My random thoughts and notes on stuff.

 
Do Provinces Dream of Electric Cars?

In this day of rising oil prices, more and more people are startingto take another look at the Electric Car. I believe that the federalgovernment and the provincial governments of Quebec and Newfoundland/Labrador should look at making the Electric Car one ofthe basic building blocks of the Canadian economy as we move into the twenty-first century. It would win points with everyone ecologically, economically, politically and internationally.

The ecological benefits are pretty straightforward: cars withelectric engines do not emit the same pollutants that oil-basedvehicles release. Furthermore, a growing number of analysts nowpredict that global oil production will peak within the coming decade and then start to decline, leading to higher energy prices with major economic consequences. Eventually, the oil will run out. Electricity, on the other hand is a renewable resource that is extremely abundant in Eastern Canada.

Eastern Canada has spent the past few decades trying to catch up economically. Things have begun looking up in this region, but if these regions were to take the lead in establishing a manufacturingpresence for electric vehicles, it would push the provincial economies into high gear. Working class families would have a substantial increase in manufacturing jobs made available to them, and the electric engine-based vehicles would be a highly exportable product to other regions of the world anxious for alternative automotive transportation. Furthermore, the increase in electric vehicles would increase demand for electricity, a resource thatCanada is a leader in.

The Federal and Provincial leadership should also consider the clout that would come with leading the pack in this technology. This is an opportunity that is waiting for a forward-looking industrialized nation to capitalize on, and there’s reason to believe that the Electric Car is the vehicle which can drive Eastern Canada into the executive parking lot of the international community. Quebec and Labrador should seize this opportunity before Detroit does (though that won't happen until a less oil-company friendly president is elected) because it’s a sure thing that the year that one of the G8 nationsmakes the transition to electricity, the others will follow in droves. I think many Canadians would swell with pride if their country were the nation to push the change globally.

Drivers keep their cars for an average of three to ten years- within the decade, most of the gas guzzling vehicles on the road today willbe replaced with a newer model. By subsidizing electric cars today early in the game, the government would give incentive to Canadians to start purchasing new electric vehicles and radically change society for the better in a decade. The government has used public funds to run alcohol and lottery businesses, so it could even explore manufcturing electric cars as another government-run business that could eventually become profitable and start offsetting other expenses suchas Medicare and Old Age security. Nations keep their edge by embracing new technologies, not clinging to outdated ones. This is doable by Canada- our population is small enough to be a good beta-test for the world, and we have the renewable resources to make it succeed. If Canada becomes the first country to go electric, other nations will turn to it for leadership as their environmental problems worsen; and because its the way we Canadians are, I believe that we will gladly give them a ride to reach their goal.



posted by Darth at 2:21 PM

 
All right: it's been a year and change or so since my last post. It looks like my comments site no longer records anything when a comment is made (I'll be doing something about that soon), so please bear with me until I get that function fixed.

So, what have I been up to in the last year? Lots. I just bought a condo in lovely St. Henri, which I'll be moving into in July. I'm looking forward to that. It's very strange being a property owe-ner. I'm simultaneously excited and scared to the point of excrementlessness. But it will be nice not having to move; finally, a long term commitment...

Speaking of long term commitments, I'm no longer in one. For those of you who don't know, Annika and I broke up back in October. Fortunately, we're still friends (we agreed that we would stay friends no matter what even if things went sour, and I'm glad that so far things have been good in that area).

For those of you who know Annika, you'll know that whoever her replacement might be will have some very big shoes to fill, and you should not be surprised to discover that I have yet to find someone to do that. I tried hopping back on Lavalife for a while, and discovered that while dating is nice (and being hit on is a huge boost to the ego), it's my experience that the people on Lavalife as a general rule are more concerned with finding a relationship (as in any relationship) than in finding the right person to be in the relationship with. I first logged back on with the intention of just burning off my remaining credits on a series of meaningless message exchanges, but I actually ended up on a few dates, and found that I had become extremely selective. I also found myself after going on a few "what the hell" dates, and after that, and for the first time being in the unenviable position of delivering rejectiojn speeches to women who didn't do it for me. It was awkward, since the majority of my dating experiences have entailed the pursuit of unrequited attraction, with brief interuptions in that sequence when the attraction was mutual. Being the rejector instead of the rejectee sucks- I find that it's easier to get rejected than to shoot someone down who thinks so highly of you by telling them that the feeling isn't mutual. So, believe it or not, I find myself (saying without ego) that since I suck at rejecting women, I decided to leave Lava (though I admit, I do log on again occasionally to lurk and check out the new pics on the off chance that a local supermodel has signed up in the past week or two- I blame my biology and suppresed voyeuristic tendencies for that).

Work is simultaneously fantastic and cruddy. I've been promoted through attrition, sort of. Our head office in Edison is transferring a lot of the equipment to Montreal and a lot of the higher paid US staff is being "right-sized". So Montreal is growing while all around us, offices are shrinking. My responsibilities are increasing considerably as a result, as I will be the secior tech on site. I told my supervisor that I need a WAN tech who is at least equal to me in skill to back me up, and my boss agreed. So I recommened Glenn, who was brought in for an intervierw earlier this week. It seems to have gone well, and I'm hoping that once again Glenn will be my wingman.

My cousin from Australia came down this week with her husband. We had a great week, taking her to Canadiens games, checking out the tourist spots of Montreal, etc... It was the first time I ever met her, but I hope it won't be the last. I have far more incentive to go to Australia now on holiday- it really sucks that the distance is so far, but the world is getting smaller every day. With email and the Internet, I'm sure that staying in touch will be doable.

Another nice thing about hanging with my cousin is the fact that I hung with my brother and sister so much. I always felt that I don't hang out with Charles and Anne enough (and Richard for that matter), and this week of co-hosting my cousin showed me that when we do hang, we have a great time. I hope that this tendency continues.

Well, this is a long update- I hope I start getting back into the habit of blogging- as more of my friends start leaving town and I start getting in touch with more of my family from overseas, that I start using the blog more productively than I did before. Of course, I'll still have to toss in my usual Bush-bashing (some things can't change). He still sucks, of course- possibly even more than the God-Damn Bruins who suck like hookers moonlighting as vaccuum cleaners. This guy has got to be voted down in November.

Until next post...


posted by Darth at 12:21 AM

 
Hmmm. Perhaps it's time for a triumphant return...


posted by Darth at 11:37 PM

 
Police Squad in Iraq

Naked Gun style, that is!

and while you're at it, if you're feeling lucky, try typing in "Weapons of Mass Destruction" into Google.


posted by Darth at 8:04 PM

 
So, just what is the Matrix?

Here is The Architect's Speech, for those of you who may have missed it (or been confused by the One who is not the One, but in fact Another One... There are some interesting theories as to just WTF is going on as well.


posted by Darth at 3:16 PM

 
Vacation in Progress- sit back and install

For once, the lack of entries in this blog is not due to inattentiveness, but because of vacationing! I've been fortunate enough to spend two weekends at my parents' cottage over the past few days. I've also lucked out weatherwise *gets splinters in knuckles as he knocks on his head- to touch wood* in that I haven't had a single crappy day (well, it rained yesterday, but it was while I was in a car on the highway, returning to town, and didn't ruin any of my plans, so I don't count that).

The cottage was fantastic. Annika finally got to see the place and fell in love with it- as I knew she would. We spent a few afternoons out in the pedalboat, where I finished reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (a book I've been meaning to do for ages, and which one of my bookclubs had decided to checkout after a small amount of begging on my part- I'll spare you my thoughts on that book since some of the bookclub readers read this regularly, and I don't want to spoil the discussion prematurely by giving away my thoughts on the book). Annika took some watercolors out with her and painted some nature scenes. She is really quite talented, and I'm glad that she's rented a studio along with Jeff, Ron, and Dez.

We spent St Jean Baptiste painting said studio- there were eight of us, and it got done in record time. If this group collaborates on projects as well as they did on the initial paint job of the studio itself, then they should be wildly successful in no time.

I also managed to catch a concert that Arin's orchestra (that is, the one she belongs to, as opposed to the one she owns...) gave yesterday on Canada Day, before watching some fireworks out over Lac St Louis. I love listening to The Lakeshore Chamber Orchestra's stuff. Their new conductor has given two concerts now, and he's doing a great job. I'm not sure if the conductor is the one who makes the selection of music (I'm pretty sure he is), but I find that his choices are more well-known- to me at least... The previous conductor tended to pick obscure (though still very interesting) pieces that were a treat to listen to, while the newer selections since the change of conductor tend to be a lot of pieces to which I know the tune, but might not have known the name of the piece (shame on me. I guess these are works that are so widespread and well known that they have worked their way into other media as background music- ya know, pieces by Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, etc... Composers who I never too the time to sit down and associate works with titles). The orchestra, as always, was a joy to listen to (and the cellos were brilliant!). I plan on attending every concert for the next little while.

I'm starting to go through the novel Fight Club, which I also chose for my other book club (the first book club is sci-fi and fantasy oriented, while the other bookclub is wider in its selection, tohugh I suspect there won't be too much sci-fi and fantasy because many of the members of the first book club are also members of the second, and are likely to push for books in the non-SF/fantasy categort to get the best of both worlds). It seems like I made a good choice in making this my selection- I think a lot of people will want to participate, and I know that a few non-members have asked to guest-star just to hear their thoughts on it. If I ever take a film course (or another literature course), I hope Fight Club is on the list of books/movies to discuss.

I saw Whale Rider last week, and so should you! It's a fantastic story about a twelve year old Maori girl who is trying to claim her birthright as chief of her tribe. It features an all Maori cast and is inspiring. I plan on seeing it again tonight.

Still haven't seen the Hulk, though I'll try and squeeze it in this week, too with Scott and Jeff (hopefully on Friday evening, before I return to the cottage on Saturday). I may try and squeeze in 2Fast2Furious, despite the fact that I know it will be shit. I liked the first one, and I suspect it'll do for a summer "turn-off-your-brain" movie, though it looks like its in the slowly being phased out phase, so I may not be able to find a time that suits me.

Last but certainly not least, on the gaming front, the crew of the Heart's Desire has set foot on Tyrolian soil and we look forward to the wholesale slaughter of our enemies over the next three weeks, when Taras finishes the Legends of the Jade Princess game that has been running for the last three years (seven if you count the Flashblade brothers and Silent Pete's first appearance in the original LoTJP 7 years ago). Also, I've received an email notification that Remo is 13th level. Magic Resistance, and a +2 boot to the head! Woohoo! Go Remo!


posted by Darth at 10:08 AM

 
I think I'll try selling Fridges to Eskimos next...

One of the things I likie best about gaming is the memories they conjure up occasionally. I laughed my posterior off when I saw this picture that my friend Rich drew . It was a WWII commando game. We had to stop a Luftwaffe plane from bombing a French city with chemical weapons. As it so happens, Rich and I were playing the only two characters who could fly a plane, so after the Nazi plane took off, we jumped into another bomber and took off after them. As we closed in on them, it occurs to me that I can't shoot down this plane full of nerve gas, since the nerve gas will be released and that's what we don't want to happen.

So I turn to Rich and tell him "You'll have to land the plane- we can't shoot it down", to which he responds "Of course." I didn't say anything, but I waited for him to realise that this requires him to get to the other plane (which is airborne) from our plane (which is also airborne). When he realised this a second later, he just went "...Oh!" I was the better pilot (being RAF and all that jolly good stuff, hawhaw!) so I was able to get the planes relatively close and keep them level (after Rich killed the tail gunner). He was the better jumper (being an expendable colonial troopie from Canada, and all) so he managed to make the leap, climb to the shattered gunners cupola, crawl down to the cockpit and kill the pilot without crashing it.

It was a crazy stunt, but it got him a Victoria's Cross (requirements for a VC is that an exceptional act of Valor is performed and witnessed by an officer of His Majesty's Armed Forces).

What a great game...


posted by Darth at 11:55 AM

 
Gazette Smash Hulk Movie?

Actaully, the review is pretty positive.

Four and a half stars.

From the Gazette.

For a Superhero movie...

I wasn't sure if I was going to see what was being billedas shrek II, but now I'm curious...


posted by Darth at 3:18 PM