Category: Social Order & Disorder

The open government report

Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Provincial Politics / Social Order & DisorderLeave a comment

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On Monday’s agenda, council received a 21-page report from the clerk on the nature and mechanics of open government in Collingwood. This comprehensive report, titled the “Accountability and Transparency Policy,” because it also introduced a revised, formal policy, listed all of the bylaws, policies and legislation by which council and staff operate. This is such an important and useful report that I felt it worthwhile to extract it from the April 13 agenda and make it available separately here. If you have not read it, or have any questions about how a council works and the rules that guide us, it’s ……… click below for more ↓

Narrative and free agency in game design

Games & Gaming / Internet & Social Media / Social Order & DisorderLeave a comment

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As a former World of Warcraft player, I can attest to how compelling it is to play an immersive, massive, 3D role-playing game. Acting out scenarios in a fantasy world is more involving than merely reading a fantasy novel. You get addicted to being part of the narrative, to swinging the sword instead of just reading about it. Just as when you’re reading a good novel and can’t stop turning the pages, you keep playing to see how the next chapter/adventure/scenario plays out, especially when you don’t always have to follow the script. It’s not so much about the gameplay, ……… click below for more ↓

Speaking with the dead

Atheism & Spirituality / Balderdash & Hoaxes / Memes; Internet & Social / Pseudoscience & Quackery / Science & TechnologyLeave a comment

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Can the dead speak to us from beyond the grave? No, of course not. But that doesn’t stop literally millions of superstitious people from believing they do. And some think they can use technology to facilitate the conversation. Of course, when you put technology into the mix, it simply cements the belief in place, no matter how ludicrous. And the internet has provided a platform for this silliness to reach worldwide. A recent post on the BBC website made me do some investigation. The BBC story is really about EVP – Electronic Voice Phenomenon. EVP, as Wikipedia tells us, is: …electronically ……… click below for more ↓

The Municipal Act and Recorded Votes

Collingwood / Municipal Politics / Social Order & DisorderLeave a comment

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A recent motion was made to make all council votes recorded votes. This has generated some confusion among council watchers about voting and both what we can and cannot do. The Municipal Act makes it clear that calling for a recorded vote is every councillor’s right. It is not staff’s right. See Section 246: Recorded vote 246. (1) If a member present at a meeting at the time of a vote requests immediately before or after the taking of the vote that the vote be recorded, each member present, except a member who is disqualified from voting by any Act, ……… click below for more ↓

Clawing our way back up the ladder?

Collingwood / Media Issues / Municipal Politics / Places & GeographyLeave a comment

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In 2006, Moneysense listed Collingwood as the 11th best place to live in Canada. The other ten above us on that list were all major cities. We were the number one town. Mayor Geddes beamed. Today we’re a lot further down the list. Numero 54 to be exact, out of 200. I wrote about that list back in 2011. We plummeted from the giddy heights of 11th place to 61st by 2008. The fall didn’t stop until we hit 94th place in 2012, in the bottom half of the 180 places listed. Now we’re back at 54th place. I suppose ……… click below for more ↓

Understanding the Municipal Act

Collingwood / Media Issues / Municipal Politics2 Comments

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Among the many pieces of legislation, bylaws and policies that guide and inform municipal councils in Ontario, the Municipal Act is the most important.* This 238-page, 140,000-word, 474-section document covers most of the things that govern municipal councils: powers, duties, highways, public utilities, waste management, fences and signs, animals, economic development, environment, licensing, municipal reorganization, municipal service boards, BIAs, boards and committees, integrity commissioners, transparency, open and in-camera meetings, financial administration, taxation, fees, bylaw enforcement, bonusing. …and many other topics. Clearly a document of this size and scope requires more than one reading to grasp. Some areas do not arise ……… click below for more ↓

The Secret Teachings of All Ages

Atheism & Spirituality / Balderdash & Hoaxes / Books & Reviews / Critical Thinking / Religion / Social Order & Disorder / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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“When confronted with a problem involving the use of the reasoning faculties, individuals of strong intellect keep their poise, and seek to reach a solution by obtaining facts bearing upon the question. Those of immature mentality, on the other hand, when similarly confronted, are overwhelmed.” That’s one of the few quotable pieces I’ve found while reading through The Secret Teachings of All Ages, by Manly P. Hall. Originally published 1928, it has gone through several editions, most recently as an oversize, 750-page paperback in 2003. The full, ostentatious title includes this: An Encyclopedic Outline of Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolic Philosophy … ……… click below for more ↓

Another Zen tale

Atheism & Spirituality / Books & Reviews / Critical Thinking / Literary pretensions / Social Order & DisorderLeave a comment

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Carrying on in the tradition of my last post, here’s another of the stories from Paul Reps’ book, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones. Before I repeat it, consider the story of Diogenes, the Greek philosopher and founder of the school of Cynics (cynos is Greek for dog, thus the “dog” philosophers). Diogenes once complained that, “Dogs and philosophers do the greatest good and get the fewest rewards.” I might add municipal politicians to that list… He broke almost every rule of civic and social convention to teach his philosophy, almost like a Zen master using koans to break the bonds of rigid ……… click below for more ↓

A Zen story

Atheism & Spirituality / Books & Reviews / Personal Reminiscences / Social Order & Disorder / What I'm Reading NowLeave a comment

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There are all sorts of great stories, great tales of wisdom and enlightenment, to be found in Zen Buddhism. They often have that sort of eternal depth and universal meaning to our lives, regardless of your personal beliefs. The one below came back to me, last night, while I was walking my dog and pondering why some people remain so angry over little things, why they can’t move on. It goes like this… Two Zen monks, a young and and old one, were walking along the road on the way to visit a monastery in the hills. They came to ……… click below for more ↓

Perfect Sense

Arts / Literary pretensions / Music & Reviews / Social Order & DisorderLeave a comment

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I have always liked sandbox stories; tales in which the author could stretch his of her imagination, place ordinary characters into a seemingly normal situation, then see what happened when the conditions were changed.* Sandbox environments are virtual places were you can test ideas, explore paths, examine consequences to actions without spilling over into the real world. They have all the appearance of the real world, but the parameters can be changed to suit the tinkerer. Programmers often create sandbox environments to test programs; anyone who does web development does so in a sandbox before putting the pages into use. ……… click below for more ↓

ID’s deep roots in creationism

Atheism & Spirituality / Balderdash & Hoaxes / Pseudoscience & Quackery / Science & Technology / Social Order & Disorder5 Comments

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Proponents of creationism often try to deny that “intelligent” design (ID) is merely creationism wrapped in a fake lab coat to make it look like it’s pals with science. It isn’t. They’re not buddies, didn’t go to school together, and don’t ‘like’ each others Facebook pages. ID is merely a tawdry, paper-thin attempt to hoodwink the gullible who can’t see past the plastic pocket protector that there’s a bible in the pocket. In part this is because the popular notion of what a theory is has devolved into a synonym for guess or an unproven assumption. But that’s not the ……… click below for more ↓

Maybe some people are just dense…

Science & Technology / Social Order & Disorder2 Comments

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Story in today’s Science Daily: Why Some People Don’t Learn Well: EEG Shows Insufficient Processing of Information to Be Learned. While you might initially want to say “because they’re stupid,” (or Republicans), the authors reach a different conclusion. It may be that some people just don’t process information efficiently: …the main problem is not that learning processes are inefficient per se, but that the brain insufficiently processes the information to be learned. Which made me think…. it’s like eating. If you don’t chew your food sufficiently, it doesn’t get digested as well. I know a lot of people who don’t ……… click below for more ↓

Or maybe doomsday just postponed…

Pets & Animal Behaviour / Science & Technology / Social Order & DisorderLeave a comment

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A story in Science Daily today talks about the effect that antibiotics used in animals has had on humans. Or rather, on antibiotic-resistant bacteria which are dangerous to humans. The increasing production and use of antibiotics, about half of which is used in animal production, is mirrored by the growing number of antibiotic resistance genes, or ARGs, effectively reducing antibiotics’ ability to fend off diseases — in animals and humans. Now this is hardly news. Concerns over unchecked use of antibiotics in farm animals have been raised for decades. The antibiotics have been working their way through the system and ……… click below for more ↓

Doomsday averted (again)

Politics / Science & Technology / Social Order & DisorderLeave a comment

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Seventeen thousand miles. Seems like a long way, but it’s less than one tenth the distance from here to the moon, and it’s within the satellite belt. In cosmic terms, it’s frighteningly close. Consider that the Sun is 93 million miles way, and it affects everything on this planet.* It’s still a miss, though. Asteroid DA14 will race by Earth at 27,700 kPH, February 15. But it won’t hit us. Whew. You might be able to see it, if you know where to look. You’ll have to be fast, though – it will move VERY quickly across the sky. And ……… click below for more ↓

Half Time News

Collingwood / Media Issues / Municipal Politics6 Comments

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This month, Collingwood residents got a newsletter in their Collus- PowerStream utility bill: The Half Time News. Recognizing this is the season of the Super Bowl, our  brochure provides residents a fun yet non-political update on the events and activities around council’s first two years in office: at the end of 2012 we are at the half-way point in our term. And what a term it’s been so far! While media attention is often focused on a handful of issues, council has been involved in numerous initiatives and activities since we took office in December, 2010. These are all important ……… click below for more ↓

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