Pie Palace

While perusing Green-Bloggers.com, I ran across Murky View. It’s one of the few blogs that actually seems to introduce new content to the Weeb, instead of just reposting links. Like I do.

Orange, one of the UK’s cellphone providers has started a marketing campaign relying on what I can only describe as totems. They have four critters: bird, racoon, dolphin, and cat. They associate characteristics with each critter, such as sociability, resourcefulness, and geographic range with each one and then ask “Which creature are you”?

It’s kind of a neat idea, but I have to admit that it was the neat silhouttes that caught my attention. It’s interesting that the characteristics of two of the creatures (racoons and dolphins) which are not native to areas in or around England are so firmly entrenched in pop culture that they can be used for marketing.

Carry on with your regularly scheduled activities.

I attended the Ottawa-Centre EDA AGM last night. Aside from the usual business of an AGM, the most interesting talk was from Alex Munter who dropped by to give a quick stump speech.

Munter sees five challenges facing Ottawa in the near future:

1. Implementing sustainable transportation.

2. Preventing housing prices from sky-rocketing any further, and providing affordable housing to those who wouldn’t otherwise be able to pay for it.
   
3. Improving the environment.
   
4. Changes in Ottawa’s population. This was two pronged: helping new immigrants integrate into Ottawa (and helping Ottawa absorb them); and dealing with an aging population.
   
5. Handling the city’s financial problems.

He went on to make three other points that I found particularly interesting:

• There is no city plan to handle the aging population. He advocates the creation of residences scattered around the city so that folks can stay in their existing community as they age.

• He wants to ensure that intensificationn projects are appropriate for the host community. He says that the local builders are deliberately trying to show that intensification doesn’t work by proposing huge condo towers. If intensification fails, our city will continue to sprawl out onto the surrounding farmland.
  
• He stated that transportation problems are a sign of poor urban planning.

His statement on transportation made me want to hug him. I seldom have the urge to hug politicians, but this one statement was enough to show that he gets it. Those statements are all wonderfully Green. I don’t know if that’s an indication that he knew what to say to please the room, or if he really is as forward-thinking as he seems. In either case, I’m definitely going to be following his campaign.

According to the Globe and Mail, Jim Harris, leader of the federal Green Party will not run for the leadership of the Party.

Jim has been leader of the party for at least four years. He’s gotten a lot of flak for being too corporate, and too dictatorial in his leadership style. He isn’t without his warts, but I would argue that both of those allegations are false.

• The “too corporate” allegation comes from those who seem think that anyone who works for a corporation is evil. Yes, he works as a management consultant, but his specialty is helping companies become more environmentally responsible.
• The “too dictatorial” accusation is closer to the money. In the years that Jim has been leader, the central Party hasn’t done enough to connect the membership with decision making within the party. But that isn’t dictatorship. That’s a growing pain. In the space of three years, we’ve gone from a $24,000/year budget to over a $1,200,000/year budget. The Party is still trying to get itself in order.

But this is my blog. Enough about Jim. More about me. I’ve made four predictions about the leadership race thus far: that David Chernushenko would enter; Elizabeth May would enter; Jim Harris would bow out; and a deep looney environmentalist would enter. I’ve been on the money for two, thus far. I’m starting to think I may only get three of these four right: there aren’t any looney environmentalists in sight.

The Union of Concerned Scientists has a phenominal informational video about the US Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, or bunker buster. They criticize the weapon on the grounds that that (a) it doesn’t work, and (b) the costs of using it are unacceptably high. Such a critique works much better than the simple pacifist approach because it is portable across ideological boundaries.

I’m not the only one who thinks that the state should get out of the marriage business, and come up with a more secularized form of the institution that doesn’t have all of that pesky religious and social baggage. Matthew Baldwin thinks the same thing; sure he calls it the “buddy system”, but I’m flexible. I can go with that.

It sounds like Elizabeth May is still considering running for leader of the federal Green Party. Of course, “still considering” is politics-eese for “yup, I’m going to run, but I want to squeeze this story for all it’s worth before the money shot.” The only announced candidate is David Chernushenko.

But there’s no sign of an ElizabethMay.ca. There’s an ElizabethMay.net, which seems to be the home of a very blond aerospace researcher.

I’ve been a member of a toastmaster’s club for the past three or four months. This week, I’m delivering my first speech. It’s to be four or five minutes long, and should serve as an introduction of myself to the rest of the club. After four or five tries, I’ve finally come up with something that doesn’t sound too ernest, and probably won’t bore the socks off of everybody in the room: a tour of my house.

The home tour has plenty of opportunities for humour, is light, and allows me to describe myself without falling into the trap of providing a riveting chronology of the past 15 years of e.

My Lovely suggested another approach after I was done (she’s always been blessed with impeccable timing): write a eulogy for myself. The opportunities of this one are great: a humourous death, imaginary future accomplishments, and chances to quote Shakespear’s Julius Ceaser.

I had the pleasure of trying two new wines this weekend: Yellow Tail chardonnay (2005) that was wonderfully buttery and thick, as well as Little Penguin shiraz (which was nice and yeasty).

I also made the mistake of buying a bottle of Jackson Trigg’s chardonnay, which was awful: best described as watery and flavourless. I can see it working well at the end of an evening, when the company of one’s fellow drinkers is more important than flavour, but for sipping? Avoid this wine.

Google’s Calendar has finally been made available. It’s pretty snazzy, but it doesn’t sync with my Palm, so I’m not sold on it. Besides, Google already knows way too much about me. Do I really need to tell them what my friend’s birthdays are?

Update: It looks like there’s an itty bitty REST interface for adding new events to specific calendars.