The date correct is 2013-03-30

xkcd.com/1179/ - "ISO 8601"


http://xkcd.com/1179/



mh

Ezra Levant is a racist - this is the time when we must laugh well at him

At certain stages in the life of civilization you ridicule people like Ezra Levent. We do this because all the simple minded people who believe the spittle he drools - are pretenders; they are followers, scared people lost in a inexplicably confusing tangle of things they do not begin to understnad; people who would never do anything unique of daring ... they go with the flow, in essence, they hide...

So we ridicule people like Ezra Levanr - and the rage filled knee-jerks who lust his evil words. We ridicule them - and those secrete racists run and hide.

And that's the end of it - for a time. When it raises it's ugly head again; we ridicule it again - and it goes away - again.


At other times in the history of civilization - most notably when there is a generations-long economic depression - or generations of war - when there is no happiness, no future, and perhaps starvation - when we are faced with times like these - we see popular movements of  the haters --- lead by people like Ezra Levant.

And in their mobs they will become braver than they are. And sometimes they kill a little bit - and that puts the blood lust on their tongues - where before there were only words.

It is at times like these, that is when the lessons we know from history are so important. Because we know, we remember: when the night of broken glass comes - all progressives know this - it is already too late --- and we promise, we will not be late again.


But this is not that time... .


So - to the infinite ridicule of Ezra Levant.


Below is a quote of what Ezra Levant said - from an article in the National Post that inspired this article:

Bernie M. Farber, et al.: Hating the Jew, hating the ‘gypsy’ | by Bernie M. Farber, Nate Leipciger and Avrum Rosensweig | Special to National Post | 12/09/25 - http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/09/25/bernie-m-farber-et-al-hating-the-jew-hating-the-gypsy/


.. what he said ...

Oh wait a minute, first this, (for those detail people out there - like me)

I should note before our ridicule begins - for those who haven't figured this yet ... that simply because a racist culture produces words that mirror racist ideas, doesn't make the racist idea correct just because there's a entomology of related words around the racist idea in that culture - or cultures.


Now, what Ezra Levant said:

“These are gypsies, a culture synonymous with swindlers. The phrase gypsy and cheater have been so interchangeable historically that the word has entered the English language as a verb: he gypped me. Well the gypsies have gypped us. Too many have come here as false refugees. And they come here to gyp us again and rob us blind as they have done in Europe for centuries … They’re gypsies. And one of the central characteristics of that culture is that their chief economy is theft and begging.”

Ezra Levant, Sun Media, September 5, 2013

Let's play with this a bit:


“These are Canadians, a culture synonymous with swindlers. The phrase Canadian and cheater have been so interchangeable historically that the word has entered the English language as a verb: he Canada-ed me. Well the Canadians have Canada-ed us. Too many have come here as false refugees. And they come here to cana us again and rob us blind as they have done in Europe for centuries … They’re Canadians. And one of the central characteristics of that culture is that their chief economy is ingratiating themselvs in Florida and California, and begging for Green Cards at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Offices wherever they go.”


And now to our closest friends; those ones we are therefore sometimes too critical of:

“These are Americans, a culture synonymous with swindlers. The phrase 'American' and cheater have been so interchangeable in most parts of the world these days that the word has almost entered the English language as a verb: 'he mericed me'. Well the Americans have mericed us. Too many have come here as false refugees during the Vietnam War. And they come here to 'meric' us again and rob us blind as they have done for centuries … They’re Americans. And one of the central characteristics of that culture is that their chief economy is imperial conquest through the unspeakable slaughter of total war.”

_____________

I should note I am not a Jew; I am not Roma. I am but a citizen who feels duty bound to stand against prejudice. I do it every day - as necessary. I will continue to do it, happily - as necessary. It feels good to do it - even though it may be necessary - to do it every day.



mh

Should we replace fast melting glaciers with vast, human-made reservoirs?

Global warming is melting the great Rocky Mountain glaciers at an astonishing rate - these massive fresh water reservoirs feed some of the largest rivers in the world, the Mackenzie, the Athabaska, the North and South Saskatchewan, the Columbia - and these great rivers support the bread basket of the this country - and the world. We need to act now to guarantee these rivers continue to flow beyond the next generation.

These great glaciers may melt away to nothing in our children's life time - but using technology we have now - we can guarantee that water and food - in essence civilization - will continue - despite the end of the natural fresh water sequestering by glaciers that civilization has relied on hitherto. 

Aside from feeding us and the world (via the Great Canadian Plains (that produce 26 million metric tons of wheat each year), these great reservoirs will also produce massive amounts of hydroelectricity.

This could be - should be - an international project - like the the international space station. China for example has much experience on this kind of scale - lessons learned from the massive Three Gorges Dam project.

These new dams would need to be the largest such structures in the world. In order that they serve our needs over the next epoch - these bodies of water must be large enough to create micro-climates - weather patterns that will produce rain water at a rate that will sustain current flow rates.

The Map below shows the Fraser River watershed, while not a candidate area that is likely to garner much political support - because it is quite populated and we have invested vast sums in dam construction there already - but a good area map that can illustrate the scale of project I'm thinking is necessary.


Fraser River Drainage Basin

Fraser River watershed (626 × 480 pixels) - via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fraser_River

If the people of this period of over-consumption-economics wish to leave a legacy that is not the end of civilization - this is one highly effective, and sustainable way they can do that. This great project will define the Canadian Identity and propel us into a leadership position in the sustainable energy economy future.

Scientists predict the great rocky mountain glaciers - like the Columbia Ice Field - filled by 6 different glaciers, and which is the source of the North Saskatchewan River, the Athabaska River, the Fraser River, and the Columbia River - will be completely melted in 300 years¹.

But that estimate may be too optimistic - new evidence is beginning to reveal that the glaciers have already reached a 'tipping point' - their rate of melting is now accelerating beyond the rate predicted by the climate modeling alone.²

Hydrological functioning with-in the glacial systems, that we didn't understand until very recently is showing that run off from yearly snow melt is adding to a bottom, slippery layer that is a characteristic of all glaciers, which is causing these mountains of ice to slide down from their high-mountain perches more quickly than in cooler periods of history - resulting in more and more ice moving down to lower - and warmer - elevations faster.

Add to that unforeseen effect, the build-up of dirt on the surface of the glacier - deposits of fine dust particles (the core of every snow flake) - is building up on the surface of glaciers that melt all their winter snow every summer - are now causing light energy from the sun to heat the glaciers rather than reflecting off them.

Add to that - mean temperatures are rising faster near the poles (now +2 degrees in the last century), faster than in more temperate regions (+1). Apparently, the Poles are acting to mediate the mean temperature of the planet - and therefore the poles are warming more quickly than anywhere else. Greenland for example is melting off much much faster than the climate models predicted.


Therefore I submit, we must begin to plan to build large scale damming systems to capture massive amounts of glacial run-off water, starting with the worlds most polar located glaciers, and do so in time so that we can capture a large portion of the last of 50,000 years of sequestered fresh water - which scientists predict will happen to the northern most ice with-in the next 50 - 100 years.

There is just enough time to do it if we start now: twenty years of research, planning, public consultation, design; forty years to build - a massive global construction project in the inhospitable, undeveloped far north; and twenty years to fill the reservoirs - what will be in fact - new fresh water inland seas, on the scale of the volume of all the Great Lakes.

I'm not talking about filling valleys here and there as we have done extensively in the Kooteney - I'm talking about filling whole water sheds - a project that compares to the scale of the Panama Canal's construction - times a thousand.


Where?

The Rocky Mountains are made up of two distinct mountain ranges, separated by what geologists call The Rocky Mountain Trench. There are three such trenches, one mainly in the USA and two in Canada. The Fraser River Drainage Basin represents the southern most Canadian Rocky Mountain Trench and includes the source glaciers for the Athabaska, Columbia, Fraser and Saskatchewan rivers.

To the north of the Fraser River Drainage Basin, is - for an example of the scale I'm thinking about - an area drained by the Liard River. The Liard River Basin, or a similar, Northern Rocky Mountain Trench feature, perhaps something to the south of that, or the entire Tintina Trench - but I'd settle for the Liard Plateau.
(But it is such a unique natural treasure we are just beginning to explore it is an unlikely political candidate as well.)

Tintina Trench - Canadian Geographic Magazine


Liard River Basin Map - Wikimedia



I'm thinking we should flood a portion of Northern Rocky Mountain Trench in order to create an inland freshwater sea - on the order of magnitude of five times the volume of Great Bear Lake.

Indigenous Nations and Settlers in the area would have to change their economies - from what I assume is fishing, trapping, hunting, tourism, logging, mining - to mainly fishing and tourism. But they should keep in mind that as the glaciers go, so goes the rivers, and the habitat of all on Turtle Island who rely on them.

The people who live in the prospective areas chosen should be the starting point in the planning and research about this - and objectively they should embrace the project - as their economies are going to have to change anyway.

For Indigenous Nations to get out from under the heel of the imperial settler culture, they must embrace the future - there is no going back. In order for their culture to  flousih and grow they must help choose the best, most sustainable path forward. Stop the toxic oil pipelines cutting across their lands for example - and embrace a version of this proposal.


Global warming is going to increase the amount of water in the air generally, this will cause and increase in rain fall (where that rainfall will be, is difficult to predict, but mountain caused precipitation functioning is fairly well understood at this time).

These great glaciers may melt away to nothing sooner than we think - but using technology we have now, and by acting now - we can guarantee that water and food - in essence civilization - will continue - despite the end of the natural fresh water sequestering by glaciers.

____________

Images:

Tintina Trench - via Canadian Geographic Magazine - July/August 2007 - http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/ja07/feature_tintina_trench.asp

Liard River Basin Map (448 × 500 pixels) - via http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liard_River


References:

1 - "The Big Melt Down: Columbia Icefield, Canada" - http://www.oneonta.edu/faculty/baumanpr/geosat2/Big_Melt_Down/Big_Melt_Down.htm

2 - National Geographic -TVO | National Geographic: Extreme Ice - showing again March 24, 2012 on TVO (part of Water Week), watch TVO Trailer (1:12) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCe5dh7dwq4
[EDIT: that was a post by TVO from last year, top listed in search yesterday]

Bonus!
National Geographic's "Extreme Ice" is up right now! (despite National Geographic's misguided copyright fetish)


Via Craig Keithley's Youtube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvqqQVW9xzM
[Updated March 22, 2018]



mh

A Twitter 'Add-on'

I think the future of Twitter is user innovation. But it looks like Twitter is going a different way - tailoring the user experience into a series of  'room with a meme' - places that are groomed towards marketing to a specific lifestyle.

I can imagine thousands of these 'apartments' being crafted in real-time - tailored and massaged globally by teams of marketers, directed at paid-for target markets.

Yuck!


So I thought of this machine that could change all that.

A Twitter 'Add-on' that allows users to 'finess' twitter data using boolean search for any word, tag, or code; and present the results in real time, in a variety of temporal graphic representations.

I imagine an interface similar to the Alexa Page Rank graphs - where a number of addresses can be added to a series of input boxes along the y-axis - the user presses 'Enter' - and line-graph representations of page rankings data appear for the specified period, for the addresses entered.

In Twitter temporal is everything - so temporal graphic interfaces are key in this.

Twitter users will be able to target a specific neche topic instantly; and refine their niche quickly. As such, sub-cultures inside Twitter will flousish in unexpected ways - leading to more and more user innovation.

With the ability to 'read' Twitter in this way, crowd sourced inovation will flousish. People love statistics that show them who they are, and how popular - or not popular - they are. It provides another layer of community, which helps creates self-identity. If it is made easy to do this on Twitter, people will find interesting ways to 'count' and compare themselves and their friends; especially amoung young people who - at a certain period of their lives spend alsmost ALL thier time building self indentity in this way.

A real-time music video countdown comes to mind; a derivation of a broadcast eras' weekly music countdown shows.

Real time voting might develop in Twitter. Imagine an API that funnels a hash tag response to a question; the results updated in real time and feed into (for example) an html5 'canvas' element, embedded in the tweet and that features a Live graphic representation of votes cast.

The result is not really an 'Add-on' - this would change Twitter like html changed letter writing.



mh