They’re Going to Get it Done, Come Hell or High Water

This just creeps me out. Does it creepyou out?

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion is prepared to take “extraordinary measures” to boost the ranks of women candidates in the next election, including barring men from seeking nominations in some ridings.

During last year’s leadership race, Dion promised that under his watch at least a third of the party’s candidates in the next election would be women.

But campaign organizers have concluded that the ambitious goal will be impossible to reach without some intervention to secure nominations for female candidates.

So-called green-light committees, set up to run the party’s nomination process in each province, have been empowered to ensure the 33 per cent target is met. Among other things, the committees can set dates for nomination meetings and approve or reject nomination papers from those seeking to carry the Liberal colours.

Where necessary, the committees will be able to simply refuse to allow men to run for nominations in some ridings.

“We’re trying to find the techniques that are consistent with our democratic processes to the greatest extent possible,” said Gerard Kennedy, Dion’s special adviser on election readiness.

Local riding associations are being encouraged as much as possible to find women to seek nominations. But, with an election possible as early as next month, Kennedy said the party simply doesn’t have the luxury of a lengthy recruitment drive.

Consequently, he said the party will have to use more drastic measures to ensure a sufficient number of women wind up on the Liberal election roster.

“We’re still studying and discussing some of the techniques that we might use, such as women-only contests or what have you. But I think those measures will be somewhat exceptional,” he said.

The leader retains the power to simply appoint women candidates, bypassing the nomination process altogether, but insiders say Dion wants to use that power sparingly, if at all. Appointments have in the past set off controversy, particularly from would-be candidates who frequently had spent months preparing to fight a contested nomination.

Dion’s campaign strategists contend that declaring certain ridings off-limits to men at the outset will ultimately be fairer to all concerned. Still, they acknowledge that the measure is bound to be controversial.

“We’re going to pay some price,” Kennedy said. “We’d like it to be a relatively small price . . . but the price we’re paying is because we didn’t quite make as much success as we should have (recruiting women in the past) and everyone has come to the realization that we have to take extraordinary measures, that the Liberal party has to become a political organization that reflects the face of Canada.”

In last winter’s election, only 26 per cent of Liberal candidates were women, although women make up slightly more than half the Canadian population. The challenge of reaching 33 per cent next time is all the greater because Dion has promised to protect all incumbent MPs from nomination challenges.

Chew on that for a while. That whole thing makes me feel sick. I can’t even put into words the level of dread that gives me. Sometimes it already feels like democracy is a fraud. Now people are trying to fix the system so the numbers fit some kind of quota.

I’d love for there to be more women in politics. But this isn’t the way to do it. It would make me sick and angry if a guy who I knew would fight for my interests was prevented altogether from even running and the only alternative was a woman who I knew didn’t care. And don’t you just love the element of panic in that article? Damn those commercials from the Conservative party. All I can think is, We didn’t get it done!

And here’s something I don’t get. They say they want the party to better reflect the face of Canada. Women make up over half of that face. But 33% of his members have to be women, and that’s the figure he’s sticking with? That doesn’t make any sense if he was truly trying to make the party match the face of Canada. What is the real motive?

Man I hate politics. And I hate the direction this is going.

Lost in Spaces.

Ok, this is just weird. I never noticed this until today, and now I want to know the answer.

Ever since I could type, I was always told to put two spaces after the end of a sentence. I was never told exactly why, except, “It looks good on paper.” They told me not to do it in braille, because braille took up more space on a page anyway, so having an extra space was just wasteful. But I was always told to put two spaces in in print. So I did. It became a habit. Steve was taught the same thing, and given just as much explanation, I think anyway.

Today, Steve was picking through his most recent post. For some reason, he’d had a super hard time getting it right. So he was scrutinizing it, letter by letter, and let out a shriek of “What the hell?” He had noticed that at the end of his sentences, there was only one space!

At first, we thought there were blogger demons afoot. We thought that someone at google had decided that there should *not* be two spaces, and was removing them automatically. This was annoying, since if they decided to think for us on that count, what was next?

Then I wondered if this was some kind of html standard. So I made a very small page with a few sentences on it, because I’m just that geeky, and holy crap, there was only one space after each sentence!

I’d noticed that in a few places,people only separated their sentences with one space, but I just thought they were weird, and sometimes sites where I’d see it were peppered with wonderful pearls of wisdom like Im so cule cuzz Ive got mad sk1llz. So I just thought they didn’t know how to write, period.

This leads me to my question. When did the standard change, and how did I miss the memmo? If I put two spaces after my sentences when I write someone a letter or an email, would they look at what I write and go “Oh, my god, you are like sooo stuck in the early 90’s!” and laugh at me? Or do they even notice? Is this one space thing happening because of the way things look on the screen? Does anybody know?

Now I look like a complete geek. But I’m a puzzled geek. I guess you miss stuff like that changing when you listen to your computer instead of reading the screen with your eyes.

I Don’t Care What Anyone Says, People Really Do Listen To Me

I’ve been saying for years that we should get rid of the penny, and finally, hopefully, the idea is gaining some steam. All it took was for some group with a fancy name to take my idea and not credit me to make things happen, but hey, that’s nothing new. That sort of thing comes with the territory when you’re brilliant.

Glucometer Manufacturers can be Real Pricks!

I’m doing some research for a friend who is diabetic to help her find a talking glucometer, that thing that tests your sugar levels, and a thought dawned on me. This shouldn’t be as hard as it is!

No, hear me out, I’m not just whining. This is a diabetes-control aid. Diabetes has the capacity to, among other things, take away someone’s eyesight, and it’s a common thing that happens. How many times do you hear, “She went blind due to Diabetes?” So why don’t *all* meters have a talking option? It should be standard! I mean, already a lot of them realize that your fingertips are sensitive and allow for multiple testing sites. How come they don’t realize that there may come a day when you lose your vision, and the last thing you’ll want to do is have to get to know how to use a new meter, one of a rare few that talk? I’m not saying that all meters have to talk. Just make it so you can turn the talking on and off.

It’s kind of like opening up a senior’s home with lots and lots of stairs and no elevators. Sure, when someone gets there, they might be able to climb stairs. But you have to have things in place for the day when they may not be able to do it anymore, since lots of older people may, for various reasons, have trouble going up and down stairs.

It just makes no sense. Hopefully someone realizes this, or when the Diabetes problem spirals out of control, there are going to be a lot of angry blind people.
By the way, anyone know anything about the Prodigy meter?

Do Unto Yourself as the People in These Pictures are Doing Unto Each Other.

Here we go again with Telus in the news, only this time, I’m on their side.

Telus Mobility has decided to allow people to download porn on their cell phones for a fee. The porn that users can access has been checked to see if it meets federal and provincial standards, and only people who are 18 and over can get it, in theory anyway. Just wait until Little Johnny gets a hold of Mommy’s cell phone, but that’s another story.

Now, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vancouver has got his shorts in a twist over it. He’s screaming that it’s wrong and is urging people to cancel their contracts with Telus Mobility. Telus is receiving oodles of complaints over this, and the number is rising. Shareholders are calling the move disgusting.

Woe! Everybody! Stop the bus and look out the window! Most cell phones now have web-browsers built into them, right? Which means you can surf the net on your own, right? Which means, if you know what you’re doing, you can find your own porn, and it might be far worse than anything Telus is offering!

And to those folks wanting to complain about even seeing the availability of porn on their cell phones, you don’t have to accept the offer, do you? They could next offer you voicemail. Do you have to take that too? Nobody’s shoving porn down your throat. If you don’t want it, say no, leave it for people who want it, and shut up!

And a final message to the appalled shareholders. Where were you when Telus was actually doing something bad? Where were the screaming masses when Telus was censoring its internet so subscribers couldn’t see what the company was up to? I don’t recall hearing a peep. Man people are stupid.

We want your Savings Since We’re Missing Our Souls.

Wow. I think it would be a miracle if these assholes could sleep at night. The sad thing is they probably can.

During their fund-raising campaignes, hosts on the Miracle Channel would strongly advocate that their viewers cash out their RRSP’s and donate them to the station. Choice quotes like “There is somebody right now watching and God is speaking to them about RRSPs. They’ve got RRSPs and they’ve got a sizable amount and it’s a security thing. Well, it’s not a security thing; your security is in God. And God’s speaking to you to cash those in. I dare you to do it.” make my blood boil. Scammers and assholes, all of them. Anyone who has the sheer, unadulterated gall to ask for someone’s life-savings should spend the rest of his life eating out of a dumpster. After all, he doesn’t need money, food and ahome. He should give it to god. That is all.

Like a Kid in a Candy Shoppe!

This is going to be the weirdest post ever. On second thought, that’s a tall order, writing the weirdest post ever. What would this post have to top to get that award? I’m not sure. That’s a hard one. Would it have to beat the guy who burped in Steve’s ear at the mall? Or maybe the guy who slapped Matt’s ass at the hockey game? Or maybe you have your own ideas for the weirdest post. But this one’s going to be a little weird and twisty and…hopefully not boring.

I discovered the coolest place ever. An online candy store! They’re Canadian, they’re cheap, and they have a zillion different kinds of candy from a bunch of different countries! Oh, and if you’re Diabetic, there’s a whole section for you. Their website could use a little work, so don’t be frightened away by the spelling errors. They are a real store and they will ship the shit you order. I know, I’ve already received an order from them.

And here comes the weird part of the post. Long story time. Some people know that part of my hotmail address is froozle. I picked it back when I didn’t think anyone would actually be emailing me there. I picked it back when, *gasp*, you could make free phone calls on MSN Messenger. As soon as I picked it, they started charging. Bastards! I’m always late to catch a train!

So anyway, someone was teasing me about this froozle hotmail account, and then started calling me other things, like froozy and frooze and such. So one day, just for shits and giggles, I typed frooze into google to see what would come up. Not much did, but one thing did come up, these candies called Frooze Pops.

I was intrigued. They were apparently some kind of jelly-filled lolllypop…or something made in China. The descriptions were so vague. I said one day I would try them, just to say I’d tried Frooze Pops.

I went in search of these things, and found a place in the states that would sell them to me. But the bastards wouldn’t even tell me how much shipping would cost, and the order was going to be a lot of money. I wanted to try them, but not for that price. So I kept looking, and stumbled into the Candy Shoppe, and they had them!

I got my order, and tried a couple today, and they’re weird! They’re these little sticks with these big plastic caps on them. Tied to the stick is this tag, and who knows what it says. I’d love to know. Anyway, the candy isn’t in the plastic cap on top, it’s in the stick! You suck on it and this funky jelly comes out. Sometimes you’re not sure if you’re done until you’ve squeezed and squished the stick every which way. It’s good, but it’s weird! So now, I’ve tried Frooze Pops. That is no longer a mystery. And I’ve found the coolest candy store ever in the process!

Penny for Your Thoughts? How about 22000 of ’em?

I’m still laughing. I don’t think this guy was expecting the response he got, but it’s still funny.

Police mistake package of pennies for bomb

WILLIAMS LAKE, B.C. (Feb 12, 2007)

As protests go, it was a bomb.

It began when a disgruntled Williams Lake rancher dumped a package on the steps of his local provincial government offices and it was mistaken for a bomb
by local officials and the RCMP last Wednesday.

It turned out the mysterious cardboard box wrapped in plastic contained $220, or 37 kilograms in pennies — his payment for four fines he received that
he wasn’t too happy about.

The situation was taken seriously and the building was evacuated.

I’d just love to see this guy dropping that package off.

Another Survey

Well, here I go again. I just got emailed another survey, and thought maybe someone who reads here might be able to fill it out too.

The Adaptech Research Network is developing a scale that postsecondary students can use to grade their on-campus experience with adaptive technology and they need pilots. So if you’re going to school, or graduated in the last two years and feel like helping them out, go here and fill it out. If you have any questions about the survey, their emails are on the page. You can even get a few bucks for it! Yea a few bucks! And you’ll be helping a dude who I met 12 years ago. Ug! That was a long, long time ago.