“If you want to change the world, become a scientist” - Tony Blair

Finally, a politician that has the cojones to make that statement...Mind you, it makes me wonder why a lame-duck politician would say it NOW, less that a year before he leaves office. Why make the statement at this time?

Read the New Scientist article entitled: Tony Blair issues rallying cry for science on the New Scientist website

re: BBC NEWS - Global ecosystems 'face collapse'

The BBC reported today that the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) released its biannual "Living Planet Report," and the news is not good. Basically, if global consumption levels continued at the current rate, two planets would be needed to meet global demand by 2050. The WWF concluded this by estimating each country's ecological "footprint".

Here's what is interesting: If one looks at the "footprint", one notices that a big chunk of the footprint comes from fossil-fuel utilization.

And guess what? The Canadian Government had earlier announced that the "Clean Air Act" would halve Canada's 2003 emissions by 2005. (Oh,I get it now. This is MUCH better than the Kyoto protocol that the Conservative government had us bail out of, that would have required us to stick to 1990 levels.) Under the previous government, the Liberals pledged to spend $10 billion over seven years to help Canada cut its average greenhouse gas emissions by 270 megatonnes a year from 2008 to 2012. I wonder if anyone did the math to compare the two... but the difference is that now Canada will not be bound to its Kyoto commitments, and it will be "business as usual" for the foreseeable future (or until the next election).

IMHO, I think it's already too late... the human race missed its chance to keep the planet in good health...

HotSoup launched

Another interesting article. Only this time, an interesting approach to participatory democracy.

In the article entitled "The Clintons Get Their Village", Wired magazine reports on a new site called HotSoup. In a nutshell, it's a forum for movers-and-shakers in the States to gain 2-way communication with "opinion leaders" who themselves have influence in their communities. The site is worth a visit, as HotSoup includes members such as Bill and Hilary Clinton, biker champ Lance Armstrong, Jon Bon Jovi (!) and senior Democrat / Republican strategists.

While the site is strictly U.S.-oriented, I couldn't help but think that this kind of site could be of use in Canada - but would likely be destined to failure because of the average Canadian's apathy and close-mindedness of its politicians and opinion-drivers...

Oh well...

Video games can reshape education: U.S. scientists

Well, duh!

It's about time people started to wake up to the enormous potential of education-though-videogames. Some people might consider it distateful, even immoral - but let's face it, it's here, so we might as well get used to it and use it to "our" adavantage. That includes education.

'Bout frickin' time....

Piila's Thought Wave

Ah, it's time to recognize a sister-in-arms, Piila, who's entered the blogosphere. Kindred spirit, she is. I invite you to check Piila's Thought Wave!

Happy blogging, Piila!

Thanksgiving at Shabomeka Lake

My family and some close friends spent a wonderful weekend at Shabomeka Lake at a fabulous cottage we rented. We hiked, biked, kayaked during three glorious autumn days and left the preoccupations of work behind...

We can only appreciate the beauty of Nature thanks to the work of those who take the time and effort to make it easier for the rest of us to get around. Thanks to Glenn Pearce, who over the past 20 years has built a network of trails in the area, we were able to sample a bit of what Nature had to offer.

You'll find some pictures of our treks during our Shabomeka Thanksgiving.

Boost your life the Urawaza way...

This sounds like the subject line of an e-mail you'd have deleted when it got by your spam filter, but it's not. Urawaza (Japanese for "secret tricks") are little fixes to simple (but perplexing) problems. I prefer to think of them as "life hacks". Example: what's the trick to keeping a band-aid from falling off your finger when it gets wet? Find out by reading this Wired article.

The shame of it all...

Sigh.

I had to do it. I had to drop my math class.

It was just SOOO much work. It stopped being fun and became an adrenalin-driven chore. I really really wished that it could work out, but to do justice to the subject and to myself would have have meant that I would have to devote more time to homework and studying. To what end?

I don't know how single-parent families manage to complete high-school night courses. Or, for that matter, older adults who decide to return to high school so they can get their diploma.

So what did I learn from this?

Well, I learned that (a) I have a deep interest in math; (b) I can learn it if I decide to take the time to review my materials and do my homework; (c) math is fundamental to any science. (I know that this is a no-brainer, but there are so many applications! No wonder anything that is of use is founded in math - and that includes art). In fact, I'd venture that if one is well versed in mathematics, that this will open doors into the other sciences.

Math is great exercise for the mind. I'm sure this comes as no surprise to many people, but it was a surprise to me. It uses a different side of the brain, I'm sure. For some reason, the beauty of math reminds me of some lyrics from "Lined Up" by Shriekback (if you remember the 80's):

Lined Up

Tired of all this crawling around
Realising the joke was on us
Reaching out to the obvious
Starting with an answer not a question
Our most acceptable businesses
All aligned in just one direction
Organised on the same lines
With one face - one side

We got all lined up
We got all lined up
We got all lined up
All lined up
All lined up

Back at the all night party
We're getting clearer all the time
Refined to one shape - frozen like crystal
It has the symmetry of perfect design
One line leads to another
They cross at the corners run straight at the sides
It reads the same way in any direction
Two red circles and a thick black spine

We got all lined up
We got all lined up
We got all lined up
All lined up
All lined up

Let it fall into place
We could tie it to a tree
We could point it at you
We could make it a habit
We could leave it outside or
We could give it our full understand it or we could ignore it
Holding all our past in the one hand
We showed those people in a way they understand
Shiny little eyes on a big red bus
The ones we point at work for us
One sharp point between distinction
Going this way for X amount of time
Frame - line - and convergence
From the first to the final
This intention is mine

We got all lined up
We got all lined up
We got all lined up
All lined up
All lined up

Go figure.

Bob's Xcellent Math Adventure - or maybe not

Well, maybe not so excellent.

I've had a long-standing interest in math (in spite of having atrocious marks in high school and in undergrad) and I decided I would try (re-)taking my high-school math for the pleasure of it. You might ask what kind of warped sense of pleasure do I have? I'm not sure, I'm still trying to figure that out...

Anyway, I enroled a few weeks ago in a high-school math course, because I couldn't find it in the non-credit continuing education guide. Why aren't there hordes of people lining up to take Advanced Functions and Introductory Calculus for fun? Go figure. Anyway, it's not like I needed the credit - I took a similar course 30+ years ago. Note I say "similar" and not "identical." Now that I've spent some time in the course, it appears there were at least 2 major revisions of the curriculum since my butt has last warmed the seat of a school desk, and I'm seeing first hand the changes that have been made.

I've just gotta tell about my experience. So here they are, in no particular order:

1. Homework. Man, what a rough ride. Too much to do, not enough time. What with stuff to do around the house, cooking, etc. I just don't have enough time to get on top of things. I actually took a Friday off so I could devote myself to doing homework early on in the course. Interesting thing is that I didn't even see the hours go by - I missed lunch without realizing it. I figure I was in a state of hyperfocus. The downside is, if you don't do your homework (for whatever reason), that Big Black Train of Math starts to pick up speed as you frantically try to keep pace and jump on board. Nowhere did it hit me harder than last night when I "bombed" our weekly test. In a moment of paralyzed insight, staring at my blank piece of foolscap. Yup, I shoulda stayed on top of that homework.

2. Satisfaction. The most interesting realization I've had is that I'm an inveterate puzzle-solver. I think that's why I like math. Solving math questions is exactly like solving a puzzle. Kinda like Sudoku On Steroids and Adrenaline.

3. Frustration: Oh, I could spend a lot of time on this one. With time, I could describe a veritable taxonomy of frustration related to math. Let me just hit the big ones.

Attention to detail. A big chunk of my frustration with myself is I make what I consider an inordinate number of errors of attention: errors of transcription, forgetting to put a minus sign, writing "3" when I meant "13", you get the idea. But what alarms me is that I make A LOT of mistakes. Out of at least 50 problems I have worked on and gotten wrong the first time around, in at least 45 cases I went back over my math to realize that I mistranscribed or whatever. VERY frustrating. I wonder if I must suffer from some kind of AADD. But that's for another blog entry.

Gaps in understanding. Ah, this is like an old but unwelcome friend come to visit. I'd actually forgotten that particular feeling until last night, when I lost track of what the teacher was saying as he explained a particular problem. Maybe I should have termed it more precisely "a gap in attention." Whatever it was, I didn't quite understand as the teacher went through the problem, and I frantically wrote down the solution in the hope that I'd be able to go back over my notes and work out where my Big Black Train of Math Thought got derailed. I spent 5 minutes SOLID looking over the notes on that particular section and figuring out how we were supposed to come to the solution. I'm STILL not sure I understand it rightly.

Failure of memory: This one is the cousin of Gaps in Understanding and has a very ugly brother called Over-Confidence. This very "odd couple" also came to visit me last night during my test. There's nothing like that warm fuzzy feeling that you get reading over your notes before a test and thinking "yeah, I'll remember this" or "yeah, I know how to do this one" and, when you're looking at that piece of foolscap when the test has started, you don't. At that moment, you realize that you have something in common with that particular piece of paper: the word fool.

So why, you may ask, are you going through this? You don't NEED this course, you're getting frustrated by it, you're spending two weeknights from 6 to 10 PM feeling your bum get numb sitting at a cramped desk, getting poor grades, and most everyone thinks you're cMy short answer to this is: I don't know.

No, just kidding. I DO know the answer, I'm just not telling you (or myself, for that matter). There is a reason, only I haven't quite figured it out, yet. There's a certain lemming-like quality to the feeling around the reason. For now, it's enough for me to know that I enjoy math, it's fascinating, it's a puzzle, and I want to understand it more.

More later.

re: BBC News: Pope 'meant no offence' to Islam

This is insane.

Muslim anger is expressed because of the Pope's recent remarks in Germany. (see BBC NEWS: Pope 'meant no offence' to Islam)

Has anyone gone so far as to read the text of the speech that was delivered to the assembly? If one takes the trouble to read it, it's clear that the media, and people who chose to be inflamed by the story, took the quotes out of context.

While the Pope might have chosen a different example, say from other non-Christian (or even Christian!) sources, IMO the over-reaction we see around the world is inexcusable...

New Scientist News - Popular curry spice is a brain booster

Now all we have to do is compare it to Mexican cooking, and the experiment will be complete...

New Scientist News - Popular curry spice is a brain booster

Surroundings play a key role in diet: study

This is yet another one of these "no-duh" stories.

What's interesting is that some companies are starting to clue in to the idea of limiting servings, by using 100 calorie packaging. I wonder if MacDonald's has heard about this?

See CTV.ca Surroundings play a key role in diet: study for the story.

Internet users do fewer household chores: study

Here is another "why is this not a surprise" item.

I have been guilty of parental / spousal neglect, partly because of my internet habit (read: addiction).

IMHO, it's not the Internet itself which is the addiction. It's like saying using a telephone or watching TV is an addiction. The Internet, like the technologies which precede them, is simply a vehicle for reading news, chatting, watching videos, listening to music, playing computer games, as well as posting ideas, art, writing, and so on.

So although sitting on one's butt at a computer enables us to do all these different things, these things soak up time that might be otherwise spent interacting with the real world, i.e., spouse, kids, friends, relatives, dog...

None of these activities in itself is "bad", but it's always a question of balance.

Anyway, here's the story: CTV.ca Internet users do fewer household chores: study

Sympatico / MSN News : School builder shot and killed in Afghanistan

This is a very upsetting story. Mr. Frastacky unselfish work of building a school in Afganishtan earns him a bullet.

I cannot fathom the minds of people who see his work as a pollution on their country, their culture, or their beliefs, to the point that it warrants death. Can someone explain this to me??

Sympatico / MSN News : Top Stories : School builder shot and killed in Afghanistan

Skep's new science fix - ScienceBlogs

This is a pretty neat source of info for current issues and new developments in the areas of science and technology. It's kind of like the New Scientist, only written by a "hive mind" of bloggers, thanks to Seed Magazine.

Check it out at ScienceBlogs

CBC News: Gang violence grips Sao Paulo in third day of attacks

For all us complacent North Americans: Imagine this happening in the U.S. or Canada - Substitute the words "Sao Paolo" for "Toronto" or "Los Angeles"...

CBC News: Gang violence grips Sao Paulo in third day of attacks

New product: KILOWATT (Isometric Home Gym Fitness Equipment from POWERGRID FITNESS)

Finally, a way for couch potato/armchair warriors to get a workout... or at least it would seem that way!

Powergrid Fitness offers the new Kilowatt controller, which requires you to push on a "resistance stick" which apparently burns more than 350 calories an hour, according to their July 3rd press release... but is calories or Calories? There is a diffence!

350 calories an hour translates to about 1,400 joules (which ain't much) and 350 Calories is 1,400 kilojoules (which is enough to burn off a light meal, or a couple of granola bars). I try to burn off a minimum of 2,000 kilojoules in a one-hour aerobic session, so you get an idea of the amount of effort, IF you're burning Calories and not calories.

Anyway, it's an interesting development.

Read about it on their website at:

KILOWATT - Isometric Home Gym Fitness Equipment from POWERGRID FITNESS.

New Scientist Breaking News - Living alone may double heart disease risk

Now, why is this NOT news???

The kicker is, men's heart risk decreases with marriage, while presumably with women, it increases.

Read it at: New Scientist Breaking News - Living alone may double heart disease risk

Wired News: The Glory of the Shooter

Now, I can't say I get any joy out of HALO or some of the other, much gorier, shooters, but I can empathise with this reporter's point of view - especially the blank look I get when I admit to my real-life friends that, yeah, I play a FPS and have to explain what it is... and I prefer to play the "thinking man's shooter", Raven Shield... ;-)

Click on this link to read Wired News: The Glory of the Shooter

New Scientist Breaking News - 'Sugar plastic' could reduce reliance on petroleum

It was just a question of time before researchers would finally be able to solve, at least in part, one society's fundamental problems: how to wean ourselves off fossil fuels.

Fossil fuels are not only essential in the production of gasoline and diesel for vehicles, but also for the production of plastics.

Finally, someone has figured out a way to cheaply produce the precursor to many kinds of plastic from fructose, a kind of sugar.

The kicker is that it's still cheaper to produce plastics from oil; but then, it's a question of time before that changes...

Here's a link to the article: New Scientist Breaking News - 'Sugar plastic' could reduce reliance on petroleum

New Scientist Breaking News - Air-con and lack of sleep promote obesity

Dammit, I know there was a reason why I wind up gaining weight in the summer... ;-)

Seriously, though, I've always found it more difficult to manage my weight in the summer, and the fact that I don't sleep well in the summer (because it gets light early) doesn't help.

Check this out: New Scientist Breaking News - Air-con and lack of sleep promote obesity

Early human bird flu death uncovered in China

Now, this is scary...

New Scientist Breaking News - Early human bird flu death uncovered in China

It's bad enough that we have to worry about bird flu, but that the Chinese researchers who discovered that the H5N1 virus actually existed in 2003 (long before before the Chinese government publicly acknowledged that fact in 2005) tried to withdraw their article after it has been accepted for publication.

Now, WHY would they want to do that? Do they risk losing their jobs (or worse) because it would point out that there might have been a cover-up by the Chinese government? Hmmm....

The attempt at withdrawal also begs a question of research ethics: Do authors have a right to withdraw an article that might have a profound impact on the global community, in the sake of national interest (as might there be in this case)? What is the moral obligation of researchers in such a position?

CWar LAN Event - June 17 2006

I went to the CWar LAN event in Indianapolis this past Saturday. It was the most fun I've had in a long time. Not so much for the game-playing as much as for the socializing. I finally got to meet the chaps I've been chatting with, for going on 3 years.

Visit my personal website to see a few pictures and a short writeup.

"The irresistible rise of cybersex" from the New Scientist

Now, this is going to take on-line interactions to a new level... see the following article published on the New Scientist website entitled:
The irresistible rise of cybersex

Want a glimpse into the not-too-distant future? Check out this little-known but thought-provoking movie: Thomas in Love

NSERC Recognizes Winners of Canada's Top Prize for New Ph.D.'s in Science and Engineering

I'm the secretary of the committee that chose the engineering and computer science prizes of NSERC's Doctoral Prizes. I also set up the commmitee that chose the prizes for math and the natural sciences.

It's gratifying that I was able to contribute, in a small measure, to the selection of these prizes.

From the New Scientist - "Pentagon sets its sights on social networking websites"

Now, this is scary. Not only is Big Brother here, but he's bigger, badder, and better than ever... Check this out...

New Scientist Tech - Technology - Pentagon sets its sights on social networking websites

Which means that CSIS, CIA, etc. may be watching you as you read this blog!!!

Sympatico / MSN : News : CTV.ca: Spring 2006 warmest since records began in 1948

Augh. More good news.

I know that our spring was the warmest it has been in a long time, but I didn't know that the Spring of 2006 in Canada is the warmest since records began in 1948...

When asked by the opposition parties why the current Canadian government what it was going to do to curb greenhouse gas emission, Prime Minister Harper replied: "I don't think the alarmism necessarily helps a serious debate."

No. Five record high yearly averages in the past 10 years is not alarmist - it's a trend. Oh, and an average increase of 3 to 5 degrees C this spring over previous years' seasonal averages is nothing to be alarmed about, is it?

This government seriously needs to talk to some climate scientists, but no, Conservative politicians know so much more than they do...

Da Vinci Code ... much ado about nothing

GAD. I just have to vent.

I CANNOT BELIEVE all the people being taken in by this Da Vinci Code hype.

First: The book sucks. Big time. I was frankly underwhelmed by Dan Brown's book. My take on it: Mediocre writing, re-laundered materials, a stereotypic love-interest, and much exotic or contraversial material (e.g., Opus Dei, albinos, the Louvre, etc.) just made my eyes glaze over. I say re-laundered, since the content dealt with in Brown's book has been known for years - Baigent and Lee were the first to put together this particular conspiracy theory together (see the BBC story for more info) The only thing that pulled in my interest was the little puzzles sprinkled through the book. I would have to score the book a 5.5 out of 10, it was that bad, IM-not-so-HO.

Second, Tom Hanks makes a movie out of it. Hello, Tom, what were you thinking?? I can't believe he was taken in by this trash. Tom, read some better books, for crying out loud! Try reading Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, if you want an original take on a conspiracy novel. (Now, that is an excellent novel that will never be made into a movie, because half the joy / challenge is in taking delight in his prose.)

Gah. How sad.

Long time since last blog...

Wow.

It's been a while (like almost a year) since I last posted. So much has happened since then...

To make a very long story short, I took on a temporary position as a program officer where I work. The job is satisfying, and I'm amazed at how I can stay "on top" of the workload...which might indicate that I'm being under-utilized, but at this point, I'm not complaining. My ego is still hurting from the bruising from last year, and I'm still trying to let go of all the expectations I had for myself in building a career... this sounds like self-absorbed bull****, but it isn't, it's just a kind of awareness and acceptance of what is becoming a new "order" for me. (Gawd, I hate it when words fail me!) So I try to live beyond my illusions (my career...hah!) and am concentrating on the here-and-now.

Speaking of here-and-now, I had a wonderful time working with (on?) the Ottawa Regional Science Fair 2006. A truly fantastic event, well-organized and some wonderfully committed people: Paula, James, Steve, etc. It is really an honor to work with these people.

Another group of people which I hold just as dearly is my group of CWar brethren. I would never have thought that I could have had a relationship with a group of guys playing a game (of all things), but that is about the only way I can describe it: a relationship. After two years of gaming and chatting with Pi, Savageone, Snowdog, Dubber, Wolfie, and the other CWar bruthas, I have a sense of knowing them, if only for their sense of humor, fair play and spontaneity. No doubt someone will (or is doing) research the idea of on-line relationships. I've done my share of analyzing, and I'm more sure now that it exists and no doubt exist elsewhere. Savageone has organized a LAN party that will take place in Indianapolis in June and I'll be going there for 3 days. I'm excited, a little scared, and plenty nervous about finally meeting the real people behind the virtual characters... You can be sure that I'll blog this when the time comes!

That's all for now...