The Freenet Project - index - beginner
Paypal has frozen the account we use to accept donations over the web, they refuse to give any reason other than "use of an anonymous proxy", which suggests that someone at Paypal took a dislike to the goals of our project, since I have never used an anonymous proxy to access Paypal (this being the activity I assume they sought to prevent). It is fortunate that Johann Gutenberg did not rely on Paypal to fund his work on the printing press, which also allowed anonymous publication of information, since his account would probably have been frozen too.
5/17/04
A Framework of Guidance for Building Good Digital Collections - National Information Standards Organization (NISO)
Putting this somewhere so I don't lose the link.
Putting this somewhere so I don't lose the link.
5/16/04
Adult responsibility...
It's been a busy week and a bit. In no particular order...
Signed mortgage papers on Friday. What's several hundred thousand dollars between friends. Almost over all the hurdles around owning a house. Mortgage, line of credit, life insurance, house insurances, chocolate for reaassurance :-).
Spent Saturday moving two trailerloads of soil from my parents to the new house and piling it in the back yard. Sunshine, shovelling and compost. Set the baby in her car seat in the yard to watch us work. Talking with wife and dad and very friendly neighbors about trees to remove, stumps to dig out, ivy to strip, shovelling to be done, ramps to be built...and then there are the water features. Man does dad love those water features.
Submitted a proposal to company for a website redevelopment on thursday. First major potential commercial job. Work with a graphic designer and I'll handle all the coding etc. Thinking I should have put more time into the proposal for project management. Plan to get my own domain name, upload an open source content management system I found and build a business model on top of it. Felt good to make that first step. Also found a cold fusion based open source content management system. Could build business model on it for web design company.
Saturday put in application for teaching job in the urban studies diploma at harbour center. urban development, policy and planning... would be great... find out in june about that
ultimate is going well - we're .500 and the team is playing well together. Good mix of people.
baby is lots of fun. 2 teeth, slightly flat head :-) very joyful
life keeps moving along :-)
It's been a busy week and a bit. In no particular order...
Signed mortgage papers on Friday. What's several hundred thousand dollars between friends. Almost over all the hurdles around owning a house. Mortgage, line of credit, life insurance, house insurances, chocolate for reaassurance :-).
Spent Saturday moving two trailerloads of soil from my parents to the new house and piling it in the back yard. Sunshine, shovelling and compost. Set the baby in her car seat in the yard to watch us work. Talking with wife and dad and very friendly neighbors about trees to remove, stumps to dig out, ivy to strip, shovelling to be done, ramps to be built...and then there are the water features. Man does dad love those water features.
Submitted a proposal to company for a website redevelopment on thursday. First major potential commercial job. Work with a graphic designer and I'll handle all the coding etc. Thinking I should have put more time into the proposal for project management. Plan to get my own domain name, upload an open source content management system I found and build a business model on top of it. Felt good to make that first step. Also found a cold fusion based open source content management system. Could build business model on it for web design company.
Saturday put in application for teaching job in the urban studies diploma at harbour center. urban development, policy and planning... would be great... find out in june about that
ultimate is going well - we're .500 and the team is playing well together. Good mix of people.
baby is lots of fun. 2 teeth, slightly flat head :-) very joyful
life keeps moving along :-)
5/15/04
From: Bruce Schneier [SMTP:schneier@counterpane.com]
To: crypto-gram@chaparraltree.com
Cc:
Subject: CRYPTO-GRAM, May 15, 2004
Sent: 5/15/2004 1:46 AM
Importance: Normal
CRYPTO-GRAM
May 15, 2004
by Bruce Schneier
Founder and CTO
Counterpane Internet Security, Inc.
schneier@counterpane.com
A free monthly newsletter providing summaries, analyses, insights, and
commentaries on security: computer and otherwise.
Back issues are available at
crypto-gram-subscribe@chaparraltree.com.
Crypto-Gram also has an RSS feed at
** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
In this issue:
Warrants as a Security Countermeasure
Counterterrorism in Airports
Crypto-Gram Reprints
News
Counterpane News
Security Notes from All Over: Bypassing the USPS
The Doghouse: Markland Technologies
The Doghouse: IQ Networks
National Security Consumers
Comments from Readers
** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
Warrants as a Security Countermeasure
Years ago, surveillance meant trench-coated detectives following people
down streets.
Today's detectives are more likely to be sitting in front of a
computer, and the surveillance is electronic. It's cheaper, easier and
safer. But it's also much more prone to abuse. In the world of cheap
and easy surveillance, a warrant provides citizens with vital security
against a more powerful police.
Warrants are guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment and are required before
the police can search your home or eavesdrop on your telephone
calls. But what other forms of search and surveillance are covered by
warrants is still unclear.
An unusual and significant case recently heard in Nassau County's
courts dealt with one piece of the question: Is a warrant required
before the police can attach an electronic tracking device to someone's
car?
It has always been possible for the police to tail a suspect, and
wireless tracking is decades old. The only difference is that it's now
much easier and cheaper to use the technology.
Surveillance will continue to become cheaper and easier -- and less
intrusive. In the Nassau case, the police hid a tracking device on a
car used by a burglary suspect, Richard D. Lacey. After Lacey's
arrest, his lawyer sought to suppress evidence gathered by the tracking
device on the grounds that the police did not obtain a warrant
authorizing use of the device and that Lacey's privacy was violated.
It was believed to be the first such challenge in New York State and
one of only a handful in the nation. A judge ruled Thursday that the
police should have obtained a warrant. But he declined to suppress the
evidence -- saying the car belonged to Lacey's wife, not to him, and
Lacey therefore had no expectation of privacy.
More and more, we are living in a society where we are all tracked
automatically all of the time.
If the car used by Lacey had been outfitted with the OnStar system, he
could have been tracked through that. We can all be tracked by our
cell phones. E-ZPass tracks cars at tunnels and bridges. Security
cameras record us. Our purchases are tracked by banks and credit card
companies, our telephone calls by phone companies, our Internet surfing
habits by Web site operators.
The Department of Justice claims that it needs these, and other, search
powers to combat terrorism. A provision slipped into an appropriations
bill allows the FBI to obtain personal financial information from
banks, insurance companies, travel agencies, real estate agents,
stockbrokers, the U.S. Postal Service, jewelry stores, casinos and car
dealerships without a warrant.
Starting this year, the U.S. government is photographing and
fingerprinting foreign visitors coming into this country from all but
27 other countries. CAPPS II (Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening
System) will probe the backgrounds of all passengers boarding
flights. Over New Year's, the FBI collected the names of 260,000
people staying at Las Vegas hotels. More and more, the "Big Brother is
watching you" style of surveillance is becoming a reality.
Unfortunately, the debate often gets mischaracterized as a question
about how much privacy we need to give up in order to be
secure. People ask: "Should we use this new surveillance technology to
catch terrorists and criminals, or should we favor privacy and ban its
use?"
This is the wrong question. We know that new technology gives law
enforcement new search techniques, and makes existing techniques
cheaper and easier. We know that we are all safer when the police can
use them. And the Fourth Amendment already allows even the most
intrusive searches: The police can search your home and person.
What we need are corresponding mechanisms to prevent abuse. This is
the proper question: "Should we allow law enforcement to use new
technology without any judicial oversight, or should we demand that
they be overseen and accountable?" And the Fourth Amendment already
provides for this in its requirement of a warrant.
The search warrant -- a technologically neutral legal requirement --
basically says that before the police open the mail, listen in on the
phone call or search the bit stream for key words, a "neutral and
detached magistrate" reviews the basis for the search and takes
responsibility for the outcome. The key is independent judicial
oversight; the warrant process is itself a security measure protecting
us from abuse and making us more secure.
Much of the rhetoric on the "security" side of the debate cloaks one of
its real aims: increasing law enforcement powers by decreasing its
oversight and accountability. It's a very dangerous road to take, and
one that will make us all less secure. The more surveillance
technologies that require a warrant before use, the safer we all are.
This essay originally appeared in Newsday:
** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
Counterterrorism in Airports
It's just a pilot program, but undercover security officers are roaming
Boston's Logan Airport, looking for suspicious people who may be
planning a terrorist act. It's got a fancy name, "behavior pattern
recognition," but basically it means "be on the lookout for suspicious
people."
I think this is the best thing to happen to airplane security since
they reinforced the cockpit doors.
I've long argued that traditional airport security is largely
useless. Air travelers -- the innocent ones -- are subjected to all
sorts of indignities in the name of security. Again and again we read
studies about how bad the checkpoints are at keeping weapons out of
airports. The system seems to do nothing more than irritate honest
people. (Remember, when airport security takes a pair of scissors away
from an innocent grandma, that's a security failure. It's a false
positive. It's not a success.)
Well-trained officers on the lookout for suspicious people is a great
substitute.
The devil is in the details, of course. All too often "he's acting
suspicious" really translates to "he's black." Well-trained is the key
to avoiding racism, which is both bad for society and bad for
security. But security is inherently about people, and smart observant
people are going to notice things that metal detectors and X-ray
machines will miss.
Of course, machines are better at ducking charges of prejudice. It may
be less secure to have a computer decide who to wand, or to have random
chance decide whose baggage to open, but it's easier to pretend that
prejudice is not an issue. "It's not the officer's fault; the computer
selected him" plays well as a defense. And in a world where security
theatre still matters more than security, this is an important
consideration.
For about a year now, I've been saying we can improve airport security
by doing away with the security checkpoints and replacing them with
well-trained officers looking out for suspicious activity. It'll
probably never happen, but at least this is a start.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/16/terror/main612369.shtml
** *** ***** ******* *********** *************
5/14/04
4/30/04
4/28/04
The partial reports filtering out of Damascus indicate that the large-scale terrorist attack carried out Tuesday night, April 27, in the al Maza diplomatic quarter of the Syrian capital - a simultaneous car bomb, machine gun, grenade, rocket assault on several targets that set UN offices on fire and singled out the Canadian embassy – has brought the encroaching global terror warfront dangerously close to Israel. www.debka.com
4/26/04
What I'm reading today...
The Core Services system (aka mediator) receives, rewrites, optimizes and distributes queries to multiple resources and integrates query results into a single file that is unified semantically, structurally and syntactically for both spatial and non-spatial aspects. Ontologies are used to capture and publicize the semantics and schematics of local sources and global standards, as well as their mappings. Potential resources include; OGC spatial data services, Z39.50 metadata services, integrated assessment modeling tools, and various remote data stores.
Scary thing is that it makes sense :-)
The Core Services system (aka mediator) receives, rewrites, optimizes and distributes queries to multiple resources and integrates query results into a single file that is unified semantically, structurally and syntactically for both spatial and non-spatial aspects. Ontologies are used to capture and publicize the semantics and schematics of local sources and global standards, as well as their mappings. Potential resources include; OGC spatial data services, Z39.50 metadata services, integrated assessment modeling tools, and various remote data stores.
Scary thing is that it makes sense :-)
4/23/04
From: Kevin McNaney [SMTP:kevin@smartgrowth.bc.ca]
To: Smart Growth BC Livable Communities Listserv
Cc:
Subject: [SGBC]Developers told to target Gastown, Chinatown
Sent: 4/23/2004 6:29 AM
Importance: Normal
Developers told to target Gastown, Chinatown
Planners aim to halt conversion of commercial space to condominiums
Frances Bula
Vancouver Sun
Friday, April 23, 2004
VANCOUVER - Vancouver is poised to clamp down on the impending rush to convert downtown office space into condos in an effort to prevent the central city from turning into a residential resort, the city's planning co-director warned developers Thursday.
Facing a dilemma that no other city planner in North America has, in which residential space sells for about twice as much as office space, Larry Beasley told 350 people at an Urban Development Institute lunch that "we simply cannot afford to lose our capacity for commercial growth no matter how attractive the alternatives look in the short run."
Only one office building, the former Westcoast Transmission building on West Georgia, has been converted outright in the last couple of years, but Beasley said he has had half a dozen other inquiries, and just the possibility of more conversions will start to destabilize the commercial real-estate market.
Beasley advised developers to start looking at Chinatown, Gastown and the Downtown Eastside as possible building sites.
But he warned they can't just import the current Vancouver design favourite of pointe towers and podiums to those areas.
They'll have to find something that fits with those communities and that those communities will endorse, especially in the Downtown Eastside, he said.
"Since this is a much trickier form of development to build and market, some very creative thinking will be in order for Hastings Street projects and for any project that grows out of the unique DNA of the Downtown Eastside."
Beasley, who labelled his talk "The Shift East," emphasized that developers need to look east because the land shortage in western and central downtown will only get worse after the city puts in place its new policies on office-space conversion, as well as a new policy that will affect density in the Downtown South.
He said he'll be recommending to council shortly that the city not allow extra density on any more of the remaining small building sites in Downtown South.
In the past few years, the city has allowed several developers to build towers higher than the zoning allows in exchange for community spaces, like art galleries or film centres, or if those developers "bought" space from heritage buildings.
"It's simply too tough with the neighbours and too tight in the setting to put towers on these very small sites where no one has expected them."
Regarding office-space conversions, Beasley said there will be two policies to slow down the conversion of existing buildings in the central business district and to limit the production of residential buildings in the areas just outside the business district.
In order to discourage the conversion of existing office buildings, city staff will look at a process in which any conversion is reviewed to see what the long-term impact on commercial space will be.
"It won't be a moratorium," he said.
To limit production of residential buildings in areas zoned to be either residential or commercial, the city is looking at not automatically approving housing projects in what's called Area C -- the land between the central business district and Beatty, and south of Victory Square.
Beasley's message was taken to heart by his audience.
David Negrin, second in command at Concord Pacific, joked that CEO Terry Hui would instantly abandon his plan to build a pointe tower on Hastings Street -- something Beasley specifically referred to in his speech as a project that wouldn't be acceptable.
Urban Development Institute president Ward McAllister said developers might not be thrilled about the limitations on building projects downtown, but Beasley's direct message is better than a "slow no."
He also agreed with Beasley's assessment of the dangers of current trends. "I share his concern about the conversion of commercial space," he said.
Beasley also advised developers to look at ways of broadening their targeted market downtown.
The current boom could easily come to a crashing halt as immigration and migration from the suburbs slows down, or as interest rates increase, he said, adding developers should look at how to make housing more attractive to families.
There are more children in the downtown now than there are in Point Grey, he pointed out. If developers could market even more to that family contingent, "the market potential could be expanded dramatically."
4/22/04
Koolio
I can see this being a big hit at law firms across the nation.
Recently a University of Florida engineering student named Brian Pietrodangelo built a mini fridge named Koolio that when you place an order through the website, will deliver a cold soda, beer, or various candy to you. Right now it's only available in one building at University of Florida but soon it could catch on in office buildings and other places."
I can see this being a big hit at law firms across the nation.
Recently a University of Florida engineering student named Brian Pietrodangelo built a mini fridge named Koolio that when you place an order through the website, will deliver a cold soda, beer, or various candy to you. Right now it's only available in one building at University of Florida but soon it could catch on in office buildings and other places."
4/21/04
O'Reilly Network: Googling Your Email [Oct. 07, 2002]
Massive amounts of email and poor search capabilities - check this out
Massive amounts of email and poor search capabilities - check this out
4/18/04
Jay Maynard's TRON costume
Disturbing. Falls into the same vein as dog shows. you can't make this up. this was posted on slashdot. site that gets a couple million hits a day. 15 minutes of fame
Disturbing. Falls into the same vein as dog shows. you can't make this up. this was posted on slashdot. site that gets a couple million hits a day. 15 minutes of fame
Yet another Sunday has arrived and I'm spending quiet time with wife and baby. While semi-quiet time...:-) It has been a busy weekend. I went out to Maple Ridge yesterday to visit family that was in town and introduce them to my daughter. Spent some time talking and sketching pictures with Dad and wife for an extension to the deck for the new house. Lots of fun. Appreciated dad's new trellises around his pond. A couple years for the plants to grow up and that will be a great little pond. Spent the evening at a weiner bbq in surrey for a friends birthday. Wife got to visit with friends and I spent the time trying to get baby to sleep and watching the hockey game. Everybody gets what they want.
Working on reviewing my to do lists today and putting together a job application due tomorrow. Looks like its going to be a nice day. Hope to get out for a walk along the beach.
Working on reviewing my to do lists today and putting together a job application due tomorrow. Looks like its going to be a nice day. Hope to get out for a walk along the beach.
4/15/04
4/14/04
4/13/04
Baby's first tooth came through today :-) She's starting to laugh as well. It's really neat when she first wakes up. You stick your head over the crib and she processes and then comes up with a beaming smile and a whole body shake of excitement that daddy's here to play with her again. Do remember when mornings were that much fun?
4/10/04
4/6/04
For richer, for poorer, the new shape of a city
'Burbs now where you find poverty
The city of neighbourhoods is increasingly becoming a city of growing poverty, marked by a creeping ring of social decline around a richer inner core.
The normal segments of society that make up traditional ghettoes are so spread across the city, from Scarborough through North York to Etobicoke, that it is the affluent areas that are segregated — isolated communities cut off, not by gates and barbed wire, but by economic circumstance.
That's one lesson from the United Way's report on poverty in Toronto, released yesterday.
For if there are "ghettoes" in Toronto you may find them exactly where you're not looking — along the desirable paths of high-priced Rosedale and North Toronto, The Kingsway and Guildwood.
The term "ghetto" conjures images of bombed-out buildings, boarded-up businesses, abandoned homes turned into crack houses, a broken, desolate landscape, a slum, a no-go zone, particularly at night.
We are not there — yet.
In truth, our ghetto might just be the pockets of privilege — small islands of prosperity in a city-wide span of poverty. Here, you find the white and the wealthy. The 'burbs are where, increasingly, you find the city's poor, its newcomers. And a disproportionate number of the poor are people of colour.
Called Poverty by Postal Code, the report reveals the growth of poor neighbourhoods, away from the downtown core and into suburbia — a sort of reverse migration, the antithesis of the hole-in-the-doughnut effect that sees a hollowed-out downtown surrounded by a prosperous suburb.
Toronto's reality might present a problem that's deeper, more extensive and, therefore, more difficult to fix.
Between 1981 and 2001, the number of Toronto families jumped 15 per cent while the number of "poor" families increased 69 per cent. This means poor families are increasing at a rate more than four times their numbers in the population.
Of 522 recognized Toronto neighbourhoods, according to postal code, 23 of them are super-poor by any measure. Here, between 26 per cent and 40 per cent of families meet the country's definition of poverty.
In another 97 neighbourhoods, up to a quarter of the families are poor.
Only 177 neighbourhoods are ones of low poverty.
Then the numbers get interesting.
Neighbourhoods where at least a quarter of the families are listed as poor is strictly an old City of Toronto phenomenon, virtually unknown in the rest of the Toronto region.
Toronto has 120 such neighbourhoods. Only one exists in the rest of the Toronto region.
In 1981, more than half (228 of 428) the Toronto neighbourhoods were performing better than the Canadian average for poverty among families. Twenty years later, it's dropped to one-third of the total.
In the amalgamated city of Toronto, the number of poor neighbourhoods in North York and Scarborough and Etobicoke are increasing at startling speed, while the downtown area, in comparison, remains virtually unchanged over the last decade — at least in terms of the percentage growth of poor families.
The traditional "poverty U" stretching from northern Etobicoke, through downtown Toronto and out to north Scarborough has been replaced by a ring around the city.
This means the poor areas are closing in on an increasingly smaller, more affluent city.
As long-time residents and newcomers seek affordable housing options they are moving to the suburbs. So much so that the city of Toronto has seen a concentration of poverty in the suburbs.
Not only are they migrating there, but the normal mix of incomes that has made the city avoid the stigmatization and problems associated with subsidized housing projects is slowly eroding.
Not only is poverty increasing among families, but more and more of these families are grouped together in the same area, often the only areas where they can find a semblance of affordable housing.
Forty-three per cent of poor families live in high-poverty neighbourhoods today, compared to 18 per cent two decades ago.
Add the layer of immigrants and the picture becomes more grim. The size of the poor immigrant family in Toronto jumped 125 per cent between 1981 and 2001 compared to a 13 per cent rise in the number of Canadian-born family persons in poverty.
Then, add race and colour to the mix and the numbers are startling.
The study says visible minority families make up 46 per cent of the Toronto population, but 68 per cent of all poor families.
Some of them do live in average or even upscale neighbourhoods. But of all poor families living in the poorest neighbourhoods, visible minorities make up almost eight in 10.
That should be enough to send off alarm signals, especially when black youths have been turning to gang and gun activity in several of these distressed neighbourhoods.
Those quick to dismiss the poor families identified here as layabouts who are poor because they don't work, consider this:
Of the poor families in the very poor neighbourhoods, 87 per cent are working and 90 per cent of people in the high poverty areas work. The rate of employment across the city is 93 per cent.
People are running to the suburbs in search of cheaper housing. They are doubling and tripling up in single-family homes. They are working but can't make ends meet because too much of their salary is going toward food and shelter.
Newcomers are disproportionately affected. People of colour are at the bottom of the ladder.
The next time you hear about trouble in a particular area of the city, look at the maps in today's paper and you can make a lot of money betting that the trouble emanates from the areas of high poverty.
"We must act right now," says United Way head Frances Lankin.
Or watch the trend line move in the same direction — with destructive certainty — when the 2011 census data is released.
America and Britain waited too long and now it's costing them billions of dollars in urban renewal costs.
'Burbs now where you find poverty
The city of neighbourhoods is increasingly becoming a city of growing poverty, marked by a creeping ring of social decline around a richer inner core.
The normal segments of society that make up traditional ghettoes are so spread across the city, from Scarborough through North York to Etobicoke, that it is the affluent areas that are segregated — isolated communities cut off, not by gates and barbed wire, but by economic circumstance.
That's one lesson from the United Way's report on poverty in Toronto, released yesterday.
For if there are "ghettoes" in Toronto you may find them exactly where you're not looking — along the desirable paths of high-priced Rosedale and North Toronto, The Kingsway and Guildwood.
The term "ghetto" conjures images of bombed-out buildings, boarded-up businesses, abandoned homes turned into crack houses, a broken, desolate landscape, a slum, a no-go zone, particularly at night.
We are not there — yet.
In truth, our ghetto might just be the pockets of privilege — small islands of prosperity in a city-wide span of poverty. Here, you find the white and the wealthy. The 'burbs are where, increasingly, you find the city's poor, its newcomers. And a disproportionate number of the poor are people of colour.
Called Poverty by Postal Code, the report reveals the growth of poor neighbourhoods, away from the downtown core and into suburbia — a sort of reverse migration, the antithesis of the hole-in-the-doughnut effect that sees a hollowed-out downtown surrounded by a prosperous suburb.
Toronto's reality might present a problem that's deeper, more extensive and, therefore, more difficult to fix.
Between 1981 and 2001, the number of Toronto families jumped 15 per cent while the number of "poor" families increased 69 per cent. This means poor families are increasing at a rate more than four times their numbers in the population.
Of 522 recognized Toronto neighbourhoods, according to postal code, 23 of them are super-poor by any measure. Here, between 26 per cent and 40 per cent of families meet the country's definition of poverty.
In another 97 neighbourhoods, up to a quarter of the families are poor.
Only 177 neighbourhoods are ones of low poverty.
Then the numbers get interesting.
Neighbourhoods where at least a quarter of the families are listed as poor is strictly an old City of Toronto phenomenon, virtually unknown in the rest of the Toronto region.
Toronto has 120 such neighbourhoods. Only one exists in the rest of the Toronto region.
In 1981, more than half (228 of 428) the Toronto neighbourhoods were performing better than the Canadian average for poverty among families. Twenty years later, it's dropped to one-third of the total.
In the amalgamated city of Toronto, the number of poor neighbourhoods in North York and Scarborough and Etobicoke are increasing at startling speed, while the downtown area, in comparison, remains virtually unchanged over the last decade — at least in terms of the percentage growth of poor families.
The traditional "poverty U" stretching from northern Etobicoke, through downtown Toronto and out to north Scarborough has been replaced by a ring around the city.
This means the poor areas are closing in on an increasingly smaller, more affluent city.
As long-time residents and newcomers seek affordable housing options they are moving to the suburbs. So much so that the city of Toronto has seen a concentration of poverty in the suburbs.
Not only are they migrating there, but the normal mix of incomes that has made the city avoid the stigmatization and problems associated with subsidized housing projects is slowly eroding.
Not only is poverty increasing among families, but more and more of these families are grouped together in the same area, often the only areas where they can find a semblance of affordable housing.
Forty-three per cent of poor families live in high-poverty neighbourhoods today, compared to 18 per cent two decades ago.
Add the layer of immigrants and the picture becomes more grim. The size of the poor immigrant family in Toronto jumped 125 per cent between 1981 and 2001 compared to a 13 per cent rise in the number of Canadian-born family persons in poverty.
Then, add race and colour to the mix and the numbers are startling.
The study says visible minority families make up 46 per cent of the Toronto population, but 68 per cent of all poor families.
Some of them do live in average or even upscale neighbourhoods. But of all poor families living in the poorest neighbourhoods, visible minorities make up almost eight in 10.
That should be enough to send off alarm signals, especially when black youths have been turning to gang and gun activity in several of these distressed neighbourhoods.
Those quick to dismiss the poor families identified here as layabouts who are poor because they don't work, consider this:
Of the poor families in the very poor neighbourhoods, 87 per cent are working and 90 per cent of people in the high poverty areas work. The rate of employment across the city is 93 per cent.
People are running to the suburbs in search of cheaper housing. They are doubling and tripling up in single-family homes. They are working but can't make ends meet because too much of their salary is going toward food and shelter.
Newcomers are disproportionately affected. People of colour are at the bottom of the ladder.
The next time you hear about trouble in a particular area of the city, look at the maps in today's paper and you can make a lot of money betting that the trouble emanates from the areas of high poverty.
"We must act right now," says United Way head Frances Lankin.
Or watch the trend line move in the same direction — with destructive certainty — when the 2011 census data is released.
America and Britain waited too long and now it's costing them billions of dollars in urban renewal costs.
4/5/04
Parking rules choke growth of apartments
CHRISTOPHER HUME
Toronto Star
There are many ways cars destroy cities. Some are obvious, others less so.
In Toronto, one of the subtlest ways the automobile has inflicted major
damage to the city is through parking bylaws. Though these otherwise obscure
provisions are usually overlooked, if not ignored, by municipal politicians,
they have had a profound effect on the built form of the city.
One result is that the low-rise main-street development the city has sought
for the last 20 years has never happened — and never will unless changes
occur.
As it stands, there are different parking requirements in different areas.
They dictate the number of parking spots that must be included in new
buildings. These figures vary roughly from .75 to 1.0 parking spot per
residential unit, but are usually closer to 1.0.
That's fine for larger projects, when excavating underground garages makes
economic sense, but not for smaller buildings of, say, three to six storeys.
In these cases, the parking would have to be provided at ground level, which
typically means one whole floor of the building, the most financially
significant floor, must be left open, undeveloped, to make room for cars.
The irony, of course, is that the streets where intensification is
proposed — Yonge, Queen, Bloor, St. Clair, the Danforth, for example — are
already well served by public transit. In other words, these are the very
arteries where cars are least necessary.
"The parking issue is a red herring," insists Toronto architect David
Oleson, author of a main street housing feasibility report for the city.
"We haven't dealt with the automobile very creatively in Toronto. We don't
need to be able to park cars in our backyards, just in the neighbourhood.
The city has reduced parking requirements in some areas, but even so on
small sites they are prohibitive. City policies don't lead; they follow."
But as city Councillor Joe Pantalone points out, at a time when Toronto is
fighting for its fiscal life, issues such as parking aren't part of
political consciousness.
"Changing parking bylaws requires strong political will," Pantalone says.
"And it's not high on the priority list these days.
"But the existing requirements make it impossible to build low- and
medium-rise development. If we deal with it on a case-by-case basis, it
becomes a NIMBY issue and nothing happens."
Developers will tell you that demand for parking downtown is declining; some
suggest that .5 would be adequate. That means the number of parking spots
would be half the number of apartments.
Other cities take a more inventive approach. In Vancouver, some condo
builders now include a fleet of cars that owners can rent hourly or daily.
In New York, where real estate is too expensive to be wasted on parking
lots, you find stacked parking, which allows one spot to accommodate two or
three cars.
For us in Toronto, the challenge is to take maximum advantage of the
existing infrastructure, much of which is now woefully underused. Even our
much-vaunted subway, especially the Bloor-Danforth line, rarely operates at
full capacity. But because of our absurd and deeply anti-urban parking
policies, we're nowhere near that yet.
"You could get more density on the Danforth and Bloor St. W. than even on
King or Queen, the standard main streets," Oleson argues.
"These should be the primary focus for mixed-use intensification, because
they are the subway routes. The city's still thinking about this, but so far
our land-use patterns and transit planning aren't in sync. The two must be
more closely connected.
"The parking requirements are a good example of how dysfunctional city
policy has become. It's pretty fundamental. It's the other side of the
infrastructure, the invented infrastructure, that has started to get in the
way.
"The city, to its credit, has begun to talk about it, but it still hasn't
managed to come to grips with the issue."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca
CHRISTOPHER HUME
Toronto Star
There are many ways cars destroy cities. Some are obvious, others less so.
In Toronto, one of the subtlest ways the automobile has inflicted major
damage to the city is through parking bylaws. Though these otherwise obscure
provisions are usually overlooked, if not ignored, by municipal politicians,
they have had a profound effect on the built form of the city.
One result is that the low-rise main-street development the city has sought
for the last 20 years has never happened — and never will unless changes
occur.
As it stands, there are different parking requirements in different areas.
They dictate the number of parking spots that must be included in new
buildings. These figures vary roughly from .75 to 1.0 parking spot per
residential unit, but are usually closer to 1.0.
That's fine for larger projects, when excavating underground garages makes
economic sense, but not for smaller buildings of, say, three to six storeys.
In these cases, the parking would have to be provided at ground level, which
typically means one whole floor of the building, the most financially
significant floor, must be left open, undeveloped, to make room for cars.
The irony, of course, is that the streets where intensification is
proposed — Yonge, Queen, Bloor, St. Clair, the Danforth, for example — are
already well served by public transit. In other words, these are the very
arteries where cars are least necessary.
"The parking issue is a red herring," insists Toronto architect David
Oleson, author of a main street housing feasibility report for the city.
"We haven't dealt with the automobile very creatively in Toronto. We don't
need to be able to park cars in our backyards, just in the neighbourhood.
The city has reduced parking requirements in some areas, but even so on
small sites they are prohibitive. City policies don't lead; they follow."
But as city Councillor Joe Pantalone points out, at a time when Toronto is
fighting for its fiscal life, issues such as parking aren't part of
political consciousness.
"Changing parking bylaws requires strong political will," Pantalone says.
"And it's not high on the priority list these days.
"But the existing requirements make it impossible to build low- and
medium-rise development. If we deal with it on a case-by-case basis, it
becomes a NIMBY issue and nothing happens."
Developers will tell you that demand for parking downtown is declining; some
suggest that .5 would be adequate. That means the number of parking spots
would be half the number of apartments.
Other cities take a more inventive approach. In Vancouver, some condo
builders now include a fleet of cars that owners can rent hourly or daily.
In New York, where real estate is too expensive to be wasted on parking
lots, you find stacked parking, which allows one spot to accommodate two or
three cars.
For us in Toronto, the challenge is to take maximum advantage of the
existing infrastructure, much of which is now woefully underused. Even our
much-vaunted subway, especially the Bloor-Danforth line, rarely operates at
full capacity. But because of our absurd and deeply anti-urban parking
policies, we're nowhere near that yet.
"You could get more density on the Danforth and Bloor St. W. than even on
King or Queen, the standard main streets," Oleson argues.
"These should be the primary focus for mixed-use intensification, because
they are the subway routes. The city's still thinking about this, but so far
our land-use patterns and transit planning aren't in sync. The two must be
more closely connected.
"The parking requirements are a good example of how dysfunctional city
policy has become. It's pretty fundamental. It's the other side of the
infrastructure, the invented infrastructure, that has started to get in the
way.
"The city, to its credit, has begun to talk about it, but it still hasn't
managed to come to grips with the issue."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Christopher Hume can be reached at chume@thestar.ca
3/31/04
3/30/04
3/29/04
3/28/04
3/25/04
3/22/04
3/20/04
the great canadian song contest: "A few years ago, the late, great Peter Gzowski of the CBC asked his listeners to nominate the best Canadian songs of all time. He played many of the nominations on his show, and had a sm"
Given the latest round of viruses targetting microsoft products it was time to make the transition to another email client. I happy to report that it was seamless and surprisingly easy. I moved from the latest version of outlook to the Mozilla Thunderbird mail application. Open source, actively developed and of course free.
Nidelven IT - Introduction to Thunderbird, part 1 (installation and configuration) Leave Outlook Express or Outlook 2000 as your default email client until **after** you have imported your email address book and email. Otherwise it won't work.
But you think, what about virus protection, i'd have to pay for that. Nope. I run Norton antivirus due to some nice rebates they provide as a hook in with Quick Tax. However, save yourself that money and get
AVG Free edition.
Moving away from Microsoft products and installing antivirus software cuts your risk substantially from the majority of viruses and trojan horses. If you are on a cable hookup you should have a firewall. Built into Windows XP or there are numerous free ones out there. Email me for suggestions if needed.
Nidelven IT - Introduction to Thunderbird, part 1 (installation and configuration) Leave Outlook Express or Outlook 2000 as your default email client until **after** you have imported your email address book and email. Otherwise it won't work.
But you think, what about virus protection, i'd have to pay for that. Nope. I run Norton antivirus due to some nice rebates they provide as a hook in with Quick Tax. However, save yourself that money and get
AVG Free edition.
Moving away from Microsoft products and installing antivirus software cuts your risk substantially from the majority of viruses and trojan horses. If you are on a cable hookup you should have a firewall. Built into Windows XP or there are numerous free ones out there. Email me for suggestions if needed.
Lisa - this is for you :-)
Awareness and Action: Focus on Urban Sustainability
UBC - JUNE 2004 - ASTU 400P
An Interdisciplinary Field Course on sustainability open to all students in
any faculty in any year!
WHO: Open to all students in all Faculties and Community Members
WHAT: A summer field course focused on urban sustainability, active
transportation and community engagement.
WHEN: Weekdays 9am Noon June 2-25th, 2004
WHERE: Urban classroom at Science WorldŠDaily excursions in Greater
Vancouver.
WHY: Earn 3 Credits and Field Experience. Learn and contribute to a
sustainable future.
How do I sign up? Register at UBC online for ASTU 400: Section P
Come to the Information Meeting in IHPR Library Processing Centre 4th
Floor Thursday March 25 12-1:00pm.
Application Forms will be available at this meeting...ignore other
deadlines. If you are having trouble registering - let us know at the
meeting and we can help you out....
Check out our Website http://www.basinfutures.net/urbancourse
If you have any other specific questions that can't wait until the
information meeting...please email the
Course Instructors:
Rob VanWynsberghe (Institute of Health Promotion Research -IHPR)
rvanwyns@interchange.ubc.ca
Janet Moore (Department of Curriculum Studies) janetmoo@interchange.ubc.ca
Awareness and Action: Focus on Urban Sustainability
UBC - JUNE 2004 - ASTU 400P
An Interdisciplinary Field Course on sustainability open to all students in
any faculty in any year!
WHO: Open to all students in all Faculties and Community Members
WHAT: A summer field course focused on urban sustainability, active
transportation and community engagement.
WHEN: Weekdays 9am Noon June 2-25th, 2004
WHERE: Urban classroom at Science WorldŠDaily excursions in Greater
Vancouver.
WHY: Earn 3 Credits and Field Experience. Learn and contribute to a
sustainable future.
How do I sign up? Register at UBC online for ASTU 400: Section P
Come to the Information Meeting in IHPR Library Processing Centre 4th
Floor Thursday March 25 12-1:00pm.
Application Forms will be available at this meeting...ignore other
deadlines. If you are having trouble registering - let us know at the
meeting and we can help you out....
Check out our Website http://www.basinfutures.net/urbancourse
If you have any other specific questions that can't wait until the
information meeting...please email the
Course Instructors:
Rob VanWynsberghe (Institute of Health Promotion Research -IHPR)
rvanwyns@interchange.ubc.ca
Janet Moore (Department of Curriculum Studies) janetmoo@interchange.ubc.ca
3/16/04
From: Patrick Condon [SMTP:patrick.condon@ubc.ca]
To: Smart Growth BC Livable Communities Listserv
Cc:
Subject: [SGBC]Small is Beautiful at SEFC; A Modest Proposal for Modest Lots
Sent: 16/03/04 8:45 AM
Importance: Normal
Below is a commentary piece for submission to local media. Please
distribute if you so choose.
_______________________________________________
>Small is Beautiful at SEFC ; A Modest Proposal for Modest Lots
>
>Patrick M. Condon. UBC James Taylor Chair in Landscape and Liveable
>Environments
>
>
>
>I just don't get it. The City of Vancouver feels lucky to get one million
>dollars an acre for SEFC waterfront land, but most other land in the city
>is worth many times that.
>
>If my duplex here at 7th and Collingwood were to burn down tomorrow, the
>charred 3,300 sq. foot parcel would sell for about a half million. That is
>about 150 dollars per square foot, or over six million dollars per acre!
>Moreover, that's without a view of anything but the schoolyard across the
>street and the nearest water a ten minute walk away.
>
>OK, sure, the surrounding streets are not counted in that amount, and you
>need roads and such; but even if you include my share of the roads on my
>600 foot by 300 foot block (with city lane) and subtract the value of the
>pavement, pipes, and utility infrastructure necessary to service it, my
>lot still has a value in excess of 4 million per acre.
>
>Now again, call me naive, but I think the land at SEFC is at least as
>valuable as mine. So why doesn't the city simply do it the old-fashioned
>way, just like in the rest of our beautiful city: subdivide the land into
>urban blocks and sell off lots at 150 bucks a square foot?
>
>Using simple math it looks to me like the 50 acres might return, after
>deducting servicing costs, a cool 200 million. Take 30 million off the top
>for soil remediation, set aside 50 million to produce 500 units of
>affordable housing, 20 million for community facilities and sustainable
>infrastructure and, well, you get the idea. There is still 100 million
>left in the pot.
>
>In short, what SEFC needs is a sustainable development strategy based on
>traditional blocks and small lots. I may be in the minority, but my
>favourite part of our redeveloped downtown is the part of Yaletown that
>occupies traditional 300 by 600 foot urban blocks. There high rise towers
>press party walls against low-rise buildings, all on relatively small lots
>ranging from 3,000 to 35,000 sq. feet.
>
>This might seem crazy, but small lot low-rise development can provide just
>as many housing units as large lot high rises can. Under existing
>guidelines, densities in the developed parts of SEFC are not to exceed a
>floor surface ratio (FSR) of 3. That's "planner speak" for a prohibition
>on floor space area such that it cannot exceed site area by more than a
>factor of three. An FSR of three can be met in many ways. It could be met
>by three story buildings covering the whole site, or 5 story buildings
>covering 60% of the site, 20 story buildings covering 15% of the site and
>so forth. High-rise districts are not as dense as you might think. Towers
>must be widely spaced to prevent shading the streets below and the
>buildings beyond. Lower buildings don't have this problem and can thus
>cover more land. That's how low rise buildings can get you as many units
>per acre as high rise.
>
>A small lot, low rise strategy would also allow hundreds of local,
>national, and international architects to participate in the project.
>Hundreds of different examples of sustainable architecture would emerge -
>a showplace for the world and a lasting legacy.
>
>Not just architectural practice would benefit. A small lot strategy would
>allow scores of small developers a chance to participate, rather than the
>two or three out of town developers with access to billions. It would
>allow all of our local financial and credit unions to participate in the
>construction of this once in a lifetime opportunity, rather than the few
>global financial consortiums that finance mega projects. It would even
>allow individuals or groups of citizens a chance to buy their own lot,
>hire their own architect, and work with their own developer in bringing to
>life their dream home or co-housing project. In short, it would keep the
>money local, and draw on the talent pool and resources of British
>Columbians. This is sustainable economics for a sustainable South East
>False Creek.
>
>The city could take some of the apparently ample financial resources
>generated by the project and apply them to installing sustainable
>infrastructure systems on the site: community gardens, green sanitary and
>storm water systems, renewable and shared energy utilities, car sharing
>co-ops, streetcars, and neighbourhood recycling centers. Would this not
>give substance to our claim that SEFC will be North Americas most advanced
>sustainable community? And if we don't do those things (and they are very
>much at risk) how can we make such a claim.
>
>And what better way is there to develop an Olympic village than for it to
>truly BE a village, comprised of the built expressions of hundreds of
>individual aspirations. One suspects that the alternative approach, where
>one developer builds a single project on a large parcel will be as much
>real village as Disney's Frontier Land is a real western town.
>
>The city could market test this idea at almost no risk. The Olympic
>Village area will most certainly be low-rise buildings and will be built
>first. Certainly, the City could subdivide two or three 5 acre blocks now
>to test this idea. What has the city to lose? It has sustainability and
>150 million dollars to gain!
>
>But the experts say otherwise. They say that 1 million is the most you can
>get and that the only building you can profitably sell in Vancouver is a
>high rise. They say that only tall buildings and big projects are
>marketable: "This is the market in Vancouver! That is what people want!"
>
>They say that, even though here I sit, on a demonstrably less attractive
>parcel of land, worth four times more than they are offering. I just do
>not get it.
Patrick M. Condon
UBC James Taylor Chair in Landscape and Liveable Environments
2357 Main Mall
Vancouver, BC Canada
V6T 1Z4
www.sustainable-communities.agsci.ubc.ca
3/13/04
FBI adds to wiretap wish list | CNET News.com
WorkEmail writes "A far-reaching proposal from the FBI, made public Friday, would require all broadband Internet providers, including cable modem and DSL companies, to rewire their networks to support easy wiretapping by police. The FBI's request to the Federal Communications Commission aims to give police ready access to any form of Internet-based communications. If approved as drafted, the proposal could dramatically expand the scope of the agency's wiretap powers, raise costs for cable broadband companies and complicate Internet product development."
WorkEmail writes "A far-reaching proposal from the FBI, made public Friday, would require all broadband Internet providers, including cable modem and DSL companies, to rewire their networks to support easy wiretapping by police. The FBI's request to the Federal Communications Commission aims to give police ready access to any form of Internet-based communications. If approved as drafted, the proposal could dramatically expand the scope of the agency's wiretap powers, raise costs for cable broadband companies and complicate Internet product development."
3/12/04
ESPN.com - NHL - McSorley empathizes with Bertuzzi's plight: "What I believe Todd is thinking is 'what has happened here?'," McSorley told the Province. "He's confused. He's a tough guy who stands up for his teammates and he's now in disbelief as to what's actually happened. Everything goes so fast. And then everything piles on. I couldn't believe how everything blew up, how it grew and had a life of it's own.
"I'm 100 percent sure Todd had zero intention of doing what has actually happened. He wanted to fight the guy, have him turn and face him so he could beat him up like every other hockey fight. When I was going through this, I was amazed how much people refused to listen to hockey people. There were people like [Bobby] Orr and [Gordie] Howe and [Barry] Melrose saying it was an accident but people didn't listen. They didn't want to. There was so much sensationalism. It's a media frenzy."
Anybody see a problem here?
"I'm 100 percent sure Todd had zero intention of doing what has actually happened. He wanted to fight the guy, have him turn and face him so he could beat him up like every other hockey fight. When I was going through this, I was amazed how much people refused to listen to hockey people. There were people like [Bobby] Orr and [Gordie] Howe and [Barry] Melrose saying it was an accident but people didn't listen. They didn't want to. There was so much sensationalism. It's a media frenzy."
Anybody see a problem here?
3/11/04
You know you're living in 2004 when...
1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends is that they don't have e-mail addresses.
6. When you go home after a long day at work you still answer the phone in a business manner.
7. When you make phone calls from home, you accidentally dial "9" to get an outside line.
8. You've sat at the same desk for four years and worked for three different companies.
10. You learn about your redundancy on the 11 o'clock news.
11. Your boss doesn't have the ability to do your job.
12. Contractors outnumber permanent staff and are more likely to get long-service awards.
AND..............
13. You read this entire list, and kept nodding and smiling.
14. As you read this list, you think about forwarding it to your "friends."
15. You got this email from a friend that never talks to you anymore, except to send you jokes from the net.
16. You are too busy to notice there was no #9
17. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9
AND NOW U R LAUGHING at yourself.
1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends is that they don't have e-mail addresses.
6. When you go home after a long day at work you still answer the phone in a business manner.
7. When you make phone calls from home, you accidentally dial "9" to get an outside line.
8. You've sat at the same desk for four years and worked for three different companies.
10. You learn about your redundancy on the 11 o'clock news.
11. Your boss doesn't have the ability to do your job.
12. Contractors outnumber permanent staff and are more likely to get long-service awards.
AND..............
13. You read this entire list, and kept nodding and smiling.
14. As you read this list, you think about forwarding it to your "friends."
15. You got this email from a friend that never talks to you anymore, except to send you jokes from the net.
16. You are too busy to notice there was no #9
17. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9
AND NOW U R LAUGHING at yourself.
3/9/04
3/7/04
3/3/04
Time Savers For Bloggers
Good tips for writing generally. I'd absorb them is I wasn't busy drinking from the firehose of information that comes over my internet connection. :-)
Good tips for writing generally. I'd absorb them is I wasn't busy drinking from the firehose of information that comes over my internet connection. :-)
http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,62396,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_1
For my Ipod toting friends
Bull, a lecturer in media and culture at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, is the author of Sounding out the City: Personal Stereos and the Management of Everyday Life, a book Bull calls the "definitive treatment" of the impact of the Sony Walkman and its descendants. Now Bull has turned his attention to Apple's iPod.
For my Ipod toting friends
Bull, a lecturer in media and culture at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom, is the author of Sounding out the City: Personal Stereos and the Management of Everyday Life, a book Bull calls the "definitive treatment" of the impact of the Sony Walkman and its descendants. Now Bull has turned his attention to Apple's iPod.
Everybody wants protection from unbridled growth,but so few are willing to adopt the necessary principles
Seeds to grow
Everybody wants protection from unbridled growth,but so few are willing to
adopt the necessary principles
By Tim Davis
for Headwaters News (www.headwaters.org)
I spend a lot of time asking people in Montana – Republicans and Democrats,
businesswomen and builders, waiters and environmentalists – what they want
their slice of the West to look like in 20 years.
They almost always talk about open space and clean water, vibrant towns and
lack of traffic, and the like. People never say they want more strip malls.
They don't say they hope Montana in 2020 will look like California or
Colorado today. They don't ask for subdivisions to carpet our valleys.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
We haven't learned how to mesh the legitimately competing desires (and
fears) of enough Montanans to make smart growth happen.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
And yet that is just what we are getting. Why, if so few of us want this,
are we building it anyway? Why aren't we embracing smart growth?
Partly, this is because smart growth is hard for people to grasp, even if
they know it when they see it: It's those older, walkable, and marketable
neighborhoods with tree-lined streets, front porches, and affordable homes
that are a short hop from thriving downtowns with hardware stores, coffee
shops, offices, and lots of people mingling and interacting.
The other side of smart growth is the open spaces and working farms and
ranches just outside town, and those undisturbed floodplains, ridge lines,
and streamsides. In other words, smart growth is exactly what most people
say they want and come to the West for.
But the wasteful sprawling development that we have seen so much of in the
past 15 years isn't due only to a lack of understanding of smart growth and
the tools necessary to make it a reality. Another problem is that we have
skewed our state and local infrastructure investments and development permit
systems in a way that actively promotes and subsidizes sprawling
development.
One reason is that we haven't learned how to mesh the legitimately competing
desires (and fears) of enough Montanans to make smart growth happen.
To create the future most Montanans and Westerners want, we need to know how
different people in what remains of the undeveloped West see growth. The
following are admittedly gross generalizations, but they're also broadly
true.
The rancher: He's concerned the regulations needed to implement smart growth
will limit his ability to sell his land for development in the future. But
he also resents the encroachment of subdivisions that threaten his operation
and the rural life he loves.
The city dweller: She enjoys being close to her kids' schools, to the store,
and to work, so she doesn't have to spend all her precious free time as a
taxi driver. But she also worries about how the new apartment building
proposed down the street will impact her property values.
The home builder: He works on a thin profit margin from house to house. The
more expensive the house, the higher the profit. So he's glad to build
McMansions outside town. He recognizes sprawl makes the town less
attractive, traffic has gotten worse, and his hunting grounds have been
fragmented by ranchettes. But he figures that is the price of progress.
The new rural resident: She loves the quiet of her few acres. But she
worries about new subdivisions proposed nearby, and about growing traffic,
worsening roads, and the threat of new septic systems to her drinking
water -- as well as the added taxes needed to fix such problems.
The conservationist: He supports smart growth because it will protect
wildlife habitat, river corridors, water quality, and open space. But he
often forgets we need to ensure that all Montanans can find an attractive
and affordable home in town.
The low-income mom: Single mothers or low-income families worry most about
paying the bills. Their need for affordable rent forces them to live in a
poorly built and unattractive home, often on the edge of town, which means
they drive a lot. The cost of maintaining the car isn't cheap, and the
constant driving is a hassle.
The Realtor: He appreciates the open lands and small-town life that make
living and buying a home in Montana so attractive. But he doesn't want to
support the measures that protect those amenities and property values over
the long term because he fears they'll limit his short-term income.
There is some validity in all of these hopes and fears. The trick is how to
address enough of them so that a majority of us see smart growth as in our
best interest. Let me address the concerns of each of these people one at a
time.
The rancher:
Most farmers and ranchers already know that one of the only ways to ensure
an adequate land base of working lands is zoning. But many don't know that
you can zone working lands to protect them and either allow small parts of
those lands to be developed or to sell their development rights.
What if counties helped farmers and ranchers by halting development from
eating up most of the best lands while also helping them develop small
portions of farm and ranch (mostly the less productive lands) to be used for
cluster development?
Put another way, if you've got 200 acres of farmland, you could put 20
houses on 10-acre lots and be forced to quit farming while ensuring that the
land will never be used for farming again, or you could put 20 or more
houses on 10 acres and still farm most of the remaining 190 acres.
When designed correctly, these types of developments will make the farmers
and ranchers more money than simply selling or developing all their land
because people are willing to pay a premium for the open space that is the
remaining farmland. It's win-win.
The city dweller:
For smart growth to work, most people need to live in town. But people in
cities sometimes get nervous when, say, apartments go up down the street.
There are two ways to address such fears.
One is to explain how bringing more people to town protects city dwellers.
This is because when people move out of town, in-town schools shut down,
in-town traffic gets worse, open space is lost, and vibrant downtowns
deteriorate as strip malls rise.
Second, we need to show that new development can protect urbanites' property
values. Cities can do this by working with neighborhoods to pass design
standards that ensure that new development looks like the older parts of
town that people cherish.
The home builder:
Cities can do a hundred things to make building in town attractive but most
cities in Montana haven't done everything they can.
We need to make our zoning and building codes simple and predictable, and we
need to level the playing field by making sure that everyone builds to the
same standards, whether you are inside the city boundary or just outside.
Cities and counties need to work together to help with the cost of providing
city services including streets, sewer and water for affordable homes inside
and immediately adjacent to our cities.
We also need to streamline the permit process for building smart growth so
that it takes less time and costs less to build. And cities must convince
the Legislature to direct funding away from building bigger roads that are a
gigantic subsidy to sprawl and instead address the existing transportation
needs of our towns.
The new rural resident:
Most people in the country want to keep their area lightly developed --
that's why they moved there. Some people call this a "pull up the
drawbridge" or "I've got mine" mentality. Perhaps it is.
But it's also an important source of support for smart growth. We need to
show rural residents how they can protect the lifestyle that they moved
there for, either by working with their county commission to adopt zoning or
by creating their own, citizen-initiated zoning district. Without zoning,
rural residents have no say in how their areas will grow.
The conservationist:
Conservationists need to continue to work with fishermen, hunters and
average Montanans to explain the threat that out-of-control sprawl poses to
fish, wildlife, family farming and ranching, and the quality of our drinking
water, while actively helping cities and counties implement plans to
accommodate growth as efficiently, attractively and affordably as possible
into our existing cities and towns.
The low-income family:
We urgently need to convince cities and counties to identify areas inside
and immediately adjacent to existing cities where small lots will be
encouraged.
Small lots do not mean "low-income ghettos." Rather, mixing small-lot
developments with a variety of housing types creates areas just like the
historic neighborhoods in and around our downtowns.
These neighborhoods have big and small houses, apartments and townhouses,
all mixed together -- and all on modest, town-sized lots. When we build this
way, attractive homes that sell for $70,000 can sit next to attractive homes
that sell for $170,000, and taxes can be less because streets, sewers and
water lines are all shorter.
To achieve this, cities need to give all the incentives and streamlining
that I mentioned for the builders, above.
The Realtor:
The arguments for Realtors are mostly the same as for the builders. We need
to show them smart growth is not no-growth, that there's a lot of money to
be made, and that in the long term, we'll protect the things that make
Montana real estate so desirable (and profitable).
These marketable amenities will become ever more important as more and more
places in the West refuse to make smart growth a reality and we take the
steps necessary to make it a reality here.
Obviously, this will take a lot of education and organizing. A farsighted
governor and Legislature will have to redirect growth subsidies. Wise county
commissioners and city councilors will have to reform local zoning and
building regulations.
It's a tall order, but by not doing it we guarantee the Californication of
our part of the West. Do we have any other choice?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Tim Davis is the executive director of the Montana Smart Growth Coalition.
Seeds to grow
Everybody wants protection from unbridled growth,but so few are willing to
adopt the necessary principles
By Tim Davis
for Headwaters News (www.headwaters.org)
I spend a lot of time asking people in Montana – Republicans and Democrats,
businesswomen and builders, waiters and environmentalists – what they want
their slice of the West to look like in 20 years.
They almost always talk about open space and clean water, vibrant towns and
lack of traffic, and the like. People never say they want more strip malls.
They don't say they hope Montana in 2020 will look like California or
Colorado today. They don't ask for subdivisions to carpet our valleys.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
We haven't learned how to mesh the legitimately competing desires (and
fears) of enough Montanans to make smart growth happen.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
And yet that is just what we are getting. Why, if so few of us want this,
are we building it anyway? Why aren't we embracing smart growth?
Partly, this is because smart growth is hard for people to grasp, even if
they know it when they see it: It's those older, walkable, and marketable
neighborhoods with tree-lined streets, front porches, and affordable homes
that are a short hop from thriving downtowns with hardware stores, coffee
shops, offices, and lots of people mingling and interacting.
The other side of smart growth is the open spaces and working farms and
ranches just outside town, and those undisturbed floodplains, ridge lines,
and streamsides. In other words, smart growth is exactly what most people
say they want and come to the West for.
But the wasteful sprawling development that we have seen so much of in the
past 15 years isn't due only to a lack of understanding of smart growth and
the tools necessary to make it a reality. Another problem is that we have
skewed our state and local infrastructure investments and development permit
systems in a way that actively promotes and subsidizes sprawling
development.
One reason is that we haven't learned how to mesh the legitimately competing
desires (and fears) of enough Montanans to make smart growth happen.
To create the future most Montanans and Westerners want, we need to know how
different people in what remains of the undeveloped West see growth. The
following are admittedly gross generalizations, but they're also broadly
true.
The rancher: He's concerned the regulations needed to implement smart growth
will limit his ability to sell his land for development in the future. But
he also resents the encroachment of subdivisions that threaten his operation
and the rural life he loves.
The city dweller: She enjoys being close to her kids' schools, to the store,
and to work, so she doesn't have to spend all her precious free time as a
taxi driver. But she also worries about how the new apartment building
proposed down the street will impact her property values.
The home builder: He works on a thin profit margin from house to house. The
more expensive the house, the higher the profit. So he's glad to build
McMansions outside town. He recognizes sprawl makes the town less
attractive, traffic has gotten worse, and his hunting grounds have been
fragmented by ranchettes. But he figures that is the price of progress.
The new rural resident: She loves the quiet of her few acres. But she
worries about new subdivisions proposed nearby, and about growing traffic,
worsening roads, and the threat of new septic systems to her drinking
water -- as well as the added taxes needed to fix such problems.
The conservationist: He supports smart growth because it will protect
wildlife habitat, river corridors, water quality, and open space. But he
often forgets we need to ensure that all Montanans can find an attractive
and affordable home in town.
The low-income mom: Single mothers or low-income families worry most about
paying the bills. Their need for affordable rent forces them to live in a
poorly built and unattractive home, often on the edge of town, which means
they drive a lot. The cost of maintaining the car isn't cheap, and the
constant driving is a hassle.
The Realtor: He appreciates the open lands and small-town life that make
living and buying a home in Montana so attractive. But he doesn't want to
support the measures that protect those amenities and property values over
the long term because he fears they'll limit his short-term income.
There is some validity in all of these hopes and fears. The trick is how to
address enough of them so that a majority of us see smart growth as in our
best interest. Let me address the concerns of each of these people one at a
time.
The rancher:
Most farmers and ranchers already know that one of the only ways to ensure
an adequate land base of working lands is zoning. But many don't know that
you can zone working lands to protect them and either allow small parts of
those lands to be developed or to sell their development rights.
What if counties helped farmers and ranchers by halting development from
eating up most of the best lands while also helping them develop small
portions of farm and ranch (mostly the less productive lands) to be used for
cluster development?
Put another way, if you've got 200 acres of farmland, you could put 20
houses on 10-acre lots and be forced to quit farming while ensuring that the
land will never be used for farming again, or you could put 20 or more
houses on 10 acres and still farm most of the remaining 190 acres.
When designed correctly, these types of developments will make the farmers
and ranchers more money than simply selling or developing all their land
because people are willing to pay a premium for the open space that is the
remaining farmland. It's win-win.
The city dweller:
For smart growth to work, most people need to live in town. But people in
cities sometimes get nervous when, say, apartments go up down the street.
There are two ways to address such fears.
One is to explain how bringing more people to town protects city dwellers.
This is because when people move out of town, in-town schools shut down,
in-town traffic gets worse, open space is lost, and vibrant downtowns
deteriorate as strip malls rise.
Second, we need to show that new development can protect urbanites' property
values. Cities can do this by working with neighborhoods to pass design
standards that ensure that new development looks like the older parts of
town that people cherish.
The home builder:
Cities can do a hundred things to make building in town attractive but most
cities in Montana haven't done everything they can.
We need to make our zoning and building codes simple and predictable, and we
need to level the playing field by making sure that everyone builds to the
same standards, whether you are inside the city boundary or just outside.
Cities and counties need to work together to help with the cost of providing
city services including streets, sewer and water for affordable homes inside
and immediately adjacent to our cities.
We also need to streamline the permit process for building smart growth so
that it takes less time and costs less to build. And cities must convince
the Legislature to direct funding away from building bigger roads that are a
gigantic subsidy to sprawl and instead address the existing transportation
needs of our towns.
The new rural resident:
Most people in the country want to keep their area lightly developed --
that's why they moved there. Some people call this a "pull up the
drawbridge" or "I've got mine" mentality. Perhaps it is.
But it's also an important source of support for smart growth. We need to
show rural residents how they can protect the lifestyle that they moved
there for, either by working with their county commission to adopt zoning or
by creating their own, citizen-initiated zoning district. Without zoning,
rural residents have no say in how their areas will grow.
The conservationist:
Conservationists need to continue to work with fishermen, hunters and
average Montanans to explain the threat that out-of-control sprawl poses to
fish, wildlife, family farming and ranching, and the quality of our drinking
water, while actively helping cities and counties implement plans to
accommodate growth as efficiently, attractively and affordably as possible
into our existing cities and towns.
The low-income family:
We urgently need to convince cities and counties to identify areas inside
and immediately adjacent to existing cities where small lots will be
encouraged.
Small lots do not mean "low-income ghettos." Rather, mixing small-lot
developments with a variety of housing types creates areas just like the
historic neighborhoods in and around our downtowns.
These neighborhoods have big and small houses, apartments and townhouses,
all mixed together -- and all on modest, town-sized lots. When we build this
way, attractive homes that sell for $70,000 can sit next to attractive homes
that sell for $170,000, and taxes can be less because streets, sewers and
water lines are all shorter.
To achieve this, cities need to give all the incentives and streamlining
that I mentioned for the builders, above.
The Realtor:
The arguments for Realtors are mostly the same as for the builders. We need
to show them smart growth is not no-growth, that there's a lot of money to
be made, and that in the long term, we'll protect the things that make
Montana real estate so desirable (and profitable).
These marketable amenities will become ever more important as more and more
places in the West refuse to make smart growth a reality and we take the
steps necessary to make it a reality here.
Obviously, this will take a lot of education and organizing. A farsighted
governor and Legislature will have to redirect growth subsidies. Wise county
commissioners and city councilors will have to reform local zoning and
building regulations.
It's a tall order, but by not doing it we guarantee the Californication of
our part of the West. Do we have any other choice?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Tim Davis is the executive director of the Montana Smart Growth Coalition.
3/2/04
Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Press Releases: "Scientists have concluded the part of Mars that NASA's Opportunity rover is exploring was soaking wet in the past.Evidence the rover found in a rock outcrop led scientists to the conclusion. Clues from the rocks' composition, such as the presence of sulfates, and the rocks' physical appearance, such as niches where crystals grew, helped make the case for a watery history.
"Liquid water once flowed through these rocks. It changed their texture, and it changed their chemistry," said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its twin, Spirit. "We've been able to read the tell-tale clues the water left behind, giving us confidence in that conclusion."
"Liquid water once flowed through these rocks. It changed their texture, and it changed their chemistry," said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its twin, Spirit. "We've been able to read the tell-tale clues the water left behind, giving us confidence in that conclusion."
2/27/04
BILL M 202 -- 2002: PETS IN RENTAL HOUSING ACT
The original written by me when I was an intern.
http://www.legis.gov.bc.ca/2000/1st_read/mem203-1.htm
The original written by me when I was an intern.
http://www.legis.gov.bc.ca/2000/1st_read/mem203-1.htm
Urban change requires vision
Toronto Star
February 26, 2004
Scarcity is a fact of life for many these days. Frustrations mount about
homelessness, poverty, ill health and environmental degradation — problems
whose solutions are often implemented too slowly or are too small in scope
for reasons of cost.
It is times like these, with new legislators and tight budgets, that we need
to consult with our visionaries — leaders with a holistic perspective who
have low-cost ways to overcome scarcity.
One visionary, Martin Liefhebber, recommends simple solutions that have the
potential for large-scale implementation — legislative changes that, if
enacted, would turn our politicians into heroes. Liefhebber, principal
architect of Breathe Architects, is the internationally recognized designer
of the Toronto "healthy houses" on Sparkhall Ave., and sustainable buildings
and technologies in Canada, including York University's Calumet College,
OCAD's Rosalie Sharp Pavilion and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
Liefhebber's solutions are based on the need to provide for our changing
population. More people are living alone, paying more to do so, and our
aging populace needs community supports for independence. "Employment
options are diminishing for a greater proportion of people," says
StatsCanada — one reason why more young adults are living with their
parents. Employment scarcity exacerbates the need for affordable housing.
Toronto's 2003 Report Card on Housing and Homelessness stated the crisis:
About one-quarter of our city's population is earning less than the low
income cut-off ($34,572 for a family of four, $18,371 for one person).
Approximately 885,000 Ontario families (250,000 in Toronto) are paying more
than 30 per cent of their income for shelter, and more than 71,000 Toronto
households are on the waiting list for affordable housing. Liefhebber's
answers to these issues stress the need for legislative changes and natural
systems "to create humane ways for people to live more affordably in
difficult economic times."
What do these natural systems and legislative changes include?
Mixed use: change land use zoning everywhere to include live/work
People should be able to start a business within their home but most land is
now zoned either residential or commercial. "Having retail operations at
street corners, even in the suburbs, would provide grocery stores at more
frequent intervals and negate the need for a car," Leifhebber says.
Intensification
Liefhebber states: "Traditional means of achieving affordability call for
large-scale apartment buildings." He suggests that instead we double our GTA
housing capacity by "rezoning to accommodate a doubling of families per
housing unit — a more cost effective use of road and public transit
infrastructure while slowing sprawl." Currently, municipal zoning does not
allow lots to contain more than one dwelling for a single family.
Rezoning could also facilitate converting laneways into ecological villages.
"This creates a huge supply of inexpensive housing for the elderly, for
grown children and for students," says Liefhebber. "Why do we have cars in
garages when we have people sleeping on the streets?"
Alternative technologies
In the buildings he designs, Liefhebber often opts for alternative
technologies found to be superior to standard (legislated) ones, which offer
an ecological solution to indoor and outdoor air quality concerns.
In his Clarkson co-housing home, straw bales create a breathing wall
technology that has been deemed to be superior to conventional walls by
building code specialists. Yet, its use must be applied for by special
permit each time, although buildings that can breathe instead of having a
tight seal are suitable for people with respiratory sensitivities and reduce
health-care costs.
Liefhebber adds: "Most buildings primarily are designed without any clue
about the sun and its ability to heat air and water, and they fail to
address our growing urgency to lower our energy consumption, use renewables,
and live more lightly on the planet."
Redesign residential streets and sewage systems
Liefhebber says, "We can redesign residential streets so pedestrians are
treated as more valuable than cars. Calming the traffic would promote a 3-C
neighbourhood — a commons of community and commerce similar to those in the
Netherlands."
Additionally, he notes, "Why continue to design a closed storm sewage
system — the pipe approach — depriving our water table of rainwater
penetration and causing it to deteriorate through dropped water levels?
Having an open storm water system would also help cool our city because we
would rely more on natural, grassy surfaces (rather than paved ones)." This
seepage principle "would water our drought-ridden urban trees."
People and markets are hungry for viable societal, health and ecological
alternatives. Given tighter government budgets, we need political leadership
to help us achieve these changes through legislation that is less
restrictive and which creates opportunities for an improved quality of life.
Toronto Star
February 26, 2004
Scarcity is a fact of life for many these days. Frustrations mount about
homelessness, poverty, ill health and environmental degradation — problems
whose solutions are often implemented too slowly or are too small in scope
for reasons of cost.
It is times like these, with new legislators and tight budgets, that we need
to consult with our visionaries — leaders with a holistic perspective who
have low-cost ways to overcome scarcity.
One visionary, Martin Liefhebber, recommends simple solutions that have the
potential for large-scale implementation — legislative changes that, if
enacted, would turn our politicians into heroes. Liefhebber, principal
architect of Breathe Architects, is the internationally recognized designer
of the Toronto "healthy houses" on Sparkhall Ave., and sustainable buildings
and technologies in Canada, including York University's Calumet College,
OCAD's Rosalie Sharp Pavilion and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
Liefhebber's solutions are based on the need to provide for our changing
population. More people are living alone, paying more to do so, and our
aging populace needs community supports for independence. "Employment
options are diminishing for a greater proportion of people," says
StatsCanada — one reason why more young adults are living with their
parents. Employment scarcity exacerbates the need for affordable housing.
Toronto's 2003 Report Card on Housing and Homelessness stated the crisis:
About one-quarter of our city's population is earning less than the low
income cut-off ($34,572 for a family of four, $18,371 for one person).
Approximately 885,000 Ontario families (250,000 in Toronto) are paying more
than 30 per cent of their income for shelter, and more than 71,000 Toronto
households are on the waiting list for affordable housing. Liefhebber's
answers to these issues stress the need for legislative changes and natural
systems "to create humane ways for people to live more affordably in
difficult economic times."
What do these natural systems and legislative changes include?
Mixed use: change land use zoning everywhere to include live/work
People should be able to start a business within their home but most land is
now zoned either residential or commercial. "Having retail operations at
street corners, even in the suburbs, would provide grocery stores at more
frequent intervals and negate the need for a car," Leifhebber says.
Intensification
Liefhebber states: "Traditional means of achieving affordability call for
large-scale apartment buildings." He suggests that instead we double our GTA
housing capacity by "rezoning to accommodate a doubling of families per
housing unit — a more cost effective use of road and public transit
infrastructure while slowing sprawl." Currently, municipal zoning does not
allow lots to contain more than one dwelling for a single family.
Rezoning could also facilitate converting laneways into ecological villages.
"This creates a huge supply of inexpensive housing for the elderly, for
grown children and for students," says Liefhebber. "Why do we have cars in
garages when we have people sleeping on the streets?"
Alternative technologies
In the buildings he designs, Liefhebber often opts for alternative
technologies found to be superior to standard (legislated) ones, which offer
an ecological solution to indoor and outdoor air quality concerns.
In his Clarkson co-housing home, straw bales create a breathing wall
technology that has been deemed to be superior to conventional walls by
building code specialists. Yet, its use must be applied for by special
permit each time, although buildings that can breathe instead of having a
tight seal are suitable for people with respiratory sensitivities and reduce
health-care costs.
Liefhebber adds: "Most buildings primarily are designed without any clue
about the sun and its ability to heat air and water, and they fail to
address our growing urgency to lower our energy consumption, use renewables,
and live more lightly on the planet."
Redesign residential streets and sewage systems
Liefhebber says, "We can redesign residential streets so pedestrians are
treated as more valuable than cars. Calming the traffic would promote a 3-C
neighbourhood — a commons of community and commerce similar to those in the
Netherlands."
Additionally, he notes, "Why continue to design a closed storm sewage
system — the pipe approach — depriving our water table of rainwater
penetration and causing it to deteriorate through dropped water levels?
Having an open storm water system would also help cool our city because we
would rely more on natural, grassy surfaces (rather than paved ones)." This
seepage principle "would water our drought-ridden urban trees."
People and markets are hungry for viable societal, health and ecological
alternatives. Given tighter government budgets, we need political leadership
to help us achieve these changes through legislation that is less
restrictive and which creates opportunities for an improved quality of life.
2/26/04
2/20/04
2/19/04
The America will vote for Bush
THERE was a commercial that aired on Iowa television in which the-then front-runner for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Howard Dean, was blasted for being the choice of the cultural elites: a "tax hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left- wing freak show" who had no business trying to talk to the plain folk of Iowa.
The commercial was sponsored by the Club for Growth, a Washington-based organisation dedicated to hooking up pro-business rich people with pro-business politicians. The organisation is made up of anti-government economists, prominent men of means, and big thinkers of the late New Economy, celebrated geniuses of the sort that spent the past 10 years describing the low-tax, deregulated economy as though it were the second coming of Christ. In other words, the people who thought they saw Jesus in the ever-ascending Nasdaq, the pundits who worked himself into a lather singing the praises of new billionaires, the economists who made a living by publicly insisting that privatisation and deregulation were the mandates of history itself, are now running television commercials denouncing the "elite".
That’s the mystery of the United States, circa 2004. Thanks to the rightward political shift of the past 30 years, wealth is today concentrated in fewer hands than it has been since the 1920s; workers have less power over the conditions under which they toil than ever before in our lifetimes; and the corporation has become the most powerful actor in our world. Yet that rightward shift - still going strong to this day - sells itself as a war against elites, a righteous uprising of the little guy against an obnoxious upper class.
THERE was a commercial that aired on Iowa television in which the-then front-runner for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, Howard Dean, was blasted for being the choice of the cultural elites: a "tax hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left- wing freak show" who had no business trying to talk to the plain folk of Iowa.
The commercial was sponsored by the Club for Growth, a Washington-based organisation dedicated to hooking up pro-business rich people with pro-business politicians. The organisation is made up of anti-government economists, prominent men of means, and big thinkers of the late New Economy, celebrated geniuses of the sort that spent the past 10 years describing the low-tax, deregulated economy as though it were the second coming of Christ. In other words, the people who thought they saw Jesus in the ever-ascending Nasdaq, the pundits who worked himself into a lather singing the praises of new billionaires, the economists who made a living by publicly insisting that privatisation and deregulation were the mandates of history itself, are now running television commercials denouncing the "elite".
That’s the mystery of the United States, circa 2004. Thanks to the rightward political shift of the past 30 years, wealth is today concentrated in fewer hands than it has been since the 1920s; workers have less power over the conditions under which they toil than ever before in our lifetimes; and the corporation has become the most powerful actor in our world. Yet that rightward shift - still going strong to this day - sells itself as a war against elites, a righteous uprising of the little guy against an obnoxious upper class.
The Dominion: Canada's Grassroots National Newspaper
New to me. Should be interesting poking around and seeing what their take is.
New to me. Should be interesting poking around and seeing what their take is.
"Creative Class War" by Richard Florida
How the GOP's anti-elitism could ruin America's economy
Richard Florida is the Heinz professor of economic development at Carnegie Mellon University and the author of The Rise of the Creative Class.
How the GOP's anti-elitism could ruin America's economy
Richard Florida is the Heinz professor of economic development at Carnegie Mellon University and the author of The Rise of the Creative Class.
2/10/04
2003 Report of the Auditor General of Canada - November - Chapter 3
3.1 From 1997 until 31 August 2001, the federal government ran the Sponsorship Program in a way that showed little regard for Parliament, the Financial Administration Act, contracting rules and regulations, transparency, and value for money:
* Parliament was not informed of the program's objectives or the results it achieved and was misinformed as to how the program was being managed.
* Those responsible for managing the program broke the government's own rules in the way they selected communications agencies and awarded contracts to them.
* Partnership arrangements between government entities are not unusual in programs of mutual benefit. However, some sponsorship funds were transferred to Crown corporations using unusual methods that appear designed to provide significant commissions to communications agencies, while hiding the source of funds and the true nature of the transactions.
* Documentation was very poor and there was little evidence of analysis to support the expenditure of more than $250 million. Over $100 million of that was paid to communications agencies as production fees and commissions.
* Oversight mechanisms and essential controls at Public Works and Government Services Canada failed to detect, prevent, or report violations.
3.2 Since Communications Canada's creation in September 2001, there have been significant improvements in the program's management, including better documentation and more rigorous enforcement of contract requirements.
3.1 From 1997 until 31 August 2001, the federal government ran the Sponsorship Program in a way that showed little regard for Parliament, the Financial Administration Act, contracting rules and regulations, transparency, and value for money:
* Parliament was not informed of the program's objectives or the results it achieved and was misinformed as to how the program was being managed.
* Those responsible for managing the program broke the government's own rules in the way they selected communications agencies and awarded contracts to them.
* Partnership arrangements between government entities are not unusual in programs of mutual benefit. However, some sponsorship funds were transferred to Crown corporations using unusual methods that appear designed to provide significant commissions to communications agencies, while hiding the source of funds and the true nature of the transactions.
* Documentation was very poor and there was little evidence of analysis to support the expenditure of more than $250 million. Over $100 million of that was paid to communications agencies as production fees and commissions.
* Oversight mechanisms and essential controls at Public Works and Government Services Canada failed to detect, prevent, or report violations.
3.2 Since Communications Canada's creation in September 2001, there have been significant improvements in the program's management, including better documentation and more rigorous enforcement of contract requirements.
2/6/04
From the Smart Growth Livable Communities Email List
Wal-Mart's Costs Can't Always Be Measured
If Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is famous for anything, it's
the ruthless way it wrings the last few pennies of cost
from every transaction.
So last week, when the Los Angeles County Economic
Development Corp. released a study finding that the
expansion of Wal-Mart's grocery business into Southern
California would be, on balance, a great thing, my
first reaction was that the company had purchased the
LAEDC's reputation cheaply for the $65,000 it paid for
the study.
But to be fair, LAEDC's team, headed by Gregory
Freeman, its director of policy consulting, did a
responsible job with what data it had, much of which
was provided by Wal-Mart, and not without a fair amount
of tugging.
One can even accept Freeman's claim to have identified
and rectified a flaw in other, alarmist studies of
Wal-Mart's impact on local economies: that while those
studies focus on how the downward pressure on retail
wages produced by Wal-Mart's arrival leads to job
losses, they don't explore the converse — whether the
increased purchasing power of shoppers at Wal-Mart and
its price-cutting rivals might pump enough money into a
local economy to stimulate employment. Freeman argues
that over time, the extra cash in Wal-Mart shoppers'
pockets will mean a net gain in Southern California of
tens of thousands of jobs. And if someone wants to
challenge his math, at least he lays out his
calculations in his report's 40 pages.
For all that, when it comes to gauging Wal-Mart's
influence on local communities, much of that influence
either can't be measured by standard economics or
hasn't yet generated enough data to allow economists to
work their mathematical magic.
It's hard to ignore the markers of this report's
provenance as the product of a commercial contract.
Plenty of it reads as though it was aimed for the ears
of Freeman's exacting client. For example: "Wal-Mart
makes a point of always listening to its customers, and
focuses on the consumer's bottom line," Freeman writes
at the close of an admiring section on the
corporation's devotion to frugality. Well, maybe. But
this sounds more like the language of PR flackery than
of objective economics.
Freeman says every word of the text is his own. He also
says he knew his conclusions would be controversial,
especially in light of the supermarket labor dispute,
and strove to be objective: "I'm not here to defend
Wal-Mart or disguise the issues," he told me.
The LAEDC says Wal-Mart reviewed the report before it
was issued to the public. That's conventional practice
with consulting clients, the organization says, whether
they're corporations like Wal-Mart or agencies like the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The idea is to
allow the client to ferret out factual inaccuracies
rather than cavil about wording. But it's also true
that Wal-Mart had the contractual right to veto the
report's public release if it didn't like its
conclusions.
Since the company OKd its publication, no one should be
surprised that it lauded the LAEDC's conclusion that
the arrival of Wal-Mart Supercenters, which sell
general merchandise along with groceries, would be a
net boon for the Southland. "This is a great day for
California consumers," said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona
Williams, a statement that fills me with the same
gratitude I feel when my bank tells me it's raising its
fees in order to serve me better.
The fact is that while the LAEDC report may be fine as
far as it goes, it doesn't go far enough in analyzing
the Wal-Mart effect on a community. And by leaving out
a few perceptible but unquantifiable consequences of
Wal-Mart policies, it makes the overall effect look
more favorable than it really is.
Consider an alleged Wal-Mart habit currently being
scrutinized in a federal courthouse in San Francisco:
pervasive sex discrimination. Lawyers for the
plaintiffs in the case say that women in virtually
every job classification across the country are paid
less than men with the same responsibilities and
seniority; women make up two-thirds of the company's
hourly workforce but one-third of its management.
Calculating the economic impact of such a trend is
difficult, if not impossible, but the accusation hardly
portrays Wal-Mart as a force for social enlightenment.
(The company has denied that it discriminates, but also
says it is trying to make its pay and promotion system
less subjective than before.)
On employment practices and benefits in general, the
LAEDC report takes Wal-Mart at its word. The company
claims to provide such perquisites as profit sharing
and a 15% discount on company stock it presents without
comment, beyond saying "the value of these benefits
varies." Indeed, Wal-Mart's critics note that its
famously lean management structure means that as few as
10 workers in a store employing 300 to 500 might be
eligible for profit sharing, and its low wages mean
that few employees have the wherewithal to accumulate a
significant investment in its stock at any discount.
The company's claim to provide health benefits also
deserves greater scrutiny. Although the LAEDC report
notes that Wal-Mart provides employees with health
insurance, it doesn't explore the implications of how
it does so. As this column has pointed out in the past,
not only do Wal-Mart workers pay a larger share of
their health insurance premiums than the average worker
nationwide, but the company also excludes coverage of
many routine medical services, such as contraceptives
and child vaccinations.
Instead, Wal-Mart focuses on covering such
"catastrophic" needs as cancer treatment and organ
transplants. This allows the company to release gaudy
numbers to make itself seem softhearted, such as by
noting that it pays for 60 transplants a year at more
than $1 million each. But these are obviously rare
events — 60 transplant patients would be the equivalent
of just over one-hundredth of 1% of Wal-Mart's 500,000
insured employees, for example.
What happens when the child of a Wal-Mart employee on
an hourly wage needs a shot for measles, chicken pox or
the flu? The worker faces the choice of shelling out,
say, $75 to get the shot at a private clinic (that's
more than a day's pay for many of the workers); or
going to a public, tax-supported clinic, which means we
all pay; or trusting to luck that the child won't get
sick, which would force the employee to stay home for a
couple of days, losing more pay.
Wal-Mart freely, even boastfully, acknowledges that as
many as 40% of its employees get their health coverage
elsewhere, such as from the employers of spouses or
parents or from programs like MediCal and Medicare.
This is community-mindedness the Wal-Mart way: Stick
the other guy with the responsibility for your own
workforce. Wal-Mart ruthlessly prices its health
coverage to discourage employees from placing their own
spouses and children on its plans, but it's not above
pushing its own workers on other companies. Then it
argues smugly that its competitors are only whining
because they don't know to cut costs as efficiently as
it does.
This sheds a different light on the LAEDC report's
contention that other studies have overestimated the
wage gap between Wal-Mart grocery employees and
unionized supermarket workers. The LAEDC estimates that
the overall average difference in Southern California
will amount to $2.50 to $3.50 an hour. But it doesn't
calculate the additional advantage the union members
have had from their comprehensive company-paid health
insurance coverage or, for that matter, from the
company-financed pension benefits they have long
enjoyed.
Neither benefit is matched by Wal-Mart. Both, as it
happens, are mortally threatened today, because the
supermarket chains engaged in the labor dispute are
determined to move their labor costs closer to the
Wal-Mart standard. The full import of this change,
Freeman told me, was "outside the scope" of his study,
if only because healthcare costs have become a national
issue and it's impossible to tell what company-paid
health insurance plans will look like in five or 10
years. That's true enough, but it looks like a fair bet
today that healthcare will be taking a bigger chunk out
of most workers' paychecks tomorrow. Wal-Mart's
influence on that trend can't be discounted.
Perhaps, then, we should defer applauding the
inevitable arrival of Wal-Mart Supercenters in
California. It may be, as the LAEDC concluded, that
we'll all benefit hugely from their relentless price
cutting. But we haven't even begun to learn how to
measure the supercenters' cost.
Bill Bronson
Wal-Mart's Costs Can't Always Be Measured
If Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is famous for anything, it's
the ruthless way it wrings the last few pennies of cost
from every transaction.
So last week, when the Los Angeles County Economic
Development Corp. released a study finding that the
expansion of Wal-Mart's grocery business into Southern
California would be, on balance, a great thing, my
first reaction was that the company had purchased the
LAEDC's reputation cheaply for the $65,000 it paid for
the study.
But to be fair, LAEDC's team, headed by Gregory
Freeman, its director of policy consulting, did a
responsible job with what data it had, much of which
was provided by Wal-Mart, and not without a fair amount
of tugging.
One can even accept Freeman's claim to have identified
and rectified a flaw in other, alarmist studies of
Wal-Mart's impact on local economies: that while those
studies focus on how the downward pressure on retail
wages produced by Wal-Mart's arrival leads to job
losses, they don't explore the converse — whether the
increased purchasing power of shoppers at Wal-Mart and
its price-cutting rivals might pump enough money into a
local economy to stimulate employment. Freeman argues
that over time, the extra cash in Wal-Mart shoppers'
pockets will mean a net gain in Southern California of
tens of thousands of jobs. And if someone wants to
challenge his math, at least he lays out his
calculations in his report's 40 pages.
For all that, when it comes to gauging Wal-Mart's
influence on local communities, much of that influence
either can't be measured by standard economics or
hasn't yet generated enough data to allow economists to
work their mathematical magic.
It's hard to ignore the markers of this report's
provenance as the product of a commercial contract.
Plenty of it reads as though it was aimed for the ears
of Freeman's exacting client. For example: "Wal-Mart
makes a point of always listening to its customers, and
focuses on the consumer's bottom line," Freeman writes
at the close of an admiring section on the
corporation's devotion to frugality. Well, maybe. But
this sounds more like the language of PR flackery than
of objective economics.
Freeman says every word of the text is his own. He also
says he knew his conclusions would be controversial,
especially in light of the supermarket labor dispute,
and strove to be objective: "I'm not here to defend
Wal-Mart or disguise the issues," he told me.
The LAEDC says Wal-Mart reviewed the report before it
was issued to the public. That's conventional practice
with consulting clients, the organization says, whether
they're corporations like Wal-Mart or agencies like the
Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The idea is to
allow the client to ferret out factual inaccuracies
rather than cavil about wording. But it's also true
that Wal-Mart had the contractual right to veto the
report's public release if it didn't like its
conclusions.
Since the company OKd its publication, no one should be
surprised that it lauded the LAEDC's conclusion that
the arrival of Wal-Mart Supercenters, which sell
general merchandise along with groceries, would be a
net boon for the Southland. "This is a great day for
California consumers," said Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona
Williams, a statement that fills me with the same
gratitude I feel when my bank tells me it's raising its
fees in order to serve me better.
The fact is that while the LAEDC report may be fine as
far as it goes, it doesn't go far enough in analyzing
the Wal-Mart effect on a community. And by leaving out
a few perceptible but unquantifiable consequences of
Wal-Mart policies, it makes the overall effect look
more favorable than it really is.
Consider an alleged Wal-Mart habit currently being
scrutinized in a federal courthouse in San Francisco:
pervasive sex discrimination. Lawyers for the
plaintiffs in the case say that women in virtually
every job classification across the country are paid
less than men with the same responsibilities and
seniority; women make up two-thirds of the company's
hourly workforce but one-third of its management.
Calculating the economic impact of such a trend is
difficult, if not impossible, but the accusation hardly
portrays Wal-Mart as a force for social enlightenment.
(The company has denied that it discriminates, but also
says it is trying to make its pay and promotion system
less subjective than before.)
On employment practices and benefits in general, the
LAEDC report takes Wal-Mart at its word. The company
claims to provide such perquisites as profit sharing
and a 15% discount on company stock it presents without
comment, beyond saying "the value of these benefits
varies." Indeed, Wal-Mart's critics note that its
famously lean management structure means that as few as
10 workers in a store employing 300 to 500 might be
eligible for profit sharing, and its low wages mean
that few employees have the wherewithal to accumulate a
significant investment in its stock at any discount.
The company's claim to provide health benefits also
deserves greater scrutiny. Although the LAEDC report
notes that Wal-Mart provides employees with health
insurance, it doesn't explore the implications of how
it does so. As this column has pointed out in the past,
not only do Wal-Mart workers pay a larger share of
their health insurance premiums than the average worker
nationwide, but the company also excludes coverage of
many routine medical services, such as contraceptives
and child vaccinations.
Instead, Wal-Mart focuses on covering such
"catastrophic" needs as cancer treatment and organ
transplants. This allows the company to release gaudy
numbers to make itself seem softhearted, such as by
noting that it pays for 60 transplants a year at more
than $1 million each. But these are obviously rare
events — 60 transplant patients would be the equivalent
of just over one-hundredth of 1% of Wal-Mart's 500,000
insured employees, for example.
What happens when the child of a Wal-Mart employee on
an hourly wage needs a shot for measles, chicken pox or
the flu? The worker faces the choice of shelling out,
say, $75 to get the shot at a private clinic (that's
more than a day's pay for many of the workers); or
going to a public, tax-supported clinic, which means we
all pay; or trusting to luck that the child won't get
sick, which would force the employee to stay home for a
couple of days, losing more pay.
Wal-Mart freely, even boastfully, acknowledges that as
many as 40% of its employees get their health coverage
elsewhere, such as from the employers of spouses or
parents or from programs like MediCal and Medicare.
This is community-mindedness the Wal-Mart way: Stick
the other guy with the responsibility for your own
workforce. Wal-Mart ruthlessly prices its health
coverage to discourage employees from placing their own
spouses and children on its plans, but it's not above
pushing its own workers on other companies. Then it
argues smugly that its competitors are only whining
because they don't know to cut costs as efficiently as
it does.
This sheds a different light on the LAEDC report's
contention that other studies have overestimated the
wage gap between Wal-Mart grocery employees and
unionized supermarket workers. The LAEDC estimates that
the overall average difference in Southern California
will amount to $2.50 to $3.50 an hour. But it doesn't
calculate the additional advantage the union members
have had from their comprehensive company-paid health
insurance coverage or, for that matter, from the
company-financed pension benefits they have long
enjoyed.
Neither benefit is matched by Wal-Mart. Both, as it
happens, are mortally threatened today, because the
supermarket chains engaged in the labor dispute are
determined to move their labor costs closer to the
Wal-Mart standard. The full import of this change,
Freeman told me, was "outside the scope" of his study,
if only because healthcare costs have become a national
issue and it's impossible to tell what company-paid
health insurance plans will look like in five or 10
years. That's true enough, but it looks like a fair bet
today that healthcare will be taking a bigger chunk out
of most workers' paychecks tomorrow. Wal-Mart's
influence on that trend can't be discounted.
Perhaps, then, we should defer applauding the
inevitable arrival of Wal-Mart Supercenters in
California. It may be, as the LAEDC concluded, that
we'll all benefit hugely from their relentless price
cutting. But we haven't even begun to learn how to
measure the supercenters' cost.
Bill Bronson
Ed Broadbent - NDP Candidate for Ottawa Centre: "Moving into the Campaign Office It was somewhere around –35 degrees Celsius, I was stranded beside a 20 year old pickup truck loaded with campaign office furniture, and all I could think of was “where’s Shirley Douglas when you need her?” Let me begin by saying that I know nothing about trucks. Except that driving around this old beat up borrowed one-ton helped me get in touch with the big butch of a man’s man that lives somewhere under my yuppie Glebe demeanor. Something about that big roaring engine that lurches into gear like a rodeo bull, and the satisfaction of being able to throw anything in the back and haul ‘er away. Except when it doesn’t start. That’s when the big butch of a man’s man shrinks back into the yuppie Glebe shell."
2/5/04
2/4/04
BBC NEWS | Technology | Spooks turn to hi-tech geography
Falls under, just because your not paranoid it doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
Falls under, just because your not paranoid it doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
The SWIPE Toolkit
The SWIPE Toolkit is a collection of web-based tools that sheds light on personal data collection and usage practices in the United States. The tools demonstrate the value of personal information on the open market and enable people to access information encoded on a driver's license or stored in some of the many commercial data warehouses.
The SWIPE Toolkit is a collection of web-based tools that sheds light on personal data collection and usage practices in the United States. The tools demonstrate the value of personal information on the open market and enable people to access information encoded on a driver's license or stored in some of the many commercial data warehouses.
2/3/04
Took baby to the pediatrician today and he calmed most of our fears. Then had to take baby for a blood test and felt I earned by daddy spurs as she gripped my finger as she got poked. Hard to watch but had to be done.
Calm lunch afterwords and then when we got home a message from the doctor that daughters head has increased in size from the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile and could we bring her in for an ultrasound on thursday. Probably just big heads run in the family but stress level through the roof. I think my head is going to blow off. Keep telling myself the baby is thriving. Talking, gurgling, growing, interacting. Could this week get any more stressful. Too much time at hospitals.
Calm lunch afterwords and then when we got home a message from the doctor that daughters head has increased in size from the 25th percentile to the 75th percentile and could we bring her in for an ultrasound on thursday. Probably just big heads run in the family but stress level through the roof. I think my head is going to blow off. Keep telling myself the baby is thriving. Talking, gurgling, growing, interacting. Could this week get any more stressful. Too much time at hospitals.
2/2/04
The New 'Great Game'
The article discusses U.S. involvement in central asia and comments on the geo-political issues surrounding providing oil to world markets. I found the article more nuanced than most on the discussion of the interaction between U.S. military actions and the oil industry. An interesting stream of thought that democracy is the way to defeat terror and that in propping up dictators for stability the U.S. is creating the conditions that contribute to ongoing resentment and anti-americanism.
The article discusses U.S. involvement in central asia and comments on the geo-political issues surrounding providing oil to world markets. I found the article more nuanced than most on the discussion of the interaction between U.S. military actions and the oil industry. An interesting stream of thought that democracy is the way to defeat terror and that in propping up dictators for stability the U.S. is creating the conditions that contribute to ongoing resentment and anti-americanism.
1/30/04
1/29/04
Community Review of the Snug Cove Village Plan
Luckily you can't see the duct tape in cyberspace. :-) Announcements, event calendar, discussion boards and resource upload added. On to the next project.
Luckily you can't see the duct tape in cyberspace. :-) Announcements, event calendar, discussion boards and resource upload added. On to the next project.
1/27/04
RipDigital: Convert your music CDs to a digital music library
Got more money than time but love your portable music?
Got more money than time but love your portable music?
1/25/04
The Morning News - The Non-Expert: IKEA
IKEA WALKTHROUGH v2.3.1
=============================================================
IKEA is a fully immersive, 3D environmental adventure that allows you to role-play the character of someone who gives a shit about home furnishings. In traversing IKEA, you will experience a meticulously detailed alternate reality filled with garish colors, clear-lacquered birch veneer, and a host of NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS (NPCs) with the glazed looks of the recently anesthetized.
=============================================================
OBJECTIVE
=============================================================
Your goal is to successfully traverse the five awesome worlds of IKEA before your patience runs out. On your first few tries this may seem like an impossible task, but with practice (and this IKEA Walkthrough!) you will soon be able to muster the sense of numb resignation necessary for victory.
See Link for more.....
IKEA WALKTHROUGH v2.3.1
=============================================================
IKEA is a fully immersive, 3D environmental adventure that allows you to role-play the character of someone who gives a shit about home furnishings. In traversing IKEA, you will experience a meticulously detailed alternate reality filled with garish colors, clear-lacquered birch veneer, and a host of NON-PLAYER CHARACTERS (NPCs) with the glazed looks of the recently anesthetized.
=============================================================
OBJECTIVE
=============================================================
Your goal is to successfully traverse the five awesome worlds of IKEA before your patience runs out. On your first few tries this may seem like an impossible task, but with practice (and this IKEA Walkthrough!) you will soon be able to muster the sense of numb resignation necessary for victory.
See Link for more.....
Slept almost 8 hours. I feel like a new man. :-)
So what do you do when your wife goes away with the baby. Spend more time on the computer of course. :-)
Spent some of today updating my browser with new extensions. An extension is a piece of code that lets your web browser do new tricks. All extensions are available at the mozilla extension room
For example: I have a mouse gestures extension installed. Right click - right -> move forward a page Right click - left -> Go back a page. Right click - up - open a new tab. Really speeds up the web browsing.
I then added an adblocker to go with the built in pop-up blocker. Adblock installs in your browser and then you edit its filter to eliminate the ads from your browsing experience. This is way easier than it sounds.
1. Click the install package for Adblocker 0.5d2.
2. Restart your browser.
3. Go to an add heavy site like www.canada.com
4. Look in the bottom left hand corner of your browser for the adblock link.
5. Click it.
6. It will pop up a list of blockable items.
7. Look for something like http;//ad.doubleclick.net/(long url here). Generally if it has ad in the URL you can block it.
8. Click the URL.
9. It appears in the bottom bar of the pop-up window you are looking at.
10. Edit the URL with a wildcard character '*'. For example: http://ad.doubleclick.net/*
11. Click Okay. Everything from that server is now blocked.
12. Your time on the web just got faster and more peaceful. Most of us return to the same sites again and again so this little extension pays off quickly in reduced visual clutter.
While on my way I then added an RSS reader to my browser. This means you can subscribe to syndicated feeds of sites you visit regularly and see their content without going to the site. Think of it as a personal news wire. There are several web based aggregators (referenced below.) This one brings it right to your desktop. You could add the feeds you need for to the aggregator and then set it as your home page. Everything you need when your browser opens.
I also have changed my blog so it is now syndicated. This is the link you need. http://exactlyandapproximately.blogspot.com/atom.xml. The aggregator I discuss below throws an error when you add the subscrition. Ignore it and click the view RSS feed buttom and everything will display just fine.
Check out the application here:
http://www.aggreg8.net/index.php. Kudos that it actually has a manual and decent documentation. Unusual in open source projects.
Once you have installed it in your browser paste this into your browser address bar.
chrome://aggreg8/content/aggreg8.xul
The application opens and you can add subscriptions. It is not documented but you must create a category before you add a feed and click on this category in the bottom window on the page prior to clicking add subscription. So to add my blog create a category, the paste in the URL ending in atom.xml above and click add.
To see what is available in the world of blogs go to www.bloglines.com or http://www.feedster.com/top100.php
So what do you do when your wife goes away with the baby. Spend more time on the computer of course. :-)
Spent some of today updating my browser with new extensions. An extension is a piece of code that lets your web browser do new tricks. All extensions are available at the mozilla extension room
For example: I have a mouse gestures extension installed. Right click - right -> move forward a page Right click - left -> Go back a page. Right click - up - open a new tab. Really speeds up the web browsing.
I then added an adblocker to go with the built in pop-up blocker. Adblock installs in your browser and then you edit its filter to eliminate the ads from your browsing experience. This is way easier than it sounds.
1. Click the install package for Adblocker 0.5d2.
2. Restart your browser.
3. Go to an add heavy site like www.canada.com
4. Look in the bottom left hand corner of your browser for the adblock link.
5. Click it.
6. It will pop up a list of blockable items.
7. Look for something like http;//ad.doubleclick.net/(long url here). Generally if it has ad in the URL you can block it.
8. Click the URL.
9. It appears in the bottom bar of the pop-up window you are looking at.
10. Edit the URL with a wildcard character '*'. For example: http://ad.doubleclick.net/*
11. Click Okay. Everything from that server is now blocked.
12. Your time on the web just got faster and more peaceful. Most of us return to the same sites again and again so this little extension pays off quickly in reduced visual clutter.
While on my way I then added an RSS reader to my browser. This means you can subscribe to syndicated feeds of sites you visit regularly and see their content without going to the site. Think of it as a personal news wire. There are several web based aggregators (referenced below.) This one brings it right to your desktop. You could add the feeds you need for to the aggregator and then set it as your home page. Everything you need when your browser opens.
I also have changed my blog so it is now syndicated. This is the link you need. http://exactlyandapproximately.blogspot.com/atom.xml. The aggregator I discuss below throws an error when you add the subscrition. Ignore it and click the view RSS feed buttom and everything will display just fine.
Check out the application here:
http://www.aggreg8.net/index.php. Kudos that it actually has a manual and decent documentation. Unusual in open source projects.
Once you have installed it in your browser paste this into your browser address bar.
chrome://aggreg8/content/aggreg8.xul
The application opens and you can add subscriptions. It is not documented but you must create a category before you add a feed and click on this category in the bottom window on the page prior to clicking add subscription. So to add my blog create a category, the paste in the URL ending in atom.xml above and click add.
To see what is available in the world of blogs go to www.bloglines.com or http://www.feedster.com/top100.php
Trial and Terror
During the next five months, the Supreme Court will issue a number of rulings that, cumulatively, define the reach of the president's constitutional role in times of war and national emergency.
During the next five months, the Supreme Court will issue a number of rulings that, cumulatively, define the reach of the president's constitutional role in times of war and national emergency.
1/23/04
Belinda Stronach on the Issues
One of the new contenders for the new Conservative Party of Canada. Beautiful website. General statements about policy. Certainly made things more interesting. Can an 'outsider' really win? Layton to the left, Martin to the centre-right and depending on the leader the conservative party fighting over the same ground as the liberals. Might get interesting in federal politics again.
One of the new contenders for the new Conservative Party of Canada. Beautiful website. General statements about policy. Certainly made things more interesting. Can an 'outsider' really win? Layton to the left, Martin to the centre-right and depending on the leader the conservative party fighting over the same ground as the liberals. Might get interesting in federal politics again.
1/21/04
1/20/04
A Poor Cousin of the Middle Class
By DAVID K. SHIPLER
aroline Payne embraces the ethics of America. She works hard and has no patience with those who don't. She has owned a house, pursued an education and deferred to the needs of her child. Yet she can barely pay her bills. Her earnings have hovered in a twilight between poverty and minimal comfort, usually between $8,000 and $12,000 a year.
She is the invisible American, unnoticed because she blends in. Like millions at the bottom of the labor force who contribute to the country's prosperity, Caroline's diligence is a camouflage. At the convenience store where she works, customers do not see that she struggles against destitution.
......
Sobering.
By DAVID K. SHIPLER
aroline Payne embraces the ethics of America. She works hard and has no patience with those who don't. She has owned a house, pursued an education and deferred to the needs of her child. Yet she can barely pay her bills. Her earnings have hovered in a twilight between poverty and minimal comfort, usually between $8,000 and $12,000 a year.
She is the invisible American, unnoticed because she blends in. Like millions at the bottom of the labor force who contribute to the country's prosperity, Caroline's diligence is a camouflage. At the convenience store where she works, customers do not see that she struggles against destitution.
......
Sobering.
1/19/04
Been working like mad building an online survey to assist with a Bowen island community engagement process. Check out the snug cove plan at http://www.bowenisland.info. Took a trip to Bowen first time Sunday to participate in the workshop. 125 people showed up for the meeting out of a population of 3700. Probably another couple 100 over the week in the other meetings. Amazing public participation.
Been tossing around career ideas from planning school, to law, to snowboard instructor. The last is appealing but not overly lucrative. Planning has some interesting possiblities with a project and a consulting company wrapped around the idea of the use of the internet in public participation and capacity building at the local government level. Could also be a Ph.D. I'd have one more degree than my sibling. Not that we're keeping score or anything. :-)
For those of you keeping score from abroad Marchand is engaged to be married. Pass the scotch. :-)
Been tossing around career ideas from planning school, to law, to snowboard instructor. The last is appealing but not overly lucrative. Planning has some interesting possiblities with a project and a consulting company wrapped around the idea of the use of the internet in public participation and capacity building at the local government level. Could also be a Ph.D. I'd have one more degree than my sibling. Not that we're keeping score or anything. :-)
For those of you keeping score from abroad Marchand is engaged to be married. Pass the scotch. :-)
Cows with guns
One of the best ways to waste 5 minutes I've seen in quite a while. Kudos to the little blue people at the smurftower for this link. Soundcard required. Work Safe.
http://www.shagrat.net/Html/cows.htm
One of the best ways to waste 5 minutes I've seen in quite a while. Kudos to the little blue people at the smurftower for this link. Soundcard required. Work Safe.
http://www.shagrat.net/Html/cows.htm
1/9/04
Cash!
Signed a contract with Natural Resources Canada today to do some web design/programming/community engagement work. Nice to be gainfully employed at a reasonable wage. Interesting how things change over time. I spent years doing political science and thought I'd be a policy wonk.
Today I spent time researching Open SSL, secure programming techniques at the macromedia website and then spent some time coding. Instead of peace order and good government my thoughts turn to...
(Brackets chopped off so code would display)
CFIF IsDefined("form.newItem")
Check the data for the required parameters. If invalid data is found end the process and notify the user.
Check title: Accept only letters, numbers .
cfset checkdata = ReFindNoCase("[^a-zA-Z0-9\., -]+","#form.title#")
cfif checkdata GT 0
cfset result = StructInsert(validationstructure,"Title","#checkdata#")
/cfif"
On the other hand have dual monitors to keep me happy. :-)
S.
Signed a contract with Natural Resources Canada today to do some web design/programming/community engagement work. Nice to be gainfully employed at a reasonable wage. Interesting how things change over time. I spent years doing political science and thought I'd be a policy wonk.
Today I spent time researching Open SSL, secure programming techniques at the macromedia website and then spent some time coding. Instead of peace order and good government my thoughts turn to...
(Brackets chopped off so code would display)
CFIF IsDefined("form.newItem")
Check the data for the required parameters. If invalid data is found end the process and notify the user.
Check title: Accept only letters, numbers .
cfset checkdata = ReFindNoCase("[^a-zA-Z0-9\., -]+","#form.title#")
cfif checkdata GT 0
cfset result = StructInsert(validationstructure,"Title","#checkdata#")
/cfif"
On the other hand have dual monitors to keep me happy. :-)
S.
1/8/04
Ten Steps for Cleaning Up Information Pollution (Jakob Nielsen's Alertbox): "
Information pollution? Sacrilege. I must have my information now.
Information pollution? Sacrilege. I must have my information now.
A Baker's Dozen of Holiday Classics and the Project Management Lessons They Teach
For example:
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Another tale of unauthorized resource appropriation.
Lessons Learned: Sooner or later, the resources have to go back to Whoville. And sooner or later the team members (Max) need a chance to ride, instead of pull, the sleigh.
For example:
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Another tale of unauthorized resource appropriation.
Lessons Learned: Sooner or later, the resources have to go back to Whoville. And sooner or later the team members (Max) need a chance to ride, instead of pull, the sleigh.
1/7/04
Wired News: Bush Grabs New Power for FBI
While the nation was distracted last month by images of Saddam Hussein's spider hole and dental exam, President George W. Bush quietly signed into law a new bill that gives the FBI increased surveillance powers and dramatically expands the reach of the USA Patriot Act.
The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 grants the FBI unprecedented power to obtain records from financial institutions without requiring permission from a judge. Under the law, the FBI does not need to seek a court order to access such records, nor does it need to prove just cause.
Once you give up your freedoms life is so much easier.
While the nation was distracted last month by images of Saddam Hussein's spider hole and dental exam, President George W. Bush quietly signed into law a new bill that gives the FBI increased surveillance powers and dramatically expands the reach of the USA Patriot Act.
The Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004 grants the FBI unprecedented power to obtain records from financial institutions without requiring permission from a judge. Under the law, the FBI does not need to seek a court order to access such records, nor does it need to prove just cause.
Once you give up your freedoms life is so much easier.
1/4/04
While we made it through the holdidays. Family came to town and then dashed back to the big smoke. They will be missed. The baby kept growing and got lots of presents. Her eyes have turned blue and she is now focusing and interacting with her environment. Everyday is new and exciting. The feedings in the middle of the night not quite as exciting. :-)
Lots of snow, for vancouver at least. There have been some beautiful moments of the winter light bathing the downtown vancouver towers with the snow covered coastal mountains in the background. The one day we leave the digital camera at home.
Was out a couple mornings in a row before everyone was up. The silence that snow brings is great to experience - even in the middle of a city.
Dropped by the downtown public library today to return a book. Still love that building years later. Inside, the essence of civil society. A library packed to the gills with people from all parts of the city. Public knowledge and public access. You won't see it on global television but it's still going on.
Signing off for today a link picked up through Slashdot.
What you can't say
(This essay is about heresy: how to think forbidden thoughts, and what to do with them. The latter was till recently something only a small elite had to think about. Now we all have to, because the Web has made us all publishers.)
Lots of snow, for vancouver at least. There have been some beautiful moments of the winter light bathing the downtown vancouver towers with the snow covered coastal mountains in the background. The one day we leave the digital camera at home.
Was out a couple mornings in a row before everyone was up. The silence that snow brings is great to experience - even in the middle of a city.
Dropped by the downtown public library today to return a book. Still love that building years later. Inside, the essence of civil society. A library packed to the gills with people from all parts of the city. Public knowledge and public access. You won't see it on global television but it's still going on.
Signing off for today a link picked up through Slashdot.
What you can't say
(This essay is about heresy: how to think forbidden thoughts, and what to do with them. The latter was till recently something only a small elite had to think about. Now we all have to, because the Web has made us all publishers.)
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