Geek's Journal

Thoughts on The Unsustainable Autonomy of Reason

2010-01-10T16:33:00.002-05:00

My thoughts on

The Problems of Transhumanism: The Unsustainable Autonomy of Reason

Man, what a great article, I think I'll have to read it a few times really and spend some time mulling it over and perhaps following-up on a few references, but that being said, here's my initial reaction (and I'd suggest of course that if you haven't already, you read the article first and come up with your own interpretations before looking at mine...)

....

Overall, I _think_ I agree... Not sure if because it's just so damn well written, but honestly I don't think I've really thought about it this way before... I guess I've been like the residents of the floating glass house, confident to look at the architecture and stick my chest out spouting my trust in reason and the scientific method without admitting the fact that yes, it's not REALLY on any solid foundation. I recently read LOGICOMIX, a brilliant graphic novel about Bertrand Russell and his project - Principia Mathematica and then Godel's destruction of it - I was aware of the general history of it via reading Hofstadter, but again, it seems like the naturalists dirty little secret... :)

At the end of the day it seems like it's beyond or (or has been beyond us thus far) to be able to build a system of logic which requires no unproveable assumptions, I mean it's all a strange loop... Sure, without a doubt, once you make those one or two very REASONABLE assumptions, I doubt many would argue that post enlightenment philosophy and science have generated a body of knowledge and a worldview that act as a much more accurate and intellectually satisfying MAP for the TERRAIN called REALITY vs. those worldviews that are grounded in dogma and superstition, but at the end of the day, we have to accept that we still do have these assumptions, and to be honest, really this is the choice that one needs to make...

- Am I willing to accept those assumptions that ground the naturalistic world view

or

- Do I prefer to make the assumption that faith is a good thing and that one or the many ancient religious texts is written by the creator of the universe...

Once you've made that choice there are NO arguments that really matter...

Cheers, thanks for listening, hope you're having a good Sunday :)

Autonomy

2009-03-25T11:02:00.002-04:00

Generally speaking, I think everyone agree that we'd all like to have more free time. In modern society it seems that demands of work, family and social commitments leave little or no time for us to really feel we have the freedom to do whatever we want.

With my recent reduction in working hours, I've now been given this opportunity.

It's been about 4 weeks now, and for the most part I've been pretty busy, running errands, enjoying lunches with my wife, relaxing, but today, I'm sitting here feeling a certain level of angst.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining! But, I'll be honest, I'm struggling, not with BOREDOM, but with having to make a DECISION of HOW to spend my time...

There's no rule book to look to which can tell me, of the 3 1/2 hours that sit between me and when my oldest son gets home from school, how they should be carved up and used or spent, or invested, or wasted.

Do I...
...hop on my bike and go for a ride?
...go for a run, training for my 1/2 marathon
...do some housework
...read a book
...learn some new technical skills
...surf facebook
...play video games

I could do any or a few of, or all of these things, and I could probably come up with justifications as to why they were the best choice, and perhaps the choice isn't even the point of this post.

I'm just trying to express that HAVING to make that decision isn't insignificant, I know it's as a result my thinking too much, this is something I need to do a bit, not put so much pressure on myself to always make the best, most productive use of my time.

Anyhow, I think I will go for a bike ride, take a long my book and my laptop, do some reading and e-learning, have lunch and then head back.

Question to ponder - how should one develop one's own guidelines of how to spend one's time? What should be a reasonable ratio of time spent on fun, personal development, exercise, housework? I get that everyone's answer would be different, but what would a strategy be to rank a person's own priorities and then organize the time accordingly.

Resurrection

2009-03-24T21:52:00.002-04:00

I haven't been posting to my blogs for a long time. There isn't a single reason, it's a combination of (a) being busy with work during the day and other activities when not working, (b) increased usage of Facebook, leading me to either summarize my thoughts in a status update, or post them via a Facebook note, and (c) Using Google Reader's 'Share' feature, making it easy to pass along an interesting article.

Since February of this year (2008), I've moved from full-time to part-time with my main client, so I now find myself with more free time, so I'm definitely going to start blogging more, I think I'll be concentrating on technology, and my other interests like positive psychology, transhumanism, and fitness.

I've just registered a few new domain names - www.askjohn.ca and www.walterfamily.ca - I'll be setting up web sites shortly. I'm using www.GoDaddy.com for domain registration and hosting. They're a HUGE hosting company, offer very competitive pricing, they advertised heavily on DIGGnation, a video podcast I used to watch, so I figured I'd use them, so far so good.

As opposed to starting to code my sites from scratch, I'm going in a more up-to-date direction, planning to use Drupal, a content management system (cms), I think this is definitely the direction to go for most web sites these days, unless they call for some very unique features/functionality.

So, stay tuned as I develop and launch my latest web presence, I hope to provide some useful streams of memes for my friends and anyone else who shares my interests.

Blogging More, and Tools...

2008-04-16T11:09:00.001-04:00

I really do need to get back into the habit of blogging regularly... It just seems that I'm consuming so much of my new media via Google Reader, and there's no easy, one-click way at the moment to sort of 'send to...' blogger and then allow me to put my own comments in and share it.

I'm also just posting stuff into Facebook, since I know most of my friends still aren't really RSS-enabled and I don't blog enough that anyone should be bothering to actually go visit the site regularly...

Anyhow, I just found this new tool via TechCrunch - "BLOG IT", a Facebook app that integrates w/ a blog, so I can quickly post something via this interface... Let's see how well it works and whether this will get me back into blogging more...

A possible solution to The Fermi Paradox

2008-03-11T12:37:00.003-04:00

The Fermi paradox is the apparent contradiction between high estimates of the probability of the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of evidence for, or contact with, such civilizations.

For me, anyway, this is a fantastic philosophical question, great for giving the brain a good workout as there are so many different angles you can take it.

Obviously there's no RIGHT answer, but here's my current thinking on this...

- It's reasonable to assume that evolution on our planet is normal, if our planet is an average planet, orbiting an average star, in an average galaxy, we have reason to doubt this.
- So I think it's also reasonable to assume that on other similarly-sized planets that when intelligent life does evolve, it would do so at one particular spot on the planet.
- Those intelligent beings would relatively early on in their evolution develop the ability to travel long distances and then begin to spread out, migrate across the planet.
- This then creates the opportunity for distinct groups to begin to develop independently of one another, and thus in an asynchronous way.
- Some groups will advance quicker than others, whether it be due to weather, availability of natural resources, etc.
- If you fast forward several thousands years, you end up with (a) groups of intelligent beings that have really advanced technologies, potentially including technologies that in the wrong hands could spell existential risks (Nuclear Weapons, Nanotechnology, etc), living alongside (b) groups of intelligent beings that still believe in ancient mythologies, and believe that their worldview is the absolute truth and that anyone who does NOT share their view (including those in group (a)) should be destroyed.
- Once group (b) gets a hold of the technologies created by group (a), in their attempt to follow their beliefs & mythologies they end up wiping out the entire planet, and voila... We see no signs of intelligent life in the cosmos....

I'd love to hear some comments, am I totally offbase or it is reasonable to assume that this is not only a possibility, but perhaps a distinct probability and almost a universal challenge?

Next Question: Is there ANYTHING that can be done to get all of humanity on the same page in terms of what it will take to allow our species to escape this possibility...

Fitness Update

2008-03-07T09:36:00.003-05:00

I've made health/fitness a bigger focus since the beginning of the year, here are some of my new learnings. None of this is rocket science by the way, just perhaps some new ways of interpreting things...

1) Sleep - Getting a good night's rest is a key element of weight loss. This is something I'd read in a number of places, but it never really made sense to me. How is laying on your backside helping you to lose weight? Do you burn calories while you're sleeping? Then over the past few weeks, in tracking my own well being and weight loss I discovered a corrolation. On days when I'd not gotten say 6-8 hours sleep the night before, I generally felt sluggish, had low energy levels (ok, sure, that's obvious). But perhaps what wasn't so obvious is that, when you're awake during the day, and can't say NAP to get energy, how else do you get it? EATING! So when we talk about needing sleep in order to lose weight, you can really say that SLEEPING provides you with Energy WITHOUT any calories... It would be interesting, actually to try to draw a mathematical formula, basically tie in a # of equivalent calories from a subjective 'energy level' perspective that you GAIN in getting a good nights sleep, thus avoiding consuming some potentially BAD calories at lunch or as an afternoon snack in order to compensate.

2) Weighing in / Tracking - When I'm tracking what I'm eating and getting on the scale EVERY DAY, I'm more likely to stay on track. This keeps the metrics in your mind, and helps you to make good decisions about what you eat. It's really like any goal or project, you want to have all of the appropriate information available in order to make a good decision. So when choosing what to eat - it's important to know what your weight is, what your goal weight is, how many calories you're entitled to in a day, how many you've already consumed, how many are in the food you're considering eating. Some people may find tracking what they eat to be too tedious and time consuming, but my argument is, IF your health/fitness are a priority for you, then spending 20 minutes a day tending to this (by tracking your food via some online tool (like www.Sparkpeople.com - the Daily Plate, or others), is time you're INVESTING in your health and fitness, not WASTING.

3) Good Protein Sources - I'm still struggling a bit on finding a good balance between healthy eating and getting sufficient protein. As a vegetarian, it can be challenging to structure your meals to provide the required amount of protein. The formula of how much you should be getting is roughly 1gm of Protein per Kilogram of body weight. I weight 178 lbs = 80 kg = 80gms of Protein a day. In order to keep within my calorie range ~ 1500-1700/day, it's tough to get 80gms in IF I'm not really selective about what I eat.

I need, on average to consume 5.3gms of Protein per 100 calories.

I can't just eat carbs and veggies!

Example - People talk about Peanut Butter for instance being a good source of protein, well let's then look at a Peanut Butter Sandwich:

Whole Wheat Bread (2 slices) - 250 calories, 8gms of Protein
Peanut Butter (2 tbsp) - 190 calories, 8gms of Protein
Total - 440 calories, 16gms of Protein = 3.6gms/protein per 100 calories

So I really need to be looking a Tofu, Soy Milk, Cottage Cheese and other options that providing HIGHER protein/calorie ratios...

4) Push-ups - Near the begging of the year I started thinking, gee, doing pushups is a dead-easy thing, so special equipment, can be done anywhere... And I've set myself a goal of being able to do 100/day. Starting out, I'd struggle to get in a set of 20. But even within a week, I was able to bump that up to 25, I'm now able to do a set of 30 pushups! My plan is to do 2 sets a day, and work my way up to doing sets of 50, so 2 x 50 = 100 pushups...

5) A Healthy Breakfast w/ Egg Beaters - I really enjoy having egg & cheese on a bagel for breakfast, I see it as a really enjoyable treat, HOWEVER, having a whole egg w/ cheddar cheese on a whole bagel is a lot of calories. So what I'm now doing is just having half a bagel, or once slice of whole grain bread, or two slices of Weight Watchers bread, and using the Egg Beaters substitute - which is basically eliminating the fatty yolk party of the egg, and using partially skim-milk cheese - this way I still enjoy a savory treat, but it amounts to about HALF of the calories, still retaining most of the protein. I'm not saying I'd have this every day, but it's certainly more nourishing than just an banana or apple.

That's all... I'm planning to shave off another 5 pounds or so this month, and finally push into that "Health Weight" category of the BMI chart! Whoohoo!

Then Beer/BBQ/TFC Season starts and who knows what'll happen! hehehe...

The Morality of File Sharing

2007-12-24T12:01:00.000-05:00

Excellent article which discussing the current zeitgeist around Morality & File Sharing, and I couldn't agree more...

http://torrentfreak.com/piracy-morals-and-the-need-for-change-071323/

The industry keeps trying to advertise that what people who download are doing is STEALING. It's not STEALING... STEALING is when you take something from someone so they don't have it anymore.

If someone steals my car, I don't have a car anymore, I can't get around, they've taken something from me.

If I download a song, I'm not taking that song away from anyone. People might argue that I'm taking money away from the record label, but I wouldn't have bought 95% of the music that I download anyway... If the labels would embrace the technology embrace the cost savings of electronic distribution and pass that on to the customers, great! But as long as they expect me to pay 99 cents a song, they can go screw themselves...

One interesting point made in the article is the 160gb iPod... Have you considered how much it would cost to fill that with legitimately purchased songs? I did a quick calculation, let's say you put 3mb songs on there - I know that's small, but let's say they're not the best possible quality, the 160GB would store 53,000 songs, at 99cents each (which is reasonable if you say an average album is $15 and contains around that many songs... So it would be like $53,000 to fill the iPod with music... That's hillarious...

Exercisng Feels GREAT, thoughts on WHY

2007-12-20T12:57:00.000-05:00

Hit the Rogers Centre gym this morning, man it felt great to get a good workout in, followed by a relaxing 15 minutes in the hot tub... Aah

After about 5 minutes on the ellyptical trainer, I was feeling totally awesome, as the beads of sweat began to develop across my forehead, heart rate up to ~ 150, YES! music cranked on the iPod...

For 100,000 years, Humans have had it tough, we've HAD to work hard physically to survive, it's only over the last hundred years that large numbers of people had the luxury of sedentary lives. It feels GOOD to exercise, it feels GOOD to get a work out and to actually USE your body... Our bones and muscles didn't evolve to sit around on the couch! They evolved to hunt, to gather, so intrinsically we feel good when we do that which we've evolved for.. Ok, so I'm not hunting animals, but getting a good cardio workout by playing a sport or going for a run or whatever is physically in the same ballpark.

Anyway, I just want to reenforce to myself how amazing I felt after the workout in hopes that I'll remember this on mornings when I don't REALLY feel like getting out of bed and getting my gym stuff together... I'm trying to cement those synaptic pathways in my brain, to encourage the habit...

Anyone want to join me at the gym sometime? I want to make at LEAST a Thursday morning visit a regular habit for the next few weeks and then look to make it 2 days a week when possible.

This is a test blog...

2007-11-14T15:17:00.001-05:00

This is a test blog post using jott.com. listen

Powered by Jott

Damn Beavers...

2007-11-06T02:11:00.000-05:00

I've got a bit of a conundrum... My youngest son has joined the Beavers, this is the youngest program in Scouts Canada, for boys aged 5-7... I was actually a Beaver when I was this age, though I did follow through on it much more than that.

I've got a bit of a problem with the program... The first step in becoming an 'Eager Beaver' is to learn the Beaver Law, Promise and Motto... Here they are:

Beaver Law: A Beaver has fun, works hard and helps his/her family and friends.
Beaver Promise: I promise to love God and to help take care of the world.
Beaver Motto: Sharing, Sharing, Sharing

I've got a problem with the God part...

I'm really torn on this and would love some comments on the right way to handle this...

I've done some reading online tonight, and it seems that how the whole God thing is handle varies quite a bit from one scout organization to another. Not suprisingly, Canada is more liberal than in the US where Atheists are actually expelled from the Scouts program. Canada appears to allow all religions in, however, lack of a Religion is somehow seen as a negative. It doesn't seem that being a Humanist counts for anything...

I hate being seen as a hypocrite, and there's no way that I'll be praying or anything when we all head up camping this weekend, but I'm struggling a bit with this promise. I don't feel comfortable with Henry saying that he promises to love God... I'm totally fine w/ the help take care of the world part, that's great, I know I could just not let it bug me, but it DOES bug me... We need to open peoples minds and show them that one can be an Atheist and still be a good moral person. I definitely think I need to address this somehow as opposed to just going along with it, but I want to make sure I do it in a tactful, positive way...

Help!

Thoughts on the Lack of Wealth in Tropical Areas

2007-11-05T12:02:00.000-05:00

This is a problem that I've thought a lot about over the years. Any time that I visit a country in the caribbean, I'm amazed at the poverty that exists and puzzled as to why it exists? It's as if the industrial revolution had never happened, you still have thousands of people living in beat up old shacks, there is little to no wealth generation going on.

Obviously there is no simple answer to his question and I'm sure that a historian familiar with each country could provide a compelling historical account of why things are the way they are, I've come up with a new theory that attempts to answer the question in a general way.

Ultimately people take the actions they take in order to be happy.

In the west, it is generally accepted that having more money will make you happier. I think this belief is tied very tightly into capitalist culture and is therefore seen as being an intrinsic truth. The reality is that studies have shown that once people get to a certain level, able to satisfy their base requirements for food, shelter, etc, that beyond that, additional wealth has very little effect on happiness. That being said, most people don't pay attention to scientific studies and research, they're too busy watching Entertainment Tonight and Dancing with the Stars. What I'm getting at is that most people's minds are more filled with advertising than with scientific knowledge, and thus their behaviours can be predicted in this way.

Since the TV ads that are so prevelant in the West teach us that MORE is better, we strive to acheive this.

So this explains why we ARE in fact, so wealthy in the west, we've been trained that we'll be happy if we do this, so we strive for it. Are we, in fact, any happier? No, not really.

So, now let's look at the experience in these caribbean nations. The people that we see as we drive from the airport to the resort appear to be living in squalor, very poor, and not really doing anything about it. We imagine (based on our own set of beliefs), that since they are very poor, therefore, they must be very unhappy. While I haven't stopped to interview many of them, I imagine that this is a false assumption. Since they have grown up in a very different sort of place, haven't been indoctrinated by consumerism, they have a completely different picture of what is necessary for them to be happy. Most likely for them to be happy, they want to have some food in their stomach, and plenty of time to spend enjoying the weather. Therefore, for them to head into the city, get a factory job, spend years obtaining an impressive education, these actions do not get them closer to achieving more happiness, quite the opposite, they negatively impact these goals.

So, in effect, things are exactly as they should be. For the most part, these people who to us seem to be living in misery are in fact, exactly as happy as we are - which probably varies day-by-day, but we're incorrect to assume that they're missing the point, because since the studies show that we aren't happier when we're richer, than perhaps it's OUR goals that are misguided and perhaps we should all quit our jobs, move to a shanty town in the caribbean and get happy...

Food for thought...

We are building a Religion

2007-10-12T09:33:00.000-04:00

Here's an idea... How can atheists be more successful at converting the masses? By learning from religion, by taking the elements that have made religions so successful and using them... Let me explain...

Religion can be thought of as a very successful collection of Memes. Richard Dawkins & Susan Blackmore have described in this way before, and I think looking at religion this way is very useful.

Religion has been historically, is even today is arguably the most powerful shaper of beliefs and therefore actions.

The most popular monotheist religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) have themselves evolved over centuries and through various iterations based on their fitness as a collection of memes. The documentary film The God Who Wasn't There goes into detail showing how many elements of Christianity are actually repurposed myths and concepts from earlier religions.

When speaking of Evolution, this requires elements of change and a way to guage fitness. In the case of religion, fitness would be measured in the religion's ability to be spread to others and encourage new believers to not only believe, but to further spread the word. This element of religion brings comparison to the behavior of a virus.

So this helps us to understand how and why religion has been so successful, it's got very little to do with it being true. Now, centuries after these religions were created, the knowledge of humankind has advanced exponentially beyond the primitive understanding of the world. Science and education, technology, the enlightenment, modernity, transitions through the industrial revolution, yet despite all of this change, the infectious nature of religion means that these very old, very outdated religions and associated belief systems continue to exist and in some cases continue to grow.

Despite all of the social, cultural and technological progress and changes we've seen, our brains themselves are still essentially unchanged, they work the same as they did 2,000 years ago.

If we want people to move beyond religion, we must accept that the best and perhaps only way to achieve this is to essentially create a better religion, create a better virus, create a better collection of memes. Frame the message of belief in science in such a way as to make it as attractive, as contagious, and as addictive as religion.

We need to take the whole grain bread of scientific naturalism and make it taste like a Krispy Kreme doughnut.

What I'm saying is that even if we're able to conclusively prove the claims of scientific naturalism, humanism, etc, that's not really the point, and while that may be a compelling reason for highly intelligent, well educated, intellectuals, that only accounts for a small percentage of the population. In order to change the word, that message needs to be reframed and sugar coated if we actually want to sell the masses on it.

That is the challenge that stands before those of us that want to promote reason and secular values...

BTW - I had this train of thought launched by the song Comfort Eagle by Cake.

More Thoughts on the Ontario Election Results

2007-10-11T12:27:00.001-04:00

What Lessons Can Learned from the Provincial Election?

Ontario voters are conservative in nature

I was shocked at the result of the electoral system referendum... This clearly shows that the average Ontarian citizen either didn't understand the question, didn't understand MMP or is just uncomfortable with changing the status quo. There were so many good reasons to make the change. The current electoral system was designed at a time when people who lived in a particular geographic area shared similar concerns... When you look at the popular vote and the spread of vote within ridings that is clearly no longer the case. Therefore, it makes so much sense that if a particular party - Green for instances, gets 8% of the popular vote, shouldn't they be entitled to 8% of the seats in the parliament? Instead they get 0 seats..., while the Liberals who rec'd 42% of the popular vote get 71 seats (66% of the 107 seats), how does that make any sense?

As a result, we're stuck w/ Liberals despite the constant attack on McGuinty and his broken promises. This begs the question... Given the situation, what, exactly were citizens they voting FOR?

Clearly McGuinty can't be trusted to do what he says he is going to do, which means that essentially most people were voting AGAINST John Tory's "Faith-based Education" fiasco... Meanwhile, McGuinty DOES still fund a faith-based school, it's called the CATHOLIC SCHOOL BOARD.

Some interesting links & facts & figures regarding education funding

The latest census reports available on the web (2001) show that of the 11.2 million citizens of Ontario, 3.9 Million are Catholic, that's 34% of the population. (as an aside only about 13,000 self-described as Agnostic, Atheist or Humanist).

The 2006-07 Ontario Budget has 11.7 Billion dollars for Education... Want to know where that's going? Yikes, take a look at this web page -> it's a disclosure of all 6 figure salaries in the school boards, that's a big freaking scroll down isn't it? 3,001 staff all together! Not too shabby... That's over $300 million...

Ontario Schools fall into 72 district school boards, of which 35 are Public and 37 are Catholic. That's right, just over half are Catholic, to support 34% of the population...

4,002 Elementary schools and 884 secondary schools.

Looking at a detailed breakdown of funding (amazing how much info is available on the web!) on a school board by school board basis, and analyzing the public and catholic school boards of Toronto, finds these interesting stats:

06-07 Estimates
Toronto District School Board
Total Funding: $2,263,415,354 (yup, 2.2 billion)
Total Students: 248,544
$/student: $9,106

Toronto Catholic District School Board
Total Funding: $794,992,770
Total Students: 86,631
$/student: $9,176

Well that's fair, that gets back to the Education Funding Formula, at least there is parity there, and we're not paying MORE to fund the smaller school boards...

You'd have to wonder, though, if there wouldn't be some more economy of scale, and/or consolidation of administrative functions by consolidating the public & catholic school boards...

Being married to your ideas

Looking at John Tory's Funding for Faith-based schools, I guess you can give the guy credit for trying to stick to his guns, but when everyone (even some of his more honest fellow party members) are telling you the idea stinks, LISTEN! It's so dangerous when people get married to their ideas and then completely ignore contrary opinion. I recently learned about Cognitive Dissonance, if you've never heard of it, read this article, it explains a lot about human behaviour...

Leaders seemingly unwilling to admit mistakes and admit bad news

I was really frustrating hearing the various political people being interviewed on election night, in particular Conservatives, NDP and Green Party folks, who all should have been miserable, frustrated, disappointed, angry at the results, both of their own parties relatively poor showing and the failure of MMP and yet they all seemed to be living in a dream world, going on about how pleased they were, how they'd fought so hard and made good progress and blah blah blah bullsh*t. Tory should have stood up and admitted that he'd completely f*cked up w/ his faith-based school initiative (if he was smart, he would have done this a month ago). I think people are smart enough to be able to forgive people for mistakes. Admit you were wrong, you're allowed to change your mind (especially when you're WRONG!). Move on! No sense putting blinders on and ignoring the evidence.

52% voter turnout - worst ever = apathy

Seems voter apathy is at an all-time high... Generally speaking when things are good, people can't be bothered to make a change, and dispute McGuinty's mistakes, things generally do seem to be going pretty well... If I were a Green candidate, I'd be knocking on doors and the first question I'd ask would be, are you planning to vote? If the person says No, that's a person to spend time with... If you could convince some of those people, who don't really have a strong opinion to bias them, I think you're on the road to victory as opposed to trying to change the minds of people who already have them made up and will likely just dismiss your arguments.

Review of Statistics of Popular Vote - Green

Despite not having won a single seat, I suppose Green does have something to be positive about, their considerable growth in popular vote. I suspect this # would be even higher if anyone thought they actually had a shot of getting into power, and I suppose that similar to the NDP, you need to hit a certain critical mass before people start taking you seriously... Looking at this table from Wikipedia:

Party		Party leader	Candidates	Seats				Popular vote
Party		Party leader	Candidates	2003	Dissol.	2007	Change	#	%	Change
	Liberal	Dalton McGuinty	107	72	67	71	+6.0%		42.2%	-4.2%
	Progressive Conservative	John Tory	107	24	25	26	+4.0%		31.6%	-3.0%
	New Democratic	Howard Hampton	107	7	10	10	-		16.8%	+2.1%
	Green	Frank de Jong	107	-	-	-	-		8.0%	+5.2%

Green Party actually show the large % gain in popular vote, +5.2% from 2003. If you look at the #'s a different way, looking at the actual # of votes that Green rec'd... In 2003, they rec'd just 126,651 votes out of 4,497,244.

In 2007, 4,421,628 votes were cast, with Green getting 8% of the vote, that's approx. 353,730 votes, or a 358% increase! So if they can continue that momentum heck they'll quite possibly overtake the NDP next time around... To be honest though, I hope they recruit a better leader, I can't say I was overly impressed by De Jong...

Ok, this is the most time and energy I've spent on politics in my life! I think I'll get back to doing something useful, like playing FIFA 07 on my XBOX... :)

Ontario Election Thoughts...

2007-10-11T00:22:00.000-04:00

Well, I have to say that I'm disappointed at how the Ontario Election went... I felt that Dalton McGuinty got absolutely destroyed during the debate, felt that there would be a significant swing to the Conservative Party, but in the end Tory's pledge to fund faith-based schools ended up being 'the issue' and I think, clearly, was a major screw-up.

The last few elections I've voted Liberal, but this time out, I took a bit more time to explore my options, and ended up reading more about the Green Party's platform and felt that it best suited my ideals, so I voted Green.

I had no illusions that they'd be elected, but that's where my vote went.

I think what disappointed my most about the election is that the referendum for electoral reform failed to go through... Pretty much everyone I spoke with agreed with it, so I was shocked when I saw that it only recd about 30% of the vote... Wow! This has to be a real disappointment to the Green Party, who rec'd about 8% of the popular vote, but unfortunately didn't win a single riding :(.

Oh well... What can you do?

What about Astrology?

2007-09-27T01:40:00.000-04:00

I recently saw an Astrology chart posted by a friend of mine on Facebook... Got me thinking a bit... It seems some people still believe in this stuff and actually think it affects peoples personality...

Have scientific studies been done on this, to check and see if personality traits are actually linked to the stars?

Yup, studies have been done... Guess what they determined?

That Astrology is Bullsh*t...

Ribs...

2007-09-24T13:02:00.000-04:00

Ok, this isn't actually an x-ray of my ribs, but I was close to getting an x-ray today... Ugh, fell awkwardly last weekend player soccer, I'd been taking it easy since, but played with the family again yesterday and yikes, they've flared up something fierce.

Went to the walk-in clinic, the doc checked me out and figures it's either a slight hairline fracture or just bruising to the muscle in between the ribs... Said that I could get an xray just so I'd know, but there's nothing you can do for it, just rest... Figures it should take two to three weeks to heal....

Jack & George's Birthday Party Sleepover

2007-09-22T11:50:00.000-04:00

Well we have a pretty cool party for the kids, it's just wrapped up and we've sent them packing...

Both Jack and George invited 4 friends over, they arrived at about 6:00pm last night.

We started with some games, then Pizza, Presents & Cake, then a movie out in the sunroom using a data projector.

10:00pm and we cranked up a great campfire, did some marshmallows and running around with flashlights.

Campfires in the backyard can't compete w/ XBOX Karaoke, then around Midnight I hauled them out into their tents (we set up 3 tents in the backyard), they crammed into the tents w/ sleeping bags and pillows, and by about 1:30am it finally got quiet...

They were up again around 6:30am and back onto the video games. We did a little soccer game around 8:30am, then breakfast, packing up and more video games...

They were all picked up around 11:00am this morning...

Phew!

Funny...

2007-09-21T13:41:00.001-04:00

Friday afternoon laugh...

Catching Up...

2007-09-21T09:52:00.001-04:00

Haven't posted in a long time, which means I've been busy, busy, busy... I do quite a bit of communication up on facebook now, it's such a great platform, but I will try to get back to blogging regularly, certainly lots to talk about.

Music
I've discovered some new bands recently, some really great music...

Art Brut - English indie band - Great witty lyrics and catchy music, I'd say if you like Artic Monkeys' you'd like this - not as punky as the Monkeys, but some similar lyrical content.

Interpol, Bloc Party, Editors, the Bravery - If you like She Wants Revenge, you might like these bands, they are mostly 80's inspired, sort of alt-rock bands

Also - new albums from Chemical Brothers, Korn, Smashing Pumpkings, White Stripes, all good and worth a listen...

Trips
I've done a bit of traveling - I was down to Portsmouth New Hampshire in August, visited the Portsmouth Brewing Company Brewpub, excellent beer... Then was over in Newcastle for a day early september, saw the Toon beat Wigan 1-0. In Lucerne, Switzerland for a 3-day IT Meeting, and home again.

Food
Still maintaining a semi-vegetarian lifestyle - I probably eat meat about once or twice a month, typically a wild craving... Had a sausage roll in Newcastle, and some Chicken Wings on Monday night :) I think I'm Ok with that... I think if you really ask yourself, if it worth trying to 100% vegetarian, it's tough to justify the inconvenience and the missing out on meat - the odd time that you REALLY do crave/desire it. I mean, if EVERYONE were to adopt a 95% vegetarian diet, that would solve all the issues of factory farming, etc, etc, that extra 5% really isn't the issue, it's the eating meat 2-3 times a day when there are really easy alternatives I think is the bigger thing... Of course I'm just trying to justify my own behaviour, but it is something I've thought alot about.

XBOX 360
Almost bought a 360 the other day - went to Factory Direct, a big PC & Electronics refurb-type place, anyhow, they had a deal on, the Premium system for $269, I went to get it, they had 1 left in stock - the unit in the display case, the guy goes to boot it up... red ring of death - so I walked out... Ah well, I'll end up w/ one eventually...

Nike+
If you're into jogging / fitness / technology - check this out - very cool little system - it involves some hardware - a gadget that plugs into your iPod Nano, another bit that goes in your shoe, and some software & a website that you can use to track your running, sort of a pedometer x 100! check it - http://www.apple.com/ipod/nike/

That's all for now...

5km Run Tonight

2007-08-14T21:54:00.000-04:00

Yeah! Ran 5.2km tonight... As per Tim's suggestion, instead of trying to gradually build up to 5km, just give it a shot... Well it was really freakin' hard, but I did it!

Man, really tired, also played soccer w/ the kids early, so had already had a decent workout, but I did it... Tracked the route on gmaps pedometer...

read between the lines

2007-08-14T01:15:00.000-04:00

Felt really good last night, went for a run.

Worked today. Had a really good veggie burrito for lunch, from Burrito Boyz, f*ck that place takes a long time to make a Burrito, but they're good and it's worth it.

Came home, my family had already eaten, that happens when I work late, so I ate alone.

Took the whole gang down to Jack Darling Park. It's a nice place, used to play on the beach there when I was a kid. It stunk of rotten fish on the beach. What a stench.

My ankle began to hurt, it actually started in the afternoon, was hurting just a bit, in the joint, perhaps from the jog the night before? Had I done something strange to my ankle or something? Couldn't remember...?

Slowly, ankle got worse.

Limped along, to the park, I climbed on the monkey bars, I couldn't do that a year or so ago... Still hard on the hands, but doable. You have to go quickly, don't hang around.

Limped back to the car, ouch.

When to McDonald's for some ice cream, split an Oreo McFlurrie with George. He thought it was pretty cool that the spoon was used to mix it up. Jack and Henry each had an ice cream cone.

Back home, ankle really starting to hurt, still can't figure out why, then it dawns on me. It's the mother f*cking gout. Odd thing though, it's not the classic spot by the big toe, it's in the main joint in my ankle, big toe joint isn't bothering me at all. But as the pain begins to really set in, it all clicks together, I recognize that pain. I take an anti-inflammatory and can't wait for it to start working.

I'm in the mood to watch a movie, so I pop downstairs and take a look. Hmm... Fight Club? Apocalypse Now? I decide it's Apocalypse Now - Redux. I bought it from Best Buy for $14.99 like 2 or 3 ago, it's still in the freakin' shrink-wrap.

I throw the movie on in the sunroom, I've set up a temporary movie theatre in there using a data projector from the office projecting onto a bed sheet - about a 12' screen.

Apocalypse Now is an amazing, amazing movie.

I saw it for the first time while I was in college. I was on duty living in residence as a resident assistant (RA), sort of like a 'don'. It must have been a long weekend or something because the floor was unusually quite, most everyone had taken off home or something. Anyhow, I watched the movie on the TV in the lounge by myself. I remember when it was over feeling really different. It's the type of movie that really affects you. Well it affects me. It's in the sound, it's in the music, the storyline, the feeling of the music. The insanity of war, the insanity of the situation. The pace of the music is slow, but that pace allows you time to think, that time between messages provides you the freedom and opportunity for you to develop your own meaning from the film, and this makes it more powerful.

Watching the movie again tonight gives me that same feeling again.

I think about the insanity of the Vietnam war, I think about the insanity of modernity. I think about how incredibly messed up the world is, how it can't possibly be any other way.

Earlier today I began to wonder if perhaps through man's evolution and development of advanced society with advanced ethics and morality if we are now, in fact, breaking evolution. If evolution and natural selection is successful by rewarding the individuals who are 'fittest', then perhaps modern society with it's social safety nets, advanced medicine and altruist, charitable ways are in fact breaking that system. If, instead of having weaker or unfit members of our species die out, we divert energy and resources towards them, that continues perpetuate the problem. Just a thought. I still think that it's a good thing to be altruistic and to do your best to reduce human suffering, to maximize human happiness, but it was just an idea that I had.

The anti inflammatory seems to be kicking in, ankle is getting a bit better, hopefully in the morning after another pill with breakfast it'll be almost better. f*cking gout. Just when I'm trying to get into jogging too... Argh, gotta remember to drink more water.

Could we make Dinosaurs like in Jurassic Park?

2007-08-08T12:04:00.000-04:00

Through learning more about advances in understanding of genetics and biology and understanding the exponential growth of technology, I was curious to revisit the question of "Could we bring back Dinosaurs like they did in Jurassic Park?". I found this article which provides a fairly reasoned, objective answer to the question:

http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/dnadino.htm

An Essay on Too Much Stuff

2007-08-07T14:57:00.000-04:00

This is a really great article... This is one of the topics I've been thinking about lately, I'm currently reading a book called "It's all too much...", this article has some really good ideas in it...
http://www.paulgraham.com/stuff.html

One of my favorite parts:

A cluttered room saps one's spirits. One reason, obviously, is that there's
less room for people in a room full of stuff. But there's more going on than
that. I think humans constantly scan their environment to build a mental model
of what's around them. And the harder a scene is to parse, the less energy you
have left for conscious thoughts. A cluttered room is literally
exhausting.

Wow! Canada is good at Poultry production!

2007-07-28T02:00:00.001-04:00

From a 2005 Agriculture Canada PDF:

Poultry production and processing are
among the most highly mechanized sectors
in agriculture. One person can operate a unit
of 50,000 broiler chickens, which, with seven
lots per year, will provide 640 tonnes of meat
annually. Poultry processing plants in
Canada are effectively mechanized, which
allows them to slaughter and prepare 25,000
broiler chickens for market per hour.

http://ats-sea.agr.ca/supply/factsheet-e.htm

In 2006 Canada produced 973,649,000 kg of eviscerated Chicken

Chicken consumption in Canada has increased by about 50% in the last 20 years.

The average Canadian consumed 21.2kg of Chicken in 1987, up to 31.8kg by 2006!

So does this mean that for every vegetarian, someone is eating 63.6kg of Chicken?

Some stats from PDF's found here...

http://www.chicken.ca/DefaultSite/index.aspx?CategoryID=8〈=en-CA

This is some interesting stuff...

July 26th - Friendly - Newcastle v Celtic - Goals!

2007-07-27T23:39:00.001-04:00

Nice goals here by Martins, Luque (2) and Milner:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2mtgi_newcastle-v-celtic_sport

Newcastle V. Celtic
Uploaded by celtama

Robotic Fly

2007-07-24T16:48:00.001-04:00

Very cool, future-looking science story... A researcher has created an early working prototype of a robotic fly. Just another example of how technological evolution is taking over from biological evolution. Within say 50 years of the first earliest forms of robotics, we're able to create something this small that can fly... How long did biological evolution take to create this? Millions of years...

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19068/page1/

Camping was awesome

2007-07-23T21:51:00.001-04:00

Just returned from an awesome 10 day camping trip with the family. It was our 3rd time heading to The Pinery Provincial Park, a really fantastic place.

The good news:

Not too far away, about 2h45m from Mississauga (Google Map), just south of Grand Bend on the shore of Lake Huron.
Amazing Beach
Burley Campground has big, private sites
Trails for Hiking

The bad news:

Takes about 20 minutes to out to the highway, so a trip into town is a good 90 minutes return once you stop to get something.

I got to do some serious relaxing, got about 150 pages into a great Philosophy book. Lots of time to think about life, simplicity and happiness. I'm hoping to get away camping again this year, as the 10 days just flew by, could have stayed for another 10!

ZERO INBOX

2007-06-28T10:31:00.000-04:00

Ok, this is sort of technical, so perhaps it should have gone into Geeky Tech, but EVERYONE uses E-Mail, so I think this is generic enough that pretty much everyone could benefit from this.

I've been reading a lot lately about personal productivity, and there's a very popular set of tools & techniques associated with the book "Getting Things Done", often shortened to just GTD.

Anyhow, I read yesterday about a very simple way to get and keep your INBOX to Zero, and I've just tried it out and I like it, here's the article:

http://lifehacker.com/software/top/geek-to-live--empty-your-inbox-with-the-trusted-trio-182318.php

Anyhow, I tried it out and got from over 200 messages, down to.... ZERO! Whoohoo! I don't think I've EVER had ZERO items in my INBOX, and it feels GREAT!

Reading old Blog Posts...

2007-06-21T17:07:00.000-04:00

Back in March of 2006 I wrote:

I'm on a diet and I've started a new fitness regime, I'm feeling great and
very positive and I'm committed to losing about 20-25 pounds, getting back to a
much more reasonable weight and size.When I weighed myself for the first time in
a long time last Wednesday morning, I was 226.5, this morning I'm 222... So I've
already lost 4.5lbs in just over a week, so I'm quite pleased... If I can lose
approx. 5 lbs every 2 weeks I should be at 200lbs by the end of May.I'm going to
get into a few little friendly competitions with friends Roger, Pete and Jason,
to ensure that I keep up with my cardio and weight loss, take a good look at my
gut the next time you see me because it's going away, for good! :)

Feels good to know that I did actually stick with it... Not only to 200lbs, but I'm not hoving around 180! Just imagine... Setting a goal and sticking to it!

Thoughts for Today...

2007-06-12T21:33:00.000-04:00

EXERCISING

First off, damn it feels good to be exercising again... I'm really glad that I joined this men's outdoor soccer team, it's given me the drive to get active again and I'd forgotten how amazing your body feels when it's being pushed... Muscles are warm, cheeks are flush, adrenaline pumping through the veins... It's all good.

ONLINE PEDOMETER

I've found this great web site - http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/ - It's a Google Map Pedometer - Basically you can map out a route and it tells you the exact distance, and if you put in your weight it tells you calories burned as well... Very cool! So I've mapped out a 3k route and a 5k route. I'm going to start doing the 3k AT LEAST once per day, preferrably twice... Each time is 277 calories burned. If I do it twice thats over 500 calories burned, do that every day for a week that's over 3500 calories = 1 lb of fat....

WEIGHT LOSS

I'm motivated once again to kick it hard core and get rid of my last 10 lbs of fat... I think if I get down to the 173 range then I'll be in really good shape, belly will be gonzo... I figure I can probably take off 1-2 pounds a week, so I can make it down there by say end of July... Why not??

VEGETARIANISM

It's going really well, haven't had any meat at all in the past week. I've enjoyed some Yves fake turkey on sandwiches... I love the 7-layer veggie crunch wrap from Taco Bell. the Veggie Roti from Calabash. Nature burger from Licks... I've had some decent protein shakes with bananas, had a Vegetarian Thali from an Indian place I found downtown for lunch today, it included Palak Paneer, something I'd seen many times before but I don't think I'd tried, it's basically cubes of sort of firm cottage cheese with curried spinach, really yummy, I think I'll order that now along w/ Channa Masala (chick peas), instead of the usual Chicken-based curry.

Being Veggie is Easy!

2007-06-07T00:36:00.000-04:00

I'm actually quite suprised, but becoming a vegetarian has actually been easier than I thought...

For the first week or two it was tricky, but I wasn't beating myself up... If I felt like some meat, I had it...

But over the past 3 weeks, I think I've only had just a bit of chicken (in some Indian food) after having a bunch of drinks.

To be clear, I'm an lacto ovo vegetarian, meaning I'm still eating eggs and dairy products. I may decide to cut these out at some point, which would make me a vegan, but I'm not in a big hurry to make that step, I want to really get it together with my current diet, make sure I'm getting all of my vitamins and nutrients, protein, feeling great, etc, before taking that next step...

Today was a test of sorts, I was at the Keg for lunch, and the special sounded awesome, a steak marinated in Guinness with fried onions, etc, OMFG, anyhow, I had a salad instead! It was great!

I'm typically having a bagel or toast for breakfast, either with peanut butter or an egg. I might also whip up a smoothie in the blender, using plain yoghurt, some fruit juice, whatever fruit we have on hand, mandarin oranges, strawberries, banana, whatever, they taste totally awesome!

Lunches could be a salad, a veggie burger, vegetarian chilli, a bean-based soup, veggie & bean curd w/ rice from Yueh's, a bean burrito, lots of options, especially in ethnic cuisine. I find by focusing on spicy foods as opposed to greasy foods you still can really enjoy you meals, but eliminate meat and fat...

Dinners have been sort of all-over the place. In order to make sure I'm getting enough protein, I've had plenty of nuts on hand, a few handfuls of peanuts or cashews or something can make a difference.

Just picked up a big jar of Protein powder - that stuff that body builders use... Anyway, something like 35 grams of Protein in 1 serving, you can make like a little glass of chocolate milk and wham, it's something like 30-40% of your required daily protein...

Anyhow, just wanted to kind of dump some of my thoughts about how things are going... My thinking now is that it's so easy, why doesn't everyone just do it?

Facebook Philosophy

2007-06-04T09:53:00.000-04:00

Facebook is an amazing success story and great example of how technology continues to provide powerful tools that improve our lives. Here are a few thoughts I have on the topic...

First, a thought about the growth of Facebook. In Ray Kurzweil's the Singularity is Near, Ray talks about how as the rate of technology progress continues to increase, we're seeing that new paradigm shifts, and new technologies are being embraced much faster than ever before. I see Facebook as being a perfect example of this. Prior to September 11th, 2006, Facebook was only open to College and High School students. So in less than 1 year of becoming open to all Internet users, they've grown to over 20,000,000 users (That stat is as of March, 2007), and I understand they're growing by more than 100,000 users per day. Within approx. 6 months, the site has gone from being virtually unknown by people over age 30 to becoming a core part of most people's web history.

Next, what is a friend?

Definition:

a person you know well and regard with affection and trust

Now, with Facebook, it seems the concept of a friend has been substantially diminished and can mean something more like acquaintance:

a person known to one, but usually not a close friend.

I'm sure others who use Facebook are experiencing the same phenomenon as I am. I'm receiving 'Friend' requests from people who I haven't seen, (or even thought of ) in 15-20 years... 15-20 years ago, I would have called them a friend. How should one respond to these Friend requests. I don't want to seem like I'm being a snob, but at the same time I want to use Facebook as a useful tool for communicating with people that I do truly consider as friends, who I know well and trust. Can Facebook be a useful tool to reconnect, potentially rekindle old friendships, absolutely. But adding friends shouldn't be like collecting hockey cards or be seen as some sort of popularity contest, because I feel that just waters down the concept of a friend and renders the site unusable. I don't really want to know what bands all of these people like, or what their status is... If I didn't care to look them up and email them over the past 10 years, then sure it's fun to get a message and hear how they're doing, but that's good enough. If we start an message thread up and find we still have things in common, then fine, let's be friends, but I think to send friend requests to everyone you've ever met is not the right choice.

Lastly, I've touched on this briefly already, but I think in order for Facebook to be a useful tool there are a number of things to consider. Centralize your social messaging... Unless you're dealing with something urgent, encourage your friends to use Facebook messaging for all personal/social electronic communication. In that way, you'll find your work email is less cluttered and you're less distracted using the work day. When you're taking a break, or after work you can login to Facebook and go through all of this in one spot. Secondly, trim down your friend list to people who meet the proper definition of friend. Do you know them well, do you trust them, do you hold some affection towards them. If not, then remove them, they don't get a notification or anything so don't worry about offending anyone.

I'd like to hear comments on this topic! Cheers!

Great Onion Article...

2007-06-01T12:02:00.000-04:00

Do you love the Onion? No, not the yummy vegetable, the online satarist website:

Here's another hillarious article!

I Believe In Evolution, Except For The Whole Triassic Period

I consider myself a rational person. When I have a question, I turn to science and logic to find the answer. Regarding the origins of life,...

Religion as a cause of violence

2007-05-29T17:42:00.000-04:00

I listen to an interesting Podcast today, a lecture by Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor on the topic of Religion and Violence.

As a result, I've come to a slight softening in my opinion of religion as a root cause of violence and shifted the blame a little deeper.

If this topic is of interest to you, I'd strongly recommend listening to the podcast, here's my summarized thought:

Religion is not directly the cause of violence, however, it has and continues to be used as a divisive instrument, to divide an otherwise united humanity. Ultimately the root cause of the violence is seemingly a deeply psychological need for humans to divide others into in-groups and out-groups, this was seemingly a trait selected for by evolution, tied into our tribal evolutionary history. Religion has tended to be a very useful and effective tool for creating division as it has several unique features: Religions are typically mutually exclusive (one cannot typically belong to more than one), religions are self-justifying, while religions may not implicity encourage violence, they can be used to moralize violent behaviour against out-groups (of other faiths) by framing them as being evil (Look at how that tactic was used by the US Government in framing the perpetrators of 9-11, "the axis of evil", thus justifying their own war against Iraq.)

The solution: Focus on the common elements shared amoungst humanity. Realize that aligning ourselves on opposite sides of a problem is never a long-term solution. Have groups work together to solve the underlying social, economic, or other problems that cause challenges in our world.

Easy peasy...

Vegetarian Update

2007-05-28T09:24:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned about 3 weeks ago, I'm experimenting with going vegetarian. Here are some of my thoughts and experiences from the last 3 weeks....

- I certainly haven't been 100% veggie... I'd say over ~ 20 days, I've probably had no meat whatsoever about 14 or 15 of those days... I've had a Big Mac (on McHappy Day), actually I had another Big Mac when I took the boys to visit Ron at McDonald's. I've had Chicken 2 or 3 times as well...
- Aside from those Big Macs, I'm not really craving beef or pork at all...
- The veggie burgers from Harveys and A&W are fantastic
- I have had some trouble with energy levels, not sure if I'm not getting enough iron, or enough protein, or what, but I've certainly felt a drop in energy. Particularly yesterday playing soccer, I ran out of energy sooner than expected and it took me nearly half the day to get feeling decent again.
- I've subscribed to a vegetarian tips RSS feed and put a vegetarian book on hold at the library, in line w/ my philosophy if I continue to read about and learn about being a vegetarian it will help reinforce my goal and help me to succeed.
- I plan to be more disciplined at taking my daily vitamin, this might help w/ the energy issue and potentially any other meat-related nutrients that I might no longer be getting.

Kickin' it...

2007-05-28T09:21:00.001-04:00

I've joined a mens competitive soccer league for the summer... Had a 'try-out' yesterday morning and did enough to be selected. This will be a somewhat new challenge for me... I haven't played competitive outdoor in about 3 years.

I think this will be a good boost for me to really get back to hitting the gym and building my endurance back up. It'll also keep me from have that extra 2 or 3 beers on Saturday night...

New Life Goal - Becoming a Vegetarian

2007-05-07T23:41:00.000-04:00

I've been pondering over this one for a while now, ever since hearing ethicist Peter Singer interviewed on Point of Inquiry. Clearly there are health benefits associated with cutting out meat, certainly red meat, from ones diet, however, Singer argues that we (people living in Wealth Democracies) should become vegetarian for moral reasons.

He posits that it is reasonable to assume that based on the size of the brains of cows and pigs, based on their behaviour and on our shared genetic code that they do, in fact, have a certain level of conciousness, a certain subject experience. Certainly not on the same scale as ours, but he figures that conciousness is not an all-or-nothing thing. If we agree that it's possible, or probable that these animals do FEEL something, know or feel the difference between the extremely poor living conditions of a factory farm animal vs. living outside in the a more classical farm setting with big open fields, etc, if they do feel the difference, then it's certainly not morally right for us to treat the millions or billions of animals per year in such a horrible way.

He makes a very compelling argument and so I'm starting on the road to vegetarianism. It just seems like the right thing to do.

I'm not going cold turkey or anything... In the same way that I've been trying to make 'better' food choices with my new diet, I'm going to try to make more vegetarian choices when possible and gradually move to a completely or almost completely meat-free diet.

Today was a bit of a milestone, I didn't eat any meat at all today! I had an english muffin w/ peanut butter & a coffee for breakfast, sort of grazed through the day as opposed to eating a full lunch - had a banana, an orange, a cereal bar and some rice crackers, and then a 12" veggie sub for dinner.

Anyhow, we'll see how it goes - I went grocery shopping tonight and the only meat I bought were some really yummy sounding chipotle turkey weiners... I bought lots of bean soups, veggie chilli, chick peas to go in salads, etc, so that I can get my protein in...

We'll see how it goes, wish me luck!

Good Night, and Good Luck

2007-04-30T00:22:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I'm two years behind on this movie... That's Ok, a good movie is a good movie, even if it's not a new movie. A good story should be timeless, and that's really the point of this blog post, of the timeless nature of this movie, and in particular a speech featured in the movie, but the main character Edward R. Murrow.

If you haven't seen the movie, here's IMDB's synopsis:

In the early 1950's, the threat of Communism created an air of paranoia in the United States and exploiting those fears was Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin. However, CBS reporter Edward R. Murrow and his producer Fred W. Friendly decided to take a stand and challenge McCarthy and expose him for the fear monger he was. However, their actions took a great personal toll on both men, but they stood by their convictions and helped to bring down one of the most controversial senators in American history.

I was blown away by the comments made by Murrow featured in the opening and closing scene of the movie. I googled around and found the entire text of the speech here - he talks about something that I've been sensing more and more lately, about how Television is becoming a sort of opiate for the masses, the thing is, he delivered this speech 49 years ago... Here are a few quotes, I'd suggest you read the whole speech, but for a taste...:

I have decided to express my concern about what I believe to be happening to radio and television. These instruments have been good to me beyond my due. There exists in mind no reasonable grounds for personal complaint. I have no feud, either with my employers, any sponsors, or with the professional critics of radio and television. But I am seized with an abiding fear regarding what these two instruments are doing to our society, our culture and our heritage.

...

I invite your attention to the television schedules of all networks between the hours of 8 and 11 p.m., Eastern Time. Here you will find only fleeting and spasmodic reference to the fact that this nation is in mortal danger. There are, it is true, occasional informative programs presented in that intellectual ghetto on Sunday afternoons. But during the daily peak viewing periods, television in the main insulates us from the realities of the world in which we live. If this state of affairs continues, we may alter an advertising slogan to read: LOOK NOW, PAY LATER.

...

One of the basic troubles with radio and television news is that both instruments have grown up as an incompatible combination of show business, advertising and news.

....

Sometimes there is a clash between the public interest and the corporate interest. A telephone call or a letter from the proper quarter in Washington is treated rather more seriously than a communication from an irate but not politically potent viewer.

...

Are the big corporations who pay the freight for radio and television programs wise to use that time exclusively for the sale of goods and services? Is it in their own interest and that of the stockholders so to do? The sponsor of an hour's television program is not buying merely the six minutes devoted to commercial message. He is determining, within broad limits, the sum total of the impact of the entire hour. If he always, invariably, reaches for the largest possible audience, then this process of insulation, of escape from reality, will continue to be massively financed, and its apologist will continue to make winsome speeches about giving the public what it wants, or "letting the public decide."

...

Just once in a while let us exalt the importance of ideas and information. Let us dream to the extent of saying that on a given Sunday night the time normally occupied by Ed Sullivan is given over to a clinical survey of the state of American education, and a week or two later the time normally used by Steve Allen is devoted to a thoroughgoing study of American policy in the Middle East. Would the corporate image of their respective sponsors be damaged? Would the stockholders rise up in their wrath and complain? Would anything happen other than that a few million people would have received a little illumination on subjects that may well determine the future of this country, and therefore the future of the corporations?

...

To a very considerable extent the media of mass communications in a given country reflect the political, economic and social climate in which they flourish. That is the reason ours differ from the British and French, or the Russian and Chinese. We are currently wealthy, fat, comfortable and complacent. We have currently a built-in allergy to unpleasant or disturbing information. Our mass media reflect this. But unless we get up off our fat surpluses and recognize that television in the main is being used to distract, delude, amuse and insulate us, then television and those who finance it, those who look at it and those who work at it, may see a totally different picture too late.

...

Finally - Speaking of Television Morrow says:

This instrument can teach, it can illuminate; yes, and it can even inspire. But it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise it is merely wires and lights in a box.

Fascinating speech, and certainly timely in this day and age... I don't think a whole lot has changed, yes there are still some good reporters, but I think if you look at most network television, it's mostly garbage meant to entertain and amuse the general public, not to engage, educate and enlighten them. Here is potentially where the Internet, with it's decentralized structure can change all of that. Anyone in the world with access to the Internet (and with the $100 laptop project that number will grow exponentially in the coming years), can post an idea that can get picked up and spread like wildfire and reach millions of viewers without any large corporation or government controlling it.

If Morrow were still alive today - I'm sure he'd have a blog, and I'd subscribe to it... and who knows, he might have even stumbled upon mine one day!!

Saying "Cheerio" to my Royally F*cked Foot Problem!

2007-04-24T20:39:00.001-04:00

As many of my friends know, I've been having a recurring problem with my left foot for the past year or so... It occassionally flares up, in the location of my big toe, being swollen, red and quite painful, making it very uncomfortable to even put a shoe on, let alone run around a kick a soccer ball.

I'd been more or less putting up with it, figuring it was just related to a little too much physical activity, or maybe a bad knock or something.

Today, after having played indoor soccer last night, and despite icing my foot last night, waking up with it as painful as ever, I headed to the local walk-in clinic.

After a 30 second explanation of my symptoms, and a 10 second look at my foot, the Dr. quite confidently diagnosed.... GOUT!. Gout! oh my god! That sounds bad, I'm I looking at amputation or what? I'll admit, as of this morning, I knew nothing of gout, other than it sounds really bad, and not something you'd want to have...

The Dr. gave me a prescription for some anti-inflammatory pills, suggested that I take 3 doses today with food and, if it is gout, then by tomorrow I should be fine.

As soon as I got home, I looked it up on MayoClinic.com , and learned more about it. Basically it's caused by increased levels of Uric acid in the blood, which is caused either by consuming food/beverages - including red meats, and beer, which contain a high level of purines, which are converted to uric acid, or by your system being slow to eliminate them from your system. Interesting bit of trivia, historically this problem was referred to as the 'disease of kings', because these were the only people wealthy enough to have so much beer and red meat that it caused this problem... Funny...

Anyhow, I've now taken my 3 anti-inflammatory pills and already there's a marked difference. My foot is feeling much better, the swelling has gone down, and I'm really happy that I know what was causing the problem and how to fix it.

It's a bit of a bummer that beer is high in purines, I really don't want to have to give up beer, I guess I'll just have to watch it, try to keep as hydrated as possible, potentially take some other precautions to avoid further flare-ups, but this should mean that I can now start hitting the treadmill and gym and not worry that it's physical activity that is CAUSING the problem.

Why do most people still work from 9-5?

2007-04-17T09:31:00.000-04:00

About the B-Society B-samfundet - Here's an interesting web site, a group based in Denmark who is challenging the Monday to Friday, 9-5 framework.

Ray-tracing software teaching physics...

2007-04-11T22:23:00.000-04:00

Ok, I'll admit it... This is a pretty geeky post.

My son Jack was doing some artwork tonight at the dining room table, and at one point he had 2 playing cards standing up, just slightly apart, slipped into the groove in the table (where the leaf connects in), and he had noticed an interesting pattern in the shadow. I tried to explain to him that it was caused because there were multiple points of light coming from the ceiling light.

The situation reminded me of some really cool software that I hadn't touched in a long time.

So I whipped downstairs, downloaded it and took a trip down memory lane and created a series of renderings...

Here's what the cards would like like with a single light source:

and here's what they look like with 2 light sources that are offset:

In addition to the scene being brighter, notice the interesting pattern in the shadow, in particular that triangle in the middle, which is caused because the light coming in between the cards is coming from the 2 distinct light sources and thus passing at different angles...

The base POV-Ray software doesn't include a modeler, although there are modellers available, I've always enjoyed going old school... you create your scene using code that looks sort of like C, for instance, here's some of the code associated with one of the 'playing cards'

box { <-0.01, 2, -1.1> <>
texture {
pigment {
image_map { png "C:\Program Files\POV-Ray for Windows v3.6\imagemap\bicycle_blue.png"
translate <0,0,0.05>

}

a Nice light Snack

2007-04-05T00:21:00.000-04:00

I'd had this book on hold from the Library for quite some time, it's Sam Harris' latest book (www.samharris.com), it's funny, I'd put it on hold at the same time as Dawkin's The God Delusion, I picked up God Delusion before heading off to Jamaica, just finished it yesterday (about 400 pages), picked up Letter to a Christian Nation today, and finished it tonight! At only 90 pages, and a small form book at that, it really is a nice light, concise argument... It's so quick and easy to read that I'd really recommend it to anyone who is interested in religion, but doesn't want to devote the energy to read something larger like the End of Faith, God Delusion, or something along those lines...

Jamaica Trip

2007-04-03T10:30:00.000-04:00

I can't believe we've already been back for over a week... In some ways it feels like we were there yesterday, in other ways the place seems half a world away...

Anyhow, I haven't taken the time to put together a proper blog post with all of my thoughts on Jamaica and what a great time we had, but there are dribs and drabs coming together...

1) Trip Advisor Review - I think this is one way that we can help all of our friends in Jamaica, but encouraging others to go, telling whoever will listen what a great place FDR Pebbles is and encouraging others to go, so I made sure to post a quick review up there - check it out - here: Falmouth: FDR Pebbles - Traveler Reviews - Amazing, 2nd time, Fell in Love all over again! - TripAdvisor

2) Flickr pics - I've posted a few touched-up photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnwaltca/tags/jamaicanholiday2007 - More to come, soon!

Choices and Art

2007-04-03T10:08:00.000-04:00

TheStar.com - News - Thinking inside the box - Interesting story about an Art teacher in Toronto spending 3 days painting in a 2-metre box.

This reminds me of a funny little 'game' that I used to play with friends, and I suppose it still comes up from time to time.

The original basis of the game, which we'd call 'Choices', was a book called "The Book of Questions" by Gregory Stock. I first read this book at the Lorne Park Library when I was in high school, just picked it off the shelf in the Psychology section. This isn't a trivia book, it's a book which challenges you to ask yourself questions that relate to morality and ethics, that help you to understand yourself and whoever else you're sharing the book with.

A classic example of a question from the book would be:

You're on a hiking trip with your best friend and your father. A
poisonous snake bites both your father and your friend and you only have one
dose of antidote. You're too deep in the jungle to hike back to safety,
and if you divide the antidote between them they'll both die. You have to
decide who you'll give the antidote to.

In our game, we would typically make up 2 really BAD options and ask people to decide which they'd rather do, a common starting point would be:

Would you rather hit an innocent person in the back of the head with a hammer, or
spend a month in a 1 metre x 1 metre box.

Depending on the answer, we might then extend or decrease the period of time in the box, Ok, how about 2 months in the box? Etc, trying to find the point at which someone would 'snap'.

Anyhow, the article reminded me of that, and I thought I'd share it... The Book of Questions is a fantastic book, I strongly recommend it, it's also a fun game to play, around the campfire, or to kick start some interesting conversations among friends.

BBC - Horizon - Human v2.0

2007-04-02T00:40:00.000-04:00

BBC - Horizon - Human v2.0 - I'm always interested in finding and reading skeptical views, so that should also include skeptical views of my beliefs! - Here's a short segment from a BBC show which includes Kurzweil in a sort of debate with a more pessimistic futurist... Interesting...

Edge: A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE By Steven Pinker

2007-04-02T00:08:00.000-04:00

Edge: A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE By Steven Pinker - Good News! A very interesting article on Edge.org, by evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker discussing how evidence is showing a trend towards an overall reduction in violence in our world...

Richard Dawkins Explains 'The God Delusion'

2007-03-29T22:20:00.000-04:00

NPR : Richard Dawkins Explains 'The God Delusion' - If you're at all interested in hearing what Richard Dawkin's has to say about God, check out this audio interview... 38 minutes...

Heading back to Jamaica!

2007-03-15T23:38:00.000-04:00

We're off to Jamaica again next week, leaving Sunday the 18th... Really looking forward to it, we're going back to FDR Pebbles again...

I'm not planning on bring any tech gear with me, aside from the Camera, so I won't be blogging at all while I'm down there, will post some pics to Flickr when I get back... I promise!

FYI - Just cuz I'm not blogging as much lately doesn't mean you can't still see the stuff that I'm reading... Check out my Google Reader gadget on the right-side of the page... As I read articles from various RSS Feeds, I can quickly just click a 'share' button on the ones that I find interesting and they appear in this list on the right - and if you sign-up for a Google Reader account, you can subscribe my blogs, and shared items in your Google reader... It's a great way to consume information, post a comment if you give it a try, would love to hear what other people think of it, what feeds you're subscribing to, etc...

I saw Saturn last night, how about you?

2007-03-01T10:56:00.000-05:00

I took the family last night to York University's Observatory to check out some space stuff.

The Observatory hosts free public viewing sessions each Wednesday night (time is dependent upon the season - aka when it gets dark)

We looked at a variety of celestial objects including Saturn (which sort of looked like the picture I've uploaded here, not quite this detailed, but the rings were CLEARLY visible), you could also see dots of light around it that were, in fact, moons of Saturn. We also looked at a star cluster called 'M41', betelgeuse, the Moon, and a Nebula that was formed by a star that had exploded! Neat stuff!

The girl, (I imagine a student / teachers assistant), who lead the viewings was very informative, open to questions and great with the kids...

Catching Up... Better late than never...

2007-02-20T16:04:00.000-05:00

Ouch! Over a month without a blog post... Is John Dead?

Nope!

I did have a cold, and I've been very, very busy at work, and getting lots of sleep, which means that doesn't leave much time for blogging...

FITNESS: Aside from having a cold, I'm doing all-right, in addition to getting back on the blog-bandwagon, also getting back into the cardio and gym action... To be honest, taking the first 6 weeks of the year off from the gym probably isn't a bad idea, it avoids the whole 'New Years Resolution' joiners who make the gym so busy in January. I'm still hovering around 183lbs, I think I'd like to get another 5-10 off and then I'll be well and truly done... But maintaining the weight has really been a cinch...

READING: I polished off a great book over the past few weeks - What We Believe but Cannot Prove: Today's Leading Thinkers on Science in the Age of Certainty a very cool book, it's basically a series of today's leading thinkers explaining what they BELIEVE BUT CANNOT PROVE, including some of my favorites Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and many, many others, I was surprised as I went through this, how many names I DID recognize... Topics range from Cosmology, God (of course), Evolutionary Biology, Consciousness, etc... Amazing to hear about what these various scientists, academics, philosophers are thinking about, pushing the boundaries of what we know...

EVENTS: Spent a few days with family and friends out at Great Wolf Lodge, had a great time..., also went SKIING for the first time last week on a school trip with Jack and George to Snow Valley Resort in Barrie... That was a lot of fun too...

Anyhow, will endevour to make blogging a priority, keep my life up to date on the weeb... Cheers!

Joe's Goals - Free Online Habit Tracker

2007-01-14T22:05:00.000-05:00

Joe's Goals - Free Online Habit Tracker - I've been thinking a lot lately about how to acheive more success in life. I've sort of broken it down to three areas:

1) Decide upon your goal(s) - Maybe it's your physical fitness, your personal life, financial, your career, etc... Decide what it is you want to acheive.
2) Determine what you need to do in order to get there - Exercise, learn a new skill, invest time with friends/family, save money, whatever. If you're unable to figure out how to acheive your goal, use the web as a resource, read self-help articles, get a book from the library, talk to friends, etc.
3) Do it - This, for me, is always the hardest part - how to do enforce the discipline in your day-to-day life to keep yourself on track? I'm working on this one, and already have a few ideas that have worked well for me:
- Take part in a competition - the cardio competition I've been in has been a great help, keeping me on the treadmill and at the gym
- Daily reminders / write a letter - write a note, stick it in your wallet, read it every day, write this letter to the 'you of the future', with a set of rules to follow, talk about how you feel and reminder yourself of your goals and how you're going to acheive them on a day to day basis
- Record your progress - track your progress, don't get discouraged when you mess up, get right back on the bike and try harder. Keep a journal with notes on how you're doing, what is challenging you, or keeping you from achieving your goals, come up with solutions to these problems.

Anyhow, along the lines of point #3, I made my own little Excel spreadsheet to track my own goals, and then googled today and found the 'Joe's Goals' site, you can sign up there, note in good/bad habits and track them. Interesting, I think I'll stick w/ my Excel one for now, as it's a little more elaborate, but if this works for you, then cool!

Great Wolf Lodge

2007-01-14T21:46:00.000-05:00

Heading out to Great Wolf Lodge with friends for a night in two weeks time - Jan 28th, should be a great time, there are 4 families going at the moment, it's a massive indoor waterpark / hotel thingy down in Niagara Falls... A great little break from the winter blahs...

Sentient Developments: Must-know terms for the 21st Century intellectual: Redux

2007-01-12T12:19:00.000-05:00

Sentient Developments: Must-know terms for the 21st Century intellectual: Redux - Absolutely Brilliant article... Make 15 minutes in your day sometime over the next week and read this article... If this doesn't fill you with the same sort of passion and excitement about what the future holds, and/or help you to start to believe the stuff I've been evangelizing over the past year or so, then I don't know what will... It's all coming together, it's all going to change... Hang on, it's going to be a very cool century!

Did you get something for Christmas that you don't really need?

2007-01-02T20:21:00.000-05:00

I did... My wonderful wife bought me a watch, I've been wearing a beat-up old Timex Ironman Triathlon for about 10 years now... Anyhow, the band had broken (the second or third replacement), and so she figured it was time for a new one. Well I'm just too darned attached to this old watch, it's got everything I need... So I returned the new watch to Sears over the weekend, got a new replacement watchband ($10) and wasn't sure what I wanted to do with the leftover money.

We already sponsor a child through Foster Parents plan, so from time to time we get mailings from the organization... We rec'd one recently called the Gifts of Hope 2006/2007 catalogue, it features a variety of 'gifts' that can be purchased that can really make a difference in the lives of people less fortunate than us...

So I decided that I really don't NEED anything, certainly not in the context that people living in third world countries NEED something... So tonight I hopped online and in about 5 minutes, using money left-over from my returned watch I bought a goat for a family in Zambia... Goats bring immediate health improvements to the entire family. The essential proteins severely lacking in the family's diet are abundant in the goat's milk. By selling surplus milk, the family gains additional income for school and healthcare. $40...

So if you received something for Christmas that you don't really want or need, why not return it and provide something that someone else in the world really does need instead?

Polar Bear Dip 2007

2007-01-01T23:55:00.000-05:00

Took part in the Courage Brothers Polar Bear Dip in Oakville earlier today... What a fantastic way to start the year... The weather was much nicer this year than last, a downright balmy 9 degrees, water temperature was around 4 degrees... Over $40,000 was raised for water projects in Senegal, a great cause, good times!

Embedded Google Video not working for some reason - here's a link:

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=2605335229112145762

CTV News Article

Toronto Star Article

Oakville Polar Bear Dip 2007

2006-12-20T08:51:00.000-05:00

Yo! Icey cold crazy fun coming up on January 1st... I don't know what I'm doing for New Years Eve yet, but I do know that I'll be plunging into Lake Ontario on January 1st, raising money for World Vision!

Here's all the info, come on out and do it, here's why it's a good idea:

Money Raised goes to Charity
It keeps you from getting completely messed up the night before
We'll have some Gluvine in the Parking Lot, post dip!
It's crazy fun!

OH NO! Creationist Adsense!

2006-12-13T23:45:00.000-05:00

I was curious about one the adsense ads on my page which asked the question:

CREATION OR EVOLUTION?

Oh my f*cking chr*st! There's advertisements for CREATIONIST propaganda on my blog! Ugh! Oh well, you know what, it's funny to read what these MORONS are preaching...

There's a funny video on the homepage, then if you click on the 'FREE BOOKLET', you get to THIS PAGE

I'm certainly no expert in evolution, but even with what I know, I can see this this is baseless garbage, here's some of the text from the site, with my comments in BLUE...

...

Text from their site below - in black, my comments, in blue...

...

Why has evolution become so widely accepted, and why has the Bible come to be viewed with such hostility? What has changed?

Society has changed... Because people are becoming educated, we are using logic, reason, evidence and the scientific method to understand our universe instead of 2,000 year old dogma and scripture... Duh!

Only a few generations ago laws prevented the teaching of the theory of evolution in some communities and regions in the United States. The Bible was commonly accepted as true and a reliable account of our origins. But now almost the opposite is true. The Bible is banned from classrooms in American schools, and serious discussion of the biblical view of the creation of our universe—and our human origins—is forbidden.

Whoa! The bible isn't BANNED from classrooms, but it is banned from SCIENCE class when you want to talk about the the origins of life.

At the same time, criticism of the theory of evolution is at times ruthlessly suppressed in academic and scientific circles.

It's hardly ruthlessly supressed, it's just that there is, and has been for hundreds of years, a scientific concensus that the theory of evolution is true, so why beat a dead fish? If new evidence comes forward to show that there IS a Creator, great, bring it on, but no sense going over the same old baloney arguments...

Certainly not all scientists agree that no Creator exists and that we as human beings are the product of random chance. In 1972 the California State Board of Education asked NASA director Wernher von Braun, who has been called the father of the American space program, for his thoughts on the origin of the universe, life and the human race. Here's how he responded: "For me, the idea of a creation is not conceivable without invoking the necessity of design. One cannot be exposed to the law and order of the universe without concluding that there must be design and purpose behind it all. In the world around us, we can behold the obvious manifestations of an ordered, structured plan or design . . .

Yes, yes, this is the same old, same old, the fact that Creationists can't see that the whole concept of Creation simply creates a circular argument baffles me... Ok, so the universe was CREATED, so who CREATED the CREATOR? Creationism isn't only a bad solution, it's a non-solution, it's a cop-out, anyway... Ok, so they found one Scientists they could quote that didn't believe in evolution, ok, great, how about the MILLIONS that DO believe in Evolution?

"And we are humbled by the powerful forces at work on a galactic scale, and the purposeful orderliness of nature that endows a tiny and ungainly seed with the ability to develop into a beautiful flower. The better we understand the intricacies of the universe and all it harbors, the more reason we have found to marvel at the inherent design upon which it is based . . .
"To be forced to believe only one conclusion—that everything in the universe happened by chance—would violate the very objectivity of science itself. Certainly there are those who argue that the universe evolved out of a random process, but what random process could produce the brain of a man or the system of the human eye?

Whoa! Random process? Random process? This also drives me wild when people who clearly DON'T understand evolution call it a RANDOM process! Yes, ONE element of Evolutionary Theory involves Random Genetic Mutations, but that isn't what the whole theory is about... That is just one element of it... It's not that humans just poof appeared by chance, we're a result of about 3 billion years of random chance occuring billions of times throughout climate changes, etc. Read a little something from Richard Dawkins about Evolution...

"Some people say that science has been unable to prove the existence of a Designer. They admit that many of the miracles in the world around us are hard to understand, and they do not deny that the universe, as modern science sees it, is indeed a far more wondrous thing than the creation medieval man could perceive. But they still maintain that since science has provided us with so many answers the day will soon arrive when we will be able to understand even the fundamental laws of nature without a Divine intent.
They challenge science to prove the existence of God. But must we really light a candle to see the sun? . . .
"What strange rationale makes some physicists accept the inconceivable electron as real while refusing to accept the reality of a Designer on the ground that they cannot conceive of Him?" (Scott Huse, The Collapse of Evolution, 1997, pp. 159-160).

Many educated people accept the theory of evolution. But is it true? Curiously enough, our existence as humans is one of the best arguments against it. According to evolutionary theory, the traits that offer the greatest advantage for survival are passed from generation to generation. Yet human reproduction itself argues powerfully against this fundamental premise of evolution.

Ah, yes, great argument, since Humans are imperfect, therefore Evolution must be false... Could this exact same argument be used against Creation? If we were created by God, wouldn't he create us to be perfect? Explain the f*cking appendix! (I almost died of Appendicitis when I was about 10 years old, so Creator, you F*CKED up! Thankfully SCIENCE saved me...) Evolution does not somehow posit perfection or that Humans are at the top of the pyramid, Evolution does not exist to arrive at Human, Evolution has arrived at the millions (billions?) of species on the planet, we just happen to be one of them, and we're still changing. Every species on the planet is just as EVOLVED as we are, they've just evolved differently to adapt to different specialized environments.

If evolution is the guiding force in human development, how is it that higher forms of life evolved with male and female sexes? If humans are the pinnacle of the evolutionary process,

Whoa! Stop again, this is a typical religious viewpoint, that humans are the pinnacle of the evolutionary process, what an ignorant, self-righteous viewpoint! HUMANS ARE NOT SPECIAL! Evolution didn't have a plan that got us from ameoba to homo sapien... As I mentioned we're just one little branch on the entire tree of life...

how is it that we have the disadvantage of requiring a member of the opposite sex to reproduce, when lower forms of life—such as bacteria, viruses and protozoa—are sexless and far more prolific? If they can reproduce by far simpler methods, why can't we? If evolution is true, what went wrong?

Let's take it a step further. If humans are the result of evolution continually reinforcing characteristics that offer a survival advantage while eliminating those that hinder perpetuation, how can we explain a human infant?

Among thousands of species the newly born (or newly hatched) are capable of survival within a matter of days or, in some cases, only minutes. Many never even see their parents. Yet, among humans, an infant is utterly helpless—not for days but for up to several years after birth.
A human baby is reliant on adults for the nourishment, shelter and care he or she needs to survive. Meanwhile, caring for that helpless infant is a distinct survival disadvantage for adults, since giving of their time and energy lessens their own prospects for survival.

My understanding on this is that the capacity for a species to LEARN is indirectly proportional to it's built in INSTINCT. Therefore human babies are born being practically useless, but we therefore have the maximum ability to learn, whereas many other animals are born and within minutes or hours are walking around, feeding themselves, etc, but never learn complex communication, etc... It's got to do with the way the brain is wired. Clearly through the evolutionary history of Man, larger brains and intelligence were traits that were selected for,and thus over time we gradually grew more and more intelligent, lost much of our instinct, but continued to gain larger brain capacity and the ability to learn.

If evolution is true, and humans are the pinnacle of the evolutionary process, why does a process as basic as human reproduction fly in the face of everything that evolution holds true?

Regrettably, such obvious flaws in the theory are too often overlooked.

Even Charles Darwin, whose theories about evolution took the world by storm, had second thoughts. In his later years he reflected on what he had started: "I was a young man with unformed ideas. I threw out queries, suggestions, wondering all the time over everything; and to my astonishment the ideas took like wildfire. People made a religion of them" (William Federer, America's God and Country, 1996, p. 199, emphasis added).

Now, almost a century and a half after the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species, we can see where his thinking has led. In Europe in particular, belief in a personal God has plummeted.

APPLAUSE! WHOOHOO! Yes! In Europe where much of what we consider the philosophies and science of the Modern World has come from, they continue to lead the way!

In the United States, court decisions have interpreted constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion as freedom from religion—effectively banning public expression of religious beliefs and denying the country's rich religious heritage.

The US Constitution was a brilliant document that understood the importance of a secular society, of church-state separation. The religious right is trying to perpetuate this myth that the US is a Christian Nation and needs to return to it's Christian roots... The founders of the US did not want to create a theocracy, they very intentionally stayed away from that...

Meanwhile, the world languishes in the sorrow and suffering resulting from rejecting absolute moral standards.

Whoa! Hold on a minute, here we go making this huge leap from, I believe in Evolution, not creation, therefore I have no morality... I find this absolutely insulting! Hello? I don't have to believe in Christianity, or any religion for that matter to understand Morality and Ethics, to want to be a 'good' person, to be altruistic, treat others with love and respect, show empathy towards others... Why do I need to believe in God in order to understand and live by these principals? Bollocks!

With no absolute standards, we have no reason to care what happens to our fellowman. We should seek only our personal gain regardless of the cost to others—acting exactly as evolutionary theory says we should.

No reason to care? Oh, so Religious people just care about others because the bible tells them to? What a freaking cop out!!! Think about it! Do you act the way you act because you've been TOLD to act that way, or because you know intrinsically that it's the RIGHT way to act? What is a higher form of ethics, to behave in a good way in order to go to Heaven, or to behave in a good way because you actually CARE about other people and want to improve their condition in THIS world? There are plenty of reasons why species show altruistic behaviour, and this is NOT limited to Homo Sapiens...

Could man create a religion with no god? The widespread acceptance of evolution shows that we have done just that. The Bible teaches us that God created man. Evolution teaches us that man created God.

If God created man we have no right to ignore Him. If man created God we can easily ignore Him. What man has made he can do away with. Thus we are free to act as though God doesn't exist, free to dismiss the Bible, free to determine for ourselves what is right and wrong and how we will choose to live.

Yes! Correct! Man created God, Man realizes that Man created God, Man kills God, Man finds a new, better way to live...

Which is the myth, God or evolution? Louis Bounoure, director of France's Strasbourg Zoological Museum and professor of biology at the University of Strasbourg, stated: "Evolution is a fairy tale for grown-ups. This theory has helped nothing in the progress of science. It is useless" (Federer, p. 61).

Oh, yes, great, a quote from the World Famous Scientist Louis Bounoure! Wait a minute, who? Nope, never heard of him... Skeptical about this guy? You should be - read this...

Professor Bounoure, though right about evolution, was wrong about one thing. Rather than being useless, evolution is quite useful if one wants to reject the idea of God.

In this booklet we examine the foundational premises of evolution. We consider the evidence evolutionists cite to support the theory. Perhaps most important, we look at the scientific facts evolutionists don't discuss in public—for reasons that will become clear.

You can know whether evolution is true. We hope you'll examine the evidence carefully. What you believe does matter.

Yes, you can know whether evolution is true! Read a book by Richard Dawkins and compare that to Genesis and see which you feel provides a more reasoned, logical, rational and evidence-based explanation of the origins of life... Creationism my arse!, BAH! By the way, please click on their Adsense ad a lot, we can channel the money they're paying for the ad into a subscription to a subscription to Free Inquiry Magazine or the Humanist Association of Toronto or something...

It's easy...

2006-12-06T19:34:00.000-05:00

I've figured it out - Ok, not on my own, not trying to take credit for this one, but I've listened, and I've learned and I like to share what I've come up with...

Look around at the world.... Look around at the organisms that exist around the Earth. Those have have been succesfull in an existential way. Those that exist have EVOLVED. They have adapted to the world around them... This is biological evolution, it has to do with variations within species, with heredity, with natural selection, but these things take hundreds of thousands of years to affect change.

How can we take this principle and adapt it to our own lifes to allow us to be successful in ways that we can measure? Surely it must be LEARNING. We (at this time anyway) do not have the ability to biologically evolve. We have the genes we've inherited from our parents, that much is beyond our control. But what IS within our control is our mind, our understanding of the world around us, and thus our reactions to events that are placed in our path.

How can we best cope and deal with the situations which are presented to us? To evolve with our brains, to learn, to grow, to experiment, to test, to fail, but to learn from that failure, to make NEW mistakes, learn from those and continue trying. In that process we affect our OWN personal evolution within our lifetime. We thus transcend the potential that we are born with and we CREATE a new, more fully realized existance.

Whew! I gotta jump on the treadmill now...

Free University Education? Huh?

2006-11-22T21:35:00.000-05:00

webcast.berkeley Courses Podcast Feeds - I'm getting an education that might potentially cost me $13,000USD/year for free!

Thank you University of California Berkeley!

What a fantastic, wonderful, amazing concept! UC Berkeley is making all lectures for quite a number of their courses available for free on the Internet as Podcasts!

I just began listening to the first of a number of courses that I've 'subscribed' to - Physics 10 - Physics for Future Presidents... The first lecture was about 90 minutes long, that's just 2 commutes for me :) Fasinating and of course very educational...

Just searched around, and found the website of the instructor and a link to the course website, http://muller.lbl.gov/teaching/Physics10/PffP.html where all of the course materials also appear to be available for free, including the Textbook chapters,etc... Amazing! Just think once the $100 laptop project gets going, you could have millions of children in impoverished countries having access to this high quality education for free... Awesome!

Search through the list of courses, pick one that interests you and do it! Why not?

Space mirrors could create Earth-like haven on Mars - space - 14 November 2006 - New Scientist Space

2006-11-15T10:58:00.000-05:00

Space mirrors could create Earth-like haven on Mars - space - 14 November 2006 - New Scientist Space
Cool! Wicked article, talking about the possibility of terraforming Mars... Yeah baby... Crazy cool science!

Amazon.co.uk: Holy Bible: Books - Reviews

2006-11-14T21:28:00.000-05:00

Amazon.co.uk: Holy Bible: Books - This is hillarious! Thinking about picking up this book called 'The Bible', but not really sure? Read these reviews to help you decide!!!

TIME.com: God vs. Science -- Nov. 13, 2006 -- Page 1

2006-11-13T14:29:00.001-05:00

TIME.com: God vs. Science -- Nov. 13, 2006 -- Page 1

Cover story from Time magazine, a very interesting read regarding the God vs. Science debate, featuring Richard Dawkins - I think you have to watch an Ad in order to read the whole article for free... I have a copy in email if you can't be bothered - I'll forward it over to you...

TIME.com: God vs. Science -- Nov. 13, 2006 -- Page 1

2006-11-13T14:29:00.000-05:00

Be Lambic or Green » What is Agnostic?

2006-11-10T09:55:00.000-05:00

Be Lambic or Green » What is Agnostic? - A good article about being Agnostic... a fun 2 minute read...

Latest Reading

2006-11-10T08:55:00.000-05:00

I just finished reading More Than Human by Ramez Naam.

A few cool book that really champions many of the concepts of being transhuman...

Chapters on Gene Therapy, Neural Implants, Life Extension, some fascinating information on past and present research in these areas and insightful dialog regarding the ethics and morality of the implementation of these technologies...

Fascinating stuff!

Next up is The Universe in a Single Atom by the Dalai Lama... I've seen the Dalai Lama interviewed on TV a few times and he seems like a very cool guy, I thought this book which really focuses on the intersection of science and spirituality would be a good fit with much of the thinking I've been doing lately... So far, so good! :^)

CN Tower: Climbed

2006-10-31T23:52:00.000-05:00

Jack, George and I conquered the tower!

We were up at 5:30am, downtown, registered, and climbing by 7:00am...

Here's a shot of us, post-climb, looking quite victorious indeed with the tower looming in behind. It was a great experience, and for a great cause. We'll be doing it again next year, hoping to better our climb time of approx. 31 minutes.

We each got a nice tshirt with our time sharpied onto it, and also free passes to go back up the tower (using the elevator!), which was a nice surprise!

Afterwards we enjoyed a breakfast at Cora's before getting on with our day...

CN Tower Climb

2006-10-18T01:40:00.000-04:00

I'm going to climb the CN Tower this weekend... How about you?

Proceeds go to the United Way, a great local charity... Jack and George are climbing with me... Should be an awesome adventure... Will post pics on Sunday...

http://www.uwgt.org/climbforunitedway/

MySpace

2006-10-18T01:37:00.000-04:00

I'm a sucker for the web... What can I say?? I'm sick of checking out other peoples MySpace accounts and not having one... So now I have one...

John and John Walter and Jwalter were all already taken... So my URL is

http://myspace.com/geeksjournal

Check it out - Go ahead and create a site for yourself, embrace WEB 2.0!

bAd mArk - Gratis goes bust! No more Free iPods, FreePay R.I.P.

2006-10-17T00:54:00.000-04:00

bAd mArk - Gratis goes bust! No more Free iPods, FreePay R.I.P. - Interesting news... I guess it was too good to be true! Gratis Internet, the company behind the FreePay sites (where Pete and I got our free Video iPods, has gone under...)

I totally want to get an XBOX 360 for free... Just checked out www.FreebieAuthority.com the forum site that focuses on the whole free stuff scene on the net, and found a new site/network called GetFriends, they have a number of different sites, get4friends, get5friends, get6friends, all with increasingly valuable gifts... The get6friends site offers the XBOX 360 Core System.... Ooh... Baby...

My New Wheels

2006-10-16T14:33:00.000-04:00

Check out my new car!

The lease on my Hyundai ran out in October, so I returned it, walked across the road to Saturn Mississauga, and picked up a 2007 Saturn Ion Sedan... I've had it for about a week now, really loving it... I'll take and post some decent pictures after I take it for a car wash :)

http://www.saturn.com/saturn/vehicles/ionsedan/overview.jsp

Evil Nine Crooked Video

2006-10-16T00:14:00.000-04:00

Evil Nine Crooked Video - This is a really wicked song, I think I heard it first at a drum and bass party, I've subsequently downloaded the album, and then came across this very cool Flash video... Check it out...

September thoughts...

2006-09-26T23:20:00.000-04:00

I haven't been posting to the blog much, not sure exactly why, certainly have lots to share, I suppose I've just gotten out of the habit... Here's some updates on various stuff...

Nutrition/Fitness/Weight-Loss

- Still on track, I'm down to about 190lbs now, have lost close to 40lbs now, will probably get down to about 170-180...

- I'm now reading Ray Kurzweil's "Fantastic Voyage", very interesting, highly recommended, the basic premise is this book will give you the information you need to live forever... How's that for a payoff??? Like, who wouldn't want to read this??

Religion

- Read a very interesting book last week "What God Wants" by Neale Donald Walsch, I found this to be a really enjoyable read. While I don't agree with everything that Neale does, the book contains some really interesting ideas, asks some great questions about God, about the world's beliefs and offers some compelling 'What If...' type scenarios... I think it's a book that anyone interested in theology, (whether they are Christian, Muslim, Agnostic, Atheist) would enjoy and get something out of... I'd love to discuss some of the concepts with others who have read it.

- Watched Richard Dawkins' Documentary "The Root of All Evil", this is more or less a video version of Sam Harris' The End of Faith. It covers a lot of the same ground, Richard meets with promenant members of a number of fundamentalist religions - Christianity, Islam, Judaism, and goes at them regarding how some of their beliefs clash with science. My buddy Richard told me about this, it was broadcast on CBC, I pulled it down off of Mininova

Adidas Animation

2006-09-10T21:39:00.000-04:00

Adidas Football Ad - Computer Animation...

This meets several of my favorite items - Football, Computer Animation, and COOL!

Flickr

2006-08-28T23:54:00.000-04:00

Flickr - almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world... Well that's their opinion anyway... I've been using the site for a while now, finally signed up for my own free account.

I've posted some pictures from our recent trip to the Pinery, check 'em out...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnwaltca

The Onion is SOOO funny...

2006-08-27T18:17:00.000-04:00

War-Torn Middle East Seeks Solace In Religion

My Favorite Podcasts

2006-08-18T00:04:00.000-04:00

I've had my iPod for over 6 months now, and I'm really in love with the concept of Podcasts, here are my favorites that I listen to regularly.

Point of Inquiry (http://www.pointofinquiry.org)
Weekly podcast produced by the Centre for Inquiry, a thinktank focusing on the research areas of Pseudo Science and the Paranormal, Alternative Medicine and Secularism & Religion, promoting skeptical thinking in ALL areas of human endeavor...

Best of Ideas (http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/)
CBC produced show, features philosopher's discussing a variety of topics, always very educational and thought-provoking

Five Live 606 Football Phone In (http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/606.shtml)
A football (soccer) phone-in show from the UK, features football fans calling in after the day's matches discussing results, their thoughts about team selection, etc, etc...

Sportsweek (http://www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive/programmes/sportsweek.shtml)
Another UK sports show, mostly about football, it's weekly, has VERY good guests, good insight about the top issues in Football.

Diggnation (Video Podcast) (http://www.diggnation.org/)
Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht from Digg.com discuss some of the most popular / their favorite stories from digg.com - irreverent and geeky, it's a great show...

Quirks & Quarks (http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/)
Another CBC podcast, this one is all about science, very interesting, normally follows a Q&A type format, callers call in with interesting science-related questions, and host Bob McDonald hunts down an appropriate scientist to answer them, also covers science-related news, again educational and entertaining.

CNET Buzz Out Loud (http://www.cnet.com/4520-11455-6333605.html)
I'm not too wild about this one, because it's american, and the 3 hosts are American, but they do cover important and interesting tech stories, it's daily...

So there you go... Lots of interesting stuff, and it's better than listening to the Dean Blundell show all the time...

Mind as Programmable Computer

2006-08-10T00:02:00.000-04:00

Ever wonder how different humans beings can behave in such different ways? Why do people like different types of food? Different types of music? Surely this can't all be genetic disposition...

We often talk about differences as being cultural but culture isn't something tangible that you can put your finger on. Ultimately our behaviour, likes and dislikes MUST exist within our brains, therefore, if we want the ability to control our behaviour we need to learn about the brain.

The human brain has about 100 billion neurons and 100 trillion synapses. Neurons are nerve cells that process and transmit information. Synapses are dynamic, changing connections between Neurons. As we learn, the synapses that connect Neurons in our brain change, or are reprogrammed. So we can actually and literally program ourselves.

Everyone is familiar with the term brainwashing; the application of coercive techniques to change the beliefs or behavior of one or more people usually for political or religious purposes. So if brainwashing can be used for negative purposes, can the same techniques be used by ourselves for positive means?

We know and have all seen that brainwashing is possible, and can cause extreme behaviour as seemingly 'crazy' as fundamentalist muslim suicide bombers. How is this possible?
Our behaviour is largely based on our belief system. Our belief system is made up of the facts and knowledge that we learn, and grow to accept at the deepest level.

Everything that we do, everything that we see, hear, do, even think about causes changes in the synapses in our brain, we essentially are constantly recreating the patterns, or programs that exist in our brain, causing sometimes subtle but potentially massive changes in our behaviour.

As an example, think about that Budweiser commercial from a few years ago that featured the guys saying "Whazaaap?". It was a very popular commercial and eventually everyone was saying it. So after seeing the commercial and thinking it was funny, that information was written into the brain and the next time you called a buddy, instead of your usual greeting, it was "Whazaap?", after time, the phrase became old and eventually those synapses that were storing that information more prominently fell away and our behaviour most likely returned it it's former state.

Take active responsibility for programming your brain, don't only look at controlling your behaviour, but look at the deep changes in your belief system that you'd like to change and consider how you can change these...

I can think of 2 powerful beliefs that I have personally changed in the last 6 months or so:

1) I can't read any books are are non-technical. I had tried several times to read books in the past 15 years and the only things I seemed to be able to get through were "Learn Windows XP in 21 Days", "The Windows 2000 Resource Kit", or something like that... As a result, as I was missing out on the huge opportunity to grow my knowledgebase in other directions. After I read the Singularity is Near, it had such a dramatic affect on my mindset that I decided that I simply HAD to read more, since then I've read The End of Faith by Sam Harris and Revolutionary Wealth by Alvin Toffler, both non-fiction books which have also had a big impact on my thinking and behaviour. Now I've got a list about close to a dozen books that I am planning to, and WILL read.

2) General beliefs about my nutrition and fitness. I've been overweight for most of my life. With the exception of my late teens / early twenties when I was getting lots of excercise by dancing at clubs 3-4 nights a week, I've ranged from around overweight to obese... I've always had a soft spot for junk food, jeez I worked at McDonald's for about 5 years and sometimes ate it for breakfast, lunch & dinner. In about March of this year something clicked in my head, I was convinced that was it, and I was going to change my lifestyle... Since then, I've typically averaged over 100 minutes of cardio exercise a week, have reduced by caloric intake, and cut out a lot of garbage calories... I've lost over 30 pounds so far with around another 30 to go.

What's (if anything?) stopping you from being happy in your life? What are the beliefs that are standing in your way?

SparkPeople

2006-08-04T21:23:00.000-04:00

Arlene showed me this website, what a great resource! www.SparkPeople.com It's a website started by this guy who seems to have already made his millions by building an online auction site that was bought up by eBay back in the dotcom boom, anyway, the site is designed to be this great resource for health/fitness/diet, and has some fantastic features, a message board, all sorts of tracking of what you're eating, the exercise you're getting, etc, etc... And it's totally free!

I need to get back on track, I'm not gaining weight, but seem to be stuck in the 198-200 sort of range... Lowest I've been is 196.5, I want to keep up the cardio and cut down on the beer and I'm sure I'll hit 195 and that'll be my new plateau for a while....

Healthy Eating...

2006-07-26T11:44:00.000-04:00

I'm still doing well with my diet. Down this morning to 196.5, certainly not losing as much as I was, but with all the drinking and eating on weekends, it's tough, this weekened will be no different I'm sure!

Anyway, I was just thinking "What should I have for lunch today?" and decided to Google on it... Found these 2 very interesting articles:

What Should I Eat Today?

Ten Foods You Should NEVER Eat!

I think I'll have a 6 inch Subway Sub on Whole Wheat bread... Based on their Nutritional info:

Calories: 290 - make that 440 including Mayo (110) and Cheese (40) ... Yikes!, that's interesting actually, so you could have a 12" sub w/o Mayo and Cheese, it would be 580 calories, only 50% more than the 6 inch with.... Hmmm... Certainly a lot more filling! Perhaps I'll try that... Have half now, and half on the way home...

Fat: 5 grams

Jack plays Piano...

2006-07-20T01:52:00.000-04:00

This is a video from earlier this year, of Jack playing Oh Canada for the first time at assembly in his school - it's a good one, so I uploaded it to Google Video for everyone to enjoy, apologies for my singing, DOH!

Gave up...

2006-07-19T22:32:00.000-04:00

Ok, I looked around to try to a find a decent, free, Win32 blogging tool that would integrate with Blogger... No joy, so I've downloaded and installed Firefox... Oh, here's my new freakin' glasses...

New Specs... New Browser... New Blogging Tool Req'd...

2006-07-19T22:15:00.000-04:00

I got a new pair of glasses... Fricken IE7 BETA 3 is broken in Blogger though so I can't upload pictures at the moment... That's it... I'm going to find a little app that I can use to blog from home... Watch this space...

TheStar.com - The fall of the "four sisters"

2006-07-14T01:08:00.000-04:00

TheStar.com - A neat link... In case you missed it, here's a video of the demolition of the "Four Sisters", the smoke stacks at the Lakeview Generating Station in Mississauga

Winning the Battle...

2006-06-28T14:21:00.000-04:00

Little 'Diet' update... I hit 200lbs for the first time today... So I'm down about 27 lbs... I'm committed to having a really good week this week after doing lots of drinking (World Cup Matches, Beer Festivals, Montreal, Keg Parties...), over the past 4 weeks... My new goal is 180lbs, so I'm over half way there now... Time to shop for some new clothes... How have I done it?

- Lots of Cardio (100-150 mins per week)
- Extra exercise wherever possible (stairs instead of escalator, walk to the store, etc)
- Cut out stupid calories (French Fries, Beer during the week, no Sugar in my coffee, etc)
- No snacking at night (Chips, etc)

Other Intelligent Design Theories

2006-06-27T11:33:00.000-04:00

Skeptic: Vol. 12 No. 2 Featured Article Interesting article which talks about various theories of the creation of the universe, interesting stuff...

Baarmy Sheep - World Cup Song

2006-06-21T09:20:00.000-04:00

Cumbria - The Lake District: Baarmy Sheep

With Owen out for 5 months, you need a little cheering up don't you? Watch this, it's pretty funny...

I WANNA LIVE FOREVER! - The Longevity Meme

2006-06-14T13:22:00.000-04:00

The Longevity Meme -- ideas and actions for longer, healthier lives
Found this interesting website, certainly worth exploring, some fascinating ideas... This particular link is to an article about the vision that Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman have for the future of healthy life extension, reprinted with permission from their new book, Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever.

But the site has all kinds of other interesting information, particularly fascinating are the research studies on Calorie Restricted (CR) Diets and how it's proven to lengthen life span (in animals anyway...)

Neat stuff!!

Life is great, let's stick around!

Are We Guardians, Or Are We Apes Designing Humans?

2006-05-23T09:16:00.000-04:00

This is a very interesting article, worth the read, here's the intro/summary:

Thanks in part to molecular manufacturing, accelerated developments in AI and brain reverse-engineering could lead to the emergence of superintelligence in just 18 years. Are we ready for the implications -- like possible annihilation of Homo sapiens? And will we seem to superintelligence what our ape-like ancestors seem to us: primitive?

Link to the article: KurzweilAI.net

Principles - Humanist Association Of Canada

2006-05-19T23:39:00.000-04:00

Principles - Humanist Association Of Canada

What is a Humanist? Never heard of it before... Read this... Are you a Humanist... I AM!

The more I read, the more I listen, the more I think, the more I realize that in order for Humanity to continue to grow and improve, we must shed our ancient religious beliefs and dogma and move forward with a new scientifically-created morality and ethics...

Point of Inquiry - Podcast

2006-05-19T23:20:00.000-04:00

Check this out - This Podcast has had a MAJOR impact on my thinking over the past few months, it is really through-provoking, and I strongly recommend it. This web site allows plain ole MP3 downloads, so you don't need an iPod or iTunes or anything, check it out...

Point of Inquiry

2006-05-09T22:32:00.000-04:00

This is a test of blogging from my phone!

Neat... I can email from my phone to my blog address to post something... Crazy...

BBC - Health - Healthy living - Time-saving exercise tips

2006-05-09T22:25:00.000-04:00

In line with trying to keep fitness and healthy eating top-of-mind, here's a nice, quick little article with some tips on how to find time to exercise!

BBC - Health - Healthy living - Time-saving exercise tips

Kevin Kelly -- Out of Control

2006-05-08T12:26:00.000-04:00

Kevin Kelly -- Out of Control - I began reading this book after hearing about it in one of the Matrix DVD documentaries. I only made it through a few chapters, unfortunately, it had to go back to the library, but I found it absolutely fascinating...

Anyhow, recently, the Author, Kevin Kelly, posted an essay crtiquing Ray Kurzweil's Singularity Theory, I read it, and read Ray's response, all without knowing this was the guy who wrote Out of Control, and in browsing his website, I've found that he now has posted the entire book online! So I'll probably print out a few chapters and get back into it... Very cool stuff...

If you liked the Matrix, and you like to think, you'll really enjoy this book!

The Brain and the Resting Metabolic Rate Calculator.

2006-05-03T22:32:00.000-04:00

Whoa! What's this all about?

Well, I've been thinking a lot lately (ok, I know, I always think a lot), but I've been thinking about... THINKING... I've been considering that since the brain is this massively parallel, self-organizing, self-learning computer, it might be worthwhile learning how it works so that I can program it better.

If you do begin to think about the brain as a computer/computer program, then you can start to apply basic computer principles to it's operation.

GIGO

If you're a Computer Science student, you'll know what that means, if not, then Google it... Ok, it stands for Garbage In Garbage Out. Basically this talks about how if the INPUT to a program is junk, when then JUNK will come out. If you put valid data into a program, then you should get valid information back out.

Obviously are brains are very good at filtering, there are MASSIVE amounts of data being thrown at us all the time. Conciously we only deal with a very, very small %, but the rest still does GET IN there, and a certain amount of it does get stored and given the nature of human intelligence it affects us. We ARE our EXPERIENCES.

So if all of this is true, then perhaps we should start to be more aware of the INPUT we put into our brains, meaning if we know what OUTPUT we want, if we know what our goals are, what we want to acheive, what we want to become, then we should seriously consider what we are INPUTing into our brain in order to best organize and train it to provide the OUTPUT we're looking for.

Example: Several years ago when Howard Stern was on the radio, all of my co-workers would listen to it and go on about how funny it was. So from time to time I would tune in. Now I think Howard Stern is a really, really funny guy and certainly the show was entertaining, but at the same time, it was often VERY crude and VERY, VERY insulting and disrespectful towards women. I began to consider, (while perhaps not with this level of clarity) even at that time, that dispite the fact that I found the show funny, did I really want to INPUT that sort of junk into my head and focus my attention on such demeaning, low-brow content. The answer was no, and I ceased to listen to the show. Instead I'd listen to the news, or music or something else.

So, getting back to the Resting Metabolic Rate Calculator...

I've changed my lifestyle considerably over the past 6 weeks, getting much more exercise and making better decisions about the food I eat. One of the things I'm continuing to have a tough time cutting out is BEER. It's not like I'm knocking back a 24 every night or anything, I'm not at all concerned about that aspect of it, it's more just the calories and how they add up having a pint at lunch, or a bottle or two at night. At the same time, I realize that I'm reading the BarTowel web site very regularly, several times a day typically. So there you have it, I'm conciously reading about, thinking about BEER so of course it's on my mind...

So in order to help change my focus and rewire my head, I'm attempting to read about and think about fitness related stuff a little more, not intending to become obsessive about it or anything, but bring it to the forefront a little more...

So I was curious to know more about METABOLISM. I always knew that this Metabolism burns a certain number of calories a day, so essentially if you were to not do any exercise to speak of, you could consume that # of calories in a day and maintain your weight. In theory if you consume less and exercise more, then BAM you lose weight, and of course the opposite is true.

I wanted to determine what is my metabolic rate, and I found this web site which explains it a little and provides a handy calculator! Cool eh?

Bodybuilding.com - Tris Mardiastuty - Resting Metabolic Rate Calculator.

Diet Update...

2006-05-01T23:46:00.000-04:00

Well Diet is going well, latest weigh-in has me at 213... So I'm down about 13 or 14 pounds within about 5 weeks! I'm super happy about it, getting lots of good cardio in, cutting back on the beer and snacks and it's working...!

Ongoing History of New Music

2006-04-16T23:19:00.000-04:00

If you don't know - Edge 102.1 is Toronto's "Alternative Rock" station, it's the station I've listened to since high-school...

There's a great show called the Ongoing History of New Music, hosted by Alan Cross. A neat story about Alan Cross, he used to DJ along with a guy named Nicolas Picolas at a little club called La Vie where Arlene and I met...

Anyhow, I always enjoy listening to the show, which chronicles various elements of Alternative music, specific bands or sub-genres... but a lot of times I'd miss it, I'm doing something else Sunday nights at 7:00pm, I just found that the shows are available to listen to via their website... It unfortunately hasn't been turned into a podcast, but you can still listen to it with their built-in Flash player which is really cool...

Happy Easter

2006-04-11T09:05:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Jeni for this...

I'm shrinking...

2006-04-10T14:37:00.000-04:00

Latest weight-in has me at 218... So I'm down another 3 or 4 pounds... Feeling good, pants are a little roomier! :)

ExpressVu w/ PVR is the Shiz!

2006-04-06T07:31:00.000-04:00

We switched from Rogers Digital Cable to Bell ExpressVu a few weeks ago. So far, so good, quite happy with the quality of the picture, and even more so with the equipment.

We're renting the PVR System (Model 5920), which lets you pause/rewind live TV as well as set automatic recording via the program guide. It's not a brand new technology, and certainly not a new concept, but it's REALLY GREAT to actually have it! It makes TV much more manageable as you can simple clickety-click and tape something and then watch it whenever you want without having to fuss around with Video tapes...

Bell have an offer on at the moment where you rent the PVR for free for a year! World Cup is coming, lots of matches during the day!

Losing Weight

2006-03-30T12:26:00.000-05:00

I'm on a diet and I've started a new fitness regime, I'm feeling great and very positive and I'm committed to losing about 20-25 pounds, getting back to a much more reasonable weight and size.

When I weighed myself for the first time in a long time last Wednesday morning, I was 226.5, this morning I'm 222... So I've already lost 4.5lbs in just over a week, so I'm quite pleased... If I can lose approx. 5 lbs every 2 weeks I should be at 200lbs by the end of May.

I'm going to get into a few little friendly competitions with friends Roger, Pete and Jason, to ensure that I keep up with my cardio and weight loss, take a good look at my gut the next time you see me because it's going away, for good! :)