Hey Canada! Do you want nuclear radiation in your food?

Doug Ford.

The name brings fear to the minds of many people in Ontario.

Doug Ford is the Premier of Ontario, and he is a jerk. A real nasty jerk. He wants to dump nuclear waste in Bruce County, close to the town of Teeswater. The Teeswater River (and the underground aquifer beneath the region) supplies the drinking water to:

• Tens of thousands of people.
• Dairy cows.
• Water for agricultural farming (corn, potatoes, soy beans and more).
• Water for Aquafina bottled water.
• Cattle, pigs, turkeys and chickens. Bruce County is the Beef Capital of North America, but it also produces a lot of other meat products.

If you live Ontario you've eaten food many times from Bruce County. Guaranteed. You've drank the milk. You've eaten the cheese. You've eaten beef, pork, turkey and chicken. You've eaten the corn, the potatoes, the soy products. You've drank Aquafina water.

Even if you are a vegan and don't eat milk and dairy, you should still care where your soy products and other vegetables are grown and where your bottled water comes from.

And that is why you should care.

If you care about what you eat, then you should protect what you eat. Learn more at:

https://www.protectsouthbruce-nodgr.org/

If you care write to Doug Ford. Tweet him. Phone him and leave an angry voicemail.

Share this post. Copy/paste it to other websites. Share it on Facebook. Share it on Twitter. Share the memes below.

Show that you care about your food and where it comes from.

Protect your food and your health from Doug Ford.

Rob Fod Vs the Gay Pride Parade

CANADA - No Rob Ford? No problem.

With an estimated crowd of over 1 million people, Toronto's Gay Pride Parade went off with its usual rainbow-esque festivities as Torontonians celebrated 31 years of Pride, despite Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's controversial absence.

Where was Rob Ford? He was hiding up north in his cottage, avoiding everything to do with the Gay Pride Parade. Homophobic? Maybe. Or more likely he is trying to win votes from the white middle class suburbanites who elected him mayor in the first place.

The record-breaking event this year was more than a massive celebration that takes over several city streets. The parade is a constant reminder that there is still a lot to do to achieve equal rights for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) communities worldwide.

And the fact Toronto's own mayor refused to go really hammers home the concept that this is an important equal rights issue, even if you're not gay and have no interest in the LGBT community.

The three-hour parade, the largest of its kind in Canada, is part of the largest gay festival in North America (which means its also one of the biggest in the world) involves a 10-day Pride Week that generates about $100 million for Toronto's economy and draws 10s of thousands of tourists to Toronto.

Rob Ford claims he skipped the parade to continue a family tradition of spending Canada Day in cottage country. He also skipped all the other Pride events held earlier in the week, including a rainbow flag raising at city hall. He avoided everything and anything to do with being gay.

Ford has already faced plenty of criticism and accusations of homophobia.

In the parade some people waved signs denouncing Rob Ford, while others poked fun at him by covering their faces or genitals with cardboard cut-outs of Ford's face.

It was the first time since 1994 that Toronto's sitting mayor didn't march in the parade. Former mayors Barbara Hall and David Miller came out to attend.

As Miller shook hands one young man shouted: "Our old mayor is better than our new one," which drew a chorus of cheers. David Miller declined to comment about Ford's absence and focused on the positive instead.

"I believe this event shows Toronto at its best," says David Miller, who was Toronto's mayor until Ford took over in fall 2010. "In our city, everybody's welcome."

Rapists at Work + Apology for all the rapists in the world

Greetings ladies and gents!

I used to have a webcam video here, but have since decided to scrap webcam activities because frankly I felt that series of videos was ill conceived and have since thought better of it. I am just not suited for webcams. No shame in admitting it.

In the video I apologized for all the *ssh*les in the world who have ever raped a woman. On behalf of all of mankind I apologize for the rapes and crimes against womenkind that rapists have committed for the entire history of humankind.

In Canada alone 1 in 3 women are sexually assaulted at some point in their life time.

99% of the women who go to the police are telling to the truth and 1% of cases are thrown out because the police are very good at detecting liars (because they keep changing their stories).

And then there is the cases with physical evidence of assault... but even those don't always end in conviction. The conviction rate for sexual assault in Canada is only 49%. That is very low when compared to other crimes and their conviction rates.

And what it really boils down to is he said vs she said.

She has bruises on her face, neck and hips. He says they just like it rough and got carried away. Who is the judge to believe?

If the evidence is "circumstantial" then its not enough for a conviction.

The system is broken.

What we need is a better way to convict criminals and determine the truth and facts of what really happening.

In Canada there are between 260,000 and 286,000 sexual assaults per year. Only 9 to 10% of sexual assaults are reported to police. The Canadian average is 26,000 reports of sexual assaults annually.

With so few convictions there has to be a better way to solve this problem.

I think scare tactics help... I am not talking about longer sentences for people convicted. No. I think more mass media topics about women vigilantes killing rapists is something that will make men think twice.

Movies like the French film "Baise Moi" where two women go on a rampage after being abused by men.

Or the music video by Rihanna "Man Down". Such things will give men pause and make them think twice. Because trials and sentencing isn't working. 260,000 sexual assaults per year in Canada is a shockingly high number. And the number is much higher in the USA. Close to 3 million annually.

Kissing in Dangerous Times... at Work!

LOVE & SEX - The photo on the right is young lovers Alexandra Thomas and Scott Jones in Vancouver, kissing during the recent riots following the Canucks loss.

The photo has since gone viral online, and according to interviews Alexandra and Scott they were actually afraid and fearing for their safety. The kissing couple were photographed in between police lines at the Vancouver riot, trapped and unable to go in either direction because police wouldn't let them.

“We were struck by police shields, pushed to the ground and I was just very, very frightened,” says Alexandra. “Everything happened so fast, faster than we could ever imagine it could happen.”

The two were not part of the riots. They were just looky-loos who had been watching the game at a friend’s house downtown when they heard about the riots and wanted to take a look.

“We wanted to go down and see for ourselves but it was crazy,” says Scott. “We didn’t know where we were supposed to go. We wanted to get out of there and we ended up in the line of police marching forward.”

Alexandra was struck down charging police wielding riot shields and batons. Scott was also knocked on the ground. “I just wanted us to go home safely. It was unbelievable that it was happening and all I wanted was for us to be safe.”

“Nobody was getting out of the way. It was all of a sudden they charged us. Very strong-handed and we were in one spot. The only thing we could do was try to stay calm and try to get up,” says Alexandra.

While down Alexandra was panicking and upset, so Scott kissed her in an effort to calm her down. That is when a nearby photographer snapped their photo, capturing a perfect example of "make love not war".

After much confusion the pair managed to find a train station and took a train to get out of Vancouver's downtown core.

The next day their moment of tenderness during the chaos was in newspapers and spreading rapidly online.

“When I first saw it, I thought, ‘No way, that’s not ... I can’t believe that’s us,’ ” says Alexandra. “Then I looked some more and realized that is us. That’s a very revealing picture of us.”

In the history of rioters vs police there's always a lot of damage...

Take for example last years G20 protests in Toronto... it shut down the city core and what did it do to prevent damage to public property? Nothing. The protestors simply damaged whatever property they were near, often targeting companies they considered to be "corporate fat cats".

The amount of damage is something for insurance agents and Toronto accountants to decide, but we can safely guess the damage was in the 10s of thousands.

And then there is all the employees who were unable to work the following days until their workplaces were fixed, repaired and so forth. Its not like they can just hire some freelance IT staff and go back to work immediately.

And for what??? They didn't change the government's mind about anything. All that damage to public property and people unable to work, and NOTHING to show for it. See my older article about whether Protesting is Obsolete.

In theory if protestors actually wanted to accomplish something real they'd travel Ottawa and organize a secret protest (usually methods similar to flashmobbing groups) to pick the locations and times at the last minute, to avoid police interference.

But even then what would they do? Set fire to cars? Wave placards? Break Ottawa windows and loot stuff? And what is that supposed to accomplish?

Back to the Vancouver riots, the main focus of the riots was the Canada Post building... Canada Post is currently on strike. It was NOT Canuck fans who smashed the windows and was deliberately destroying the building. It was Canada Post workers in disguise, getting back against their employer.

And what effect has it had? Will the Canadian government give in to Canada Post union demands? Doubtful. Most people don't even know it was Canada Post workers who attacked the Canada Post building...

Meanwhile Stephen Harper is back in Ottawa, in 24 Sussex Drive, enjoying its weight room, tennis court, swimming pool, sunrooms, billiard room and all the other amenities. Does Stephen Harper care that Canadians are unhappy and protesting? Heck no.

Stephen Harper was elected with a majority government on May 2nd 2011. He will stay in power for the next 4 years. He doesn't care if protestors break windows, "make love not war" or do anything else. He will be in power regardless of how much people protest.

Proof that protest and rioting is useless.

Being Neighbourly at Work

CANADA - Being neighbourly isn't just something you do when you're at home. Hopefully you do it all the time, but this isn't true for everyone.

I'd argue being neighbourly is good for business relationships...

And not being neighbourly, ie. behaving like a prick or a c#nt, is likely to be very bad for business.

Piss off the locals and you're likely to get a brick thrown through your store front window.

And frankly I think that goes for whether you are male or female. Piss off the locals and they have every right to call you a prick or a c#nt.

Lets take for example the building management of 565 Sherbourne which has decided to chop off bicycles belonging to locals, because apparently they only want residents parking their bicycles in front of the local Shoppers Drug Mart. (Chopping off bikes and stealing them isn't very neighbourly.)

When asked about this policy by concerned cyclists the business manager (who deserves to be called a c#nt) decided to become antagonistic and she declared that she's going to remove the bike racks entirely (and violate a city by-law which requires them to have 60 bicycle parking spots near the Shoppers Drug Mart).

The lesson learned here is that people, even if they don't live there, should always be neighbourly. If there's a need for something (ie. more bicycle racks) it makes sense that they should just add more (especially when its required by the city by-law) to accomodate both residents and locals who happen to be visiting the Shoppers Drug Mart.

Getting into a feud with locals is just plain bad for business, regardless of your sex.

See Also
Neighbourly and Politeness in Toronto
Parking, Parking and Biycle Parking

Freedom of Speech & Facebook at Work

POLITICS - About a month ago the Fifth Estate (on the CBC) aired a documentary about Peter Nygard which showed the truth about his fashion empire, his history of bullying employees, and how his lawyers continue to bully them even after they no longer for him.

What the documentary missed was a NLC report which came out a week later which showed Nygard was also involved in human trafficking and slavery in the country of Jordan. In other words his reputation was quickly going from bad to worse.

Inspired by the documentary my friend started a Facebook group named "Boycotting Peter Nygard" and I was later enlisted to help promote it. With very little effort the group grew to over 200 people, including a number of ex-employees of Peter Nygard.

Today the Boycotting Peter Nygard Facebook group was removed from Facebook. According to Facebook it was because Peter Nygard's lawyers had made a complaint that the group was infringing on "intellectual property rights".

So... What about our freedom of speech? What about democracy? Why is Peter Nygard's reputation more important than the freedom of speech of 200+ people?

Peter Nygard has a huge list of allegations against him. Multiple rape allegations, which have all been dropped after his lawyers intimidated the women involved. Using sweatshop / slave labour in a pants factory in Jordan. Physically, emotionally and sexually abusing his workers in Canada, the USA and the Bahamas. Violating laws concerning the ethical treatment of workers. Human trafficking of workers. These things are well-documented by the CBC and the NLC. He's a complete and utter scumbag.

Now we can add stifling freedom of speech to the list... because apparently for billionaires like Peter Nygard its super easy to just delete websites that are boycotting you. You just throw money and lawyers at the problem.

I certainly don't recall selling my freedom of speech to the devil. It can be quite discouraging to realize that our efforts were momentarily in vain...

Except people are like cockroaches. Once we know the truth we just come back stronger and more determined than ever to voice our freedom of speech. You can delete our words on Facebook, but you can't delete our keyboards.

We will just write more and spread the word. Scumbags like Peter Nygard must be opposed by people with honesty and integrity.

Join the New Boycotting Peter Nygard's Brands Facebook Group.

Weapons at School and Work

CANADA - In a recent incident a Brampton lawyer was stabbed outside a Sikh temple with a Kirpan ceremonial dagger. Sikh men wear Kirpan daggers to protect themselves from evil, it is a sacred weapon according to their religion and not meant to actually be used.

The Kirpan dagger has been getting more controversy in recent years, ever since a 12-year old boy in a Montreal school accidentally dropped his Kirpan and the school tried to take it away from him.

I bring this up because since the age of 11 or so I've been carrying a Swiss Army Knife with me at all times, attached to my keys. I've had several over the years and I need a replacement because my current one is getting dull and there is a ding on the blade. I carried it through high school, university, to various work places including government jobs... the only time I ever removed it from my pocket is when it and my keys went into my luggage for traveling on airplanes.

Now during that time period I've been in no less than 5 fights, 2 during primary school, 2 in high school, and 1 when a guy attacked me on the Toronto subway.

Not once in all five incidents did I take out my Swiss Army Knife. Honestly, I don't think it would be that good as a weapon. Given the option I prefer to use my fists. I have two of them and it just seems more practical.

For me the Swiss Army Knife is a tool. I've never needed to resort to using it as a weapon.

Teenagers are prone to fighting. They have to deal with bullies and there is a lot of anxiety about protecting themselves. Statistically however they rarely use weapons when fights are usually resolved with fists. (Only once in those five incidents was I ever attacked with a weapon, a broomstick from carpentry class.)

Chalk it up partly to Canada's obsession with hockey fighting, but Canadians just seem to prefer fisticuffs. Even when they have a hockey stick in hand, they throw it down, take off the gloves and go for the more basic weapon people have been using since before cavemen.

There are incidents of fights with weapons... everything from a hair pin to a bowling ball, and frankly I am curious as to whether such improvised weapons outnumber attacks with knives. It would stand to reason that when pressed people are more likely to pick up a rock, a stick or even a guitar case to fight with then they would to reach into their pocket and pull out a puny 2 - 8 inch knife (the same length as a Kirpan).

So while there may be incidents where people have tried using a Kirpan as a weapon, the recent attack on the Sikh lawyer (who easily survived) shows that its not a very effective weapon. The man who attacked him was charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault, showing he didn't even manage to run away or keep his identity hidden. (Its ever amazing how stupid criminals are.)

The Sikh lawyer attacked in the incident also wears a kirpan. He says this abuse of the dagger should not be used against the religion. “These people have used religious emotions and symbols to attack others. It does not mean all Sikhs are violent.”

He's right. People are more or less violent in general and they don't need a dagger to do it.

History has shown knife attacks are usually very brutal because a single stab wound doesn't kill someone. You have to be stabbed quite often or in vital locations for the wounds to become fatal. Michael Hill of Florida was stabbed in the brain with an 8 inch survival knife by an unknown assailant and still survived. (He currently holds the Guinness Record for the largest object removed from someone's brain and surviving.) In other incidents people have been stabbed over a hundred times and still lived.

Julius Caesar for example was stabbed 23 times, but only one of them actually hit a vital area in his chest according to a physician who later examined the body. An estimated 60 people mobbed him and were involved in the stabbing, including the infamous Brutus.

So whether its a ceremonial dagger or a tool people need to be aware knives don't hurt people, people hurt people. The knife isn't even an effective weapon. Its obsolete compared to the gun, which makes it super easy to kill someone.

A police night stick however... those things are just plain nasty!

If someone shows up at your door wielding a night stick, prepare to get your ass whupped.

See Also
Gun Control in Canada
Handguns in Canada

Saving Money at Work

CANADA - I am thinking of getting a business phone for my Toronto website design business... The thing however is that I don't like the plans being offered by Bell, Rogers and other phone companies.

What I WANT is an unlimited calling plan for both local and long distance. And I want it relatively cheap. Frankly I think that is the future of telephones, but the companies are really dragging their feet at offering it.

But there is a way... Vonage (VOIP = Voice Over Internet Protocol) gives you a local phone number, but allows you to call locally and long distance and all you pay is $39.99/month.

If you sign up with Bell for a business plan its $54.95/month... and its NOT unlimited. You pay extra for calling long distance. What a rip off.

The whole premise for a business plan for phones is that you can claim it on your income tax. Frankly I firmly believe people are getting ripped off by charging companies double what home user pay for the same service. Its a complete rip off designed to gouge companies... in theory they get it back because they can claim it as a business expense, but really its just gouging.

My argument however is that Vonage/VOIP is a logical route to go, especially if you're running a business. And who is to say you can't just register it under the business name instead of the person's name? That way you can still use if for income tax purposes.

My next issue I want to talk about saving money via is home heating (in theory you could do this for an office, but you'd need to OWN the building instead of renting it)... the idea here is Geothermal Heating Systems which is a VERY cheap way to heat your home, but your first stumbling block is the price of installing geothermal. The startup cost may seem like a lot, but what you quickly realize is the price of running a geothermal fan (about $15/month) is way cheaper than running an oil or gas furnace for 6 months or so of the year (and running an air conditioner for the other 6 months or so).

The beauty of geothermal is that it can both heat and cool your house and dramatically reduce the costs of heating the place. My sister and her husband are currently having geothermal systems installed in both their house and their cottage up north (the other benefit of geothermal is its off the grid and ideal for cottages and cabins in the middle of nowhere and the fan for cycling the air can run off a car battery).

The point I am getting here is that people and businesses can make lots of cost-cutting measures, especially during a recession.

Lets say you own a company that has a lawn out front. In theory the cheapest way would be to pave over the grass and not worry about how stark and unfriendly the company looks. A better solution I think is to install a concrete logo in the grass or flower beds and then hire a local grass cutting company to cut the grass / do flower maintenance. (I also favour the idea of using moss / ivy / ground covering plants that require zero maintenance.)

That way you're outsourcing the lawn maintenance (less worry, less cost for the lawnmower, gas, paying an employee to do it) and better yet the logo looks really good for advertising purposes.

A bit like the logos shown here beside the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto.

Another idea I've learned about is for companies looking to give their employees a dental plan, but don't want to get charged an arm and a leg.

The solution is to cut out the middle man. You find a local Toronto dentist (or wherever you live) and then negotiate with them a bulk rate for your company employees, cutting out the dental insurance company as the middle man. This may sound bizarre, but it ends up working well for both the company and the dentist...

The only disadvantage is that all your employees have to go through the same dentist... if you consider that a disadvantage. If you pick a good quality dentist that everyone ends up liking it won't be a big deal.

Next lets imagine you're trying to save money when planning a big business conference, annual office picnic, wedding, Toronto party rentals or whatever. Usually in such scenarios its best to bundle these options. Get one company to do EVERYTHING for you under a budget. If there are any extras you want not listed under the bundle get those separately. Less stress, less money, done by professionals.

Looking to Save Money? See Also:
Buying a New Computer at Work
Wind Power at Work
Cheapness at Work
Car Options at Work

Bullies at School (and at Work)

CANADA/HEALTH - According to a new study Canada has some of the worst bullies in the world. At least insofar as our schools are concerned. The study by Queen's University in conjunction with the World Health Organization documented both bullies and victims of bullies and the bullying methods used in 40 different countries.

Boys face homophobic slurs, insults, verbal and physical abuse, to say nothing of emotional trauma that will haunt their self confidence for years to come and in many cases leads to depression, suicide attempts and violent behaviour.

Girls are no less humiliated either, but methods girls use to bully each other differs slightly.

The victims of bullying (regardless of gender) often end up cutting themselves and contemplating / attempting suicide. They also tend to become more shy, despondent, develop phobias of school or meeting new people, their marks slide and they end up wholly traumatized by the experience.

Author's Note: Having been bullied myself I know these things to be true. I still get upset just thinking of past instances from my own high school years.

The problem in Canada is that many school administrators do several things:

#1. They think its a problem that will go away with time and that there will be no lasting harm.

#2. They think it would take too much effort to enact anti-bullying policies, or that such policies could make problems worse.

In the United States however bullying is taken VERY seriously. In a country that averages a mass school shooting every 3-4 months there is a constant effort to prevent or put a halt to bullying, for fear that "Your School could be the next Columbine".

In Canada this lack of support in the schools' administration results in bullies basically running the place, getting away "Scot-free" with whatever antics they feel like. This is the reason why Canada is ranked the 5th worst country for bullies in schools out of the 40 countries polled.

• 14% of Canadian boys report being physically bullied.
  
• 30% of Canadian boys report verbal / psychological bullying.

Currently the status quo for punishing bullies is to suspend the offending student for 1-3 days. Afterwards the bully returns and due to lack of teacher supervision the bullying frequently becomes worse. (So going back to point #2 above, yes, band-aid solutions do make the problem worse, but it doesn't mean there isn't a good solution.)

The province of Ontario (where approx. 33% of all Canadian school children live) has taken steps in recent years like the Safe Schools Act and a training program that has thus far trained 25,000 teachers and 7,000 principals in how to address/prevent bullying. And this week is "Bullying Awareness Week", something which many schools take part in.

But if you look at the statistics for bullying incidents you see the it hasn't dropped, but has remained relatively steady. Anti-bullying group PREVNet (Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network) says there is little evidence that above measures have done anything, once again its just a band-aid solution.

You have to wonder what this "training program" for teachers really involves. Its likely just a weekend where teachers gather, talk about different ways to deal with bullies, eat lunch together and get a stamped certificate at the end proving they were there. Afterwards they make up their own mind on how to deal with bullies instead of following any kind of protocol.

That is a key problem. The current protocol (or lack thereof) doesn't work because administrators/teachers are not investigating allegations of bullying and are instead preferring to sweep it under the rug and ignore it.

Here is a solution for you...

Make it a CRIME.

If 14% of Canadian boys are being physically bullied and abused, that is ASSAULT. It is already a crime as far as the law is concerned, the problem is that school administrators have a strong tendency to turn a blind eye to bullying and either give the bully a "slap on the wrist" or give a suspension (Woohoo, 1-3 days of no school!), which is hardly a punishment.

If it was treated as a crime and bullies received criminal records (and possibly time in juvenile hall or the threat of jail) then they would be more likely to be scared shitless of getting in trouble again. (After all, if you go to juvenile hall you frequently are no longer the bully, but become the victim. There's always someone who is bigger than you are.)

Now I admit treating bullying as a crime is a lot more time consuming, but so is trying to teach students who are traumatized. They're distracted and despondent, too stressed about the bullies in their life to worry about school work. The students who don't suffer from bullies inherently have better marks (and less sick days from trying to avoid a bully).

An effective solution to bullying will doubtlessly raise the grade average of students and result in happier and more productive students.

The countries polled with the least amount of bullies (Norway, Sweden and England) have strong policies in place and they are under constant evaluation for improvement. What we need in Canada therefore is to adopt identical policies and protocols and FOLLOW THEM. Don't ignore them at your leisure.

After all its not just students who were shot in the Columbine massacre, it was teachers too. For their own safety teachers need to be taking bullying more seriously.

And FYI, on a per capita basis Canada has had more school shooting fatalities than the USA. Remember the Killer Goth in Montreal in September 2006? Or the C. W. Jefferys Collegiate shooting in May 2007? Or the Bendale Business and Technical Institute shooting in September 2008? Apparently Canada averages a school shooting every year, which when you consider our population is one 10th of the USA's that is a pretty high rate.