Required Listening

Last week was the 35th Anniversary of Quirks and Quarks, Canada's national science radio program. While I would recommend you listen to it every week, I am going to specifically charge you with listening to a clip from the 35th anniversary special. If you are not feeling inclined to listen to the whole thing (which I strongly recommend), you can download part 2 and skip to the interview with Dr Mark Federman which begins at 20:12. Dr. Federman does a remarkable job of framing the challenges facing our species today in a way which is accessible to anyone living in the developed world but doesn't lose any of its urgency. He manages to sound concerned without sounding alarmist. This interview is an excellent example of how Quirks and Quarks is able to frame important questions about scientific subject matter in a way that all Canadians can understand. Bob McDonald, the host, is a national treasure. Also, I want his job.

Things That Make Me Smile

Classical music played on non-traditional instruments. In this case, guitar. Enjoy!

Tiny Heart Attacks for Everyone!

I made miniature KFC Double Downs in my kitchen!

Lies, Damned Lies and Opinion Polls

The Toronto Star is trying a new tactic in its war on informed democracy today.

Up until now, opinion polling numbers have been reported as fraction of decided voters. So, for example, when they said that Ford had 39% of voter support, what they meant is that 39% of the 64% of the people polled said they would vote for Ford. Which actually means that 24% of the people polled said they would vote for Ford. This tactic was useful in scaring people into thinking they need to vote strategically – I would be willing to bet that almost none of the undecideds were undecided about whether they were going to vote for Ford.

But this morning, they have cleverly switched to simply reporting that second number. Before, if you added up the percentages for each candidate, you'd arrive at 100% and the undecideds would be extra. But today, if you add up the numbers for Ford, Smitherman, Pantalone and Rossi, you get 76% which is conspicuously close to the number claimed in the article as decided voters.

The Star is using this to show the runaway-freight-train-like momentum of Smitherman's campaign. Of course, if you look at the real numbers, Smitherman's current rating looks a lot like his old rating plus Sarah Thompson's rating. So basically, at this point, all the candidates are within the margin of error of their previous values. In fact, if you look back on the opinion polls, there has been basically no change since July, with the exception of Thompson's dropping out.

So again, if you want to feel all clever because your strategic vote kept the Stupidest Man Who Ever Ran For Mayor* out of office, go ahead. We all know how that ends.

Or, you can do your research, learn about the candidates plans for transit and if you still want to vote for Smitherman, we'll argue some more.


* I realize that there have probably been stupider candidates. It's even possible one of them won.

I Can Clearly Not Choose The Candidate In Front Of You!

Yesterday a long-time supporter of Joe Pantalone flopped and is now officially endorsing Smitherman for mayor. Let's forget, for a moment, that the opinion polling numbers are biased, meaningless and poorly reported and just remember that voting "strategically" is a good way to get a bad mayor while feeling really clever and self-satisfied. I think that saying "I think Joe Pantalone would be the best mayor but I'm going to vote for Smitherman" puts in you a similar position to the Sicilian from the Princess Bride. And we all know how that ends:



In any case, I'm with Janet Davis who said “I am strategically voting. I’m strategically voting by endorsing Joe Pantalone, the best candidate for mayor and for the future of our city.”

Penny-Wise, Pound-Foolish

I would like to rewrite the old adage, "if you look after the pennies, the dollars will look after themselves."

How about something like:
"If you spend enough time bitching about a $4 million gun registry, everyone will forget the $1,000 million 2-day summit , the $10,000 million in unneeded prisons and the $16,000 million on fighter jets you just spent."

The people of Toronto seem to have this disease even worse. The Toronto Star has decided that Ford's budget claims pass the smell-test. I think there is an important implication when using the word "budget" when discussing a mayoral candidate. Because while Ford's claims to have saved the city $1.5 million in his 10 years in office may stand up to scrutiny (insofar as he spent about $1.3 million less than he was allowed to), it would take cutting the staff budgets and expense accounts of all 1,300 councilors to make up the $2,000 million in taxes he wants to cut right away. What? We don't have 1,300 councilors to cut? Well, I'm sure a man smart enough to eliminate Toronto's bedbug problem will come up with something.

The WTF Economy

This article about companies that are thriving despite a bad economy is not improving my outlook on humanity. Company number 4 is Snuggie.

I think we have a smoking gun here: the economy collapsed because the education system in the US is so bad that people no longer know how to use a blanket by the time they reach adulthood.