Who do you book with? Vacations, Hotels, Flights

My favorite is:

Expedia

http://www.expedia.co.uk/

Try...

Active Hotels

http://www.activehotels.com/wl/servlet/search/freshSearch.do?trkref=SMU

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.

The Problems Associated with Economies of Scale in Food Production and Distribution can be Disease and Death

I have mentioned in an earlier blog how I feel the FDA has let us down. My new idea is that the FDA become an insurance agency to cover the population for all the errors the economies of scale people in the industrial food and drug make. Thus, if a person is ill from a bad drug or food the FDA pays for damages to that individual.

To recover from the cost of errors the FDA then would charge the firms of the many industries responsible as natural citizens. Taxing companies this way would help defray costs of errors presently born by private individuals. These costs are what lead to an unfair distribution of incomes and to poverty. In short, a fair system would cover the costs of externalities of errors made by industries and firms that lead to costs born by you and me.

Who has paid for the efforts to protect the community from the swine flu virus. While I am sure the industrial farmers would say that they are guilt free, I am not sure that I would accept that. There is a lot of circumstantial evidence to suggest that scaling up in food processing is going to cost us consumers dearly while the industrialists escape to Hawaii or Switzerland! Just a daily perusal of the papers shows us what the problem is:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/27/us/27eggs.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

In short, all industry wants to become like a publishing company earning surplus value from economies of scale. While this sounds a bit basic eighteenth century economics, it is none the less very evident.

No substantial profit can be made without achieving economies of scale. Publishing is the way to make profit. It is why the business of farming has become almost indistinguishable from Microsoft Corp.

Everyone wants to run their business as a publishing company in order to get those economies of scale.

Why do you think so many businesses are migrating to China?

Unfortunately, the economies of scale invariably lead to gross inequities in the distribution of incomes and to concentrations of power in the hands of publishers.

We should also take time to think how those creatures on the production lines feel. An example would be university students in America. Curricula are so badly designed these days that students come off the production line without the ability to think.

And, what about food, such as wheat products which are making people ill. Stores that want to be publishing houses for the popular products that poison children. Don't get me started on that one. We are missing the element of responsibility and accountability, here folks! Shoving it all onto the consumer is not fair. It is in fact sickening, and someone should be liable.

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.

Insurance, Home Maintenance and Sewer Systems

Insurance is basically of two forms. One is maintenance of a physical system and the other is financial coverage for the potential liabilities of that system. For a sewerage system insurance needs to be thought of in very broad terms to cover each unit the community is responsible for while at the same time seeing individuals are properly covered both in maintaining their system and in protection from financial loss.

Obviously, the more complex the system in a community the greater the operating and the financial cost to the community as a whole and to individual households making up the community. Both sets of costs need to be covered, but it is the individual households who pay for the community costs as well!

What follows is a link to a really good home maintenance guide on line. It covers sewer and septic issues:

http://www.reliantinspectionservice.com/sample%20reportFolder/home-maintenance-information-from-your-inspector.pdf

The community eventually gets into the management issues for sewers in the area:

http://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc05/papers/pap1378.pdf

A good discussion about winterizing your home:

http://www.co.jackson.wi.us/html/emergency%20government/Individual%20and%20Family%20Contingency%20Planner.pdf

General plumbing information guide:

http://www.theplumber.com/handbook.html

The pump and grind system from and engineering perspective:

http://www.pump-zone.com/articles/439.pdf

A very good discussion of alternatives to pump and grind as well as overall:

http://www.uri.edu/ce/wq/NEMO/Publications/PDFs/WW.ChoosingSystem.pdf

Another discussion focusing on pressure sewer systems:

http://www.awwoa.ab.ca/pdfs/PresSewer.pdf

A description of what to expect if you get and pump and grinder system:

http://www.hagerstownmd.org/utilities/Wastewater/grinderpump.html

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.

The Snap Crackle and Pop of the Wheat Genome

Scientists have decoded the gene structure of wheat. As someone already allergic to wheat should I be concerned.

I would say no because having more information out there might help the world understand what it is about wheat that results in wheat allergies and celiac disease, the leaking gut of the community that produces all those tiny red dots below the ribs. Check yourself!

Most people may not know they have wheat sensitivity or allergy. They may lose their hair and not know it is due to the shampoo. They way gain weight and not know it is due to wheat in sausages. They may feel uncomfortably bloated, gassy and winded and not know it is due to donuts.

For my thinking, though I like the idea of discovery and the possibilities that more information could lead to strains of wheat that don't cause celiac disease, I am aware of the dangers resident in food innovation.

That is why good back to what we ate as primitive peoples may be more of a solution to famine issues than discoveries making giant industrial wheat producers more money.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/27/AR2010082700858.html?wpisrc=nl_tech

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.

Remember that the Two Enemies of a Sound Economy are Inflation and Debt

It may sound trite, but inflation and debt are closely related. As it happens, inflation has been improperly used as a method of reducing debt burden. What results from inflation is more debt. The problem many countries find themselves in now is that mucking around with the variables in the money equation is seen as a solution to their problems. Nothing could be further from the truth!

Mucking around with the money supply and interest rates can produce the liquidity trap as it is called in economics. It is a situation of low interest rates and no growth. It may also be a period of deflation which is ironic given that too much money is at the root of inflation. Excess liquidity may also be an indicator of a sound economy waiting for technology and innovation of the creative destruction of Schumpeterian forms to lead activity out of a slump in productive investment.

The fact is that George Bush and the Federal Reserve Bank's lack of understanding about the dangers of a war economy have America investing in the wrong goods and services. The war economy like no other economy leads to depression if for no other reason than business focuses too much on satisfying the needs of the military at the expense of the peaceful community. Rather than innovating with new environmental solutions US industry is still caught up in the military economy.

People are waiting for the diamonds in the haystack of solutions to what ails an over-invested lack lustre boring economic scenario. Meanwhile new military innovations are keeping the US economy afloat. Yes, people are very bored with the economy because it is not giving up it's secrets easily. Hidden away within the activities present in the industrial landscape are gems waiting to be discovered. Investors want to know what these gems are. They are poised to act with a fury that no one will escape, but they cannot act if they don't know! Such is the dangerous flux of the US economy. What we want to see is rapid innovation in energy saving technologies led by Detroit. The leveling of land in the city for agriculture did not escape me!

The housing market ain't it. Surprise! Surprise! The population is aging and there will be so many natural deaths to satisfy housing demand without building new homes. Perhaps, a new round of divorcing would help! If the economy continues the way it is that divorces will happen and the recover could result from broken families splitting into more and more households as they did during the Reagon recession in the early 1980's and the collapse of the banks in Texas. Will we see it unfurl that way?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/27/AR2010082702066.html?wpisrc=nl_natlalert

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.

Debate about Sewers In Grand Bend and Neighbourhood Perceptions

I want you to listen to this TED talk because it has important insight into why we often misunderstand our neighbours:

http://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_on_the_art_of_choosing.htm

At the heart of the debate in Grand Bend about sewers and the new CFGG group that wishes to participate in the political process is the question of choice.

Some feel that their elected representatives went beyond their civil roles when they made the choice of sewer system for Grand Bend based on the recommendations of a third party, namely the Dillon Corp. Others complained that the company assigned to research alternatives did not really consider very deeply the choices available, and especially the choice that the community had already made historically which favored septic systems.

In the future, the community will have to make choices, and it is a big question whether households will be given the opportunity to participate in those choices and take them on board. It really does matter in Canada that people have the freedom to choose for themselves. It is a cultural value that people here will fight vigorously for.

That the issue of which sewer system revolves around choice is quite apparent to me because of the discussions I have had with a number of very bright people of different cultural backgrounds.

Please view the following TED talk and see whether you might alter your view as regards the political process affecting which sewer system is chosen in Grand Bend.

http://www.ted.com/talks/sheena_iyengar_on_the_art_of_choosing.htm

Now having viewed the video on your computer or iPad, you may feel as I do that what has happened in Grand Bend is a matter of how different people might view the question of choosing which sewer systems and where. The fact is that there are many choices wrapped up in this single choice.

Overall, I am convinced that individual households need to have the freedom to make their choice whether or not it is the correct choice. Thus, I am in favor of the septic system since it is my choice. However, I do realize that there are authors who say that the government should decide for me which system to implement. My response to that is that it is too radical a departure from my original understanding of what would be my choices in the future. It is so radical a departure that I would feel greatly justified in pursuing the matter in a Court of Justice.

The issue then becomes one of whether the Court would decide in my favor given that it is the Government that is limiting my choice. In response, I would feel that it is the government 's role to respect my choices in matters that represent radical departures from what I am expecting when I engage in a long term commitment to manage my property in a reasonable citizen like way. As a citizen, it is my responsibility to make choices that do not detract greatly from other peoples enjoyment of living close to me. Thus, as a good citizen, I would not do anything to endanger them like having a large bonfire in the back garden which could get out of control and start a serious forest fire.

Thus, it is that the choices a government might wish to make are limited just as my own choices are limited. Both I and the government have the moral responsibility of not departing too radically from what would endanger the people of e community. I would argue that it is the government's responsibility to refrain from taking choices away from households where they can make effective decisions and ones that protect the community.

Where governments go wrong is where they assume they can make choices for citizens beyond what is expected by the citizenry. Thus, to take away environmental responsibility from households would be a bad step and would open up the destruction of the role at citizens play in researching choices and in making them based on their role as good citizens.

We are not a dictatorship in Canada and we honor our citizenry and the education system we have that enables that citizenry to make good and wise choices, household by household.

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.

The Horrors of Speaking in Front of People - Costs and Benefits of Speaking Out

Last evening at the town hall meeting for the CFGG, I was especially struck by hardship cases of the local residents who were adversely affected by the major improvements to the town's services.

Every time the village has a major improvement, it is likely that the benefits and costs will be spread unevenly.I have worked for governments on projects before and I have worked on some infrastructure projects around the world.

Before a large project relative to the size of a community is undertaken, there needs to be economic, engineering, financial, technical, feasibility and environmental analyses. Some people confuse economic and financial analyses. They are almost totally different. These days economic analyses need to be done in conjunction with environmental assessments and environmental economic assessments. These can be also very different.

Economists are particularly keen these days to evaluate the costs and benefits of what are termed externalities. Externalities arise with projects and they can be the undoing of the benefits of projects, for example if a project requires a wood to be cut down this would have externalities for the people near the wood and the creatures occupying the wood.

Engineers generally are paid to be bad economists because they don't examine externalities carefully and frequently limit their economics to the effects associated with the price mechanisms. That the loss of vegetation results in changes that cannot be easily priced or compensation paid means that such aspects are ignored.

Waste products are dumped and both people and the environment suffer outside the price mechanism. Most environmental damage occurs outside what traditional economics and engineering would consider as important.This is at the root of the enormous damage done to the Ontario environment over the past fifty years. Much of the damage is not paid for by those doing the damage. There is a big debt to be paid, but no one is handed the bill. This again is because people are not made accountable for the predictable results of their actions.

Large projects are enormously destabilizing for creatures and people without a voice, the underrepresented population who must ultimately bear the cost of other people's profits and income. That the world suffers from over investment is almost a truism. So much has been created and done in the name of progress which we have to correct. These environmental and social costs are almost never recovered, but should be. It is just plane wrong that the weak and poor suffer at the hands of those claiming the benefits of so called progress.

Thus, when at the town hall meeting, we heard from at least three people say that the costs of the sewerage project were underestimated, it was good to have this break the surface of people's understanding. If one has any conscience at all, one has to feel for the many less well off people in the community that are harmed by projects others benefit from, but who never pay the full price. It was good for these people to speak out because they and their families and the families of their offspring will ultimately bear most of the costs.

We wonder why some people remain poor relatively. Well this is why. It is the disproportionate distribution of costs to a community so that the real costs fall on those less well off and least able to voice their objection. Some, like the forests full of life, stand silent until they are decimated. Of course, the beneficiaries of large projects, the engineers in fancy vehicles and the politicians want these projects because they are blind to, or put their blinkers on, to the full costs and damages.

They would not, I can assure you, want to pay for them out of their own pockets, and it is not good enough to pay token attention to these important costs. In some other societies, the many externalities must be given greater weight because of the relative numbers of people affected.

It is in developing countries, such as Canada and Quebec where the costs are not reaching the surface of consciousness. Notice that I did not ignore the externalities of the project of Quebec. Notice I said Quebec, and this is because Quebec is a developing country. It may not have it's independence, but that is by choice. It is a country developing within another country called Canada. It is like the country of Scotland developing within the country of United Kingdom, developing within the country of the European Union.

In societies where social costs are ignored by the beneficiaries, there can come about a violent redress of the imbalance, a restructuring of the playing field, a social and environmental disaster that can be avoided by a more disciplined approach to development that gets everything out in the open on the table and discussed by all those that may participate. Openness and transparency are thus at the heart of democratic progress and development and without openness violence to the environment and to people results.

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.

Keeping to The Facts

Often heard in political discussion is the phrase 'keep to the facts'. It is as if some need were satisfied by being logically tight and only talk about things you know about. Such left brain side assumptions about what is best in discussions surely must be missing the point about discussions at any time.

Our reality is most often that there are no true facts that can be applied to the issues we must face almost hourly. What is true in any event other than filtered facts. And, what filter have we applied to the facts to make them true. This is not to say that we don't want to have information out there and in full view for all to see.

But, experience says that it's important to have all the information out there including the facts so that we can see what are potential facts and potential filters for those facts. All facts must go through filters before they are presented and that is what the discussion is really about, the filters.

It would have been better to say that one wants all the information filtered my way because I want good and useable news for me.

Will ye no think kindly on those who would be your friends! May the sun shine with your thoughts, today, and happiness grow in your heart! May you allow yourself some peace of mind.