Canucks move on to the third round!

The Vancouver Canucks won their second round playoff series against the Nashville Predators in six games; the sixth game was another nail-biter, with a final score of 2-1.

Congratulations to the Canucks, with a special mention to Ryan Kesler, who was unbelievable in the series.

Also, congratulations to Nashville: great series!!!

 

Our Cyborg Future?

We are getting closer to the day when it will be possible for our minds to be linked through a digital network. Researchers (e.g.: Marcel Just, a neuroscientist from Carnegie Mellon University, and Dean Pomerleau, a researcher at Intel Labs Pittsburgh) are beginning to decode the human brain, which will allow digitized thoughts to transmit between minds; a future form of telepathy that will surely not only lead to a redefinition of humanity, but will challenge an individual’s privacy from hackers, government, and nosey acquaintances.

Some people (e.g.: Ariel Garten, the CEO of Interaxon ) believe that we are only ten-to-fifteen years away from a link with home computer networks that will enable us to turn on and off appliances, and communicate with cell phones and mobile devices with your mind; furthermore, your computer will respond empathically to your emotional state of mind.

I first heard about this on Radio One’s Spark program (Mind-Computer Interfaces, CBC, Episode 125)

So, I wonder how long it will be until we’re able to ‘upload’ our minds into a computer?

 

The Harmonized Sales Tax (HST)

According to an independent panel’s report, the HST will cost the average B.C. family approximately three-hundred and fifty dollars in extra sales tax per year.

The panel predicted that the HST will benefit businesses and should eventually lead to increased employment.

The Government has been criticized for referring to the HST as revenue neutral because they are expected to collect over eight-hundred million extra dollars of sales-tax revenue in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 if the HST remains at twelve percent.

 

Contempt of Parliament Pays Off

In 2009, International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda rejected the renewal of a Government grant to Kairos (a church-based group) and claimed the rejection was a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) decision. But top CIDA officials had signed a memo recommending approval for the funding. The memo was altered — after it had been signed — with the word ‘not’ penned-in before the word ‘approve’.

Ms. Oda told a House committee that she did not know who inserted the ‘not’, but admitted afterward that she had ordered the modification of the document.

Prime Minister Harper stood behind Ms. Oda, and perhaps she was not being deceitful (we’ll never know for sure); whatever the motivation, her actions were completely unprofessional, and I believe she should have been dismissed.

Since then, the Conservative Party itself was found to be in contempt of parliament (a first for a ruling party in Canada), and the Party presented a spurious budget that hid the true reason for the election yesterday (the Conservatives contended that the oppositions rejection of their budget caused the election, but it was a non-confidence due to the Conservative’s contempt of parliament).

The Conservative Party seemed to be doing everything possible to force an election. Why they would want an election was unclear to me until yesterday.

The Conservative Party now has a majority mandate from the electorate of Canada; furthermore, Ms. Oda has been re-elected.

Are people paying attention to what is going on?

 

Osama bin Laden

So, Osama bin Laden has been killed, and Americans are cheering in the streets.

I suppose the reaction is inevitable, but it feels inappropriate.

If we — as a species — ever discover a way to resolve our major conflicts without resorting to violence it will truly be a time to celebrate.

 

A Facinator Hat

Well, another royal wedding is over. I didn’t watch it, but searched the web for interesting pictures: Princess Beatrice’s facinator hat was my favorite (I found the picture here)

 

Go Canucks Go!

The Vancouver Canucks finally won a playoff series against the Chicago Blackhawks this millennium (and it took a goal in overtime of the seventh game!). I’ve got to tip my hat to Chicago; a core of players on the team have an awesome drive to win. But I think Vancouver has a slightly better team this year.

Now it’s on to the second round against the Nashville Predators

Update: Vancouver won the first game against Nashville: 1 – 0.

Go Canucks Go!

 

Crow 2

(See Crow 1 post from earlier today)

The crow’s brain-mass per body-volume ratio is the largest of any bird except the macaw (a very intelligent animal) and their behavioral blueprint is more akin to primates than other birds. Crows are analytical beings with long-term, reliable memories. Their communal interactions have a sophistication that echoes humanity’s: they; generally mate for life, enjoy group activities (play), hunt, carry out gang-style executions, and perform funerals.

 

Deepwater Horizon

On April 20, 2010, a dragon’s belch of methane gas, referred to as a ‘kick’, sparked the explosion on the BP oil rig Deepwater Horizon that was drilling a mile-deep well off the coast of Louisiana. Eleven people, and thousands of animals, died as a result of the disaster.

More than four million barrels (one hundred and sixty-eight million gallons) of oil was disgorged into the ocean in the next three and a half months. The disaster crippled the economies of Mississippi, Florida, Alabama and — in particular —Louisiana.

One year later, things appear much better on the surface, but researchers have found dead zones in fragile, deep sea coral. The oil from humanity’s largest spill into the ocean still saturates some wetlands, has contaminated the ocean ecosystem, and continues to endanger wildlife.

BP is publicly optimistic about the Gulf Coast’s recovery, but it may be decades before the full impact of the disaster is known.

Picture credit

 

The future of books?

I’m sure that every development in published media has met with resistance; a penchant for the status quo, and a distrust of new technology. And perhaps I can be compared to the people who refuted the logic of replacing woodblock print scrolls with movable-type page setting.

I recently read my first e-book and, although the media is convenient, it cannot replace the experience of the old-fashioned, printed book.

I held the e-reader in my hands; it was unusually light, but had the capacity to hold over a thousand books in its stylishly thin package; in my mind, an imaginary abyss opened and my book collection was sucked into the vacuum of the past. I attempted to patch the rift, and then began to read (for the record, it was The Fall of Hyperion, by Dan Simmons). Are ‘real’ books — with their magical, tactile pages, which, when flipped, release an earthy redolence —  a fading relic; and I am merely steeped in nostalgia? I don’t think so, but I may be biased…

The friendships I’ve made! And they are steadfast; even if I change and move on, they are always willing to regal me with stories if I express a desire to become reacquainted. Some of my friends were too sophisticated for me when we first met, but they have waited patiently, and I comprehend more each time I converse with them. And there are a precious few that struck a resonant chord and remain with me as life-long allies in a confusing, and sometimes indifferent, world.

All of them remain on bookshelves, within easy reach. They are portals to the past, present, and future, waiting for me to gaze upon them, perhaps even pick them up and flip through their minds; to sample, or re-read, often taking me on a journey — through scrawled, and nearly illegible, notes — to other books, and further afield. Even a glance at their spines — mnemonic devices — can transport me through time,  via a river of memories; and into the minds of others, whose thoughts I shared.

Books live in every room of my home: they are part of the décor; objects d’art, symbolic memorabilia, a component of the aromotheric mélange, accent pieces, and — as I mentioned — valued friends I cannot live without.

There are characteristics of print books that can be reproduced by an e-reader (and bulk storage and retrieval, I must admit, is a distinct advantage), but some experiences cannot be duplicated. It is the difference between a walk in moonlight, and a picture of the moon.