Observing Earth Hour 2008

... or, "Lights on in Hidden Valley."

I observed Earth Hour today. I turned my lights and TV off and my computer spent almost the full time asleep. I did take my daily shower in the dark but, with my glasses off, I don't see much in the shower anyway. I also spent a little time snooping on my neighbours. Photojournalism is something that interests me quite a bit since I like photography and I don't believe anyone in politics or the media with the exceptions of Rick Mercer, Bob McDonald and Peter Mansbridge. I might believe Rex Murphy if I could understand what he's saying. Since I'm such a skeptic, I have to see things for myself and I'll be watching Futurama reruns during The National.

Since I was alone and bored in the house and too lazy to go out in the cold to get a good set of pictures, I aimed my telephoto lens out my bedroom window to see if one of the newer communities of Calgary would be turning out their lights. As you can see in the during and after pictures, the answer is pretty much, "no." I count about four lights coming on afterwards and one turned off afterwards. It would have been interesting to see the view of downtown from the top of Nose Hill and see a wider sampling of Calgary but, as I stated, I'm feeling lazy tonight so my sample is whatever I can see out my bedroom window. It's kind of like deciding the Cola War by asking one person if they like Coke or Pepsi.

From my small sample area, I'd have to say I'm disappointed. Turning out your lights for an hour is a token gesture so, ergo, it's not a tough one. One of my neighbours even had their backyard Xmas lights on. Oh well, next year I'll try to get some better pictures. I feel like a Barq's or a Dr. Pepper.

Julie Walks

After a few little steps this weekend, we finally got some of Julie's first steps on video this afternoon. Two days short of ten months and six days from her first plane ride to China, Julie's getting around on her own two feet. More to come as events warrant.

So far, so okay

Commuting to work is going well so far. Three weeks in and I'm averaging three rides per week. There have been a few days with snow and a couple days that I drove so that I could pick 老婆 up from the doctor but, otherwise, everything's been good for riding. The numbers don't sound impressive and I lose a bit of recorded distance when my GPS doesn't know where I am but I'm getting in some distance and lots of climbing. I'm feeling better and better on the bike so, hopefully, bringing up the rear in Cat 5 won't kill me. I've managed to eat a little better and have dropped two kilograms. Only twelve to go until I feel I'll be at a good racing weight! I've got eight weeks before the first race I'm thinking of doing but two of those weeks will be in China.

My recorded totals for 2008 are 270 km in just under 12 hours with almost 2.8 vertical km of climbing. My maximums so far are 56 km/h and 181 bpm, though I rarely wear my heart rate monitor. I wear it for all racing and training but maybe I should wear it commuting occasionally.

Lap one

It's that time of year again! Time to punish myself on the bike and prepare to languish at the back of Cat 5 all summer. Despite eating a little better and lifting weights, I've managed to pack on a little more weight. 老婆 doesn't know how I can eat so little and still get bigger. It's got to be something I'm doing. I've done well cutting down the sweets recently but I obviously need to give them up completely. That's the game plan, at least.

On Tuesday, I'm hoping to start riding to work. I've got 11 weeks until the first race I plan to enter but two of those will be spent in China. In an ideal world, I can get in about 500 km of commuting before the first race. That's just 18 commutes, an average of two commutes per week, but a big snowfall (not unheard of around here in February, March and April) can put me back on the bus in a hurry for a few weeks. I'm not actually going for quantity but I like all the climbing near here which will get my legs and lungs in shape more quickly than doing 10 000 km leisurely on the flats. I can get in about 5 km worth of climbing in my 500 km of commuting which is not bad for a non-climber like me. I also have a nice little training loop in the area with lots of hills to climb.

Let's hope for dry weather so I can get some kilometres in before races begin. The two weeks in China will then be relaxing and I always lose weight when I'm there.

Going Green Party

It's expected that Canada's New Government will soon be Canada's Old Government. Since there's a virtual tie in the opinion polls between the Liberals and Conservatives, the Liberals were threatening before Xmas to bring down Canada's New Government and force an election. If there is an election, I think I'll be voting for my fourth political party.

Twice, I've made the strategic vote. When I was living in Sunnyside, I voted for Joe Clark as a Progressive Conservative. Since the PCs weren't going to do anything in that election, it was good to vote him in and deny a seat to a Reformer. Last election, I voted NDP. I might have my socialist leanings but I also cannot stand unions. The NDP candidate had great exposure and I thought this meant he had some support and the possibility of defeating the Conservative. He came third and the total of his votes and the second place Liberal's didn't add up to the votes for Jim Prentice. In Calgary, you only need to put your name on the ballot for the right-wing party and you'll get elected.

Ergo, if I'm going to waste my vote, I'm going to waste it properly. After Stephen Harper's minion was the worst obstructionist (except for the U.S.) at the recent global climate change talks in Bali, it's clear that someone needs to let the Conservatives know that Canadians accept climate change and would like to do something about it. The Green Party won't form the next government but, if a few get elected and the Party gets recognized nationally, maybe Canada will get back to working the rest of the world and not being an obstructionist. It's hard to believe a Canadian Prime Minister invented peace keeping and now we're a rogue nation on environmental issues.

There is only one problem with my plan: according to the Green Party of Canada website, there is no candidate for my riding. Hmm... Maybe I should try voting for myself.

The Abolition of the Canadian Government

The Canadian government should be abolished. 308 people arguing and then doing what Stephen Harper wants them to do anyway. 27 ministers in the cabinet and a similar number shadowing them. As far as I can tell, the backbenchers are mostly used to boo and otherwise stifle discussion and create interest for C-SPAN viewers who can try and spot them napping. Canada's New Government hasn't done anything productive except giving Canada a black eye by siding with the U.S. at the climate talks in December in Bali, taxing an insufficient child care benefit and hiding upper-class tax cuts as a reduction in the GST.

Tax-payers would save a bundle of money if we threw out those 308 MPs and replaced them with just one person per province or territory per party. 13 provinces and territories and one Conservative, Green, Liberal and NDP each. By my count, that's 52 people; just like a deck of cards. I guess we'd have to let in one joker from Quebec to represent the BQ.

The good part of this idea is the direct democracy. Currently, you vote for someone in your riding in the party you like. Even if your constituency wants public day care and your Conservative promised he'd convince Stephen Harper to implement public day care once elected, as soon as your MP got to Ottawa, Steve told him to go to his desk in the back row, sit down and shut up. I'm suggesting that all decisions be made on-line in a referendum. This isn't as stupid as Reform's idea to hold referendums on everything if they got a petition asking for one. (I'm looking at you, Doris, uh... I mean, Stockwell Day.) This is 13 people for each party coming up with ideas about how to run Canada. One party submits an idea and then there are two weeks to lobby the position of each party and two weeks for Canadians to log in and vote. If logging in to do your banking and file your taxes is secure, then logging in to vote for the GST going back to 7% or being removed completely has to be possible. Estonia votes on-line! In the West we think they're a backwards, former Communist country yet they can go to their computers and cast a vote in elections. If a public voting computer was set up in every Tim Horton's, you'd easily beat the usual 40% or lower turnout on federal elections.

The best part is that Stephen Harper can no longer stick his fingers in his ears and sing, "la la la, I'm not listening." You wouldn't get John Baird going to Bali, refusing to co-operate with the rest of the world and then returning home to lament that more could have been done. You also would be saved from a government which won't think more than four years into the future because that's the time-line for the next election. If 90% of the population logs in and votes to agree to the next agreement after Kyoto, then 90% of the population realizes that they'll have to make some sacrifices to meet the country's goals. I wouldn't have to hear Harper complain that Canada's New Government will become unpopular because they happen to be governing when Canada starts to realize we need to make some big steps to fight global warming and some people might get upset when you ban their SUV from the road.

Of course, the absolute best part of this plan is that I don't have to see thousands of campaign signs on the side of the road every two years when the latest minority government gets ousted.

Thanks very little, Steve

The gov't finally accepted 老婆 as a resident of Canada despite the fact she's been here for over two years now. Friends of hers on student visas were accepted faster. Needless to say that, as a Canadian-born citizen who really likes this country and pays his fair share of taxes, I felt it was a major snub. Getting seven months worth of benefits all at once was rather nice though. That was until I read a little lower and realized that the Universal Child Care Benefit is taxable. Yes, TAXABLE. The $100/month of insufficient funds Canada's New Government gives families with children under six so that they can pay for $600+/month day care is taxable. We will see the $100/month but, come April, we'd better have about $600 to hand back to Stephen Harper. I certainly hope he didn't win over any voters with this scheme in the last election. If you do any searching on-line, you'll quickly find agreement that the Conservatives have set back advances in equality and the reduction of child poverty by a significant amount. I wasn't a fan of King Ralph here in Alberta but at least when he handed out his $400 of free money he didn't ask for half back at tax time.

Speaking of taxes, the populace seems to be easily swayed by another point off the GST. The first percent taken off the GST was accompanied by an extra half percent on personal income taxes. I haven't heard if that's the case this time as well 'cause last time Steve didn't publicize the income tax increase as much as he publicized the GST cut. If I check out some statistics for Alberta from the 2001 census, I see that my family is a little ahead of average in terms of income. Since most groceries aren't taxed, the average Alberta family will save about $450/year from that 1% cut. Except, it can be argued that the GST cut is simply an upper-class tax cut. Low income families must spend most of their money on groceries which means they pay less GST and will see very little savings in a GST cut. It's the people saving $1000 in tax on a new Hummer who will see the savings. Low income families probably paid more tax with the income tax increase than they saved in the GST cut. I guess when Conservatives say they'll cut taxes, they don't mean they'll cut everyone's tax.

Glad to see that the government chosen by the people doesn't care at all about the people.