Mike Pereira - Thoughts and Commentary

July 1st - Official "Moving Day" in Quebec

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:24:00 +0000

It was the official "moving day" in Quebec yesterday, July 1st .

Here is some information about the event:

Moving Day (French: Journée du déménagement) is a tradition in the province of Quebec. It began as a humanitarian measure of the French colonial government of New France, who forbade seigneurs, the semi-feudal landlords of the seigneuries, from evicting their tenant farmers before the winter snows had melted. In law, this date was set as May 1. Later, this evolved into a requirement that urban leases begin on May 1 and end on April 30. There are still laws protecting renters in Quebec from eviction during the winter.In 1973, during the Quiet Revolution, the government decided that it would be better to move Moving Day to the summer, so that students would not have to move during the school year. The law changed Moving Day to July 1 as of 1974.

There is no longer a set fixed term for leases, but standardized government rental contracts are based around the July 1st moving day. The Quebec Government, through the Ministry of Housing (Régie du logement), regulates all rental contracts. Many people may also have 'off the books' rental agreements and their terms may be more flexible in terms of when a lease begins and ends. However, if there is ever a dispute between a landlord and tenant and there is an 'off the books' leasing agreement, the "Régie" will almost always rule in favour of the tenant and they may fine the landlord. A tenant who signs a private lease document that is not a standard government form and is not filed with the Régie, is not bound by the terms of an off the books lease and can choose to end the lease if they want to get out of it, because the contract is not considered valid by the government.

People in Quebec are free to enter into a rental contract at any time in the year, however, a one year lease will usually expire on July 1 (because it can't expire during the winter). A house may be sold at any time in the year. The majority of all rental contracts in Quebec start or end on July 1.

This year about 200,000 households moved on July 1, corresponding to 6% of the population of Quebec.

"Moving Day" is a boon for commercial moving companies, and people often must reserve their services at least three months in advance. During this period, moving companies work around the clock, with moving charges often being three times the normal rate.

In Montreal, where about 60% of people rent their accommodation, Moving Day is particularly busy. The difficulty of moving is further complicated because, by convention, most Montreal landlords do not provide their tenants with a refrigerator or stove, meaning that tenants are forced to bring theirs with them. Also, exterior staircases leading up to second, third, or even fourth-storey apartments are common, in part because historically this reduced the size of buildings and therefore decreased the owner's property taxes. These staircases are often narrow, curved, and metal – not ideal for non-professionals carrying major appliances.

Cities also schedule extra garbage and recycling pickups for this period to deal with unwanted furniture and empty boxes left beside the road. Despite the extra pickups, heaps of garbage can be seen everywhere in Montreal during the weeks leading to July 1 and the weeks after it. It's a haven for people who like to drive around and collect people's discarded stuff. In a city like Montreal, the effect of thousands of people all moving on the same day, makes the city look like it is undertaking a refugee evacuation.

I appreciate the irony that moving day happens to fall on Canada Day, and Quebec nationalists want the province to ‘move’ out of Canada.

It's absolutely ridiculous that everyone moves on the same day, but part of the culture here in Quebec.

10 Years on the Web 1997-2007

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 10:14:00 +0000

I've been so busy lately that I almost forgot to post the fact that I have had a website up for 10 years. My current site and domain name 'mike-pereira.com' was set up in the summer of 2002. My first web page was posted (and I looked this up in my archives) on September 21, 1997 when I was a student at the University of Western Ontario.

I thought about making a tribute page. I could have spent some time doing fancy graphics, but I think the best way for me to mark 10 years of website history is to put up this simple page, a few links, and write about my experience over the years.

The world wide web started to be popular, at least on university campuses all over Canada, around 1994. At that time I was beginning my first year. I logged onto the web from the Social Science Computer Lab. The university's own web page had recently been launched. Previous to that various departments and the library system had begun to migrate from their Telent pages. I was fascinated with the new medium. I could see right away that it had the potential to make computer communication accessible to the masses. At the time the mainstream media were starting to pick up on the 'Internet.'

The new hyper text mark-up language (HTML) was fascinating. It was a simple command based language, similar to a macro program. It would instruct a program called a 'browser' to display text and images called from basically a text file with a '.htm' extension. You could decorate the page with formatting commands and you could insert pictures by linking to gif or jpeg image files. The cool thing about a website is the ability to link to other pages on the Internet. I had some background in computer programming from high school and played extensively with BBS's, Telnet, and such. It was not long before I began to examine HTML and think about putting up my own website.

In the early days finding an ISP was not easy and not cheap. My first website was the one I designed for the Social Science Student's Council in 1995. It took until 1997 for UWO to finally offer free web space to all students. Previous to that server, space was only available to academic departments, faculty, students organizations, a few grad students, and some undergrads in select departments. By 1996 free web hosting companies such as Geocities opened up, but I did not like the format. Finally, in the summer of 1997 the university provided the entire student population with the opportunity to post their own web sites. There was a bureaucratic application process and a huge 'acceptable use' document we had to sign. The biggest hold-up in allowing students to post personal websites was not technological but rather the many legal questions that could arise from student web pages. I was one of the first students to get signed up for a personal page in the summer of 1997.

I keep everything backed up somewhere. Hey, I have just about every document I've ever written on a computer backed up some place, going back to grade 9. It was no surprise that I kept a copy of my first personal webpage. It's very primitive. I simply modified the template page that UWO I.T.S. set up. Over the next few months I built a much slicker page, added graphics, frames, animations, and whatnot.

I chronicle the development of my website in a "History" document linked from the home page of my website. Read through it for more details.

After graduating from UWO in 1998, I moved my website to space offered by my internet service provider at the time. I then transferred the site to web space provided by George Washington University when I was a graduate student. It was then that I began thinking about a more permanent home for my website and I registered a domain name, got set up with a good host and built up the site since. Actually, there were big periods of neglect because I was busy with school and work, but hey, I'm not making money on my website.

Mostly, my personal site has been a place to test out new technology and to park stuff, like documents and files for my friends via FTP portals and such. It is also a really good way to host a CV and post documents I have written. There is also a photo gallery. I built mine myself before there were readily accessible photo hosting programs and before I had a digital camera, so it was time consuming to maintain. Imagine scanning photos, resizing them and cropping them to the web in Photoshop, making thumbnails, then building a webpage from a template to post the images? Now I use various programs to manipulate my photos and build the thumbnail galleries. I set up this blog on Blogger but with RSS I am able syndicate the content back to my personal website, so now the site gets updated regularly.

Well, that's the ten year history of my website.

Canadian Dollar = US Dollar

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 15:42:00 +0000

On September 21, 2007 it was the first full day where the Canadian Dollar was valued at or above the US dollar for the first time in over 30 years. It's a big news story both economically and politically. There are two sides to the issue. Those who export Canadian goods to the US don't like it because they can’t benefit from the artifical low value of their exports when converted into USD. The tourism sector in Canada, even the film industry may take a hit. Although for everyone else who buys things from the US, it is awesome. Another effect is that most people become shockingly aware how much we pay for stuff in Canada when the same item costs much less in the US than it does in Canada. There may be a number of reasons for this, taxes being among them. One thing many people like about dollar parity is not economic but rather a sense of patriotism and national pride. I feel happy that our dollar is worth something. No more jokes about the "Canadian Peso" and "Monopoly Money," Our dollar is worth something in the international community. Our country has been ranked in the top 10 of many international lists for best standard of living. That's great and all, but many people, myself included, have a smug grin because now our money is up there as well. I don’t know how long the trend will last. I also know that compared to the Euro and other currency both CDN and USD are not exactly that well placed. The sluggish US economy that is causing the drop in the greenback may eventually drag other economies down if Americans spend less money.

Politically there was a time when a Canadian Prime Minister would have taken grief in the media for a lower dollar and taken praise for a higher one. Since the dollar dropped to a low of $0.60 USD not longer than six years ago, the PM of the day shirked responsibility. Today's PM is not taking credit for the strong dollar either. It's a political non-issue because the rise and fall is attributed to economic factors. Regardless of who takes the credit or blame, there may be a political impact in society becasue if we have a perception of wealth, there will be a push for government to spend more. Although, when we see how much tax we pay compared to goods in the US, there will also be a push to cut taxes. All very interesting dynamics, but I don't feel like going into a discussion about that at this point.

As for me, I may be inclined to buy a few things online from the US, provided the shipping costs are worth it, and take advantage of our new $1CDN=$1USD dollar.

Proposed Plastic Bag Tax

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 03:44:00 +0000

The Quebec government is floating a trial balloon with the proposal of taxing the plastic bags we now get for free at stores and supermarkets. They are thinking about a $0.20 cent tax on each bag. From what I hear in the media a similar scheme was tried in Ireland and they say it cut plastic bag use by over 50%.

As with any new tax I am a bit suspicious of the motive. Before I rip into the proposed new tax, it is worth mentioning that the idea has some positive points. I happen to be conscious of environmental issues. I recycle, bike to work, use public transit, and I bring in my own cloth bags when I go shopping for groceries. Plastic bags are bad for the environment, no doubt. The plastic can accumulate in a landfill without breaking down for centuries. After a week of shopping, if I don't use my own cloth bags, I can easily pile up 10 or more plastic bags. They even double bag them if I have heavy items. When I do get plastic bags I use them as a garbage bags for my non recyclables or for storing things. I try to give them a second or third use before they are used for trash. I can accumulate so many bags with one visit to a grocery store that even with the use of my own canvas bags, my supply of plastic will not run out any time soon. I get two plastic bags in my mailbox every week containing store flyers. A measure to make people more responsible for what they throw away could be a good thing.

Cynically though, governments today are always looking at new ways to tax. They can’t help it. Voters want more social programs but don't want to pay more taxes. Raising the sales tax or income tax would be very unpopular. Taxing a particular consumption, a 'sin tax,' works. Tax alcohol, tobacco, restaurant food, gas, and it is easier to get away with. Politicians see the increasing awareness about the need to protect the environment, and they use that public sentiment to justify all sorts of new taxes. That’s why we pay so much for gasoline. It is more palatable to voters. As an added bonus, the Quebec government can avoid following through with more onerous environmental commitments, while still saying they did something for the environment by reducing plastic bag consumption. In the grand scheme of environmental problems, plastic bags are a small part of pollution. So this will end up being another tax.

Looking at both sides, and considering what is reported to have happened in other places where they tried this, I think the idea is worth a try. It will probably reduce bag consumption. If you have to pay for it you will be prompted to modify your behaviour the next time you get your groceries. But I still think it is a sneaky way to make me pay more tax.

Anyway, that's my 20 cents worth. Would you like a bag with that?

The Importance of Backing Up Your Data

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 21:55:00 +0000

I am paranoid about redundancy and backing stuff up. I go to great lengths in my preoccupation with data preservation. For some of my friends it is a running joke, but they stop laughing whenever their computers crash and they loose data. I have three separate internal hard drives and two external drives plus two USB data keys. I make duplicate copies (mirrors) of important data on a different drive in between external backups. I copy a snapshot of my data to DVD bi-monthly or more frequently if I have more new content such as photos.

My PC itself is also hooked up to a UPS, with a secure auto shutdown program to ensure the machine is both clean from electricity surges and that in case of a power outage there is a smooth shutdown. Then there is redundancy. The main backup CDs/DVDs are at my place, I also make duplicates and leave them at my parents place in Ontario, at my relatives house here in Montreal, at my grandparents place, and with buddies in Toronto and the United States. We sometimes swap duplicate backups [inter-regional redundancy]. If there was something we thought private on the backups, we use PGP to encrypt the disk, but generally the disks are open.

Then I store important information on the secure FTP storage space my ISP provides for my website. The server is actually housed in California, with mirrors on the US East Coast and Mid-West. My ISP allows me several gigs of storage. The storage space for my website is much smaller than the space I have available. This type of data storage is handy if I am on the go and don’t have access to a CD or memory key with my data on it.

Why am I such a nut for backing up my data?

Recent natural disasters and other catastrophic events in the news have sparked many people into protecting their valuable data. My preoccupation with backing up goes father back than this. I was influenced by a high school computer science teacher who drove home the notion of backing up. During tests and exams (done in the computer lab), he would without warning throw the power switch and restart every computer. If you did not save your work you were screwed. We were writing and debugging code in a fixed amount of time, so if someone had not saved before he cut the power they lost their work. He warned us in class that he pulls this crap, people who have taken his classes in the past warned us, and so it was no surprise. But there are always those one or two dweebs in the class that forgot. Those that saved their work in time would stare disappointingly at the ashen-faced students who have just lost all their work.

For me, during the mid-term I lost about 10 minutes of work between saves, but by the final I was saving at about every line of code. I also made a backup copy just in case the cut in power messed up the file. During that final exam I saved just before he threw the switch and did not lose anything. I remember that 5 students in the class lost an hour’s worth of work, which messed up their final marks. Since then and after witnessing numerous pitiful incidents where my friends lost valuable data to viruses and crashes, I have been preoccupied with backing up.

This article exists in MS Word (on my hard drive and on DVD backups) as an HTML article, and as a syndicated blog posting. It is a working example of tripple redundancy. Back-up early and back-up often!

Reality TV Rant - Canadian Idol

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 03:45:00 +0000

I've started my blog back up again after months of stagnation. Right now I am playing with formats and thinking about what I should write about in the blog. After a year of experience with it I noticed that if I write political stuff I tend to want to write it like an op-ed article. I have to think too hard about what I am going to say and the blog gets to be too much work. The result is that I don't end up posting much stuff.

Then there is the reaction from my readers, some of you like reading about my various opinions, while the rest of you, and you know who you are, don't like when I talk about politics because you find the topic uninteresting. Anyway, for the next few entries I am going to try a combination of stuff, a mix of "rants of the day" and whatever else I can think of imparting.

What happened on Idol tonight?

So here is a big rant. I find guilty pleasure in watching Reality TV. From time to time I watch Canadian Idol, and the episode tonight (7 AUG 2007) is worth blogging about. The theme was songs from Queen. Great music, awesome theme. All was going well, they put in a shameless plug for some Queen music based musical in Toronto, then the results... The three best singers on the show were put on the bottom three!!! At first I thought it was a stunt to boost tension, they would take the top three and Ben Mulroney would announce all three of them were safe - no, they were on the chopping block. Then they voted out the best performer of the group from the night before! WTF? Did Ben read his queue card alright? Was the voting tabulation messed up? It was for real... Even Ben was upset... Idol voted off Greg Neufeld, also in the bottom three were Brian Melo and Carly-Rae Jepsen - the three best singers in the competition.

I think the issue could be regional based voting on the show. I notice that on this show local yokels from little hick towns in Newfoundland or from rural Saskatchewan tend to stay around longer on the show than their talent deserves. When a contestant is the only one from a smaller province, that whole region seems to rally around him or her and they tend to do really well. I have heard and read reports that they actually jam the phone lines in their towns on Idol voting nights. I guess if you are from a bigger city young people probably have other things to do than watch TV and vote for Canadian Idol, but in the hick, cheering for a home town hero is a social event. That must be what is going on. There is also a trend to weed out contestants from certain places. The "Toronto" contestants don't usually do that well either, probably because the Toronto viewers may not vote as much, or they don't rally around their 'home town' singer, but rather vote for the better performer.

Quebec singers fare the worst in the show. I know that last year, Ava, from Gatineau QC won, but I would call her a 'soft q" Quebecker. She is technically from the suburbs of Ottawa. That's the city she auditioned from. When the other Ottawa area contestants were gone, she was the Ottawa local hero and they all voted for her. That, and the fact she was one of the best singers Canadian Idol had as of then produced. Had the girl been Quebecoise from Montreal, or worse yet for her, a francophone region in the east of Quebec, forget it. No one from her home town would vote for her because they don't watch English language CTV, if they even get the channel at all without cable. She probably would not have even auditioned, opting instead for the hugely popular Star Académie. http://staracademie.ca/ That's where all the best Quebecois singing talent goes. I think a number of the top contestants on Star Académie would have the talent to win American Idol, let alone the Canadian version. I also watch Star Académie, but it's not as fun as Idol. The show is longer, more drawn out, more variety focused, while the Idol concept is more MTV, flashy, and quick. The voting people out and game show aspect is played up more, generating excitement.

Anyway, writing this blog has proved useful as an outlet where I can vent my indignation at the voters of Idol for the stupid voting decision they made this week. I await the media reaction and fallout from this.

The Blog is Back!

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 10:10:00 +0000

This is my latest entry on the blog page. It is August 2007 and my last posting was in February 2006. How time flies when you are having fun. Well, I have re-entered the blogosphere because I am testing out a bunch of new features that will sync this thing up to my web page (http://mike-pereira.com).

I was drawn back to my "blogger" account because I heard Google made some changes to the service. First they merged the login name with the Gmail name, that is convenient, having one login for all their services. The other feature they added was the ability to syndicate the blogs using RSS/ATOM. There is a cool new toy to enable the RSS feeds to display on web pages. They call it "FeedBurner". Cool. Another convenient feature I discovered, especially for lazy bloggers like me, is the ability to send a blog update by email. So the subject line becomes the Blog heading and the email body, well, becomes the blog body.

I also found another program written in PHP script that will also take an RSS feed and post it to a website. It is called CaRP. The benefits of this program are that the contents are searchable unlike a Java Script where the content dynamically links from somewhere else. So I set up these services and I have spent all night configuring the tools. This Blog entry will now be the first step in testing the new Google Blogger layout.

Content
As for the content of my future blogs, I don't know yet. The mistake I made in the past was to write each blog like an article or Op-Ed piece. That is very time consuming and difficult. Other blogs I have come across are shorter, thoughts, and opinions. They are more of a quick reaction to events. I think that way it would be more likely for me to post stuff on a more regular basis.

OK, I think that is enough sample content for now. Until the next blog.

Post Election Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Tue, 07 Feb 2006 04:30:00 +0000

The federal election happened on January 23. The result was a Conservative minority government. It’s a small victory for the Conservatives but huge in Canadian politics considering the Liberals were in power for over 12 years. I had predicted that the Conservatives may win, given the polls in the latter weeks of the election, but the outcome of another minority government was still surprising.

I think that the Conservatives have been advancing themselves incrementally over the years. Since the Reform Party split in 1988, where the right wing was separated, and the PC’s reduced to two seats in the House, the Conservatives have struggled to get back into power. In the late 1990s there was the United Alternative Movement, then the Canadian Alliance, and finally the merged Conservative Party of Canada (CPC). Stephen Harper is not that likable a character, but through hard work and focusing on policy he was able to inch his way up.

One thing must be said, I don’t think the Conservatives would have gotten as far as they did – hard work or not – had the Liberals not messed up with scandal. Right during the election campaign, more scandals, this put Paul Martin on the defensive. When the media jumped on the political scandals later on in the campaign, that turned the tide for the Conservatives and made them win.

Paul Martin was an amazing Finance Minister. I think he cold have been a good PM, but he was caught up in the infighting in his own party. I also did not like to see how he treated some of his colleagues who supported Chrétien. Namely, how his team treated Shela Copps. I think the internal rift in his party cost him. On top of that the bad Chrétien corruption legacy really cost him. But he put aside bitter partisanship and rivalry by stepping aside. A mark of a great democratic leader is the ability to put his or her ambitions aside for the good of country. George Washington was one of the first modern leaders to do this when he refused to run for a third term as President. These simple principles, ceding defeat and bipartisanship, are often what separate dictatorships from democracy. I’m proud to be a Canadian whenever I witness leaders acting in the spirit of our Parliamentary Democracy.

Now, onto my thoughts of Harper. He was sworn in as PM today. His victory speech on election night was great. I think after that speech I started to look at him differently. Previous to that, I thought of him as a mean perpetual opposition leader with a cold stare. Now, I’m starting to get used to the idea of him as PM. Just as long as the minority government keeps his more distasteful policies in check and keeps his neo-con backbenchers on a short leash. I have had a chance to read over the cabinet appointments. Some people I know, some I don’t. I don’t mind the smaller cabinet size; hopefully his cabinet will have a bigger influence in shaping policy than does his PMO.

There are some other issues that I thought about kicking around. Namely the Dingwall / Canadian Mint issue and the final Gomery report. Relics of the past administration. I’m curious to see how Harper deals with them. I hope that these will not become distractions. This new government has a lot of things to do which are more important to Canada.

In a future blog I would like to muse about a number of policy items, but for now I will end this commentary with an optimistic outlook for the new Harper government.

Pre-Election Posting

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Sun, 22 Jan 2006 16:35:00 +0000

My first posting of the new year, and just in time to comment on the election, pre-election. In the last few weeks it seems that the election has turned in favour of the Conservatives and Mr. Stephen Harper. Pundits are speculating. They say that Harper ran a good campaign and that Martin ran a sloppy campaign, relying on his strategy from the last election. This may be true, but I think all of those recent scandals that dropped during the campaign helped turn voters away from the Liberals.

First there was the alleged insider trading scandal with the Minister of Finance’s office being accused of leaking info to Liberal party friendly stockbrokers before a major government decision. Then there were rumblings of an investigation into misappropriated money the Liberal government was supposed to use for Toronto’s Harbourfront revitalization that went elsewhere. The big one was a book released by Quebec journalist Normand Lester, alleging that the Federal government clandestinely gave over $5 million to a secret group in Quebec before the 1995 referendum to promote Canada during the referendum campaign. This contribution would have been illegal under election finance laws. The group, Option Canada, was run by many now current members of Paul Martin’s inner circle. Worse yet are the lurid details of how boxes of documents proving the covert operation happened mysteriously appeared behind a dumpster of a suburban Montreal shopping mall. That whole mess did not play out well in the media. Here is a link to more Liberal party scandals: http://www.politicswatch.com/scandals-oct11-2005.html

The worst part is that Paul Martin did not handle all of this well. At first he denied it, then he was upset about it an said he would act, and then he said that the Conservatives would do the same if they were in power. That did not play well.

Where Harper ran a good campaign, Martin did not. The Liberals were unsuccessful this time in convincing Canadians that Harper is “scary” and had a hidden agenda as he shot right back with policy announcement after policy announcement, spelling out to people exactly what he would do. While he was dong that Martin was busy fending off one corruption allegation after another. I think things started to go downhill after a Liberal campaign manager got on TV to denounce a Conservative child care grant, and said that ordinary Canadians should not be given money as they will squander it on “beer and popcorn” instead of child care. That offended many people. It also set the media on an attack frenzy against the Liberals, with story after story on the issue. From that point on, the Liberals appeared to be on the defensive. Martin was even criticized over a negative ad, done in poor taste. Then the slide in the polls. The media began to focus on the surge in the polls for the Conservatives and the decline for the Liberals, This gave Harper’s Conservatives momentum.

This is the day before the election. It appears that the political landscape in Canada is going to shift. It was a long campaign and in the past few weeks a fun one to watch. This election, if Harper wins, will probably mean some updates to Political Science textbooks.

There are lots of issues that I would like to delve into, such as the effects of opinion polls in shifting voter opinion, negative ads, Quebec and Canada federalism issues, and the relationship between Canada and the US post election. I think all of these issues will be more interesting to discuss after the election, with results in hand. It will be a fun election to watch!

2005 Year End Wrap-up; The Year as I Saw it

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 04:32:00 +0000

I started this blog this summer. Looking back at what I have written, I find that I tended to write lengthy articles, but rather intermittently. While I do value crafty thought out postings over ‘stream of consciousness’ babble, looking at many other blogs, habitual postings are an element I seem to be missing. In 2006 I’m going to try to write more often, but that means shorter pieces. Well, we will see how that goes – I’m not making a New Year’s resolution here.

Anyway, here is how I saw 2005:

January: Tsunami disaster. US Election sees G.W. Bush sworn in for a second term in office. My sister gets married – family trip to Cancun Mexico!

Feb-Mar-April: JPII dies, the world mourns. God bless John Paul The Great.
Benedict XVI is elected, HABEMVS PAPAM BENEDICTVM XVI long live the new Pope.

May-June-July-August: I start this blog. Warm weather up in Montreal, record number of days with temperature over 30c. A number of powerful hurricanes ravage the south eastern part of North American, hitting the US particularly hard. Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans in August. The story though, was the lack of response by the US government.

Spt-Oct-Nov: Canadian politics heating up, opposition parties gearing for an election as the Gomery commission wraps up and delivers a preliminary report detailing Liberal party corruption in Quebec resulting from abuses in the administration of the Sponsorship Program. In November I turned 30 years old.

December: Federal election called – a winter election.

Happy New Year!

Post Halloween and Gomery Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 03:30:00 +0000

Post-Halloween

The day after Halloween and there is lots I can write about. My Halloween went well. I gave out candy to the local kids and carved my pumplin into an awesome Jack-o-Lantern. This year I went for something different. Usually I carve a variation of the standard triangle face pumpkin. Instead, I went with a Star Wars theme and carved a Storm Trooper. To make it interesting, I made my pumpkin into a female trooper with Princess Lea buns. I went out and got cinnamon buns and stuck them onto the sides of the pumpkin with tooth picks.

Since I didn’t have much time between getting home from work, carving the pumpkin, and giving out candy, I did not eat supper. The buns smelled so good. Mid way through I got the munchies and ate one of the buns. Very tasty.

Gomery Report

Halloween is supposed to be the scariest day of the year. For some members of the Liberal party, November 1st is proving to be even more scary. They released the Gomery report today. Here is a link to the Gomery page. It’s the biggest corruption scandal in Canadian history. It’s late in the evening and I don’t feel like blogging about Gomery and the Sponsorship Scandal. Perhaps next blog. Here is a link to the Gomery Inquiry and the interim report. http://www.gomery.ca/en/index.asp (The Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities, headed by Justice John Gomery).

Mike

The day before Halloween Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Mon, 31 Oct 2005 03:30:00 +0000

Pre Halloween Blog

Wow, this is the first posting I have done in October. I should call my blog “The Lazy Bolger.”
It’s the day before one of my favorite day’s of the year: Halloween. After I write this I will carve my pumpkin into a Jack-o-Lantern.

Even though there are lots of issues to talk about in Politics, I want to talk about something else. Before I do; yes, Paul Martin’s first radio address was on today. He talked about softwood lumber. Also, the mayors debate for the Montreal municipal election was on TV, so that also provides lots to talk about. My big issues are with the potholes, bike accessibility, and controlling high municipal taxes. I noticed something funny lately. Over the past three weeks all the potholes on the major arteries have mysteriously been filed. Rather cheaply though, with gravel and tar, which won’t last the winter. The mayor and his team have been under fire for the potholes throughout the election.

I’m not going to talk about all of that because I recently bought season one of the new Battlestar Galactica on DVD. And on Tuesday Nov 1st I will buy Episode III of Star Wars.

My thoughts on the Galactica series: It's more realistic, it has more depth and complexity, it has political intrigue, and it's very dark. In that respect the series is unlike the crap we were fed from the 50s to the early 80s. Has anyone noticed that shows on TV during those decades were this washed down cartoon-like crap. It was all simplistic and black and white - not just in colour of broadcast, but black and white in plot as well. The bad guys were bad and the good guys were good - period. In every episode, the heroes would always win, except for the cliff hangers, where the hero would be in trouble, to keep you in suspense - then when the cliff hanger is resolved, the hero wins big time. Some people, who are fans of that style, still yearn for that simplicity. To some extent the laugh track sitcoms of today continue to offer that.

In the 1970s Battlestar, Baltar was this cyborg, if I recall. No, my mistake, the cyborg was the main bad guy from the late 1980's series "Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future." His name was Lord Dredd (with two d's) and his evil robot was called "Blastarr." I think Star Trek the Next Generation may have borrowed from Lord Dredd when they made the Borg. Now, Baltar from Battlestar the old series was a general who betrayed the humans to the Cylons. The Cylons wanted to wipe out humanity because they thought humans were inferior. Baltar in the old series made a deal with the Cylon supreme leader to have a planet to himself if he would help the Cylon destroy the human race. Baltar was aboard the Cylon battleship and had an evil robot sidekick. I think that in about every episode the crew of the Galactica fought some Cylons, then won, and you see "Bal-Tor" angry, shaking his fist and saying "I will get you humans, some day, then cackle with an evil laugh. The show deals with a concept in Sci-Fi, that of artificial intelligence taking over and trying to wipe out all humanity. The 70’s series made it look like a chasing game.

What made people so stupid during those decades? It's not like people at the time did not have realistic writing. Several thousand years ago people like Homer, Ovid, and Cicero wrote some complex, realistic work. Then there were works in the English language such as Beowulf and the plays of Shakespeare. Granted, with the Bard there were devices, like the funny language and the theatrical tricks like muses and fools. Conventions of the day. But works like King Lear and Titus, to name a few, grappled with issues, were multi-leveled, and complex, and were also dark.

The ‘bad guy’ was sometimes the protagonist. Jumping ahead again, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's work with Sherlock Holms and Dr. Moriarty was interesting. Then you have early 20th century writers like Hemmingway. Oh yes, and the work of J. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, was still black and white in overall plot, but some of the so called good guys had shades of grey. Then we get into people like George Orwell, and Orson Wells. All this great literature to draw from and on TV they show Howdy Doody and Cowboy shows like the Lone Ranger. They have the Beaver and Ronald Regan with his stupid chimp. They even made a joke out of Batman with the Adam West TV series. Compare that to the latest Batman incarnation “Batman Begins.” Otherwise, it was a musical. Nothing screws up a story like the characters stopping in mid sentence and breading into a song and dance routine!!!

I don't think it was the shows creators who were at fault though. Look at the work of Gene Rodenberry for example. He basically wrote what became Star Trek: The Next Generation in the 1960's; the Star Trek the pilot episode. Then they turned it into Captain Kirk and the gang.

Typical Episode Synopsis from the 1960’s Star Trek TV show:

“OOooohhh, Aa (pause) AAAAaaaa (another pause) bones, BONES.... (in a whisper) b...oohnes, (moaned out in over the top agony) The P__ain, ohhh, aaaahh.”

Queue the funny theme music, move to close up face shot, beads of sweat glistening off Kirk’s forehead, his face glowing with soft light, one tear dripping down his cheek.

Stop the dramatic music, a hot chick walks in, she is glowing in soft light, wearing a silver mini skirt, her skin is blue, her hair is white in a big "bouffant" hairdo. Fade into the happy/hot chick music with the harps and flutes.

She says in a child like voice: "Pain, pain, what is this pain you speak of Cap-tin Kirk? I am Voltara, Queen of the Dominion of Pleasure. Submit to us and I shall make you feel good."

Kirk, with a gleam in his eye, moves towards her. She kills an expendable ensign by tapping a big blinking red button on her silver cufflink. After a funny noise that goes "doing," the crewman becomes a pile of blue dust. Kirk throws everyone for a loop by kissing her, it shorts her programming, she freezes with a dumb look on her face. One of her associates, this time a blue man in an oversized jumpsuit and tin foil on his head walks in. Kirk picks a fight with him, there is a tussle. From far away, they pummel each other, you see what appears to be a fat stunt double in a cheep wig and Kirk outfit throw fake punches at the alien. The fight music breaks out. More blue men walk in but Spock gives them all the “Vulcan Nerve Pinch,” his signature move. Kirk wins the fight, his shirt has been torn off and he is sweaty. His only injury appears to be a small trickle of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.

They are now surrounded by dozens more blue people. Spock calculates the odds of their survival, Bones tells him to shut up. Kirk tries to reason with them, Spock says that it is illogical, the creatures can not be reasoned with.

Bones says "Damn it Jim, I'm not a gynecologist, I'm a Doctor, you can't make out with all those Alien women yourself and think you won't catch something." Kirk goes up to another blue woman, puts his hands to her cheek, the soft light is on Kirk again, he gives them an emotional and rousing speech. In it, Kirk breaks the prime directive by teaching the alien race about "love" and that their sacred doctrine "wee pleebnista" means "We (long pause) the People." He teaches them about the American way - FREEDOM!. He teaches the blue women to "show love for" the blue men. The alien race then becomes their friends. Scotty beams the away team to the ship.

On the bridge, Spock says that the reason they escaped is because Kirk shorted out their alien mind control device called the "Abomanatrix." Kirk says, no, it was human emotion, love, that saved the day. Bones says an insult to Spock, Kirk laughs, fade to credits.

It was not until the mid 1980's with people like Cameron Crow and Jerry Bruckheimer, who started making those gritty action flicks, when TV Sci-Fi started getting more serious - but not before they filled it up with gratuitous violence and sex. Now, TNG and B5 were the start of our current trend of intelligent Sci-FI on TV

That's my take.

Mike

End of Summer, Star of Parliamentary Fun!

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Mon, 26 Sep 2005 15:55:00 +0000

A quick post, but a few thoughts I was pondering.

First, my thoughts on the hurricane problem in the US. Wow, they got hit and hit again a second time. This time around the evacuation plans were better. Fortunately the damage was less than anticipated. It’s amazing though how long it takes to evacuate a major US city and then to repopulate it again. This is not the first time the region was hit by weather. I read a piece on CNN which had an interactive map with a timeline of storms ranked by “Top 10” in terms of strength, body count, and destruction in dollar value. That chart catalogued storms since 1900. I wonder openly why people are allowed to build in dangerous areas? And if they are, should there be mandatory building codes to reduce the destruction when a disaster does hit? I know that in many municipalities in Canada, building is not allowed on flood plains, and where they can’t help it, the region invests in countermeasures. It costs the taxpayers less for prevention than it does for disaster recovery.

Well, summer is officially over. I don’t have an exciting “Summer Wrap-Up” as I did not do that much which was exciting this summer. It was a nice season, weather wise. Very hot this year, with more than 20 days with over 30c temperature. This is unusual for this region of Canada and the Montreal area. Last year we had something like four or five over 30c days. Is our warmer weather and monster storm activity south of the border related somehow to global warming? Another open question.

Fall brings with it the start of school, but also the start of Parliament. The first session was today. There are a number of loaded issues going on, which I am sure will fuel topics for my blog. The most significant event happening though is the retirement of Adrian Clarkson and the installation of the new Governor General, Michaëlle Jean. She will become Canada's 27th Governor General on September 27, 2005. Ther GG’s websie is: http://www.gg.ca/. It was a controversial decistion. Not because she is an immigrant black woman from Quebec, but because she and her husband have been linked to Quebec separatists. She dismissed this by denying links to separatists and affirming her loyalty to Canada in a speech. She also renounced her French citizenship so she could become Commander and Chief of Canada’s armed forces (she had dual citizenship with Canada and France). The position is ceremonial and highly symbolic, but none the less important. I will dig up some links to some interesting discussions on the topic.

Well, with the politicians back at work there should be lots more for me to chat about other than the weather in the US. Another big issue that lots of people have been ranting about is gas prices. As for me, I don’t really care that much, because I drive a bicycle or take the metro, which is hydro-electric powered.

That’s it for today.

Update on the Hurricane

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Sun, 04 Sep 2005 05:22:00 +0000

When you armchair quarterback you don't get to see all the variables on the field of play.  A few days have passed since the natural disaster hit the US South and I had time to talk to people about what went on and to digest the news coverage.

In my previous blog I was critical of those who had the means to leave, were told to leave, but did not leave.  I have not been critical of those who wanted to leave but for lack of means could not.   I had no idea of the scope and circumstances preventing a full evacuation of the area.

Evaluating this recent situation I ask who are the real idiots?   It looks like the authorities in the US are for their lack of foresight and planning.

Facts:  New Orleans is a city below sea level.  It is a region that is in the path of hurricanes and tropical storms, and has the potential to get hit every year.  Authorities (municipal, state, and federal) knew about the storm beforehand, for several days in fact.  They knew for a while that the levies holding back water from flooding the city of New Orleans were in disrepair and could not survive a powerful storm.

Louisiana, as well, is known to be one of the most corrupt states in the US.  The state is the subject of countless investigations by federal authorities.  Bribery and corruption at the municipal and state level run rampant.  That translates into people being able to bribe local officials to ignore building codes.  At a higher level, some corrupt politicians squander infrastructure money and use it for other expenses while vital systems weaken and fall into a state of disrepair.  When times are good, they party like it’s Mardi Gras.  Like all third world corrupt societies, however, when a crisis hits, we see very vividly the breakdown in order, the failure of infrastructure, and the damage that corruption and neglect result in.

An issue I brought up in the previous posting was an aspect of American culture that permits restricting authorities from compelling people to leave their property in an emergency.  One problem was that an evacuation warning was sounded, but no mandatory evacuation was put into effect.

The evacuation situation, it appears, is only a symptom of deeper problems that are now becoming visible in this situation.

The images we are seeing on TV make people do a double take.  If the ticker at the bottom of the screen did not read ‘New Orleans, United States’ the images can pass for a disaster in some third world region of Africa or the Caribbean.  Most of the faces in those images are of African Americans, who are visibly poor.  It is shameful that these images are coming from the most wealthy and powerful nation in the world.

There is a huge divide in the southern US between rich and poor and black and white.  It’s a case where many of the southern whites are rich or have means and the blacks are impoverished and live in sub standard conditions compared to elsewhere in the nation.

Americans, sadly, are watching this tragedy unfold through the filter and sanitization of national corporate television network news.  It appears that the US networks filter out the rough parts and dull criticism of the administration.  Having lived in the US, I am aware that many Americans, especially those who subscribe to right wing political views, live their lives with a constant filter to the misery suffered by those in their own country.  They don’t see it, they don’t want to see it, and they dismiss it as not their problem.  This indifference, many on the left argue, is contributing to the current misery resulting from this tragedy.  I have the benefit of watching Canadian TV, in English and French, as well as the BBC.  The Francophone media are harder hitting in their examination of the US.  They have been critical of the US administration, have aired rather graphic footage of the devastation, and have aired and given voice to the complaints raised by the African American community about this situation.

Some questions Canadians are asking:

Why is the rescue effort taking so long?  On the news it looks like a scene out of a third world country?   It has been a week into the disaster and still minimal relief.  What are state and federal authorities doing?

Some are stating that US troop resources in Iraq have weakened their capacity at home.

Why are the authorities reacting as they are, with a shoot to kill policy?  I’ve heard some right wing pundits explain that the reason for the disorder was that many drug addicts, and criminal gangs, were panicking and creating lawlessness and that was keeping away relief agencies.

The reality we have seen is compounded misery:  No water, no food, no electricity, temperatures over 40c with no air conditioning, flooded homes saturated with filthy water, streets rotting with bodies, and people crammed into dry higher ground with no shelter.

Why were the news media and the politicians able to be there so quickly, but not the relief workers?

Some are saying that already well off and mostly white people, may get rich from government aid and reconstruction, while the poor will continue to be in misery.

That appears to be what many Canadians are openly speculating, especially in the Canadian English and French media.

My last observation:  Why was there not a plan in effect for this?  No tent cities, no shelters in high school gyms, no stockpile of supplies in higher ground.  No plan in place.

Politically, this mess is another slight against the Republicans.  The unimpressive situation with the war in Iraq is not helping the US right wing that much.  Stupid comments from ultra-right fundamentalist Christian televangelists don’t help the Republican cause either.  Can the Democrats capitalize on these issues and change the political will in the country?

Lots to think about.

August wrap-up and my thoughts on Hurricane Katrina

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Thu, 01 Sep 2005 00:42:00 +0000

The last day of August and the coming of Labour Day marks the end of the Summer season. This year, summer seemed to go by quickly. For me it was not that eventful. One thing I did notice was the weather and the temperature. It was unseasonably hot in Montreal. Normally we get about 3 or 4 days all summer where it’s over 30c. This summer we got a few weeks of hot humid temperature in the 30s. Global warming???

Well, to cap off the season, hurricane Katrina made herself felt. While the devastation in Louisiana and the US Gulf Coast was profound, we are now feeling after effects of the storm up here. It’s been about two days since the storm hit there, and it’s remnants, in the form of a Tropical Depression, made themselves felt here in the form of driving rain and strong winds. It poured rain all night and all day today. Another way we are feeling the after effects are at the gas pumps. Fortunately for me I don’t drive a car in the city, but for those that do, they are forking out $1.20/L for gas!!! I’ll leave griping about the cost of fuel for another blog.

Perhaps it is still too soon in the aftermath to bring up this point, but I’m thinking it now so I will put it to digital paper. Over 80 people died in the storm in the US and counting.

Why?

I’ve noticed that the US, apart from “third word” countries with crappy infrastructure, has the highest casualty rates among other industrialized nations when they are afflicted with natural disasters. One big reason is that authorities in the US allow citizens “freedom” to stay with their property during a crisis. They issued a warning a few days before the storm. Everyone should have left the place given this notice. If they did not have the means to leave, the local authorities provided emergency shelters. From reading the headlines, all those that went to a shelter or who evacuated are fine. [ I must note some exceptions, a few frail and/or elderly people died of natural causes brought on by the stress of the situation, but this is not their fault or preventable by the authorities].

To be clear, I’m criticizing the able bodied, mobile, but stupid people who chose to weather the storm and ignore the warnings. They stayed behind and were inured by debris or flooded by the storm serge. These deaths and injuries were preventable. Watching this, I can see a big difference between American culture and that of Canada as well as Europe. When we are struck with big disasters here in Canada and the authorities give the order to evacuate, the authorities make sure it is carried out. There are always the stragglers. They are the ones who are featured in the newscasts, as they are dragged from their homes by police, sometimes literally kicking and screaming. Actually, this happened last week during the forest fires in BC. The authorities sounded an evacuation order, and a few holdouts who refused to leave their homes were forcibly dragged out and stuffed in police vans and taken to safety. If they had stayed they would have been dead. Worse yet, these stragglers compel rescuers to come save their sorry asses when they finally decide to ask for help. That puts the lives of other people in danger.

Another reason why Canada and many European nations force evacuation is to prevent looting by those left behind. If everyone is out of there and only authorities are left to guard the place, then the other evacuees have piece of mind that their stuff will still be there if the disaster leaves their property intact. A major reason people stay behind in the US is to stop looting.

I’ve talked with people who are stalwart advocates of personal freedom and property rights who agree with the American model. If someone wants to stay with their property, the government should have no right to compel them to leave their homes they argue. Their freedom is more important than their lives.

I tend not to see it that way. After a major disaster, compassion, and a sense of responsibility for the plight of their fellow citizens, compels the authorities to look for these idiots and offer them aid after the fact. One way or the other they will have to be evacuated from their homes. Doing it in an orderly way before hand is safer and less costly than going in on boats or with helicopters to pluck idiots from their rooftops.

Now for the past few paragraphs I have called some of the holdouts “idiots” because they chose to stay behind. What amazes me about this recent storm is the sheer number of people who did not leave or seek emergency shelter.

Another sub-topic that comes to mind, after a major disaster like this, is the question of whether or not people should be permitted to live near or on flood plains for example?

Perhaps the tragedy is too fresh to start this line of ranting, but in about a week, these issues will once again be the talk of US and Canadian news shows. And if another hurricane should hit the US, it is a certainty that the holdouts will still try to weather the storm by tying their trailer homes to trees, hiding under their cars or bathtubs, or climbing onto their roofs during a flood.

That’s my summer rant!

More Biking than Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 04:18:00 +0000

As of this post, I've written two times this month. Well, I have been busy this summer.

This past weekend, in particular, I was part of a bike marathon from Montreal, Quebec to Cornwall, Ontario. The tour was organized by Vélo Québec as part of a fund raising campaign for the MS Society. www.mssociety.ca/qc/velotourEn.htm All together it was 160 KM over two days, 80 KM per day. The first day of the tour was Saturday August 27th. The bike ride back was Sunday August 28th.

We started the tour early Saturday morning from a staging ground at a high school, located in a small town off the island of Montreal. The weather was great both days, but after a few hours on a bike seat, the pace became grueling. I rode with two colleagues from work. There were over 1000 participants in the rally. Our team objective was for all of us to finish the tour, rather than race, as it was a fund raising event. My average time was about 4 hours (not including rest-stop time), as I took a more relaxed pace to accompany my teammates. While we were not racing, we did keep a steady pace of about 15 to 20 kph. In all it was a great weekend ride for a good cause. Visit the above link for more info on the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada and the particular event.

The tour itself was run by Quebec’s best bike club “Vélo Québec” They run many biking events in addition to being a lobby group for cyclists rights in Montreal at the civic level as well as the provincial level. The rallies they work on are well done. They mark the trails, they have volunteers guiding the cyclists at key intersections or turnoffs, they have rest stations with drinks and snacks, they secure the cooperation of local law enforcement with traffic control where needed, and they are good at getting corporate sponsors to hand out goodies to the participants.

This particular event had some snags, such as running out of Gatorade a few times. At one rest stop they ran out of bottled water and I had to grab a juice box instead. I always keep my own supply of water just in case, but other participants were upset. Again, a lot depends on how good the volunteers are at executing the plan. Overall, I had a great time while building strength and stamina from yet another bike tour. Earlier this summer I went on the “Tour de l’Isle.”

Well, I took some photos of this weekend's event and will post a few when I have a moment.

Mike

Toronto Air Crash Lawsuits, The Russian Mini-Sub, and the Space Shuttle

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Tue, 09 Aug 2005 22:26:00 +0000

What an eventful few weeks we have had. The end of July and beginning of August usually succumb to the stereotype of being the “lazy hazy days of summer.” The days are hot and hazy in Eastern Canada, with temperatures consistently peaking over 30c.

Last week an Air France jet skidded off the runway in Toronto, and everyone got out alive! That type of survival rate is not usually something we read about. Two factors, in my opinion helped the situation; first, they were lucky that the circumstances of the crash permitted them time to escape and second, the crew were efficient and professional. They got the passengers out just before the plane burned to the ground after the crash.

The big issue now is the pending legal battle

Now, after a crash like that, when people got around to thinking about it, the talk of lawsuits began. Some argue that the passengers should count their blessings that they were not seriously hurt and not join in a lawsuit. In my opinion I think that those who are pursuing legal action are justified to do so. Critics of the Air France lawsuits cite openly that they revile the plethora of frivolous lawsuits in the US, brought on by “ambulance chasing” attorneys. In this case, however, the victims of the Toronto Air France crash are entitled to seek compensation for damages they suffered. Yes, the majority of people got out without a scratch. On the other hand, they escaped with only the cloths on their backs. Their baggage and carry on possessions were destroyed. May were tourists whose documentation and cash was torched. If you have ever had to replace missing documentation, let alone all of it; that can be a hassle. Then there are the logistical costs of getting wired money, paying for emergency lodging in the case of those who missed connecting flights, as well as those who had to scrap their vacations and return home because they were too traumatized to continue their vacation. These are some of the material damages, the real monetary costs. The psychological damages are also a reality. While the crew on the flight did their job, the corporation of Air France and the ground crew seemed to lack service. Disoriented passengers wandered onto the highway 401. Neither the Airport authorities nor the carrier, it was reported, took steps to help those with no cloths, lodging, or cash. Passengers were made to fend for themselves in those first few hours. The lawsuit is not an indictment against the Air France crew, but a rightful claim for damages against the corporation and its insurance company. In the days ahead when investigators look over the situation and lay blame, the scope of responsibility will widen. I have no objection to the pending lawsuits – good for the passengers!

The Russian Mini-Sub

I didn’t hold my breath over this drama. It’s good that all got out and that Russian officials tempered their arrogance and allowed others to help. A mini Kirsk disaster was not repeated, thankfully. The drama would make for an interesting submarine movie. Perhaps directed by Jerry Bruckheimer? That would be cool.

Space Shuttle

I was closely watching the latest foray into space by NASA and the plight of the Space Shuttle Discovery and crew. I am prowd of the “Canadarm” and the contributions Canada has made to this mission. It was a sad time for space exploration in February 2003. Now NASA is back, albeit one small step at a time. Future missions are grounded until they can figure out the problem with the foam striking the shuttles tiles. I was up this morning and watched the live broadcast eagerly as the shuttle touched down safely in California. I have a keen interest in space flight as I am an avid Sci-Fi fan. We can’t get to Star Trek if we don’t continue with space exploration today. Well… “live long and prosper!” <>

Blogging and Privacy Issues

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Wed, 27 Jul 2005 03:23:00 +0000

I'm Back to Blogging After a Short Pause

Hi all,
This has been the longest pause in my online writing thus far since I started this blog. It’s not that there is a shortage of topics, but rather it’s a question of what I want to talk about and what I want to say about what I talk about.

A few weeks back I came across a story on CNN, which also circulated on the newswires, warning of the dangers of spilling one’s thoughts and opinions of the day into the public domain through the internet. Read the article "Bloggers learn the price of telling too much ." I have been warned many times that whatever someone writes on the internet could stay online somewhere as an archive and may resurface inopportunely at a later date. This is especially the case when a teenager pours his or her inner-most thoughts into their blog thinking only their friends can read it. Then they find out that not only had their parents read their virtual diary, but so have half the students at their high school, and even school officials.

The achievability factor of published work has long been true for print. After publication, copies will always circulate. When those go, most publications are indexed on microfilm and stored in archives. Over the past 15 years major dailies have been scanned and indexed by massive periodical indexing databases such as Lexus Nexus. These archives will stay around for generations. In the case of written publications a person usually has to write their best and submit the article with some degree of thought behind it. This is true because the article has to pas the editorial filter in order to get published. This is not the case with self published work such as the text in this blog.

Beware the Google Factor

If I have an article published in a newspaper or magazine, someone would have to be a good researcher to pull it off a periodical index when months or years have elapsed since its first publication. Even to search for the article on the web, most magazines or dailies make their older archives private to all but paying subscribers. However, with smaller publications or self publications such as blogs, anyone can keyword my name or correlate it with a subject using Google, and possibly pull up my musings with ease.

In the United States and to some extent in Canada, when someone voices a strong political opinion, that they may later moderate; opposition researchers can bring it back at them. A political attack, using someone’s long forgotten comments from their college paper against them, is more likely to occur in the US during an election race, or during those nasty nomination hearings American politicians are fond of.

In Canada I have not seen that type of attack done to such an extent. In fact even at the highest level, a high ranking member of the opposition party, for example, can turn an about face, switch political parties, and become a cabinet minister in the governing parties government. The politician can even “forget” that they ever advocated for a position on something, even though they repeated it dozens of times both before the national media and in speeches in the House of Commons.

Hey, if that’s possible in Canada, I should not preoccupy myself with a few errant political musings put fourth in my not so significant blog.
Mike

Events to blog about

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 03:20:00 +0000

It’s been about a week since my last posting, but what a week. After my bike accident a number of people told me to stop biking because they said it was not safe. Take the Metro they said. I do take public transportation in the winter; but when the weather is great I value my 10 KM bike ride to work and the cumulative 20K I bike daily. It’s healthy cardio exercise, it’s affordable transportation, it’s fun, and it’s good for the environment. So after one day of not riding the day after my accident, when I was well enough, I got back in the saddle, albeit slowly, and rode to work. I’m almost all healed now, but I’m taking it slowly and keeping a sharper eye on traffic.

Biking to work in Montreal may not be that safe, but then last Thursday public transportation didn’t seem so safe anymore after the attack on London in the UK. Another SPT11 type of attack. It was horrible news. I have friends in the UK and thankfully they are all OK. This incident and the one in Madrid the year before put the spotlight on the safety of Canadian mass public transportation. I still think Canada is a safe country, but I hope the authorities act with vigilance and not after the fact. Hey, I got to ride the metro this winter so they had better make it safer.

Now for some good news, the NHL strike is over!!! Hockey Night in Canada is on again. While I don’t side fully with the owners, as I have sympathy for the players; when it comes to Canadian teams, the owners have some valid points. If they can’t keep salaries in check, more Canadian teams could be lost because the smaller markets can’t afford any of the best players. As for the game of hockey, I think it survived this. The part of hockey where spectators watch professionals play took a nasty body check but even that will pick up and skate on given some time.

Another piece of good news; Canadian cows can now be moooved to the US. Borders are now open to live Canadian cattle entering the US market. That news may not be good for the cows who are going to be turned into burgers, but it’s great news for Canadian farmers. Many Alberta farmers had the slogan complaining of the “BS” in the BSC crisis. Environmentalists and animal rights activists may not be that content in the decision though. I hope that the Canadian government learns from this and continues to take Mad Cow seriously. My beef in this whole fiasco is that through the entire US ban, a mounting surplus of Canadian meat, and with that entire government subsidy going to farmers, the price of a steak never went down, in fact it went up. Someone is making a huge buck off of this and that makes me angry.

Speaking of the environment, one last point, I think that global warming theory may have some force behind it. In Montreal and across much of the North Eastern part of North America we are experiencing very warm temperatures. We had more than a dozen days where the temperature was over 30c. Usually in Montreal we get about four or five days like that the entire summer. It’s still early July! 25c is nice, but 30+ with humidity sucks.
That’s all for now

Wear a bike helmet; it may save your life!

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Tue, 05 Jul 2005 04:40:00 +0000

I had a great Canada Day long weekend. The week ahead looked promising; great weather and lots to do in Montreal. That changed for me on July 4th at around 9:45 AM local time as I was on my morning commute to work by bike. I was hit by a car about 10 blocks or 5 minutes from work. I’ll spare the suspense. I’m alive because I survived to tell about it in this blog. No broken bones and the bike is OK.

The details:

I was biking at about 20 KPH, slightly downhill, on the right hand side of the road, obeying all the traffic laws. A car came at me from behind and I believe its passenger side mirror snagged the back of my bike, causing me to knock against the car. I body checked the passenger side door and the vehicle dragged me with it for a bit, until I lost balance and was thrown off my bike. I hit the road and slid on the asphalt to a stop. In Montreal, bikes are not permitted on the sidewalk. We must ride at the right hand side of the road with traffic. Additionally, on many streets there are parked cars on either side of the road. In this case, a big truck was parked on the road, causing me to move out of its way. The car that hit me was at fault because he came too close to me, sandwiching me between him and the parked truck. It was the drivers fault. It happened very quickly. I had a good fall and my gear protected me for the most part. I got up quickly, and biked away as soon as I fixed my derailed chain.

I was wearing a bike helmet. Previous to this accident, I have never hit my head on the road when I fell. This time my head smacked against the pavement. Had I not worn a helmet, I would have had serious injuries. The leather padding of my bike gloves saved my palms, and the long sleeves of my bike shirt spared my arms more damaging scrapes.

I went to a health clinic and the doctor checked me out. No concussion, no stitches needed. Only scrapes and bruises. I was advised to throw out my helmet and get a new one, because the impact of the fall damaged it. The mechanic at the local bike shop checked out my machine and other than scratches and knocked out bar ends, it’s not damaged. Mostly, I just slid. Fortunately, I did not get hit by other vehicles behind me. I survived this one but it has taught me the value of a bike helmet.

I am an avid cyclist, and when my bruised body heals up I hope to continue to bike.

I will let the photos tell the rest of the story.

Mike

Canada and US: Widening the Cultural Divide

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Thu, 30 Jun 2005 00:07:00 +0000

The United States and Canada share many similarities, however, in terms of political culture, it seems there is a gap and it is widening. One recent and obvious difference is that Canada did not take part in the war in Iraq. That sparked the ire of many right wing US pundits. Canada legalizes the use of medical marijuana. The US Supreme Court recently ruled that Federal laws regulating narcotics have paramount status over state drug policy, in effect nullifying state medicinal marijuana legalization. Canadian Parliament will soon tackle the issue of decriminalization of marijuana, in small amounts, for personal consumption.

Canada has taken yet one more step apart from the US. On June 28, 2005, we moved more to the “progressive left” as many Americans would refer to it, by passing a law to allow homosexual marriage. Meanwhile, in the US, lawmakers are contemplating a constitutional ban on homosexual marriage.

Last week the US Supreme Court handed down a ruling that sort of allows the posting of The 10 Commandments in public buildings, so long as it is of an historical or artistic nature, and not a demonstrably religious one.

I have not forgotten the long and drawn out Terri Schiavo case either. That scenario would not have happened in Canada.

Meanwhile, I came across an article written last week by AFP. One of many that highlights the ongoing fight in some states to reverse the teaching of Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Wasn’t that issue resolved after the “Scopes Monkey Trial” in the 1920’s? (Tennessee v. John Scopes, 1925) Actually, the Scopes conviction was quashed on a legal technicality, in favour of Scopes, at the State Supreme Court level. The case did not make it to the US Supreme Court. It was not until the case of Epperson v. Arkansas (1968) that the US Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional for lawmakers to use religious reasons to ban the teaching of evolution (Establishment Clause in the First Amendment that prohibits the government from setting up a national religion or favouring one over another.)

Some right wing fundamentalist Christian groups want to instead teach a reworked theory of creationism. While they can’t directly bring out the bible in public schools in the US to teach kids about Adam and Eve, due to the separation of church and state, they can however try to get around it. They label their alternative theory (to evolution) the “Intelligent Design” model.

What is fascinating to watch is how powerful some of these groups are getting. It is no longer a school board level issue. Now these emboldened groups are shaping the content in public television documentaries and even movies shown in museums such as the Smithsonian.

Here is an excerpt and reference to the AFP article on the subject:
US radicals blow their tops over volcano movie as Darwinism debate rages”AFP, June 21, 2005 (as posted on Yahoo)

Pressure from ultraconservative religious groups has prompted some theatres equipped with the high quality panoramic IMAX screens to cancel showings of several movies which refer to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. Some politically powerful religious groups dismiss the theory, despite its widespread acceptance throughout the rest of the world. Instead, they advance a hypothesis that holds that the universe is so complex that it must have been designed by an "intelligent" being, i.e. God, and is not the result of random natural selection.

Since the beginning of this year, numerous movie theatres in highly religious states in the US south have refused to show documentary films like "Cosmic Voyage,"
"Volcanos of the Deep Sea" and Galapagos" named after the islands Darwin used to showcase his theory.

From a comparative Canada and US point of view it is interesting to watch how these “cultural wars,” as some have called them, shape modern western society in the 21st century.

Mike

Brits beef ‘bout potatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Mon, 27 Jun 2005 21:45:00 +0000

I just finished work, the first Monday after a long weekend. I did not really get much done this past long weekend other than attend a concert on Friday (St. Jean-Baptiste Day), cleaning up around my apartment, and doing some groceries. It’s far from a slow news day, but I don’t feel like commenting on the big issues at the moment. I was a couch potato most of the week. While scanning the media last week I came across a little article on the CBC about couch potatoes.

It seems that people are hyper politicized and that there is just about a lobby group out there to protest everything. Some group of potato producers in the UK apparently wants people and the Oxford Dictionary to stop using the expression “Couch Potato” because it is offensive to the potato! Ha ha ha. They claim it harms the reputation of their product. I think it’s a publicity stunt aimed at selling more spuds. Here is a clip from the article:

Ban 'couch potato' from dictionary, spud farmers demand
Mon, 20 Jun 2005, CBC News

British spud farmers protested outside Parliament Monday to demand that the term "couch potato" be taken out of the Oxford English Dictionary, saying the description is harmful to the vegetable's image.

A group of about 30 farmers carried signs reading "couch potato out" and "ban the term couch potato."

The farmers have the backing of the British Potato Council, which wants the expression replaced with the term "couch slouch."

"The potato industry are fed up with the disservice that 'couch potato' does to our product when we have an inherently healthy product," said Kathryn Race, head of marketing at the council, which represents 4,000 growers and processors.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term "couch potato" as "a person who spends leisure time passively or idly sitting around, especially watching television or video tapes."

Race said the council had written a complaint to the Oxford English Dictionary.

John Simpson, chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, said words are never taken out of the full-length dictionary.

"The OED is a record of the English language from the earliest days," Simpson said. "If something's in there, it remains as part of the patchwork of the English language."
He said the inclusion of an expression is based on the currency of the term.

St. Jean Baptiste, la “Fête Nationale”

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 17:59:00 +0000

It’s yet another June 24th in Quebec. I’m at home because it’s a holiday over here.

Started in Europe centuries ago as a Christianization of the pagan celebration to mark the summer solstice, today is the saint day for John the Baptist. The French pay particular significance to this day. Since bringing the custom over to New France in the 1600s, it has evolved into a celebration of summer and a day to pay homage to Francophone culture in North America. The day began to become politicized in the mid 1800s. By the 1960s, Quebec nationalists hijacked the day from one celebrating culture, to the separatist love fest we have today. It has also become a big Canada bashing session. Ironically, in 1880, the official song of French Canada was introduced on St. Jean Baptiste day in Quebec City. The song was called “Ô Canada.” Today it is Canada’s national anthem.

In 1968, then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, in a gutsy move, one that is rarely seen in politicians these days, stood up to the separatist rabble rousers who started a riot. He was a VIP guest at the Montreal St. Jean Baptiste day parade and a bunch of political activists got out of hand. He refused to flee the scene as his stand was pelted with rocks, bottles, and other debris. All this caught on national TV just in time for the evening news. People admired him for his courage.

In 1976, the Parti Quebecois upgraded the holiday to the official “National Holiday” of Quebec and changed the name to la “Fête Nationale.” Today there are huge concerts held in Quebec City and Montreal. An observation I have is that the crowds are very patriotic. Even more observably so than Americans during the Fourth of July. Unfortunately they are patriotic to Quebec and not to Canada. At these concerts I watch separatist musicians make political commentary in between songs, they sing nationalist Quebec ballads, and all the while the crowds are waving their blue and white Quebec flags. Separatists like to boast about the numbers attending, but for many, it is a free concert in a park, and an excuse to party.

On that note, I am going to hop on my bike and attend one of these free concerts in Montreal.

Personal attacks and name calling a no-no

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Fri, 24 Jun 2005 17:48:00 +0000

Elsie Lefebvre

An issue that was kicking around last week involved my provincial MNA and the Premier of Quebec. Elsie Lefebvre, my provincial member of parliament for the constituency of Laurier-Dorion was involved in a verbal exchange with Premier Jean Charest. She is a young woman, 26 years old, and a member of the separatist Parti Quebecois. Over a week ago during Question Period she launched a verbal attack against Charest’s wife because she volunteers at the Red Cross and coincidentally the Government of Quebec was planning to fund an initiative with that charity, selecting it over others. She called to question the charity work of the Premiers wife and accused her of lobbying her husband on behalf of the organization. The allegation would put the Premier in a conflict of interest because his wife volunteers for the Red Cross. Charest was infuriated by the completely unfounded personal jab at his wife and muttered under his breath “chienne” which translates to “bitch.”

As reported in the various media, Lefebvre’s criticism was unfounded. A big organization like the Red Cross frequently interacts with government, and there was no link whatsoever between Charest’s wife’s charity work and the government’s choice of charities.

While Charest apologized for his unparliamentarily language, she did not apologize for the personal attack. In Canada we have a tradition of leaving the politicians family out of politics. Politicians do not go after the family members of other politicians because it is ugly and it contributes to political mudslinging and lowers the quality of political debate.

I hope that this type of behaviour does not become a trend.

Well, that’s my St. Jean Baptiste Day political rant.
Mike

Mike Pereira - Photo

noreply@blogger.com (Mike Pereira) — Tue, 21 Jun 2005 04:34:00 +0000

Mike Pereira

I'm playing with a new function that let's me put photos on my Blog. Cool.
Mike