taped and mudded

My first effort at drywalling a ceiling. My wife's cousin helped me put up 5/8'' drywall in our future office. Wow, talk about heavy work. 5/8 drywall is bulky, akward, and very heavy. You need two people, each of whom stand on a ladder. Then you position the drywall in place and then hold it with your head while you put the first screws in. Then the drywall punches through the screws because there aren't enough holding it up. This task is quite frustrating and challenging at first. It requires a lot of patience and skill.

In this photo the drywall has been taped and drywall compound applied. We hired a pro to do the taping because it is quite time consuming and difficult. Fun stuff 

Casa Decrepit

The New York Times Magazine had a great piece on Sunday about Casa Decrepit, a houseblog in California. The writer describes her horrible experiences at the hands of shady contractors and shifting soil. Truly terrifying for any person who is considering a basement renovation.

Our reno has been nothing like that but we did have our fair share of surprises, for example:

• the dead rats I pulled out of the ceiling


• the furnace that suddenly needed replacing

One of the most difficult issues that we face is where to draw the line when renovating. Is it better to do as much as possible, "while we have the contractors onsite", or is it better to keep a tight scope and do nothing more than necessary. I favor the latter, my wife the former. The short answer is both answers are right.

Good Corp

Airbus has announced the creation of a recycling facility for aircraft, the first of its kind in the world. The facility is targeted to achieve an 85-95% recycling rate for aircraft components and will even accept aircraft from rival aircraft manufacturers.

Bad Corp

Royal-Dutch Shell appeals a $1.5 billion fine imposed by a Nigerian court for polluting the Niger river delta. In 2005 Shell posted a profit of $22.9 billion, the highest full-year profit in British history.

Smiling Buddha

On Saturday I visited the Smiling Buddha Bar at 961 College St (@ Dovercourt).

A lot of small bars downtown are long and narrow, making it hard to see the stage, and this one is no exception. But the service was friendly and we squeezed into a booth eventually.

They are an unpretentious neighborhood pub - a welcome contrast to the glitzy boom-boom of bars on College St further east. Buddha Bar's calendar is online at Local Calendar and they evidently host a full roster of live music.

Awad for the masses

Michael Awad's exhibit at the AGO is an intriguing look at the city and its inhabitants. With his custom 60 mm camera equipment and specialized dollies he creates long images that reflect space and time. Familiar objects such as cars are compressed and stretched by the motion of the lens. But the distortion is mild; the environment and the subjects remain familiar and clear: people on an escalator; grocery items on a shelf.

The Henry Moore Sculpture Centre, Art Gallery of Ontario is a linearized image of a three-dimensional sculpture gallery of the same name. This representation of the gallery makes the space look larger and more impressive; it has an otherworldly quality in the photo.

Queen Street, North Side is a new view of a familiar subject. This work is a panoramic image of Queen St., roughly the entire length of Queen Street East and West, from the bridge over the Don River, all the way past St Joseph's Health Sciences Centre in the west. That is to say, this work is effectively a 6km wide panorama shot at a range of less than 100m!

This exhibit is what contemporary art should be. Accessible but layered. Artsy but not too clever.

Insulation Upgrade 2

This weekend I installed Rocksul fiberglass insulation underneath our flat roof. The vapor barrier was tricky; this is my first time installing a VB. Next time I will install larger pieces of VB to avoid seams, and also I will get the correct size of bats. The insulation comes in 24'' and 16'' bats and if you get the wrong size, you have to chop the bats up into smaller pieces and jam them together between the beams.

Nobody

Mr. Nobody is a cartoon character created by local artist Tanya Read. Nobody shows his friendly face now and then at local galleries. Read is the co-owner of the Fly Gallery at 1172 Queen St. West.

Ezekiel 4:9

I picked up a box of Ezekiel 4:9 cereal (almond flavor) yesterday. The cereal from Food For Life bills itself as the "staff of life." Ezekiel 4:9 was inspired by the verse of the same name: "Take also unto thee Wheat and Barley and Beans and Lentils and Millet and Spelt and put them in one vessel and make bread of it."

Comparing the nutrion facts to Kellogg's Muslix, it has a higher amount of protein per serving, and less calories. Cereal is one of my favorite foods. This one tastes rather Old Testamenty: harsh, crunchy, and uncompromising. Believe me, you are going to need some extra sugar on your Ezekiel 4:9.

Ezekiel is well known as the prophet who filled the Gospel with bizarre and vicious rants. Be glad there's no cereal based on Ezekiel 4:15: "Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith." or Ezekiel 5:10: "Therefore the fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers."

Queen St. West, 14:48

Two dogs greet passers-by on a cold sunny day.

Day 519

Today is Day 519 of the Attic to Loft Conversion. That's sobering. And to think that we thought it would take 2-4 months. Yes, it's been a year and a half since we packed up our living room and signed the first cheque to a contractor. Some of the highlights

Framing

• Removed plaster ceiling in living room
• Installed LVL's to reinforce the new floor
• Installed plywood subfloor
• Replaced plaster common wall with double 5/8'' drywall and insulation
• Straightened roof and opened up false dormer and dormer window
• Reroofed half the roof
• Installed new posts all the way to the basement
• New roof windows in loft
• New stairs to loft

HVAC

• Replaced furnace and routed ducts to every room on second and third floor
• New heating duct in 1st floor room
• New A/C unit in loft room

Electrical

• Rewired second floor hallway
• New pot lights in LR
• New circuits and lighting in loft

Finishing

• General drywall and taping
• Installation of specialized trim in loft and on stairs
• Recycled hardwood floor and finishing in loft

Insulation Upgrade

  

On Sunday I ripped into my bedroom ceiling with a knife and crowbar. Old plaster is unstable and you can't just pry it loose. The technique I used was: score the plaster with a mallet and utility knife and then pry chunks loose with the crowbar.

It wasn't long before I got a nasty surprise. Halfway through the job, I pulled a large dead rat (all rats look large when they are in your hand) out of the ceiling. It was flat and leathery, sort of a rat shoe. If another one turns up I will have to make some slippers!

Energy Efficient Stove

I noticed my spanking new Fridgidaire stove has a high Energuide rating.

Well, I was interested - so what makes it an energy efficient stove?

The rating is based on a comparative analysis of appliances in different categories. In my case there are only three ranges in the class (24 inch smooth top, electrical range), so it turns out the high rating is not especially relevant.

The National Research Council has an excellent site where you can compare appliances based on their expected power consumption. The site has a lot of interesting data about stoves

• Between 1984 and 2002 the average consumption of stoves decreased by about 6%
• During the same time period the avereage consumption of refrigerators decreased by about 119%

I suppose there is not too much you can do to increase a stove's efficiency. My new oven has some cool looking insulation.

This must be where the 6% improvement comes from

Telecommuting

So this year my company is saving money by closing their Toronto office. All Toronto employees are now required to work from home. This is not so great. Frankly, being stuck in my house all the time sounds like a nightmare.

But there's no arguing about it; I will have to make the best of it for now. Free high speed Internet, a nice T2200 which allows me to write off certain costs related to the house as business expenses. Thank God the renovation is almost over.

Direct Marketing

Well, the Spouse and I are registered to not be contacted. The Canadian Direct Marketing Association offers a service for registering on their Do Not Call, Do Not Fax, and Do Not Send lists for three years. We'll see how effective this service is. Telemarketers are mildly annoying, but it's the junk mail that really irritates me. All that wasted paper.

We'll still get the flyers though. It's especially irritating when the dumbass that delivers the flyers is too lazy to put them in the mail box, and just tosses them on the porch or shoves them in the railing.

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility also has an article on how to avoid unwanted mailings. It seems that warranty registration cards are an important source of mailing lists for direct marketing companies.

The dangerous fantasy of decadent power needs

John Barber has a great column in today's Globe and Mail on the $500 million Portlands Energy Centre proposed for the Toronto waterfront. Barber skewers the sky-is-falling claim by the McGuinty government that opposition to the plant is dangerous. In fact, there is a broad consensus that a plant needs to be built in the Portlands, but a number of people would like the province to build a smaller plant and use conservation measures to make up the difference

Far from being dream-world stuff, such strategies have proven effective in many
U.S. jurisdictions with hotter climates than ours. Using similar approaches,
Toronto Hydro "delivered" 134 megawatts of conservation savings last year. The
utility recently introduced a program that automatically slows down air
conditioners in peak periods, which is expected to save at least another 100
megawatts by 2008. Careful use of existing standby generators could be
worth another 300 megawatts, according to Toronto Hydro vice-president Blair
Peberdy. (p. A12)

I always look for Barber's grumpy little picture in the Globe. It's the best part of the paper.

Coal Troubles

The Globe's Saturday editorial is way off base:

To avoid putting the system at risk the government should stop talking of deadlines and ensure an indefinite lease on life for the two plants the IESO wants available as insurance: Nanticoke and the Lambton operation near Sarnia. [...] The coal plans are a crucial cushion and the government can keep them in a state of readiness by remembering that one simple phrase: Be prudent. (p. A22, Feb 4 2006)

There's nothing prudent about damaged lungs. Massive smog, which is killing over a thousand people a year in Toronto, is not an acceptable backup plan. Ontario needs a deadline; three years to close the biggest point source of pollution is more than enough warning. It's enough time to focus on conservation measures during peak times.

Nanticoke does not need a new lease on life; it needs a 'Closed for Business' sign and a team of bulldozers.

Spinning Sarah

Sarah Slean played at the Spin Gallery tonight. It's a treat to hear live music that is unmediated by recording equipment and time - the little asides, the keyboard flourishes connect you powerfully to the artist. Her voice is bold and lovely, and I shall be checking out her work. Sounds like a good idea for a Valentine's present

Sarah finished off with Edelweiss, the German folk song and some people sang along, including me. (This drew some warning stares from the spouse) Spin is showcasing her artwork as well, which is unfortunately not as interesting.

Day in Court

The Spouse and I were in court today, testifying against the man who tried to break into our house. As a result, while waiting to be called as a witness, I spent the day in the company of several of Toronto's finest. Not a bad way to spend your day; I got an earful of interesting stories, some of which are far too libellous to print here.

PS

1. Cops don't like firefighters ("hose monkeys"). The joke is that the police graduate with a gun and a badge, and the firefighters graduate with a pillow and a spatula.

2. Old cops are bitter. They really don't like lawyers and judges.

Motorist Rage

Nasty confrontation between a motorist and cyclist yesterday
1. Man throws garbage out of van onto street
2. Cyclist throws garbage back in van
3. In a fit of rage, man attacks cyclist and bike and anyone in flailing distance

Full set of photos on CityNoise who have reportedly garnered 100,000 hits for the article in the last few days.

Marie Curtis Park

The diversity of wildlife that lives in the city of Toronto is surprising. Take Marie Curtis park, for example. (Lakeshore and Browns Line) Mom visits this park almost every day and sees the most amazing wildlife. This area was devastated by the flood waters of Hurricane Hazel in 1954, and subsequently was acquired by the city as a marsh habitat and park. (what a concept: don't let people build on the flood plain)

Mom emailed me to list all the wildlife sightings in recent memory:

• Most recently a family of 3 beavers. They devasted some trees in the park. Big ones too. At least tem of them are down. Now there are wire cages around the trees close to the creek


• A night heron - this year he is staying the winter.


• A big blue heron at migration time


• Muskrats


• woodpeckers


• flickers


• pileated woodpecker


• chickadees


• cardinals


• blue jays


• Swans all year round


• Squirrels: Black ones, grey ones and a rare red pine squirrel.

The disappearing range

I am always amazed at how fast unwanted items disappear from my front lawn. On Saturday I threw out a very old 1970's stove with a broken oven. Within hours it was completely consumed by the Jawas of Torontopia.

1:34 - Leave ugly 1970's stove at end of curb. Plan to put it on Freecycle. Go to coffee shop to get cup of strpng coffee.

1:42 - Return home, coffee in hand. Mmm, coffee. One burner missing from stove. Uh oh . This will make it hard to give away. Enter house and work on other tasks

3:32 - Pass stove. All knobs and burners are gone from stove. Stove drawer is missing. Well, now I'm screwed, no one could possibly want it. Get more coffee. Slurp slurp.

4:13 - Hear dragging noise outside. Stove carcass is being dragged onto a pickup truck by enterprising junk dealer.

The scrap guy explained that scrap yards are willing to buy these old appliances and they can be torn apart for parts. So after over 30 years of constant use, my old stove will live on in other people's homes. I can only hope that my new stove will be working in the year 2036.

2005 warmest year on record

Good Washington Post article on climate change. 2005 is the hottest year on record, according to NASA's Goddard institute.

NASA scientists estimate that 2005 average global land and sea temperatures were
1.04 degrees Fahrenheit above average, just beating out 1998's 1-degree
elevation. NOAA researchers, by contrast, say this year's global average is
1.06 degrees Fahrenheit above average, compared with 1.1 degrees in 1998.

Maybe it's time for the Harper Conservatives to rethink their opposition to meaningful action on climate change.

Mien Trung

Had a mighty tasty Dinner the other day at the Mien Trung Vietnamese restaurant (207 Ossington Ave., tel. 416-531-0498). This restaurant is one of those holes-in-the-wall where 4 people can eat for about $30 total. The menu selection was extensive. The food was excellent; decor non-existent.

It's been four years since I had Vietnamese and that was in the armpit of Toronto (Carlton & Yonge). They must have been using Grade F meat because that was enough to put me off anything that starts with Pho. No matter- cured now.

After dinner we squeezed into the Communist's Daughter (Dundas & Ossington), a hotspot for indie music types. We were fairly uncomfortable since the place was packed and it was difficult to find a spot, and once we found a spot, to have a conversation.

In Transit

Saw the In Transit exhibit on opening night yesterday at the Toronto Free Gallery. Well curated exhibit on transit related art, mostly photography. Good turnout; and the great news is they were selling those subway buttons that are hard to find. Now I'm kicking myself for not buying more buttons; they would make a great gift.

I never know how to behave at these openings; it's difficult to look at the art because there are so many people; so is it about the visitors more than the art? At least you have a conversation topic in the event that you want to strike up a conversation with a total stranger.

Environment hits - election

It's interesting to compare raw Google search numbers for 'environment' between the party web sites. The number of hits directly corresponds to what I would informally evaluate as the relevance of the environment for each party

Conservatives:
282 hits for 'environment' which sounds like fair bit. Once you dive in, these are slim pickings -multiple repetitions of the proposed Conservative tax credit for transit passes. Also a pledge to provide 'more research' on BC's fisheries, the standard tactic for buck-passing governments the world over.

Realistically, I expect the Harper government to be the worst environmental stewards in living memory. They have pledged to renege on Kyoto and are loaded with Calgary-School ideologues and their web site provides little more than tokens. The transit tax credit is nothing more than a fig leaf on their otherwise nakedly regressive platform.

Liberals:
558 hits, and a little more meat. Discussion of clean fuel, Kyoto and renewable energy initiatives. The Liberals trumpet some of their achievements here, but as covered in recent articles they signed the Kyoto treaty but haven't actually done much to achieve their Kyoto targets

NDP:
606 hits. Heavy criticism of the government record; proposal for a Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and a Polluter Pay Act. Good stuff; they clearly outline where the government has gone wrong on many environmental initiatives while in power. For example, cabinet overruling scientists on species at risk.

Green Party:
11,000 hits; too numerous to list. Nice report from the Sierra Club giving the Green Party top marks on their environmental policies. If the NDP wasn't so strong in my riding, I would definitely be supporting Green.

Monorail crash

Here's a picture of that Seattle monorail crash earlier this year

Monorailllll

The Monorail society is a volunteer organization founded "to fostor more awareness and promote this unique method of transportation". They believe that monorails encourage poeple to choose transit.

I'd challenge the Society on that point - the monorail has a reputation as a frivolous and silly waste of money. For example, an unecessary monorail was the theme of a Simpson's episode. Transit activists are often fighting with bean counters and self-styled pragmatists. This obsessive-compulsive monorail advocacy leaves transit open to attack as a waste of money. Better to advocate for the most cost-effective transit available and if that project has one rail or two, who really cares?

The Seattle Monorail Project is a group specifically oriented around the Seattle monorail which is not doing too well. The proposed Green Line will not be built, unfortunately. The monorail seems to have a poor reputation in Seattle. Said my Seattle friend, C., "The monorail makes Vancouver's skytrain look good! [...] The monorail that's so well built that it has a turn in it that is too narrow for the trains to pass each other? Yup, the trains crashed last fall and they have closed it - driver error."

Subway Pride

available from the Public Space Committee The brightly coloured tiles of the subway system have long been an identifying mark; now they are a badge for the riders as well (for fun). The mayor reportedly wears one.
Is it about pride of place?. Would I wear one if I lived near Rosedale stop? Well I think Toronto is a little too obsessed with its neighborhood one up-manship but I still love the buttons. The subway is a marvelous invention; a people mover that has yet to be rivalled for efficiency and convenience. When I lived in Ottawa we visited Toronto twice a year. It was a real treat to ride the subway, and my brother & I would ride the Bloor line end-to-end just to see all the stops.

I stopped by Pages Books this week to buy one of the subway buttons but alas they are sold out, and was told by the Pages staff that the PSC doesn't stop by very often to replenish their supply.

One man's junk is...

What to do with this piece of construction junk? Unlikely that anyone would pay for it. Yet I know it's valuable. Spouse and I installed central heating on our second floor last year and ended up with a disconnected electric baseboard heater. If it were not for Freecycle it would have ended up getting trucked to Michigan for sure. (the endpoint for the GTA's garbage). Within 24 hours of my post, I was hooked up with someone who needs a free electric baseboard heater.

Freecycle allows one to give and receive gifts of unwanted things, keeping them out of landfills. They claim over 1.8 million members in 3,266 communities. The way it works is this: hit the Freecycle web site at http://freecycle.org/. Then click through to your local community. The actual messaging and information exchange is done via Yahoo Groups, so you need a Yahoo login (free). Post a message with "OFFER:" in the header, and describe the item. When someone replies, arrange a time for them to pick up their gift. Sweet.

More Evidence of Climate Change

this made me laugh

Bush defeated on ANWR

The Senate handed GWB a defeat on drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, a critical caribou habitat. Opening up the vast Alaskan wildlife refuge for oil exploitation would place the herd of caribou at risk. The Republicans, manipulative buggers, had inserted the drilling provision in a defense appropriations bill. Maybe the path to energy security lies in reducing the grotesquely inflated consumption of North American consumers? Just a thought.

Should this man be Prime Minister?

A number of my co-workers are Tory supporters. They believe Stephen Harper is the victim of the news media. These Tory supporters are critical of the hidden agenda charge that is sometimes levied against Harper. "Why are people 'afraid of Stephen Harper', especially in Ontario?" is the question that was posed to me.

Ontarians believe that Harper is not being straight with them. Harper portrays himself as a moderately conservative politician; basically a similar but non-corrupt alternative to the Liberals. This hidden agenda allegation is a valid and astute observation of Stephen Harper.

The agenda is a radical transformation and attack on the government, on the scale of the vicious and radical restructuring of the provincial government in Ontario. A Harper majority government will not simply be a caretaker "non-corrupt" version of the Liberals, but will involve the dismemberment of many government programs that conservatives despise.

His hidden agenda can be extrapolated from his past statements and associations. First, he is undoubtedly anti-environment. His fierce oppostion to Kyoto, plus his association with the oil and gas industry should firmly entrench his status as an anti-environmentalist. Check out his Wikipedia bio here.

Second, he is openly hostile to the federal government in general. He has suggested in the past that Alberta should build a firewall seperating itself from the rest of Canada. This has prompted legitimate questions about his patriotism, and committment to govern on behalf of all Canadians, rather than just conservative Albertans.

Third, he is hostile to the values that many Canadians share, such as universal health care and worker's rights. He is the former leader of the National Citizen's Coalition, a conservative special interest group which campaigns against unions and universal health care. Coupled with his masters degree in economics, it suggests that he would govern as a radical fiscal conservative, regardless of the middle of the road values that Canadians share.

Le Parkour

Radio One had an interview today with a practitioner of Parkour. This sport originated in France and is a type of urban adventuring; a type of dangerous-looking steeplechase praticed in cities. Holy mackeral, these people have guts of steel. I like the idea of urban adventuring - making use of the city in a creative way, but frankly I am unwilling to risk my 30-something ass in such a dramatic way.

Toronto has a local parkour group with much tamer-looking stunts, pictured here.

humbug

A family member R, has specifically asked that certain family members not give him gifts. At first my reaction was disdainful - that sounds pretty cheap; he obviously said that so as not to create any obligations for him to exchange gifts.

On further consideration, it's a ballsy. Christmas can be quite crazy; it makes sense to simplify and not give a lot of unnecessary trinkets. Christmas ends up being an internal struggle. You want to avoid the situation where someone buys a gift for you and you didn't get anything for them. How embarassing! Heaven forbid! And for those you are giving gifts to, you don't want to appear cheap

R's directive on gift giving is straightforward and refreshing. Fuck the local retailers anyway. I am not responsible for WalMart's or the Bay's profit margins.

EcoBunk Awards

Toronto's ecorati were present at the 15th annual EcoBunk Awards on Thursday. EcoBunk is an annual roast of some of the worst greenwashing and anti-environment advertisements of the past year. The ads ranged from the horrific and absurd hunting gear ads from Gerber Gear (example above) to the merely cynical (GE's PR campaigns).

This was my first EcoBunk and I'm told the tone was a littler happier than in the dark and dreary Mike Harris years, when much of the show was spent bashing the Harris government.

SUV's came in for some hard knocks, and rightly so. For next year's EcoBunk awards I would nominate Volvo's new V8 SUV which currently bills itself as providing "intelligent transportation for families that value performance, safety and the environment." This is of course, an oxymoron - an environmentally friendly SUV. I doubt I will ever buy a Volvo after seeing that particularly cynical and disingenuous piece of advertising

CBC Radio One host Bob MacDonald was an emcee at EcoBunk this year. Gord Miller, Ontario's Environmental Commissioner was sighted in the audience. NDP federal candidate and retiring Senior Campaigner Gord Perks presented one award. Also in attendance was local councillor and federal NDP candidate Olivia Chow.

London Congeston

CBC's Linden MacIntyre interviewed Nicky Gavron today on The Current.

Gavron is the deputy mayor of London in Ken Livingstone's administration. In 2003, their administration introduced a congestion charge in the downtown core. Each driver wishing to enter Central London must pay the charge which is directed towards transit programs. The £8 charge has reduced traffic in the downtown core by 30 per cent, according to Gavron. Additionally, the city has supported transit by strictly enforcing buses-only lanes.

"I used to think that if you change attitudes you change behavior. I now know that if you change regulations you change behavior, said Gavron.

She is also pushing for greener technologies for heating and cooling to reduce domestic energy use: "We want to overcome market failure and and stimulate markets".

She remarked that London has a lot to learn from Canadian initiatives such as the EnerGuide and loan structures to promote efficiency.

Google Transit - Coming Soon?

Google has a new service, but currently only for Portland, OR. This service lets you key in two locations, just like with their popular maps offering, and then generates a route, complete with schedule, walking time, total time, and price.

Linux & Lentils

Part community center, part professional group, and local coffee joint - the LinuxCaffe is open for business at Harbord & Grace. David Patrick opened his cafe seven months ago. Barista is a radical job change for him, after his work in the film industry. But he already had the IT experience needed to run the cafe.

Run the cafe? That's right. The cafe is stock-a-block with laptops and servers running various distributions of the open source O/S kernel Linux. The shelves are full of quality technical books related to IT, programming, and Linux. The sound system runs on Linux. And the cafe hosts a wireless access point for its customers covering the cafe and southern part of Bickford Park.

The food is sourced from suppliers within walking distance and picked up with a wagon. Paninis, soups, and wraps are the steady favorites.

I order hot lemon tea with lentil soup, seasoned with 'Spike', a celery salt based seasoning, and the soup comes with fresh slices of baguette. Good comfort food on a cold December night.

Great place to spend a quiet evening surfing the Net and writing software.

Hours (from the LinuxCaffe site):
----------------
Monday - Thursday
7ish to 7ish
-----------------
Friday
7ish to 11ish
-----------------
Saturday
10ish to 11ish
-----------------
Sunday
10ish to 5ish

Beer Hunter

It's Saturday 6pm and you need liquor. Quick, what do you do? Beerhunter.ca has a map of Toronto beer & wine stores with real-time updates. This site is put together by BadMath, a local Toronto design/development shop.

There are an increasing number of 'Google mash-ups', sites that leverage Google's map and earth imaging technology in innovative ways. For example, this site which allows you to view the storm track of hurricanes and cyclones.

Quirks special on climate change

CBC's science program hosted a special show on climate change today. Download and real media stream available here.

The Corporation

In his 2004 book, The Corporation, Joel Bakan provides a searing indictment of the corporate form. His thesis is accessible, concise, and devastating
1. The corporation enjoys the powers and rights of a person
2. The personality of the corporation is generally that of a sociopath: amoral, egotistical pursuit of self-interest
3. Since the corporation is a creation of governmental laws and treaties, it is time to re-establish control over this entity.

The book is well documented and footnoted, but not as dull or lengthy as Fast Food Nation. The story of the Bolivian city of Cochabamba is particularly chilling. In an effort to employ market solutions, to a public policy problem, the government of Bolivia privatized the water system of Cochabamba. The water company raised rates to up to three times the previous rate, and even charged peasants for water they drew from their own wells. In complicance with its contract with the company, the government prohibited people from even collecting rainwater and local river water. After a bloody confrontation between citizens and police, the water system was de-privatized.

Urban Vancouver has an interview with Bakan. The movie of the same name has their own site with a Get Involved Link.

Drive Clean program to be adjusted

Ontario's Drive Clean program is being adjusted to target older cars. 4-5 year-old cars will no longer be tested - testing starts after a car is 5 years old. Light-duty trucks (read SUVs) older than 20 years old will now be tested.

The maximum limit for repairs will be increased from $450 to $600. 600? This is of course, a bizarre subsidy to the worst polluters. Your car fails the test? Fix it or get it off the road. It's not the government's job to make it easy for you to drive. Can't afford it? I can't afford an i-Pod - is the state going to cap the costs of an i-Pod for me?

It's reasonable to exempt 4-5 year old cars. This change is likely due to pressure from research by the Hamilton Spectator and others showing that the vast majority of 4-5 year old cars passed their test with flying colors. This research is giving strength to claims that the billion or so-dollars that Ontario vehicle owners have spent on Drive Clean was 'wasted'.

Reforming and cutting the fat in the Drive Clean system will reduce the program's vulnerability to political attacks. Drive Clean is a powerful and revolutionary idea because it channels the responsibility and costs of curbing pollution on the individual, not the state. The claim that 98% of cars pass Drive Clean, therefore the program is a waste, is a specious argument at best. The 2% of cars that fail are the problem; they are exactly what the program was targeted against.

Larry David special on Climate Change

Larry David, one of the creators of 'Seinfeld' is hosting a special on climate change. The special will air on Nov 20 at 8pm EST (TBS). It's about time somone injected some common sense humor into a serious topic

Profile of a sunny afternoon

If you spent the afternoon outside today, it was a blissful November afternoon. Half the city was walking around outside at about 3pm, or so it felt. There was no Christmas rush on anyone's face yet. What else could you ask for?

New subway line for Toronto?

Pressure is building to build a subway to replace the aging Scarborough RT. The TTC needs to replace the obsolete rapid transit system by 2015. The RT carries 43,000 riders a day, which is more than the Sheppard subway and more than the ridership to York University.

The Sausage of Hardwood

Just installed a tongue-in-groove mix of hardwood from Timeless Materials in Guelph, ON. This company salvages wood from condemned factories and barns in Southern Ontario and re-mills the wood into flooring. Each board is a different wood, kind of like sausage (everybody likes sausage). As long as you distribute the different varieties sufficiently randomly it looks good. The spouse and I wanted to use recycled materials if possible and we were able to get this stuff for slightly more than a new batch of hardwood. Pretty exciting that the wood may be from a hundred year old building

We just finished oiling it with Tung oil and are very pleased with the results. The Tung oil was rosemary-scented and non-toxic. It gets applied using a brush and three coats were enough to protect the floor