Kinda like the PMO . . .

Arctic speculation . . .

STEVIE'S STEALTH SNOWMOBILE: the Harper concept of the future of Arctic conflict. Now as we know, the CONs are not the sharpest tools in the drawer and the acquisition of equipment for promoting our Arctic presence has been a Stevie problem.

And with global warming opening the Arctic waters, the future could be very interesting. Annalee Newitz has a post at io9, “The war that comes after global warming will blow your mind in new novel Arctic Rising” that is worthy of your perusal. 

A lot of science fiction about the Earth's warmer future is dystopian, showing us drowned cities and people reduced to Road Warrior desperados. But Tobias Buckell's new novel, Arctic Rising, offers a far more complicated and realistic picture of what the world will look like when the poles melt. 

It's a breakneck eco-thriller about "Arctic Tiger" nations like Canada clashing with green mega-corporations over what to do about the Earth's climate. At every turn, Buckell will surprise you with plot twists that fly in the face of conventional wisdom about environmental issues, and with cool ideas about how people will adapt to life on the Arctic Rim.

Do check it out. S-F has a funny way of turning into reality. In 1963, as a teenager, I read John Berryman's “The Trouble with Telstar”, about an astronaut sent up to fix a satellite. Thirty years later, I get to watch a Shuttle crew repair the Hubble space telescope on the TV in my living room. Two years ago, WIRED featured the airship you see above, in a post, “Airships Could Prove a Lifeline in the Arctic”. They might even make an appearance next year. Somehow, Stevie's stealth snowmobile just ain't gonna cut it.

Airships may soon soar in the cold skies of northern Canada and Alaska, bringing supplies to remote mining communities where planes can’t always fly and roads are cost-prohibitive.

British airship manufacturer Hybrid Air Vehicles has announced a major contract with Canada’s Discovery Air Innovations to build airships capable of lifting as much as 50 tons, delivering freight at one-quarter the cost of other alternatives. Though various militaries have expressed interest in airships, this is HAV’s first commercial contract. The first ship is expected by 2014.

Reefer sanity . . .

A Uruguayan man smokes cannabis during
a demonstration in Montevideo in May.
A senate vote to legalise the drug
is expected in November.
Photograph: Pablo Porciuncula/AFP/Getty Images

Uruguay sets price
of legalised cannabis
at $1 a gram

Uruguay sets price of legalised cannabis at $1 a gram, according to The Guardian's article by Uki Goni, who reports that

Uruguay is set to become the first country in the world where the sale of cannabis will not only become legal and government-controlled, but at around $1 a gram probably also the one with the most affordable marijuana anywhere.

Jesse Staniforth brutally rips Rex Murphy a new one ...

And a very well-deserved one it is.

Rex Murphy's opinion piece isn't just ignorant, it's totally vacuous, the product of someone who literally seems to know nothing about the subject he's railing against.

But then, there's the rub. Murphy is educated in the art of the word; not the projection of knowledge. He is the perfect right-wing shill, bereft of information, ignorant of history and mortally afraid of scientific fact. Murphy's way of dealing with the discomfort of science and now, history, is to simply deny it and invent a simplistic, emotional and inaccurate cultural meme to fill the vacuum between the ears of the Harperite base which forms his constituency.

Not good . . .

OUT OF CONTROL: when the RCMP pepper spray unarmed elders. According to Cari-Lee Raven Veilifter, who can be found on Facebook at #‎ElsipogtogStandOff‬:

“the elder the RCMP are pepper spraying is our elder Doris Copage of Elsipogtog (short hair/gray jacket). Doris is one of the kindest and most helpful people I've ever met. She cooks for and looks out for everyone. Of course she was completely unarmed and only had her rosary beads in hand when this happened- so they had no reason to spray her.”

Ya gotta wonder where the Tasers were. PRESS CORE is concerned about all the heavy-duty firepower; it seems that some of it might not be the RCMP, like the dude below. Do check out the site for some interesting pictures.

Stevie and Brazil . . .

 — A protest in Vancouver over our mining operations in Tibet —

WHY WOULD STEVIE TARGET BRAZIL? According to Dave Dean at Vice, “75% of the World's Mining Companies Are Based in Canada”. Maybe that's why Stevie wants to know what the Brazilian Ministry of Mines is planning?

All over the world, companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and run out of lawyer’s offices on Bay Street or skyscrapers in downtown Vancouver (whose real financiers may live in Australia or Nevada) are handling the mining game at home, throughout parts of Asia, South America and surprisingly, even with all the talk of China’s investment in Africa, it turns out that it’s Canada, not China, who is quietly dominating and exploiting African mining. All told, almost 1,300 mining companies based out of Canada are investing hundreds of billions of dollars in over 100 countries around the world.

Well, well, time to do some rat removal. These are not nice people, and they do nasty things to people in their way.

In Central and South America, Canada’s reputation is being dragged through the dirt to the point where in some countries, it’s apparently better for travellers to say they’re American than Canadian, and it’s not hard to see why. Vancouver-based Pacific Rim is suing the government of El Salvador, a country with a GDP of $23 Billion (Canada’s is $1.7 trillion) for $315 million dollars because they didn’t let them follow through with a mine that threatened to pollute the Lempa River—a watershed that accounts for 60% of the country’s clean water.

As if that’s not enough, a region of Guatemala was militarized last month—and the right to protest or form meetings has been suspended by the president—following clashes between local protesters who are concerned for their drinking water and employees of Vancouver-based Tahoe Resources inc.

While most companies probably do operate ethically and to the best of their ability—while maintaining healthy and sustainable relationships with local cultures and their environments—unfortunately these few stories really are the tip of the iceberg as far as Canada’s mining reputation that is beginning to be noticed as the worst in the world.

Foil hat time . . .

BOOGITY-BOOGITY. “Adolf Hitler -- Agent of Zionism and Freemasonry”. Yup. Really. Must be true, it's on the web. 

A natural wonder . . .

The view from a small window in the wall
of the vast Niubizi Tian Keng in the Er Wang Dong
cave system, where clouds form inside the huge spaces.
Three tiny explorers can be seen negotiating
the heavily vegetated floor

“The cave so huge it has its own weather system: Explorers discover a lost world with thick cloud and fogs trapped inside” according to The Mail Online.

Maher muses . . .

Bag In — Bag Out

BILL MAHER socks it to the Goppers with a delightful post on RSN, “California: Tea Party Free Zone” where he contends that California will pull the Gopper states into the twenty-first century:

New Rule: Conservatives who love to brag about American exceptionalism must come here to California, and see it in person. And then they should be afraid -- very afraid. Because while the rest of the country is beset by stories of right-wing takeovers in places like North Carolina, Texas and Wisconsin, California is going in the opposite direction and creating the kind of modern, liberal nation the country as a whole can only dream about. And not only can't the rest of the country stop us -- we're going to drag you along with us.

And a good thing too, as Gopper country sure isn't a nice place to live:

I know, it sounds like some crazy science fiction story, but you see, here in California, we're not just gluten-free and soy-free and peanut-free, we're Tea Party free! Virginia could do it, too, but they're too busy forcing ultrasounds on women who want abortions. Texas could, but they don't because they're too busy putting Jesus in the science textbooks. Meanwhile their state is so broke they want to replace paved roads with gravel. I thought we had this road-paving thing licked in the 1930s, but not in Texas. But hey, in Dallas you can carry a rifle into a Chuck E. Cheese, cause that's freedom. Which is great, but it wasn't so great when that unregulated fertilizer plant in Waco blew up. In California, when things blow up, it's because we're making a Jason Statham movie.

Check out the rest of Bill's rant, and enjoy.

Something of value . . .

MONEY IS WHAT YOU BELIEVE IT IS. You believe that new plastic twenty is worth twenty dollars and so does the beer store. Properly, that twenty is termed Fiat money, its value is decreed by the issuing authority. There are lumps, but these currency systems work reasonably well world wide — for people with addresses and bank accounts. For the homeless especially and for a fair number on social assistance as well, a bank account and all the stuff that comes with it, like a debit card becomes unattainable.

Well, some of the homeless are trying to cope thanks to the appearance of cheap, used laptops and phones, free wi-fi, and Bitcoins.

Daniela Hernandez has a fascinating article in WIRED, “Homeless, Unemployed, and Surviving on Bitcoins” that shows how the creative deal with the bank account problem.

Jesse Angle is homeless, living on the streets of Pensacola, Florida. Sometimes he spends the night at a local church. Other nights, he sleeps behind a building in the heart of the city, underneath a carport that protects him from the rain.

Each morning, he wakes up, grabs some food, and makes his way to Martin Luther King Plaza, a downtown park built where the trolley tracks used to run. He likes this park because his friends hang out there too, and it’s a good place to pick up some spending money. But he doesn’t panhandle. He uses the internet.

The park offers free wireless access, and with his laptop, Angle watches YouTube videos in exchange for bitcoins, the world’s most popular digital currency

Bitcoins are the currency that these people work to acquire. They have a purely electronic existence created according to a formula created by an anonymous programmer or team of coders, nobody knows. And according to this formula, there are a finite number that can be created, but the system allows the creation of bitcoin fractions. The Bitcoins are traded through the Protocol of Bitcoin, which is the process by which value is validated. It's a new and different take on a value system, and it lives without any government fiat. Even Sandy McTire might like its frugal anti-inflationary philosophy and maybe we'll see CTC accept Bitcoins.

The bitcoin system could become an equalizer for the country’s homeless, a place where the stigma of living on the streets isn’t as pronounced. “Homeless people don’t like to raise their hands and say they’re different,” says Mark Horvath, an advocate for using the internet and social media to help end homelessness. “Nobody does.” In the bitcoin world, they don’t have to.

If you’re homeless, the great thing about bitcoin is that you can set up a wallet without an ID or a street address. And once you start filling this wallet, there are plenty of ways of converting bitcoins into cash and food and other goods, all without identification.

— Converting Bitcoins into a gift card for food —

Time to communicate . . .

CALL YOUR MP or write or e-mail, or do all three. According to Mike Hudema of Greenpeace Canada who has a post on TSS, aka TAR SANDS SOLUTIONS NETWORK you should check out, then get hold of your worthy MP. “Tar Sands spills – Over 1.5 million litres and still spilling!!” shows the callous inertia of the Alberta government and the Stevie chimps, especially as the Stevie chimps are doing everything they can to pipe the poison every direction but North. It's even got an active counter on the leakage — it gets worse while you watch and they're not doing anything about it, maybe hoping that winter will freeze everything, or that it'll be so cold there'll be nobody around to check.

Right now in Alberta, tar sands bitumen is spilling into the environment at four different sites, one directly underneath a lake. All four spills have been spilling for months and the Alberta and Canadian governments know all about it, they are just powerless to stop them.

Well, maybe the light of publicity might help. Your MP is only a couple of clicks away. Help make it happen.

Think about it . . .

Toxoplasma gondii

THE ATLANTIC has a fascinating article on how parasites can change how you think and react. No foolin’, they have found that infected people have more car accidents, for example. “How Your Cat Is Making You Crazy”, by Kathleen McAuliffe looks at the research of a Czech scientist, Jaroslav Flegr whose research on a single-cell parasite called Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii or Toxo for short) is now being validated, after years of obscurity, which is not surprising.

Starting in the early 1990s, he began to suspect that a single-celled parasite in the protozoan family was subtly manipulating his personality, causing him to behave in strange, often self-destructive ways. And if it was messing with his mind, he reasoned, it was probably doing the same to others.

Take five, and give the article an appraisal, because it's not just Toxo doin’ it:

But T. gondii is just one of an untold number of infectious agents that prey on us. And if the rest of the animal kingdom is anything to go by, says Colorado State University’s Janice Moore, plenty of them may be capable of tinkering with our minds.

The most dangerous job in the world ...

Police officer in Afghanistan ... if you're a woman.

Doesn't concern Steve. He's too busy. Not drinking alcohol. Keeping dope away from your kids. Telling us that Syria's use of poison gas is "unprecedented" ... because he's never heard of the Great War or the Nazi gas chambers of the 2nd World War.

This man is in so far over his head.

Right under Pookie's upturned nose

Jeez, Christy! Maybe you can tell us from your waitress days how a major hotel, just a few feet away from you totally unnecessary, high-end, downtown, taxpayer-funded office (that is neither in the capital of the province nor anywhere near your riding), can even think of getting away with this.

An ad seeking unpaid interns to bus tables at Vancouver's Fairmont Waterfront Hotel has sparked a debate about whether unpaid internships take advantage of students.

The corporate carpetbaggers who run the Fairmont chain, particularly in British Columbia, need to have a good read of this.

An “internship” is on-the-job training offered by an employer to provide a person with practical experience. Often internships are offered to persons who have completed a diploma or degree program and are seeking employment. Completing an internship does not itself result in an academic certificate or diploma. If the duties performed by interns fall within the definition of  “work” contained in the Act, the intern falls within the definition of “employee”, and the agency using the services of an intern falls within the definition of “employer”, internships will be considered “work” for the purposes of the Act.
An apprentice is being trained while working for an employer and as such is performing work and must be paid wages.

 I expect now we'll hear all about Christy's days as a waitress. I do not expect we'll hear her tell us that she accurately declared all her tips to Revenue Canada.

Maher muses . . .

READER SUPPORTED NEWS has a fine post by Bill Maher, “The US: World's Policeman or Schoolyard Bully?”. Check it out.

New rule: 12 years after 9/11, and amidst yet another debate on whether to bomb yet another Muslim country, America must stop asking the question, "Why do they hate us?" Forget the debate on Syria, we need a debate on why we're always debating whether to bomb someone. Because we're starting to look not so much like the world's policeman, but more like George Zimmerman: itching to use force and then pretending it's because we had no choice.

• • •

And look, like I said, I'm no fan of Assad. And I say that openly: I don't care if it costs me jobs in Hollywood. I think he's the worst kind of sociopath - the kind who commits unspeakable acts, but who looks like a menswear salesman.

I'm just pointing out that in recent years, our foreign policy debates look like the Facebook page of a loner who shot up a McDonald's. We're the only country in the world that muses out loud about who we might bomb next.

Comin’ at ya . . .

MIT TECHNOLOGY REVIEW has an article by Aviva Hope Rutkin that you should read and ponder. “Report Suggests Nearly Half of U.S. Jobs Are Vulnerable to Computerization”. 45% is the estimated job loss over the next 20 years.

The authors believe this takeover will happen in two stages. First, computers will start replacing people in especially vulnerable fields like transportation/logistics, production labor, and administrative support. Jobs in services, sales, and construction may also be lost in this first stage. 

What's old is new again.

20 years? Hell, I might even still be alive. As this develops, Conservatives who go berserk at the idea of Food Stamps might want to get therapy. As well, “Liberals”, to use the US term, might want the same. Regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, this is scary: even the crappy jobs will be disappearing as technology develops.

Even if it's only the loss of 25%, not 45% of US jobs, there are going to be a lot of people who are under 40 when this happens who can't work if jobs don't exist, crappy or not, and if they don't starve to death, can expect to live another 30-40 years. Then there's the teenagers and twenty-somethings trying to enter the working world. And if all there is for them are crappy jobs, what will that do for future families?
Wherever he is, Karl Marx is probably laughing hysterically. How will Capitalism cope? As the robotics take over the work force, maybe we might just see a resurgence of “hand-made” items as the items of value.

While Victoria burns, Rex looks at bright shiney objects

Dear Rex Murphy,

I, like all other Canadians who revel in your eloquance and scholarly English, want to know.

What's happening in Victoria? The place is cooking! Yesterday it broke a temperature record. It's friggin' hot!!! It's like Kamloops fer chrissakes.

Jeez Rex. Remember when you told us that a snow storm in Vancouver, IN VANCOUVER mind you, in winter, made you a global warming "skeptic"? I remember.

You don't get to forget. You, you slimy prick, have a pulpit and a hefty paycheck to go with it.

So, go ahead, mush-mouth; tell me what's going on. Provide the math if you like. I'm pretty sure I can do it ... even if you can't.

Buster doesn't walk . . .

JUSTICE FOR THE PEOPLE, and Const. “Buster” Babak Andalib-Goortani has a whole new universe of problems. According Tu Thanh Ha's article, “Toronto police officer found guilty of assaulting G20 protester Adam Nobody” in the Globe, 

Constable Babak Andalib-Goortani was convicted in Ontario Court of Justice Thursday in the high-profile case of protester Adam Nobody, whose arrest was captured on video while he was kicked, punched and struck in the face with a knee.

• • •

She also said it was curious that Const. Andalib-Goortani wasn't wearing his name tag or a badge number on him the day of the protests.

The last paragraph is critical, in my opinion, which is that the failure to wear identification was a violation of the Police Services Act of Ontario. Now, “Buster” wasn't the only police officer without visible identification. Maybe, just maybe these bullies didn't all decide to do this all by themselves, they were “encouraged” (nudge, nudge) by somebody? Who was it? And who gave that person the order to beat up on hundreds of Canadian citizens?

Christopher Di Armani has an interesting site with an interesting article, “What Happened to Constable Babak Andalib-Goortani?” Apparently,  “Buster” wasn't always like this. In 2008, the constable rescued a flood victim. Two years later, and we have vicious violence, with “Buster” beating up on a retreating woman, and a battalion of out-of-control stormtroopers. How did this happen? Was it roid rage? Is there a problem with the institution's “psychology”?

Now, we come to Billy the Chief. Is Billy part of the solution, or part of the problem? 

Security considerations . . .

A copper wallet insert shields your credit cards from RFID skimming.
Image: Adam Harvey

Get a Faraday wallet. Something with a lining made of copper, or steel mesh or even aluminum foil. Or add aluminum foil to the inside of the wallet you have. With one of those, “they” can “ping” you as you walk about, and the RFID’s in your credit cards and sometimes, Driver’s Licence, are shielded, and they stay silent. 

As well, street gangs and other low-lifes are getting into using ’em to identify targets to pick off, and it is alleged that they have the ability to even get through the RFID card security, get the data, and dupe an RFID card with your data.

You see, it occurs to me that the NSA could easily have all the banks' credit card data, and that means the banks' credit card RFID's chip ID’s for each account. 

So, it could be possible for “Security” to put RFID scanners all around, like TTC station exits, parking-lot doorways. Computer scan the passers-by and RFID’s belonging to “people of interest” could trip alarms. 

Similarly with your phone and its GPS, even “off” may not be off enough, and having a Faraday container will ensure that nobody can track you through your phone's GPS or by the phone's link-up with the cellular phone system. You may not be able to use your phone, but you will be a lot more “invisible” on the street, if you’re about something that you’d like to remain private.

WIRED has two reports worth checking out: Liz Stinson has an overview of security-oriented products, with an article and a Stealth Wear picture gallery, “Wanna Buy a Parka That Makes You Invisible to Drones?”, and a How-To Wiki, “Make a Faraday Cage Wallet”.

Duct Tape RULES!

Lessons for Stevie . . .

1513. FIVE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, Niccolo Machiavelli finished The Prince, the practical guide to political survival. Because it's practical, it's cogent today: our milieu may change, but our motivational rainbow remains the same. Boston University's BU Today blog has a fine posting by John O’Rourke, “Machiavelli’s The Prince: Still Relevant after All These Years”; check it out. The article interviews CAS associate professor of history James Johnson, who states:

Whatever its intent, one thing is clear. The book follows its declared purpose fearlessly and without hesitation: to show rulers how to survive in the world as it is and not as it should be.

Pithy and concise, that's Niccolo. Shane Parrish (do check out his own blog, Farnham Street) has an article on THE WEEK, “11 surprisingly apt lessons from Machiavelli's The Prince” that lists important must-do's for Number One. Click on the link to get the details and some observations from Michael Ignatieff, too.

1. Be present

2. Be careful who you trust

3. Learn from the best

4. Be picky about who works for you

5. Read

6. Prepare for the worst

8. Don't steal

9. Appearances matter

10. Sometimes your enemies are your friends

11. Avoid flatterers

So, how well has Stevie done? Can you say Harper Fail? Upon reflection, I believe that our country has a political disease, known as harpes . . . but folks like Owen and Mound and Dammit and the rest are working on the cure.