sucks.

The other users also practice lazy fair. Call the police and politicians when there is any infraction by someone on a bicycle. Pedestrians do the same. They can't take the trouble. Police and politicians only when compelled by complaint. To solve the bicycle issue it takes a drastic social change. The reason is that the problem has gotten this out of control is that society has ignored it.

The solution to the issue is neither complex nor difficult. It appears drastic. The solution demands that it change attitudes in a very short time. The first step is to Ban the Bike.

To some it appears drastic. It is. Unlike the failed efforts at registration and attitude change, changing the attitudes of cyclists and society, requires a shock treatment. I never said Ban the Bike permanently. Desirably the date of the ban would begin in a November.

As of that date, driver licensing changes to include all ages and all vehicles. Every driver must be tested. A special category on the license to permit the operation of active or human powered transport. To encourage the license of young riders, allow good penalty free ridership means a reduction in the probationary period to obtain a motor vehicle license and a reduction in the insurance rates on the first ownership of motor vehicles. This allows youth to accumulate a good traffic behavior before they ever drive a car and own one.

Every vehicle using public roads must be registered, plated and possess valid liability insurance. It includes bikes. A call reporting center be set up for a period of five years to take calls on all complaints regarding bicycle law breakage and theft.

This will give most riders time to establish those criteria. For the very few, professional riders like bike couriers in Toronto and Ottawa special transition times and methods can be negotiated if they apply for the time exemption to take a driver's test. Then all cyclists must now have a driver's license, registration and insurance on their vehicles.

The reason for this type of social action resides in observing the failure of the gun registry in Canada. It would have been far better to set a ban date for guns than the complex bazaar of critical dates involved. In a way setting the Ban the Bike day, then preparing the groundwork to bring the vehicle back into a new regime is easier on the psyche of the society and allows the public road users a definitive direction of choice.

FMPD: So your saying Ban them. Then let them come back on the streets. Yes.

Better shoot that dog

Greyhound Inc. is not only changing colours, its changing. After going through several ownership changes in the last twenty years the stability of the venerable company appears threatened. Presently it is owned by a limey company with the unlikely name of FirstPlace PLC. PLC must stand for pretty lousy company.

Historically, Greyhound fought Via rail subsidies to bring passenger transport to those communities along Hwy's 11 and 17. It also backed the 1987 deregulation of the National Transportation Act.

Before that, it was a law in Canada that no company may serve a route for less than the operational cost per passenger, or seat, or per parcel pound. Since Via Rail of that time was government owned it could receive government subisidies on fare schedules under cost. No more Dominion or Canadian on the Superior routes and only spasmodic rail passenger service outside that corridor.

Now a past supporter of deregulation, becomes a victim of that deregulation. More efficient small firms have emerged like Mega Bus which cherry picks the good routes so much that they have rates between Toronto and Montreal lower than the cost per seat. Before Greyhound got bought by Laidlaw, they were doing very good in the markets they served in Canada.

Greyhound kept expanding to the point of inefficiency. At if you cannot see it, above the two buses in the picture is a wall mural ad for MegaBus flogging a $1 standby fare to Montreal. Now instead of admitting that this is where the main problem is, Greyhound prefers to have vulnerable people in Northern Ontario and Manitoba held hostage.

The reason for this political kidnapping is not the high costs of operations in Northern Ontario. It is the heat from the competition in the major intercity routes.

The solution is simple actually. Greyhound should be given $15M for the next three years. Government must reintroduce a new National Transportation Act where the fares charged to passengers must compensate the operational cost of that seat. Second, if any new bus carrier enters service between major cities it must also service all points in between at least once a day each way.

For passengers it might seem more expensive, but in the longer term it will bring stability to the transportation market. Or if Greyhound continues to be troublesome, shoot that damn dog.

Occupational hazard

Walking along Dundas,

Waiting for the street car,

Hoping to connect,

But with three blocks to walk,

Why wait I said strolling along,

Looking back,

Seeing the street car roll on by.

Ban the cycles part three - Injury pronation

The interview with Prof. Rellim Van Otnorot continues. Part three.

FMPD: Moving on from the arguments regarding environment bicycles are efficient designs. It was bicycle mechanics that invented the airplane after all.

OTNOROT: Yes and flying in an airplane is far safer per passenger mile than a bicycle. Bicycles do efficiently convert human power into motion to move a single person. Yet, like I said before, they would not be approved for use on modern roads if the device was introduced today.

The standard bicycle has a very high center of gravity. Two wheels means the stability is determined by the athletic skill of the rider, not by any mechanical stability. Three wheel vehicles are more stable. Four wheel vehicles are the most stable.

Clothing entrapment occurs in the exposed power train. The steering mechanisms can be knocked off by road dangers and curbs. No passenger protection exists on the vehicle in the case of accident or collision. Many accident injuries occur due to entanglement in bicycle features.

We demand by law that other vehicles using tax payer funded public roadways to have passenger protections. To date the political leadership of North America have not legally demanded that bicycles be made operationally safe. Clearly the leading unsafe vehicle on those roadways is the bicycle.

Yes bicycle fatalities are far less due to the lower usage and lower speeds. But all the various accident statistical records point to the fact that one is far more likely to be injured on a bicycle than any other commonly used vehicle. Many bicycle accidents are not reported because the injuries are not severe, but injuries do happen.

Bicycle couriers, very experienced cyclists tumble off of bicycles frequently. Yes some don't but many do. They almost never report any injury unless they must be hospitalized. Per capita, a committed cyclist will suffer some sort of cycling injury once every five years. Inexperienced cyclists are the most likely to suffer injury on a per kilometer basis.

From a health cost standpoint, bicycles add extra burden to health care costs than most other vehicles on a per capita basis. If cyclists equaled the numbers of motorists health costs would be doubled. The goal of getting people out of cars onto bicycles isn’t economical. The future of bicycles as a mode is rather limited as you can see.

Ban the bicyle Part II

The interview with Prof. Rellim Van Otnorot continues. Part two.

FMPD: Ban the Bicycle?

OTNOROT: Ban it. Statistical and factual evidence indicates such a drastic path. The advocates of bicycles provide enough evidence for this themselves.

FMPD: They do?

OTNOROT: Yes they do. By simply lobbying for exclusive bicycle lanes they provide evidence support banning the bike. Understand one thing. Bicycles were only meant to be an interim step of human mobility.

As soon as the small motor evolved, it was mated to the bicycle. The technology of the motorcycle still exceeds the quality of any modern bicycle. Over the years motorcycle design substantially lowered the center of gravity closer to the roadway and broadened the width of tires to provide more stability. One of the most dangerous aspects of the bicycle has been its vehicular instability due to the very high center of gravity.

Bicycles only predated the motor car by only fifty years as a mechanical substitute for the horse in an urban environment. Its all in the timing. If the invention of the bicycle was today, the vehicle design would never be approved for use on the tax payer funded roadways. No question, these are unsafe vehicles.

Recumbent bicycles which do have a low center of gravity, are operationally uncomfortable and a paradox to the physical aspects of animal mobility. Where physical exertion is required the head should be comfortably level and vision unimpaired.

In the recumbent design, the head follows the body. I didn't like the knees bouncing up into my sightlines and my feet pumping up and down. Recumbent position during physical activity in the passive attitude diminishes the biological advantages of traditional animal evolution. All this counters all genetic evolution. In all animal design since the Cambrian epoch, where the body is close to the horizontal during the physical exertion of movement, head goes before asshole.

FMPD: Are you saying that bicycles aren't safe?

OTNOROT: No. The bicycle lobby points to this lack of safety.

FMPD: How do you mean?

OTNOROT: Carefully examine the issue of dedicated bicycle lanes. Its all how you interpret all the data and evidence usually provided all by the bicycle lobbyists themselves. The cyclists insist that they should have exclusive use of the public roadways in dedicated lanes.

They insist that they are the champions of society and the environment. When it is easily proven by their own statistics that the bicycle is actually far more inefficient per mile in the terms of fuel use, and hydro-carbon emissions than the automobile.

Now understand, that due to my studies, I believe that the hydro-fueled electric vehicle is the most efficient energy vehicle outside of the electric rail locomotive. But in the energy profiles conversion provided by the cyclists insist that their mode of transport is environmentally more sound. Humans are terrible energy converters compared with the mechanical reciprocating engine.

The classic court case for all this is found Scott vs. the Queen. Wayne Scott, an advocate of active transport, challenged Revenue Canada to allow bicycle couriers to receive equal treatment to contract motorized couriers. Contract car and truck couriers received a tax exemption related to the energy consumed in delivering cargo. The long and the short of it is that Scott won the court battle and Revenue Canada was compelled to let contract bicycle courier an energy cost exemption of about $11.00 or the daily cost of food in receipts.

The concept was called food as energy. And a very valid argument it is because bicycle couriers do eat more than most other people because their occupation requires food energy. Yet, where one carefully examine the energy cost profiles of gasoline powered vehicles versus the profiles of human powered vehicles (e.g. bicycles), gas engine power always proves far more efficient than the latter.

Cyclists always cite the emissions of gas motors. This is true, but when discussing that environmental aspect they never, ever, never, ever let the human powered energy cycle into the equation for equal scrutiny.

Their arguments in this fact and other facts are always dramatically one sided. Almost always no one has the gonads to challenge their contentions. Their planks should be contested. Its always their facts, and always a position of severe bias. Here is my contention. In the end result, human power vehicles probably produce more air pollution than the motor vehicle.

Human power needs food. Almost always that food is brought in by truck, ship or airplane from distant places. That extra food, that extra energy, already costs more. The calorie fuel cost of food exceeds the calorie benefit to the human powered vehicle.

And, one cannot use the total calorific nutritional benefit of the food intake. One must discount the fact that most of the food value is not absorbed by the body. Rather, most of the material is passed through the bowel. Cyclists, in their version of the universe seem to eat more but don't shit as much. In short, the cyclist's lobby expounds total crap.

Using the dollar value of energy illuminated by Scott vs. the Queen, a cyclist can safely move about 15kg per day over about 100km. These figures you must understand are estimates. Locations, routes and specific vehicles vary. Cyclists always exclude bicycles from the energy cost equations. Always remember that there is a fuel cost per dollar of food already in the equations. A courier driver can move 200kg(plus) over 200km per day at the same dollar/energy unit value.

Bicycles must move cargo and the operator/motor. The laws of physics demand energy versus weight to lift. Once you include all the energy cycles. Once the sources of energy are included, then one can see the inefficiency of human power. The ultimate fuel in the blood is glucose of some sort. Muscle cells burn oxygen in a oxidizing chemical reaction and that sugar burns to an energy unit to provide sufficient power.

Cyclists always state that they do not pollute the urban landscape. Horse feathers. Any oxidation of hydrocarbons regardless of the type of energy converter, produces carbon dioxide. And for cyclists their exhausts come out of two systems. Lung respiration expels carbon dioxide a global warming gas. Extra effort to move cargo delivers that much more carbon dioxide. Their digestive tracts expel all sorts of gases like all other animals. More food means more fart gas.
The energy cost per Kg is more expensive when delivered by the bicycle or any human powered vehicle.

FMPD: And this means!

OTNOROT: It means that as energy converters in transport movers bicycles are very poor. Bicycles require human power. Humans barely possess the power to move their own weight. The fuel consumption of human power exceeds the comparable gross fuel consumption of motor vehicles. The environmental damage in the real equation regarding mass per kilojoule is worse for human power vehicles than motor vehicles. Humans are enormously inefficient energy converters.

So banning the bike means less, not more pollution. Use all the calorie/power equations, not just those inadequate biased arguments provided by the bicycle lobby. To save the environment - Ban Bikes!

FMPD: In your version of the situation, there seems to be no significant energy or environmental savings to use the bicycle.

OTNOROT: Only with the movement of cargo. When a person moves only that person bicycles do fare better. There are savings, although cyclists need more energy food per kilometer, when the rider is compared to the driver.

End of part 2.

One of the good things about city parks in Toronto is simple watching
and appreciating the finer things in life.

Look at those legs. Look at the rear end. Look at the figure. That is one determined Yorkie.

Ban the Bicycle - Part 1

Prof. Rellim Van Otnorot, LLB, QC, GL

With the absence of piles, and the legal battles to begin to recover our trash we hired legal expert Prof. Rellim van Otnorot to lead the impending court actions and to register his opining opinions. There was a lot of “to's” in the opening. Regardless here is a transcript of the first discussion.

FMPD: Good day Prof. Van Otnorot.

OTNOROT: (nods) Hello Friends. A fine morning to you. Do I bill for this?

FMPD: No this is not legal work regarding the recovery of our garbage and dump status. The readers would like to know where your brilliant legal mind lies.

OTNOROT: Sounds pretty chintzy to me. Go ahead though.

FMPD: Recently, there was a dispute between a former Cabinet Minister, Michael Bryant and a bike courier, Darcy Sheppard. What do you think Prof?

OTNOROT: Terrible tragedy. Terrible. This is going to be a very difficult legal case to bring to court. Every one seems to forget that a person lost life and he had four children.

FMPD: How would you solve this crisis between bikes and autos?

OTNOROT: The attitude of everyone involved sucks. Cyclists, motorists, police, politicians all are to blame. Bike lanes while an interesting bandage, doesn't address the underlying issues. Also the issues exists in all of Canada and the US.

FMPD: Yes its very complex to take any action on.

OTNOROT: Its too complex to deal with every issue. What is forgotten by everyone is that these are shared publicly funded roadways. This allows a fundamentally basic solution.

FMPD: A single solution to solve all?

OTNOROT: Could solve it tomorrow.

FMPD: Tomorrow.

OTNOROT: Yes... BAN Bicycles. Ban them period end of story.

---Note: This interview continues in tomorrow's posting.--- end of part 1

Morning on Dundas

Looking for breakfast and a coffee
the hurls and curls of
morning light bounces off the buildings.
Laughing light in a bouncy array of colour and humour.

You won't see this in Wabikoba Lake country.