John L. Jarvis

2017-08-17T13:13:07.827+00:00

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Jason P. Steed on "Just joking...": http...

2016-08-10T08:32:00.939+00:00

Jason P. Steed on "Just joking...": https://twitter.com/5thCircAppeals/status/763098172633657344 -- he elaborates well on what I hinted at as tribes.

The CBC's done a short documentary on what the...

2015-05-17T21:38:48.699+00:00

The CBC's done a short documentary on what they're calling Internet shaming: http://www.cbc.ca/player/Embedded-Only/News/ID/2667068497/ -- According to them, there are four books to be published on the subject this year alone.

Thanks for the comment, Steve. Those statistics ar...

2015-01-09T13:18:09.008+00:00

Thanks for the comment, Steve. Those statistics are harrowing. 3000! Surely some of them are like the lady in my post: hoping to get some guiding until, for example, they're confident enough to get to and from the Honeybourne Line to walk their dog, or to and from the lido in the summer for a weekly swim.

I just wonder whether your befriender role is too restrictive. Do those 3000 -- to say nothing of the 20000 others -- know that it's all about their goals? Whatever they want to do, big or small, they can get help?

Maybe I'm naive, but each of the other three volunteers in the My Guide training yesterday said they had no idea about all the services Guide Dogs offers. Now that's Birmingham and a different organisation, but I know I could pull people aside on our High Street and get the same response.

Do you feel you're getting the word out enough at the moment?

Hi John, Yes we completely agree with you, it’s s...

2015-01-09T12:45:54.928+00:00

Hi John,
Yes we completely agree with you, it’s so frustrating that there is no “one-stop” shop that will match up volunteers to people who need help in the sight impaired world. Unfortunately we have 3000 people on our data base here at Insight and statistics tell us that there are another 20,000 out there in Gloucestershire that we don’t know about and that don’t know about us. Sometimes we have a volunteer, such as yourself, who would like to be a befriender but we don’t have a client to match them to at the time. Luckily, you were happy to help our young adults’ group, Outlook, so we still managed to retain you as a volunteer. Often it works the other way round and we have clients looking for a befriender but no volunteer available in that area.
We really appreciate all the help you give to Outlook and it’s fantastic that you managed to get someone you could visit as well. As long as someone with a sight impairment is receiving the support they need, we’re more than happy if it comes from other avenues!

I agree with your positives; just ashamed to see s...

2011-06-16T12:01:07.479+00:00

I agree with your positives; just ashamed to see sports yobs on our home ground.

Just read the news from the streets of Van.; have ...

2011-06-16T07:09:11.689+00:00

Just read the news from the streets of Van.; have to eat a few of my words. Man, I thought only lousy Habs 'fans' behaved like that. Well done. :-/

Found another positive, though: the Cup will go to Newfoundland! Congratulations, Michael Ryder!

The main reason I write my blog is to record "...

2011-03-07T09:41:36.079+00:00

The main reason I write my blog is to record "things I've done" in a place I can come back to. Everything else is a bonus, whether it's great interactions with other bloggers, or money from advertising.

My novels, on the other hand, I write because I MUST WRITE. I write in my head as I'm walking down the street, or eating my lunch, or on the train. I can't help it. And so I might as well type the words into my laptop, and edit them mericilessly, and offer them up to the world...

You're welcome. :-)

2011-02-22T18:42:05.565+00:00

You're welcome. :-)

thank you

2010-08-07T11:06:21.065+00:00

thank you

MP expenses have not been audited since 1991, and,...

2010-05-19T17:21:37.657+00:00

MP expenses have not been audited since 1991, and, given the extent of the scandals that surfaced in the UK, Nova Scotia, and to some extent Newfoundland, it is definitely time for a closer look at Parliamentary spending. It's a $503 million black hole worthy of a petition.

It's a noble quest you find yourself on these ...

2009-12-16T03:12:18.325+00:00

It's a noble quest you find yourself on these last few years. The search for truth, perhaps for meaning, or a greater purpose. I'd highly recommend a return the King James version, or better yet something like the New Living translation or the Message, both are translations to modern English for Luddites like myself with little grasp of older English.

If only it were as simple as offering you a piece of my faith to experience for yourself. Unfortunately I haven't the words to adequately explain it, only a lifetime of experiences that have made God real to me beyond any doubt.

I'll offer this as a starting point, John 3:16 perhaps the most often quoted scripture, but it's the first few words that speak volumes "For God so loved the World that He gave His only begotten Son". There's really very little else you need to know, but that God's love is extended to all men and along with that comes His grace and forgiveness. The best part of it is that there is nothing we need to do to earn this, only that we ask.

Keep reading, keep exploring and you'll find that there is one very significant difference about Christianity:

Matthew 28:2 Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone, and sat on it.
5 Then the angel spoke to the women. "Don't be afraid!" he said. "I know you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He isn't here! He is risen from the dead, just as he said would happen."

It's good to be OK with death, after all living in fear isn't living at all; however, understanding what death truly means may somewhat alter your view. What if choices made in life determine the course of that infinite void after death? I won't get all hell fire and brimstone on ya so I'll leave it there. But there is a greater truth, and I hope you find it along the way

Hey John,Thanks for the link to Bridgehead... I fo...

2008-03-12T15:02:00.000+00:00

Hey John,
Thanks for the link to Bridgehead... I found my new source for coffee! When we were in El Salvador you could go to the farmers in person and buy beans picked that day, unroasted, and pay them directly in US dollars. That was cool.

If you're interested in proportional representatio...

2008-01-07T23:02:00.000+00:00

If you're interested in proportional representation, the Center for Range Voting offers some cool solutions:

http://rangevoting.org/RRVj.html
http://rangevoting.org/Asset.html

There's also a proportional representation version...

2008-01-07T22:58:00.000+00:00

There's also a proportional representation version called Reweighted Range Voting, and another simple P.R. system called Asset Voting (originally invented by Lewis Carroll, but then recently re-invented by Warren D. Smith).

Believe it or not, I was in the process of updatin...

2007-10-02T00:50:00.000+00:00

Believe it or not, I was in the process of updating this post with your first link as I realized I had a comment pending moderation. (I saw the signs for voteformmp.ca on this morning's commute.)

First, to quote your post, you got me: I have yet to read the Ontario Citizens' Assembly's report, but plan to do so shortly.

Second, I know a heck of lot more about this now - including the 3% threshold that mitigates Warren's "fringe" fears, as you say - thanks to The Agenda with Steve Paikin. I've included links to his show in my shared items to the left.

Third, thanks for pointing me to the second link: a withering critique to be sure.

Food with little flavour and no nutrition. Here ar...

2007-10-01T05:05:00.000+00:00

Food with little flavour and no nutrition. Here are a couple of responses:

http://www.voteformmp.ca/en/node/605

http://drdawgsblawg.blogspot.com/2007/09/your-weekly-smile-david-warren-on-mmp.html

Stewart: Coalition pretends to control Iraq... The...

2007-04-28T15:56:00.000+00:00

Stewart: Coalition pretends to control Iraq... The mission was a failure... [would've been] even if we got those things [don't abolish army, Baath Party, etc.] right.

Intuitively, that makes sense to me. Iraq was a cobbled-together country long before the U.S. invaded. A natural end to Hussein's regime probably would've been bloody anyway. In the end, I think Iraq's neighbours will determine its future, in the same way that they determined Palestine's half a century ago.

On Afghanistan, I wouldn't want the sentiment "Bring back the Russians; at least they built bridges" to be prevalent as the NATO mission finishes up. And I honestly can't see that being the case: didn't Canadians build a major highway recently?

As for the counter-insurgency battle, I don't know enough to say whether we can win it (or should even be trying). I will say that intelligence-led operations against training camps and the like make a lot of sense to me. Allowing these groups to operate with impunity in Sudan and Afghanistan in the 1990s was a mistake.

Interesting that Rory feels we should be spending ...

2007-04-22T13:50:00.000+00:00

Interesting that Rory feels we should be spending all our time in Afghanistan working on solving the everyday problems like garbage and not be "chasing taliban in a counter insurgency effort that we're never going to win". These two ideas are not mutually exclusive, were it not for the NATO troops enforcing security there would be no safety for the NGOs to go in and do their work. And yet he does acknowledge that fact so I'm not entirely sure I understand the man at all...

Interesting fellow though and I was very surprised to hear him talk about how pulling out of a southern Iraqi province led to an improvement of the situation there. That is definitely great to hear; however, I'm not convinced that because it worked there that a complete pullout of American troops is warranted. The overall situation if far to complex and there's too much at stake here. If the US pulls out and the country falls into a massive civil war no amount of garbage collecting NGOs is going to be able to repair the situation.

Obviously this problem is very complex, so I'll stop pretending that I understand it now.

Thanks for your comments, Tavis. I wasn't familia...

2007-04-17T00:04:00.000+00:00

Thanks for your comments, Tavis. I wasn't familiar with Kevin's writing prior to this press reporting, but I see no reason to doubt your assessment, given what I've now read; in fact, I'll be checking The Republic... regularly from now on, as he seems to be an astute fellow. I think the Green Party's missed a golden opportunity, and, as you say, has just shown how little they differ from their established rivals in Ottawa.

Kevin Potvin is not the blood-thirsty monster they...

2007-04-16T23:42:00.000+00:00

Kevin Potvin is not the blood-thirsty monster they make him out to be. My wife and I joined his campaign the moment we heard about it because we thought it would be the only chance to get a real voice for peace. All I know now is that the candidate we all thought would be the first green MP is now the man Canadians love to hate. When we nominated Potvin he went unchallenged. We all know his opinions, he's been publishing them for years! We wanted him as the candidate because we thought he'd win and we wanted him in Ottawa because of his opinions. If you look at his body of work you will notice that he is not a blood-thirsty guy. I thought the voters would be able to see that right away. He runs a bookstore! I thought people could trust that! I trust that! On the other hand you get the war mongering editorials in the papers hell bent on slandering Potvin. I think this whole thing proves that the Liberals, the Greens, and the COnservatives are all the same.

You aren't alone in feeling that way: for example,...

2007-04-01T20:27:00.000+00:00

You aren't alone in feeling that way: for example, the joy at receiving letter mail (that isn't bills, obviously), and packages in particular, seems to be widespread.

I used to get my wife to buy music for me on iTunes because it was often cheaper; however, it turned out that it wasn't worth the savings because she had to burn it to a blank CD that often couldn't be read by standalone players (to say nothing of the discs wasted on bad burns). Since probably half the time I listen to music is in the car, that's a big disadvantage.

Finally, like you, I like to feel and look at something in my hands. I'll never download a Tool album, for example; that's half the fun: tryin' to figure out what the heck those guys were on when they came up with the album art. "10000 days" even has a built-in magnifier to give you a better look at it.

Me, I just copy stuff liberally; however, you real...

2007-04-01T18:23:00.000+00:00

Me, I just copy stuff liberally; however, you really can't beat that feeling of unwrapping an original CD. I find that with the cheap CD prices lately I'm buying more music than I have in many years. And even though it's convenient, I find downloading tunes through iTunes an incredibly un-gratifying experience..."what do you mean I don't get to unwrap anything?"

That said, it's good to know that ripping a buddies CD here and there is ok.

It's interesting that you raise the issue of secon...

2007-03-16T23:42:00.000+00:00

It's interesting that you raise the issue of secondhand smoking: LeGault includes it, and global warming, in his list of examples of public perceptions led astray by intuition (i.e., the Blink! theory the book argues against). The rest of his list made sense to me, but those two had me scratching my head, wondering how they hadn't been scientifically validated (which was his argument: more work needs to be done).

Well, I'm not surprised by how the public's percep...

2007-03-15T00:33:00.000+00:00

Well, I'm not surprised by how the public's perception of "important" differs from experts'. Smoking is a good example, in my opinion. Back in the day, there was a strong push to warn the public on the hazards of smoking which was aimed at smokers: not bystanders inhaling second-hand smoke. How is it that no one thought that standing next to a smoker inhaling his/her smoke wasn't a bad thing? Well, it wasn't the point at the time. The focus was (and still is)to get smokers to stop smoking. Athough there were probably a lot of non-smokers who thought that being in the vicinity of smoke was no big deal, I bet if people working for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) or Health Canada had been surveyed, they would've probably pointed out that second-hand smoke is just as bad smoking a cigarette. Of course, second-hand smoke is clearly a concern now and is addressed as much as smoking.