On the DEWLine 2.0: Dwight Williams

Transit: Activism Ill-Thought Out?

Tue, 10 Sep 2024 11:23:53 GMT

I have just signed up to delegate to the Ottawa Transit Commission about the upcoming service changes. I have next to no script for this. I am almost certain to have to do this while I'm working on my day job, and it will be over Zoom.

I have somewhat less than two days to decide whether or not to settle for a written submission instead, and if so, what to write for it.

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CBC: Carbon Rebates in Canada

Mon, 15 Jan 2024 12:22:20 GMT

For your information:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/carbon-tax-rebate-perceptions-believe-it-or-not-1.7079782

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Not So Random News - 16 October 2023

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 01:54:16 GMT

1. Trump on testing in general?

https://alexandraerin.substack.com/p/testing-trump

2. Criminalisation of climate activism:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/12/how-criminalisation-is-being-used-to-silence-climate-activists-across-the-world

3. The trial of Barber and Lich re: the Ottawa Siege continues.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/freedom-convoy-made-it-near-impossible-to-live-zexi-li-tells-trial-1.6997367

4. Conservatives targeting the CBC again, more of that "War on Expertise" that David Brin warns us about...

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/conservative-cbc-terrorist-language-guide-policy-1.6997926

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Ottawa: Environment + Climate Change Committee Meeting for June 2023

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 13:42:27 GMT

And switching from listening to The Current on CBC Radio One to watching Ottawa City Hall's Environment and Climate Change Committee meeting scheduled for this morning!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYHOotGLeso

Yes, my job search continues as I watch this. I consider watching city council meetings part of my job search intel-gathering process.

About the provincial "Blue Box" programme in Ontario?

https://pub-ottawa.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=128210

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Climate Derangement: Tuktoyaktuk, In Peril

Sat, 19 Nov 2022 22:48:34 GMT

The "hamlet" - I'm having trouble thinking of a community of a thousand people as a "hamlet", as it seems more a small town - is a trivia point in the back story of Due South's central character Benton Fraser, being one of the communities in which his parents and grandparents jointly raised him. It's also a very real place, the most northern community in Canada that you can reach by road these days.

"Tuk", as it's known to many of its local people, is also one of many places across the planet now imperilled by climate derangement.

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Reading the News - 18 July 2021

Sun, 18 Jul 2021 21:15:23 GMT

Byline Times: End GameWhy the Council for National Policy’s Machine Is a Threat to US Democracy in 2022 - Heidi Siegmund Cuda - 2 July 2021

https://bylinetimes.com/2021/07/02/end-game-why-the-council-for-national-policys-machine-is-threat-to-u-s-democracy-in-2022/

The Guardian - Pegasus Project

Revealed: leak uncovers global abuse of cyber-surveillance weapon - Spyware sold to authoritarian regimes used to target activists, politicians and journalists, data suggests - Stephanie Kirchgaessner, Paul Lewis, David Pegg and Sam Cutler

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/18/revealed-leak-uncovers-global-abuse-of-cyber-surveillance-weapon-nso-group-pegasus

CBC News - Vote on Annamie Paul's leadership of Green Party cancelled, sources say - Membership review will also not be initiated, according to sources

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/annamie-paul-leadership-vote-cancelled-1.6107481

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RADIO: The House - 8 May 2021

Sat, 08 May 2021 13:23:10 GMT

Listening to this on the radio right now:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thehouse/cbc-the-house-may-8-2021-1.6017783

Needing to think through the implications raised by the discussions aired today...

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Not-So-Random News Bites in Mid-April

Sun, 18 Apr 2021 13:23:05 GMT

Yesterday was quietly mediocre to me. For others, not so much.

Facebook and addictive behaviour as discussed by MIT Technological Review:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2021/03/11/1020600/facebook-responsible-ai-misinformation/

The Canada Pension Plan's involvement in fossil fuels, per CBC News:
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/whatonearth/big-finance-considers-climate-change-a-major-investment-risk-is-your-pension-prepared-1.5990043

Harassment of Hong Kongers on Canadian soil:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/hong-kongers-say-they-re-being-targeted-by-chinese-agents-on-canadian-soil-1.5390456

The debate over the value of carbon offsets:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/opinion/opinion-carbon-offset-credits-obps-emissions-1.5968598

Weird drone news from the US Midwest:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/18/attack-of-the-drones-the-mystery-of-disappearing-swarms-in-the-us-midwest

Today is the first anniversary of the Portapique Massacre in Nova Scotia, and note is taken:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-mass-killing-anniversary-memorial-1.5991867

One of Gordie Howe's hockey records is about to be broken:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/marleau-howe-nhl-record-1.5991439

More later...

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Speaking of Climate

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 23:44:56 GMT

Watching this at the moment:

https://twitter.com/MichaelEMann/status/1378731216954925059

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What are environmentalists fighting FOR?

Thu, 01 Apr 2021 00:23:04 GMT

CBC Radio's Ideas has a go at answering this question tonight.

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/environmentalists-what-are-we-fighting-for-an-environmentalist-argues-it-s-not-clear-1.4917208

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Wildlife Note For Today

Wed, 31 Mar 2021 20:16:56 GMT

I spotted a housefly on the outside ledge of my bedroom window this morning.

For some reasons, that seems to matter a lot to me right now.

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ECO/ENERGY: Bladeless Wind Turbines?

Tue, 16 Mar 2021 13:35:16 GMT

This could be both useful and helpful.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/mar/16/good-vibrations-bladeless-turbines-could-bring-wind-power-to-your-home

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TRANSPORT: Electric Cars

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 23:35:22 GMT

From 2019 in Nature for a revisit:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02242-y

From this month at The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/22/electric-vehicles-close-to-tipping-point-of-mass-adoption

Making me wish Trek-style replicator tech was real. I know there's people working on it...and we want to make this not be a no-win scenario...

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Some notes for the morning of 4 January 2021

Mon, 04 Jan 2021 14:32:18 GMT

The last essay of Barry Lopez: Barry Lopez: An Era of Emergencies is Upon Us and We Cannot Look Away
“I object to the desecration of what is beautiful. I object to society’s complacency.”

An update on the petition to block Mike Harris' ascendance to the Order of Ontario.

CBC News Nova Scotia: These customers were promised shipping containers. Now they're out thousands of dollars - One customer looking for his sea can was told, 'Listen bud, your money is gone'
I'm left wondering how many other scams like this are in progress.

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Weather/Climate Radio Infrastructure

Wed, 30 Dec 2020 19:30:49 GMT

Taking a brief moment from my video tutorial studies of Drupal 8 - which I think I may need to rewatch several times each today - to pass this along: apparently Canadian federal penny-pinching is getting too line-item-fussy about weather alert-related infrastructure again? Details here:

https://saskboy.wordpress.com/2020/12/30/weather-alert-dismantling/

If Jon Klein's misunderstood the situation, please pass along corrective information. I'm certain that he'll appreciate the corrections once he confirms their accuracy.

If he's got it right, and you're a Canadian citizen, please contact your federal MP ASAP.

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Hope as a Weapon to Motivate Action

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 19:32:21 GMT

Listening to this as I look for the next job:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/political-scientist-doom-meister-shares-prescription-for-a-better-world-1.5817323

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Tue, 15 Sep 2020 19:21:30 GMT

Seeing squirrels keeping busy on the streets and in the yards here.

Chris Hadfield noticed this morning that the smoke from the Pacific coastal fires has indeed reached us in southern Ontario, and announced same on Twitter.

My training video focus this afternoon is on Adobe Acrobat Pro DC. ("Document Cloud"?)

More as it comes to mind.

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"They're burning futures in the mountains..."

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 23:40:45 GMT

Apologies to Matthew Good.

I can't imagine it's good to be him today watching the news from the west coast of Turtle Island. Not having the lyrics of "Last Parade" from the album Vancouver thrown in his face by the news headlines like this.

That smoke will be over Ottawa tomorrow night probably...?

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ESA: Venetian Lagoon From Space

Thu, 16 Apr 2020 00:32:07 GMT

The European Space Agency maintains a Flickr account of its own. Here's one of the things they've been noticing of late via Earth-observation stuff.

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ENERGY/BIZ: Good News of Service Station Re-Invention?

Mon, 24 Feb 2020 19:57:39 GMT

From Don Pittis at the CBC. You may find room to agree or argue here.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/electricity-fuel-disruption-1.5468360

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MAPS/SCIENCE: Damming the North Sea

Sun, 23 Feb 2020 02:16:31 GMT

Some of us have been discussing this proposal elsewhere, if memory serves:

https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/north-sea-dam

No, it's not going to be a panacea. It won't cure ills, but it will slow down some of the worsening consequences whilst deferring them to other places. And it will exact costs in other ways. The British Isles, however their borders are redrawn in the decades ahead, will still lose cities, towns, villages, farms, businesses...as will continental Europe outside the dams now containing/shielding/distorting the North Sea. Building this NEED project will be a consequence that creates consequences.

Building it will require the European Union to go from a coalition of nations to being a nation. If it hasn't already gotten there by the time the decision to build is taken.

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Winter is Here...

Wed, 15 Jan 2020 14:54:36 GMT

...in Ottawa-Gatineau and tonight we're expecting 5-10 centimetres' worth of snowy reminders of the fact. This is despite the fact that current conditions include "mist" at the airport according to Environment Canada.

Workshop went okay last night. On my way from the Rideau Library to Rideau Station to get home afterwards, though, I got a clue from Bytowne Cinema about a movie I've been hoping to see: Dark Waters, that docu-drama about lawyer Rob Bilott's fight over "forever" chemical pollution by Dupont in West Virginia. Mark Ruffalo is playing Bilott in this movie, which is another of Participant Media's co-productions. They've got one more showing in Ottawa at the Bytowne scheduled, and that's for 345 PM today. So I've got that in addition to job-search stuff today.

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What Kenney Wants Us to Whine About

Mon, 18 Nov 2019 11:07:57 GMT

Foreign intervention. Instead of the consequences of giving him what he wants. That's what he wants us all whining about.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/paralyze-oilsands-plan-keystone-pipeline-1.5356980

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Bus Pass Tech, Movies, Eco-Protests

Sat, 28 Sep 2019 14:45:19 GMT

Okay, I got my bus pass updated for next month. I'm still not happy with my bus pass becoming a surveillance device, thanks to Presto tech. The fact that I can look at my own travel data patterns this way still means that others who have no business wanting to know can find out too by criminal means.

Movies? I saw Ad Astra last night. I've heard it argued that it looks like a defence of toxic forms of masculinity...and I don't see it. If anything, it argues for better self-awareness among male humans. The influences of Apocalypse Now, Heart of Darkness, 2001, The Martian and so on are certainly there. Ruth Negga is certainly under-used as an actor here, which I think is a mistake. But it's not one that's confined to her alone, I'd say. Between the VFX work, Brad Pitt and Tommy Lee Jones...that's the core of the show. And Pitt and Jones put in the work as much as the VFX artists did.

(I'd like to have a separate, nerdish discussion of what decisions and how much work went into the infrastructure as depicted in Ad Astra. I will probably write a separate post for that topic.)

I didn't get to participate in the Global Climate Strike demonstrations yesterday here in Ottawa, but from what I saw on Kent Street between Albert and Slater at noon hour, it was well attended in its own right.

More on other topics later.

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Orléans v. Mer Bleue? Non merci, M. Blais

Mon, 23 Sep 2019 10:00:06 GMT

I don't like the rhetoric from Stephen Blais on this point. For all that living in the east end outside the Greenbelt can be a pain when it comes to getting to anywhere else in Ottawa-Gatineau, I do understand the value of the Mer Bleue bog.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/orleans-innes-brian-coburn-extension-1.5292215

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