Isn't It a Shame?

As some of you know, the conservatives have put forward their definitive plan to addressing the environment, greenhouse gases and climate change. In other words this if their plan for meeting our Kyoto obligations.

John Baird made his announcements with great fanfare, boasting that this is "more than any government in history has gone for climate change". It seems a number of people are taking issue with the government's plans.

- a number of the key indicators the government is aiming to reduce are tied to specific toxins that have already been consistently falling for the past number of years due to the phasing out of specific chemicals, CFCs, etc.

- unlike Kyoto which pegs the benchmark for reduction at 6% below 1990 emission levels, the Conservatives are claiming all their % reduction targets against CURRENT emissions, a benchmark virtually unused by any other international governments/organizations. (this reminds me of the conservative claims of eliminating "net debt" by 20xx, a practically made up and seldom recognized measure of debt)

Given the amount that emissions have risen since 1990, the Conservative targets still leave us well above 1990 levels, AND rather than meeting these targets in 2012 as set out by Kyoto, the plans targets are for 2015 and 2020.

- Corporations do not have to actually reduce their overall emissions. They only have to reduce emissions per unit of production( i.e. if I made 50 widgets today and emit 5 tonnes, if I'm making 100 widgets in 2015 I only need to emit less than 8 tonnes).

- Furthermore, corporations don't even really need to reduce emissions at all. Instead of reductions, they can simply pay into a "technology fund" set up by the government.

All in all, I think things were best summed up by David Suzuki who confronted John Baird at a convention yesterday. Suzuki called the plan an "embarassment" and "more of a sham than a strategy".

However, I think Al Gore really said things best in his criticisms today.. He described the plan as "shocking" and "a complete and total fraud. It is designed to mislead the Canadian people."

Ah politicians, how I love thee so.

This guy achieved something that Mamma's be proud of. Detroit was beating Calgary 5-1 in the 3rd, so Calgary pulled Miika Kiprussof and put in their backup goalie Jamie McLennan.

Like I said, something special. This guy lasted eighteen(18) seconds before losing his cool and slashing a detroit player across the chest with his goalie stick. Eighteen seconds before being ejected from the game. Way to go Jamie!! Calgary was then forced to put Kiprusoff back in net for the rest of the game.

Anyways, Superstar McLennan has been suspended 5 games, the coach was fined $25k and the team was fined $100k. Can't imagine they consider that "bang for buck"

Labels: hockey, playoffs, superstar, suspension

This absolutely made my day (yes, even better than the Sens winning their series).

Please enjoy....and don't let the first 40 seconds fool you. This looks innocent enough to start....then the fun begins!

Labels: pizza

Those of you that regularly steal wireless internet(shock, dismay), namely Karen and Sara....you should think twice!

UK Man Convicted For Wi-Fi Piggybacking

Labels: stealing, wireless

I've come to the realization that having a gold credit card can be an effective way of lowering the overall cost of car rental - insurance can account for up to half of the overall cost of rental. In fact, without the extra cost of insurance, car rentals can actually be pretty darned cheap.

I've never been one for "gold cards" - there's just something about it that doesn't appeal to me. However, the economics of it are hard to argue with. So now I need to figure out who to go with and what I'm looking for. The first and most obvious requirements are:
- needs to provide car rental insurance
- lowest possible annual fee
- ideally free or very cheap supplementary cards so that Laura can use it for car rentals too
- preferably be either a Visa or Mastercard as Amex isn't accepted as widely
- have a point system that justifies the cost of the card

Lucky for me I found an absolutely fantastic reference from the government of canada! Who'da thought!! Check it out here Does side by side comparison of presumably most/all of the cards in canada!

Does anyone else have a gold card? recommendations?

It seems between us, the frequency of blog posts is in precipitous decline. I'm as much a part of this trend as anyone else....why is it that this once lively trend which kept me abreast of the daily happenings in my friends' lives has now stagnated and grown stale?

I think facebook is at fault. I'm a dying breed it seems, someone who prefers to acquire updates in a simple, easy to read blog. The "kids" these are all about walls and profiles and updates. I'm trying to get up to speed on all this "Web2.0" technology, but I feel like an old man on that there facebook.

Long live the blog!

It's been many years that I've had these glasses. They've served me well over the years - but now the frame is chipped, and prescription is out of date.

So now its a matter of buying new glasses - aside from the usual questions of where to buy them, what style of frame do I want(those big thick frames look goofy on me), I've discovered another hitch.

Given that people who are buying glasses have problems seeing without their glasses....how do people SHOP for glasses? The frames you're trying on have no magnification/prescription, and in fact have smudged/blurry lenses that make seeing things worse(at least for me) than no lenses at all.

In order to see what I look like, I need to get right up close to the mirror and squint. The problem then is that I'm squinting....so I look goofy regardless of what frame I'm wearing!!