President Obama, the Stem Cell, and the Price Tag of Redirecting America's Direction of Reforms

When we think back on the progress that President Obama has achieved, we will realise that America, the huge America has a momentum of it's own that once moving in a certain direction cannot be easily manoeuvred without great cost.  Just shifting America's direction of technological focus ever so slightly can cost billions.

In the late 1960's, America had the Thaliomide crisis which resulted from a company good at one technology, that of manufacture, trying to break into a market where another technology, that of detecting issues with drug use, came unstuck along with much of the US pharmaceutical industry.

We encouraged companies to engage in more basic research and found them wanting.  Very few major drug innovation came along after the 1960's.  The era of miracle drugs had passed and firms concentrated more on marketing and minor improvements and copy catting.  We are still in the doldrums.

When law and drug innovation intersect, we find that it is easier to forego the real sacrifice that true innovation requires.  Thus don't expect a revolution to come from stem cell research.  There are too many alternative less risky avenues that the drug companies can pursue and bad laws give them every excuse to stay with the status quo while racking up billions in profits just marketing me too or little risk products with dubious benefits.  Patents will be filed, but little innovation will come from American firms.  They are risk averse because the laws and judges encourage laziness.  

We, in turn, feel protected by the 'do nothing much' evolution of the industry for even though the profits to the drug companies are much too high and they spend far too much marketing  surpriseless products, we have our own solution.        

What we do is take all the risks ourselves experimenting with all the herbs and religious notions, and quantum magical solutions to what ails us medically.  We pass new laws to prohibit bad chemistry and we feel great comfort in slowing things down.  Well, things are evolving too fast aren't they.  So let's us take the risks, grandmother's way, use voodoo and yoga.  We will find the miracle approaches on our own.  We don't need innovative drug companies and doctors, heaven forbid, to tell us the way.   

The Covenant
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/09/06/100906fa_fact_boyer?printable=true

(via Instapaper)

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 Evolving Internet

When we think of the internet, we increasingly wonder how we survived without it.  Just deprive yourself of access for a week or more and you notice how much you have become emotionally attached.  The links of the Internet are like a family, a social grouping by which we can order our lives, feel good about ourselves, and participate meaningfully in a world that is evolving rapidly, perhaps too rapidly.  

We use the Internet to change ourselves emotionally.  Seeing images, communicating, actualising our talents for speech, art, writing, and gaming.  There is so much that the Internet provides that we assume that we are still detached.  

Occasionally, we may think of the Borg community of Star Trek, and for a moment realise that the Internet is evolving in the intensity as well as variety of personal experience that it generates and transfers.  

The Internet is more than exchange.  It is a medium of influence through which those groups who have influenced our thinking in the past will want to influence our thinking in the future.  Thus it is that that the Internet presents us with many challenges.

A Virtual Counter-Revolution
http://www.economist.com/node/16941635/print

(via Instapaper)

One has to be concerned for future youth and the degree to which the sense of emotional well being is influenced by the new Internet media.  Through one instrument so much in our lives can be defined.  It surprises us when another less attached to the Internet points out that we have that particular instrument of our choosing with us all the time and constantly use it, whether an iPhone, PC, iPad, or some other smart device.  It's a fact that parents see their children with an interactive toy as much now as with television.  

Combine the two and you see what remains dwindle.  Each individual links into their own worlds except that rather than being inside our heads these worlds are an extension of our realities.

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.

Amalfi Bay at Positano

The climb up was worth it for the view!

View of the Mediterranean at Positano

Sun trying hard to break through!

Positano Restaurant, Italy. ....

Walked to this perch well up on the hill. Very good viewof the bay at
Positano looking East. Will now eat.

Ced and Trace in Positano

Talking to my ghost is not so much fun as enjoying the company of
relatives in Italy!

Murder in the Park

This impressionist painting contained what looked like a murder in the park until I edited it out. Now the image is less exciting so I wonder whether the change was for the best.

No Sunset No Bother

We sometimes forget in the middle of summer how wonderful Canadian winters really can be. Looking out over Lake Huron, one might be forgiven for saying amen after every pleasurable walk. The winter cold, like the summer heat, has it's joys and we do well not to forget them. I find the winter season inspiring and stimulating. Of course, it is different from the summer heat, but certainly there to be enjoyed and no reason to get depressed as long as one gets vitamin D and omega 3 oils.

Winter sunsets

Summer is not the only season for beautiful sunsets. In the Canadian winter, there are often magnificent sunsets. I love a walk in the snowy woods following the sun down, then sensing the light that stays on after the sun has dipped below the horizon.

Light of Many Seasons

The light in winter time and summer time is not the same. In winter, the light is reflected off more objects bouncing many times through and about the snow. A room often is brighter and it is easier for me to paint pictures. Inevitably, writing and painting in summer or winter are very different and pleasurable experiences. Living in Canada and the UK alternatively allows me to experience the many different effects of light on my mood and impressions.

Reading is Good! Reading Harry Potter is better!

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I like to read and paint. In recent and for many years like many people my favourite series of books was the Harry Potter series. JK Rowland kept my imagination fired up in ways that was most wonderful. I would be exaggerating if I didn't say that her books were not of the sort one finds hard to put down. Truth be told, I am waiting for the point when I have forgotten the story line and can start reading the series again.

The Ubiquity of Environmental DisEconomics - The Case of Canadian Forest Destruction

It's so distressing, if you bother even the think about it for a minute.

Damn their eyes!  Why bother to think about it?

How can you possibly remain a proud Canadian, if you know what Canadians are being paid to do to their precious forests at a time when they really do know the damage they are doing!  You can't!  

You should be shitting your pants in anguish and shame.   Would you kill your mother land?  

Then, why continue to allow Canadians, and even encourage them to destroy your mother land and the precarious balance of the earth?   Who gains?   

The mining taxes are not sufficiently high, so Canadians don't gain.   

What a weakling of leadership, they do have that our Prime Minister can smile at this crime.    What smug smug wasters these leaders are!  What's his name?

"Let them eat cake!  Laissez manger gâteau!" said a famous Marie before her beheading.   So out of touch with new values, so vulnerable to the whirlwinds of social change.

Let's think about it... And think so more.  Damn, damn, damn... Why should I care anyway?

Canada is no longer a nation of common purpose!   

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.

What really can matter?

It's possibly trite to think we of the modern world know more about our state of existence than man of the Christian or Early Roman period.

Our personal hell is that we are on that path driven by technology which creates a universe that may deprive us of our destiny.

We see evidence of that in the choices already made that preclude future paths of world existence and happiness.

For example, should Hitler have not murdered so many wonderful people of Jewish descent our lives would almost certainly have been immensely richer.  

Our conscious universe is evolving into sadness as we are driven faster and faster into the emptiness of existence without the passion of the departed Jewish people.  Those whose lives were foreshortened would almost certainly have paved the way to solutions we now can only dream about and may never realise.  So it is true that the sins committed by Hitler may yet deal upon us the hells of all hells, and the revenge of those foreshortened may the shallowness of our existence and of these who follow blindly on.   

That we will never be conscious of those other possibilities shatters the depravity of our present trends of existence.  

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 Unfathomable Reaches of Men's Minds

You think that you know yourself. Well think again?

When Professor Penrose of Cambridge raised the question that men's minds might reach into the very depths of unseen dimensions, he opened a pandora's box of such hidden rooms and deposits, that man cannot be man in order to comprehend.

When the most minute of entities becomes a playground of our fantasies, so do we create the very largess of our realms. By making operable what is small, we open space to larger and larger forms of realisation. Space is after all, the place where man observes and by increasing space by reducing the scale of man's operations, man creates enormous playgrounds of existence and rationality.

Were we reduced to the size of a pin head billions and billions more of sentient beings could realise their conscious lives and be self fulfilling.

We thus enlarge space by reducing our scale of operations, as well as by increasing our scale of operations. Were we also to reduce down to the world of probability and size that the exclusion principle no longer applies, we have infinite space and worlds where the capacity for self realisation is so great as to be unimaginable. Yes, we are within grasp of the unfathomable reaches of sentient men's minds.

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 Desperation that Leads to Destruction

Man has the capacity for ever larger and larger projects and enormous feats of engineering prowess. As mistakes of the past contribute increasingly to desperate measures to bring about a redress, the mistakes of the future mount in larger and larger scales. Like building ever larger pyramids that cost a society more and more effort, the monuments of engineering in the future will dwarf imaginings of the past.

By this logic the search for tinier and tinier places to put charges that will create massive structures of dependent logic will overwhelm our imagination.

What remains, however, at the end of the day, is that the wrong mathematics will prevail unless soundly chosen from nature's repertoire of proven tools of construction.

It will become clearer and clearer how insufficient man's capacity has become compared tom the challenge of the 'Gods' of ages who have relied on natural processes to discern the most reliable mathematical bases of engineering feats.

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.

Canada's Boreal Forest - How Canada Destroys Our Future Forests in a Blink of an Eye

If you think that the roads being built in Ontario are worth what is happening to places elsewhere in Canada, think again!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/sep/07/tarnished-earth-oil-sands?&CMP=EMCENVEML1452

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.

Just Groups of Words - A Ghost of an App by Spud Pickles - Wiseacreing about the Meaning of it All

Suppose that each morning you received an envelope containing a collection of english words in different colours. You are told only that the words are not random, but that whatever produced them is like a special machine that can be used by whatever exists in what is referred to as a flux. The flux is influenced by a special being or multiple beings and it is named the quantum flux. Quantum relates to the notion of being very tiny and to being a source of fluctuations in things much larger.

What would you think of the possibility that the words could have meaning, have special meaning, or potential meaning for you.

Obviously, they will have meaning being English words.

Less obvious, though very likely, they will have special meaning.

Even less obvious, though even more likely, they will have potential meaning.e

Thus, it is that the iPad/iPhone app by Spud pickles, a ghost machine, is probably a winner.

Whenever, we consider randomness, we face the issue that what we are dealing with is a stream. No streams can ever be truly random in a cause and effect world. However, if the world has regions that are not cause and effect, we may not even think of it as a world. So it is that we are in a nether land, a land between.

Our notions of randomness are fundamentally flawed. We see very partially what is around us. That us what the Ghost is telling us.

Our reality is that we exist in a completely predetermined world in which we have the illusion of indeterminateness and randomness. That our world was not always predetermined may be speculated, but it is inherent in our world that all is done. The story is spun. We are what we are and we believe otherwise because to do so continues the illusion so necessary for us to live one of our stories that of our being in a position to continuously choose.

Like the interpretation of words from the ghost machine, we can choose in a limited way which path of our world to follow. The beauty of our illusion is such that we are never told the meaning, but derive it through the pursuit of our understandings of the streams that flow to us. We, in effect, are flawed Bayesian processors that tell our consciousness continuously that given such and such then such and such.

Gurdieff, the teacher, referred to this thought process when carried out between individuals as wiseacreing. We continuously wiseacre about the streams flowing at us. Our problem is that there is not really a flow. The flow is predetermined matter that already exists and is not random, but completely determined. No room for ambiguity there.

We do have choices and are in universes of choices made for us. That we may experience much in other 'life streams' is to me apparent, but I cannot think how you might ever come to think that except in this life by reading my writing.

My thoughts about the universes can in no way limit your realities and experiences, but may alter your explorations temporarily.

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.

Does the World End in 2012?

It's fashionable in some circles to claim that our doom is at hand and with it those elements of civilisation that we find most disagreeable. There is a certain comfort in thinking, even believing, in the possibility that the end of world is nigh within less than two years. We are at the cusp, it is stated with great confidence and woe betide those who claim otherwise. Can't you see all the signs that tell us the dangers we face and the forces which will tear at the fabric of our societies. And, so the story comes from people who would will us to believe in the destruction of our world.

Such pronouncements have their place as an expression of people's amazement at events reported through third parties and spread as mantras for living life to the full in the here and now. Plan not for your plans will come to nothing as this earth is torn by destruction. Should you choose to believe in such pronouncements, you can party with abandon enjoying the delights of the flesh without feeling the guilt of your super ego's remonstrations to calm and more deliberative action of a preservative kind to maintain balance and sobriety.

The truth is that we cannot say whether as an individual our worlsd might not be shattered by the dangerous forces that will inevitably sweep through the world in 2012. That the world is or will be any different from what it is or was in the past we can be sure that the answer is no. No the world or worlds will not be destroyed in 2012, just as the worlds were not destroyed in previous speculations of its coming end. No cataclysmic fire will blow us all to smithereens. Some fires may end a few of us, but for the majority, 2013 will be a period of immense joy and growing security as we turn the tide of our failings and increase the abutments to a strong and definable future.

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.

Children of the Sea

Yesterday, I saw the youth of Positano! A lad of six perched on the front of his father's boat happily shouting to his dad pronouncements about the wonderful experience of a life divided between the way of the water and the way of land. Clearly, here was a lad learning the fluid life of the sea. He was obviously becoming a meaningful member of a largish Italian family for whom the life of the waves was a destiny and calling not to be questioned but delighted in. The enormous pleasure to be derived from this way of self determination was unquestionable. This is a way of life that has survived the millennia, a way of existing between the many forces shaping a community. Fortunate, are they for whom this way of life is possible.

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 World of Give and Take

Rising early in the small coastal village of Positano, Italy, I am waxing philosophical! From a balcony of a villa overlooking the Mediterranean, the sea stretches flat and peacefully into the distance while a high curved landscape defines a basin against which small waves lap continuously, their gentle rush echoing into the reaches. Yes, here it is that one can imagine a man of the sea, harpoon in hand setting the stage of all things maritime.

Yesterday, we took a cruise to Amalfi from where as history tells us many an adventure into the Mediterranean was launched. The now familiar cross of the Hospitaliers, the Maltese cross, hangs high decorating the narrow corridors of mysterious stone carved out of the mountains that fall away into the depths of the salty waters. The village by the sea is a curious blend of vibrant enterprise and exploratory enthusiasm. A strong rocky and massive church holds the secrets to the peoples strength of character as generation after generation took their confidence from a faith based on suffering and painful self sacrifice.

The people are part of a civilisation based precariously on a balance between what was feared and what was trusted, a confidence arising from an assurance that to do right by the men of faith would bring about the certainty of survival in a landscape continuously pressed between competing mountains of water and sea, one soft and giving yet merciless in it's rules, the other hard and taking requiring little more than the application of strength and determination. Two world exist here side by side, a world of uncertainty, risk and massive reward from the depths of the waters to the fortunes of the distant climes, set against a harsh but more predictable world of calculation and application of will from faith in the goodness of higher authority.

Occasionally, now a cock will crow or a driver will toot.

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.

Brand New Webpage from Woooosh | Wuhlax's Blog

http://wuhlax.wordpress.com/?p=3&preview=true

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.

Doug Bonesteel - Candidate for Councillor - Ward 2 ... Lambton Shores / Grand Bend

I asked Doug Bonesteel some questions.

Hi Doug!

I have a few questions of you regarding issues:

What is your position with regard to the proposed sewerage system for Grand Bend and Southcott Pines?

What is your position with regard to commercialisation of the Grand Bend beach area?

What is your vision of the future for Grand Bend?

Thank you,

Arthur Lake

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.

Reply from Doug:

Arthur, thank you for your email. I'll try to be as brief as possible with my answers to your questions.

1. Sewers for Zone 3

As a member of the original Zone 3 Community Group I stand by their mission statement of finding an ecologically appropriate and sustainable waste management system for this area through an accountable, public process. We should continue to test the groundwater and initiate a septic inspection program that makes sense. I would also suggest that we ask the Ontario Ministry of the Environment to have one of their hydrogeologists conduct unbiased, blind groundwater testing both in Zone 3 and the village to compare groundwater results. Perhaps, this would shed some light on the need for a collections system in the first place. I am firmly opposed to the low pressure grinder pump system that the municipality has suggested as the preferred collection system in their Environmental Assessment application.

2. Commercialism of the Grand Bend Beach

I believe that the people most impacted by council decisions should have input well before any decision is made, circumstance permitting. There are varying degrees of commercial activities that could be permitted in public places e.g. would people object to a single hot dog vendor on the beach as opposed to the volleyball proposal. The entire PVB volleyball proposal should have been handled much more effectively. Municipalities should communicate any business decisions affecting the lifestyles of their citizens well before any decisions to proceed are made to the point of no return. This is where you can connect people back to their community. I believe that the municipality needs to consult with the public about their vision of what recreational and commercial activities they feel are suitable for a public beach (by laws permitting). People in various communities need to be contacted on a regular basis to determine how they feel their municipal government is performing and demonstrate that they have listened to what has been said. Elected officials and bureaucrats should never take their ratepayers for granted. I have a suggestion in my last answer as to how the next council can accomplish this.

3. Vision for the Future of Grand Bend

I would hope that no one would disagree that we live in a very special place in Ontario. Like anything of value it needs to be cared for and tended to as a communal venture. I think the vision for Grand Bend should come from the local people. As an elected official it's my job to see that their wishes are carried out. I believe that regular town hall meetings could connect ratepayers back to their council. Council needs to hear how they are doing, and not just every four years. I've knocked on hundreds of doors in Ward 2 to date (it's my goal to knock on every door before the ballots are mailed) and I've met a lot of interesting people. Many of these people have indicated that they would be willing to serve as volunteers on advisory committees for the municipality to deal with matters in economic development, recreation, finance, waste management etc. This is a meaningful way of connecting citizens back to their local government. We should never adopt an attitude that we don't have time to deal with our residents' concerns. That's what local, grassroots government is all about. I have heard a number of people suggest that a shuttle service on main street in the village would alleviate car crowding, noise and air quality, parking issues (including metered parking rates), create summer jobs and add a carnival atmosphere to the town (it works well in Denver for instance). Others have commented on the need to have store fronts and signage in the village reflect a consistent theme.

Arthur, we could chat for hours on all of these issues. I hope that my answers have given you some indication of the type of councillor that I will be if elected. We all need to work hard to keep this special place an attractive and affordable one in which to live. Thank you for your interest.

Doug

Hi Doug!

I like your answers which come close to what I had hoped.  Would you mind if I posted them on a friendly blog page.

Thank you,

Arthur Lake

Doug's Response:

By all means, Arthur. I appreciate you asking in advance. Openness, transparency and accountability begin at home. Thanks for taking the time to care.

Doug

Attitudes towards Pollution and the Quality of the Environment

As one gets older, there is a sense of detachment that is often difficult to describe except that it is the absence of the rush or high of youth. When we are young, our attitudes to messiness and being dirty relate more to what we are about than to what we remember as "shoulds", those things our parents tell us we ought to do. We are more likely to have our own "shoulds" as standards that young people feel and sense.

I can remember effluent of colourful water flowing into the local river. It was beautiful, but I knew there was something wrong about it. Essentially, the adults had not got their "shoulds" right. We read that young people are keeping youthful attitudes long into their adult years. Does this mean that their attitudes towards the environment never grow beyond what they were as children, being into whatever it was without thinking about consequences for others very much, or will young people bring a fresh approach to their environment by being observant of what makes it messy and dead looking. Turds floating in the river or harbour waters for example. How do they get there? We know they should not be there, but have the adults got their "shoulds" wrong again.

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.

Syd Fletcher Mayoral Candidate for Lambton Shores, Ontario a place that includes the community of Grand Bend

Syd Fletcher is a candidate for Mayor of Lambton Shores, a city that is not a city, but a municipality that is a strange concoction of different communities, some that go together and others that seem strange together. It is a home to the environmentally friendly and to those who should be more environmentally friendly, a place of joy and community, and a place where wild animals meet humans on their front door?

Syd posts his email address and invites questions, so I thought I would ask him what was on my mind at the time ... Yesterday.

I am pleased that this candidate has ticked my boxes for what I am presently thinking about commercialisation and sewer systems.

Good on him!

RT, a nickname I use because I like art and my name is Arthur. I am also known as Woosh to some, since I am a bit of a head full....

On 30-Aug-10, at 11:47 AM, Woosh wrote:

Syd!

Thank you for putting yourself forward as a candidate for Mayor of Lambton Shores.

As a potential voter, I would like to know what your positions are regarding commercialisation of the front at Grand Bend and regarding the development of a sewerage system for Grand Bend.

Any information you can give of your vision for the future of Lambton Shores would be welcome.

Thank you,

Woosh

On 30 Aug 2010, at 03:11 PM, Syd Fletcher <promise@xcelco.on.ca> wrote:

Hi Arthur:

Re: Commercialization of the waterfront at Grand Bend

Commercial interests should not be allowed on the waterfront. It needs to be left open to the public.

One time events such as the Summer Games sailboat racing should be allowed as they would draw people to the area.

If the Ministry of the Environment mandates a sewer system for subdivisions in Lambton Shores then we would have no choice in the matter and would have to proceed.

There should absolutely be no thought of a 'grinder' system - ever. It is a poor solution at best.

My understanding from Carl Belkie is that the Ministry has no intention of mandating a sewer system. I also understand from the meeting on Thursday night that the present council has applied for a grant to do the sewer. If that does come through (and I cannot believe that that will happen before the new council comes in) then it would be the new council's position to say politely, "We made an error in applying for this grant. We will not be accepting it. We have found that we cannot afford to put up the balance of money that would be needed for the project."

I believe that we need to take a very strong look at the process of consultation that is being used to make decisions about major projects such as the sewage system and the water lines which were put into the former Bosanquet Township area. Firms which have a vested interest in proceeding with a project should not be allowed to be the main 'opinion' on said projects.

We need to set up a system of community committees which would (in conjunction with council) come to a consensus on future projects - e.g. if a committee of residents and business owners had had appropriate say in the design of the main street in Grand Bend, I have no doubt that it would look considerably different as opposed to those who like things to 'look pretty' instead of 'pretty and utilitarian' for the people who are using them.

Finally, we need a council and bureaucracy which understands the difference between the 'letter of the law and the intent of the law'. The example I use here is in the treatment of the young couple who were starting up a trucking business just to the north of Forest. The planner told them that they had to pave all around the building and put in curbs. They asked if they could be given a couple of years grace, until the business was started. They were told, "No, it has to be done right now." They took the issue to the OMB which agreed totally with them and said that the municipality was being high-handed with them.

I'm hoping that the new council will begin to deal with issues using common sense, thinking more about people than about projects.

Good day to you sir! Hopefully this helps you understand where I stand on some of the current issues.

Respectfully,
Syd Fletcher

On 30-Aug-10, at 9:10 PM, Woosh wrote:

Hi Syd!

I like your answers and would ask whether I might post them on my blog with favourable comments by myself!

Arthur

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.

Syd responded:

Certainly.
Syd

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
May the rain fall upon your fields
And until we meet again
May He hold you in the palm of his hands
(Irish blessing)

Syd's blessing above.

And mine follows:

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.

One can buy UBS 3 external hard disks in Paris, but where is it in North America?

Why does innovation these days take place where you least expect it, well, at least, out side of America?

http://www.pcworld.com/article/186877/hps_first_usb_30_laptop_ships_others_on_the_way.html

http://www.trustedreviews.com/laptops/news/2010/02/08/Dell-Unveils-First-USB-3-0-Laptop/p1

Oh! You may not have heard about USB 3?

http://www.eetimes.com/electrical-engineers/education-training/tech-papers/4201089/USB-Explained-An-Introduction-to-USB-and-Its-Future

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.

Intel's Strategic Changes (Health, Security, Mobility, Smartphones)

In the early 1980s, Intel and Microsoft had a strategic alliance that has done the companies proud. We are now 30 years on looking at another wave of innovation in the industry that has progressed from awkward boxes on one's desk to smiling videos in one's hand. The future has health needs of the world written all over it. So, is Intel devising a winning strategy to bridge the gap between the many sick around the world and the medical professionals. Only time will tell.

The great chip maker Intel is moving forward with the times by implementing an integrative strategy:

http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2010/08/02/ge-intel-to-form-new-healthcare-joint-venture

http://newsroom.intel.com/community/intel_newsroom/blog/2010/08/19/intel-to-acquire-mcafee

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703618504575460721131232894.html?mod=djemalertDEALS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infineon_Technologies

http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4205890/Intel-likely-buyer-Infineon-wireless-semiconductors

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.

A Review of Superconnect a book by Richard Koch and Greg Lockwood

After a few chapters of this book, I was saying to myself that the concepts presented were in other books that I have read. That being so, the book is an excellent collection of key concepts which most people would like to understand about networks, hubs, connectors, super connectors and hubs, etc.

The book is easy to read in a few days. It provides a huge number of everyday examples so the average reader will have no trouble understanding the ideas presented.

It will make a good reference book to be read several times.

Beneficial reading. Buy the book or get it out from your local library!

http://www.superconnect.org/

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/superconnect-by-richard-koch-and-greg-lockwood-1989586.html

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Superconnect-Power-Networks-Strength-Links/dp/1408701715

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 Gordon Brown Smile

We all love to watch politicians because of the antics they get up to in pushing forward their agendas. In the UK the Gordon Brown smile is famous and produces spasms of stomach wrenching laughter as people try to cope with a very human reaction to a politician many began to loath:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/29/bush-white-house-grave-doubts-brown

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.

A World of Inequality between Sexes! Can love be present?

Such we read about the shoddy and often violent way that men treat women that we must wonder whether much love is actually present in these societies.

Were a "man" to love a woman, he would wish and allow for her to develop to "full human potential" with all that that means in participation within the community, to even become a "leader" within society.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/29/afghanistan-election-campaigners-shot-dead?CMP=EMCGT_300810&CMP=EMCNEWEML961

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 Oil Industry's Quest to Leverage Technology for Oil Reaches Dangerous Extremes

As in the case of the financial sector with it's foray into more and more leveraged products, the oil industry is leveraging it's technology to dangerous limits.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/business/energy-environment/30deep.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Leveraging involves the taking of risks by using methods vulnerable to catastrophe. For a while leveraging may work, but ultimately it is likely to produce the monster disasters like that witnessed in the Gulf, international banking and in the US property markets.

Firms leverage first because they can and they can do so without accounting for the full risks. Because returns are very high and can cover penalty payments when things go wrong, it is still attractive to leverage beyond present boundaries. Were the external costs properly assessed and those charged to the investors, it would not necessarily reduce the amount of leveraging because of the second factor which is that those that leverage are playing with other peoples money. Accountability is secondary!

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 key variable in determining whether a septic system serves well could be the size of lot on which the system is placed.

http://cincystreetcar.wordpress.com/2009/01/26/infrastructure-allows-greater-density/

Let in the sewerage system engineer and let in the cookie cutter home developer who cares little about the environment and produces homes to the minimum standards. Noise and light pollution results as tightly packed communities experience the trauma of citification, places where people don't know each other and don't talk to their neighbours that often.

http://www.ccwpc.org/index.php/cape-cod-water-protection-collaborative/about-the-collaborative/78-comparison-of-costs-for-wastewater-management-systems-applicable-to-cape-cod

Developers with limited amounts of land want to pack people into small lots and will almost invariably call for a sewerage system because of the environmental damage small lots and household density will cause. A prelude to packing a region more densely could be to introduce a sewerage system in order to allow a developer to pack people together in tiny box like homes rather than spread them out within the woods.

Licensing systems can provide a means of thinning out population density in order to preserve natural habitats and the environment.

http://www.water.rutgers.edu/Fact_Sheets/fs533.pdf

The profit incentive thus for engineering consultants getting business from governments in municipalities, from other engineering companies and from land developers or owners of smaller lots will be to push for sewerage systems.

These groups will raise their profitability because of economies of scale. In other words the more densely they can pack houses together the more profit they make and the less space the household owner has to grow a family.

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11241&page=54

Sewer systems are thus bad for home development where the family is trying to enjoy the environment and the natural preservation. They destroy the environment by packing too many households into too small a space. Rather than leave a beautiful environment for families to enjoy developers create compounds of houses with small gardens and poor outlooks. Trees are cut down, small lakes are filled in and nature leaves. Small birds have to depart because they cannot hear other birds talking to them. All nature is squeezed out as the bulldozer changes the environment into a densely packed cookie cutter development.

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.

Soils and Septic Systems

Soil and septic systems work together. the chances are that if you already have a septic system conditions formthe system were appropriate at the time of installation. However, conditions do change, and the water table may for example rise:

http://www.septicdesign.com/homeowners/soils-and-septic-systems/

http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0742.html

Checking your soil type is important:

http://www.johnstonsmith.co.uk/fact4.html

Septic systems are by no means inferior to sewerage systems and can be far superior:

http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb1475/eb1475.html

http://www.shelterpub.com/_shelter/ssom_advanced-01.html

We should not kid ourselves that septic systems could not fail. A good discussion of what causes failure of septic systems is set out below in the following link:

http://if-srvv-edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ss114

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.

Nudity in art

Much of the time when I am not writing about Wuh Lax, I am painting images in many media. The rise of the Internet means that there is an immense library of material to stimulate artistic efforts.

I think of myself as a pretty normal human male with pretty normal appetites of all sorts. Where I differ from the mainstream is in my opinion in my appreciation of artistic form. I, for example, think a nude painting whether of a male or female, or several humans in the nude is art.

I am interested in such art both from the aspects of how it was created, what it symbolizes, how it informs me, and how in stimulates. I don't think the human form should be hidden away, even though I know conventional wisdom suggests otherwise, and the evidence might suggest the viewing of nudes is erotic and addictive hence potentially dangerous to one's health and social relationships. That's the theory and it is pretty sound.

Nude and erotic art is frequently almost pornographic, but not quite. The line between art and pornography is pretty variable over time and across locations. Much depends on age and maturity. But, since young people these days are staying immature for longer one wonders. They seem to be developing physically sooner, but mentally later. That should alert us to the inappropriateness of the figure as an art form to be placed before children.

As a child myself once, I was not alone is viewing library books and nursing magazines for the odd glimpse of a the nude form. I jokingly admit that what got me heavily in Freudian psychology before the age of eight was the discussion of sex in almost all of his writings. Who didn't want to know why another kid wet his bed?

There is, nevertheless, in society a strong reluctance to breach the gap between the reality that our views of sex are socially determined and have nothing much to do with how we feel or wish to feel. Hence, we see so many people addicted to sex and pornography as a secret rite of passage which can lead to many deformations of character and premature aging.

That last comment might shock you, but it's probably the case that too much preoccupation with sex leads to physical changes that promote maturity prematurely. If sex becomes an addiction, it may very easily lead to premature death arising from natural causes, such as disease and abuse of one's body.

Religions vary in their attitude towards sex and nudity. We have the Roman Catholic church and the Moslem religions abusing their roles as guardians of the peace and of cooperation and sound thinking. By being obsessed with nudity, they detract from good policy. I have seen it proven that to deny one the pleasure of what is normal leads to an overcompensation psychologically. Hence, we witness the abuses of the Catholic and Moslem religions as regards the human body and it's appropriate care and beautification.

The fact that the disease of sex addiction afflicts many men of the church and the moslem places of worship should come as no surprise. That in the Moslem community women are treated as men's sex objects should also not come as a surprise. It's all in Freud!

Now those religions that work with the human body explicitly have a somewhat different take, and seem to be more in tune with human needs in an open environment that is loving and caring. We can all see the pleasures of the body, such as the sight of the reproductive organs and so called carnal knowledge are for us to enjoy. This is not to mean that we form addictive behaviours, but that we become more in tune with our bodies and potential social relationships that could derive.

My reality is that the people of whom I write in the Wuh Lax series belong to social arrangements very different from our own present day arrangements. Their attitudes towards sex, children, and families, were very different from what we have today. Woman, for example, had multiple sexual partners and children were a group responsibility. Thus, men in many cases did not know whether they were the father of a specific child. Some men would ignore their responsibilities and would sell children off as slaves for the Romans to abuse.

Art and nudity are very closely related. The earliest art forms such as found on the island of Gozo in the Mediterranean, represent women of enormous size as a fertility symbol. That reproductive organs appeared in art in early societies should not surprise us. We should be more surprised that archaeologists hid these paintings from us because they themselves were shocked by them, as in the case of digging up Pompeii art.

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.

Secrecy, Addiction and Ignorance Are Joint Catalysts For Conflict

Little Jack of five years comes up to me typing away and says, "Arffer, you are in trouble. You are in trouble." He looks down at my socks and eyes the big toe sticking out of the one on the right.

I say to Jack, "Well, thank you Jack. That's very kind of you to point that out!"

I say to myself that I wish everyone were so open with me. Then returning to my writing, I have a strange notion about how little is said about more major problems until they burst out into open warfare.

The human is a creature that has cravings and appetites. If not kept in check, they grow within. The human is a hedonistic hub in which desires arising from chemical changes within produce greater and greater, more and more, cravings. Without satisfaction, these cravings can come to dominate a person's mind so much that they are a fabric of their very being.

When people with the same hidden cravings get together as a hub of activity then we can have problems of a major sort. It's groups that keep secrets that cause conflict. The craving drives the secrecy which drives the group towards actions that go beyond the group into the world. Within the group remains a sort of ignorance about what is actually going on, a sort of denial of what percolates to drive the group forward.

In the end, hedonism within a group can lead to conspiracy, excessive allegiance and ultimately to actions and behaviors that predispose the members of the group to premature death.

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.

Is Canada Doing Better than Australia?

We often hear how well the Canadians are doing during the present world crisis period. That Canada was doing so well even became rhetoric during the recent British National election. Professor Stiglitz below comments on the Australian economy. Can we see similarities? Of course we can!

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/stiglitz128/English

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.

Do Democracies Perform Better?

There is something to be said for young people who learn to think for themselves rather than let their parents decide. Traditions are important, but the best traditions may be those that support the family while raising children to be independent. Such it is with democracies that we may see greater progress coming from communities that allow children to develop quickly and take on responsibilities sooner in life. That women in such societies are given a grater role is self evident.

More at:

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/rodrik46/English

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.

Waking up to the Challenges the Migration of People and Technology

People compare what happened during the Great Depression with what is happening today.  For a discussion of the causes of depression:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Causes_of_the_Great_Depression

In my view, we have evolved economic systems based on the fear of another great depression.  We have central banking systems that give us more tools to avoid the scourges of rapid asset depreciation.  But, we are still vulnerable to a major depression arising out of excessive over investment during a period of enormous demographic change.  

That demographics have come to the rescue of the American economy many times arise from what used to be known as the safety value, a gap between what could be done migrating westward and the opportunities such migration afforded to a troubled eastern side of the continent.  

We still have the safety value, but in our modern world it is migration of technology in one direction and people in the other.  People will migrate to industrial economies and the technologies of industrial economies will migrate to places where there are loads of people.  Both migrations have the enormous potential to be destabilizing.

 http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/fan16/English

On the one hand places receiving people will need to build homes, while on the other hand places receiving technologies will also need to build homes as more and more people are housed in cities.  Thus demographics and the housing markets of our modern economies will be severely impacted quite apart from changes in money supply, land prices and environmental conservation.

While we talk about energy prices, we see how money in the form of liquidity and the demographics in the per household management of that liquidity can have a major impact on whether or not we experience a major depression.

We know that population growth rates and land prices are critical forces for human discomfort quite apart from energy prices.  We are presently observing rapid development in all the key forces of discomfort.

  http://hubpages.com/hub/What-Bad-Financial-Policy-can-Bring-Weimer-Germany-in-the-1920s

We need to wonder and research how the modern world will cope with the impact of major shifts in the migration of people and technology.

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.

Homes such as these going for half price

This is my daughter's home in Berryville, Virginia and it is up for
sale at half price. At $320 k, the half price is sitting on the long
term trend of house prices and is affordable. That the price should
have been more is an aberration, an outrage! Many people have to sell
their homes to satisfy the developers and bankers greed! The banks
knew what they were doing and still placing the younger generation in
a n impossible situation. With inflation, you are forced, as a young
person or family starting out, to participate in order to have your
foot in the door. That is why it is so evil and so socially
destructive. That divorces arise and children are affected is
entirely predictable.

Cycling in Grand Bend

The one thing that I like about summers in Grand Bend is the cycling.
There are so many places to go that are with the forest canopy and by
the beach. Healthy and fun at the same time, there is bot much that
can beat cycling.

Personalities, Causes and Mayoral Roles

Is Good Governance Self Serving?

What I have seen is that the local political world is fairly complex.  Normally, I would sit on the sidelines and say that it does not involve me.  Assuming a neutral role, however, may be in special circumstances a disservice to oneself.  Thus, one has to be self serving at least some of the time in situations where it becomes unavoidable.   

Who decides that it is unavoidable?  Good question!  It's a two way street.  We all need to be self serving a little, but let us not mistake serving others with self serving.  

Nevertheless, it takes one to know one and the present mayor of Grand Bend is apt to present an overstated case in favor of a number of things.  Far be it for me to regard many of his comments as inflammatory or even self serving.  How in the world would I know?  Perhaps, he is serving what he regards as the better interest, but I am in a position to understand what is just wrong and point to a better way to go about things and be picky about honesty and openness in governance.  

Being a mayor is awesome in itself, but the current Mayor needs to have more style.  His projection of himself as a fair and honest dealer is in shambles.  He stands naked before us in his blindness to the fact he has no clothes of consultation and cooperation.

Mayoral Representation and Consultation  

In my view, and in serving myself, we hear much from the Mayor that is false, and we hear much less of what is self evident were he to see himself as others see him.  The situation is mostly about personalities.   That is not to say one should raise personalities to the forefront of a debate.  The issues are important, but they should never be accepted as a done deal when they affect so many people and so many other related things, such as fair dealing, honesty, openness, consultation, service to the community, service to the environment.  

There are many ways to approach interpretations of consultation.  That many were not properly consulted on the issue of sewers is now pretty evident to many people.   

Am I self serving if I object to the fact that I was not properly consulted on something that will impact seriously on my sense of what is right for the environment at my doorstep?  Sorry!   If it comes back to personalities, then such an affront to what I consider fair play will not be taken lightly.  And, it should not be taken lightly.  

After all, in some less fortunate communities changes at one's doorstep become matters constitutional for which people fight to the death.  Are they self serving?    

I am particularly conscious of the mayor's rather bold comments concerning the wisdom of a new sewerage system covering Grand Bend.  He exaggerates the benefits without being smart about the negative consequences.  Rarely, do I meet such narrow mindedness, so it is a displeasure to be sure!  

I would not think any one could ever have voted for him.  however, there are many bright people in the community that did and that puzzles me.   Well, they can correct for past errors and change their minds.  There are some good candidates up to the task of being a Mayor and being better at it.   It does not detract from what has been the current Mayor's personal way has become my present  nightmare and yours.  So, we are all agreed.  A change towards more openness and consultation would be a vast improvement on what we presently have and I don't really want to go there.  

Consequences of Having a Bad Mayor

Being a good mayor is not about spending more and more money and having successful projects.  It is about understanding the electorate and bringing people together within the community.  Nothing should move forward without most people buying into it.  Thus, people need to be informed.  That is a vision of democracy.  One in which people collaborate together and cooperate rather than compete.  They collaborate because they are aware that it is correct to do so.  It fits the circumstances to work together on important issues such as sewers and commercialization.

But, that is not the main issue as I understand the Mayor has left quite a messy situation and lots of ill feeling within the community, and yes, it seems, it is time for him to pack up his Mayoral role and from what I have seen it is not too early.  Who will pick up the sad discardable pieces that he leaves behind and deal with them effectively, I wonder who?

Sewers

It is sad that ordinary people who voice their opposition to costs they cannot bear should be disparaged within the community.  That is just plain wrong.  

Let's get rid of the sewerage project until we have much more unanimity of purpose about it within the community.  If we don't we will almost certainly be driving in completely the wrong direction.

I cannot for the life of me see why there is so much rush.  

This is a time to continue the research into what is appropriate and it is not the time to be spending money on consultants without imagination.  

I have never seen a community so divided over rubbish.  

We could save much wasted money by dumping the sewerage project into a black hole somewhere.  Would that I could build a black hole for it, myself. 

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.

Some pointers for controversies in Grand Bend, Ontario

Daily Commercial News: http://dcnonl.com/

Grand Bend Strip: http://www.grandbendstrip.com/

The Lakeshore Advance: http://www.lakeshoreadvance.com/

Grand Bend Topics: http://www.topix.com/ca/grand-bend-on

The Observer: http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2720842

Woosh: http://www.woohs.blogspot.com

Main issues:

1. Commercialization and volleyball...
http://www.lakeshoreadvance.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2718278

2. Good Governance:

http://woohs.blogspot.com/2010/08/citizens-for-good-governance-in-lambton.html

http://www.lakeshoreadvance.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2668140

http://www.lakeshoreadvance.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2716320&auth=Peter%20Coleman

http://woohs.blogspot.com/2010/08/democratic-process-environmental.html

http://www.theobserver.ca/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2720842

3. Sewers:

http://www.sarniathisweek.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2697793

http://www.lambtonshores.ca/living/index.htm

http://www.bsra.ca/priorities/20090515_bluewater_resident_info_GBSTF.pdf

http://www.sarniathisweek.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2697792

http://www.lakeshoreadvance.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2534011

http://dcnonl.com/article/id40329

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.

Turning Human Waste into Energy and Bioproducts! Are Septic Systems and Sewers Already Obsolete?

The time has come for a vast reconsideration of the methods of disposal of human waste. The fact is that human waste can be turned into products that will produce business profits and make people rich. The sad thing is how far behind the attitudes of Canadians still are. We need to push our council and households for small scale units to produce energy from bio-waste not collect it for old fashioned treatments that are obviously on the road to obsolescence. Waste not want not!

It is time that we are getting onto this bandwagon of innovation. We claim in Ontario that we know how to produce clean water from dirty water. It's time we created the energy and clean water from pee and sludge that will see you and me in a community that is free from septic systems and sewers. This is not an unrealistic expectation for the next decade, so why are we still stinking thinking about sewers. It's like an alcoholic that does know the effects of stinking thinking.

We know the farmers here around can potentially pollute our rivers with many toxins more so than the villages and beach homes. The farmers should be made to re-examine their role in environmental development not destruction. Similarly, we should be given assistance to produce energy rather than pollutants out of individual households. It only takes innovations in conversion products to transform forever the way we manage farm effluent, toxins and sludge.

It would make you pretty sick to feel that you had spent millions on a sewerage system yourself that benefits those innovating in the energy field. At the very least, you would want to be paid for your human waste and waste water. Water can be filtered and sold. You pay for it so you should be able to earn an income from it. As it stands people give this energy source the push just the same way cattle do.

That is changing. As I write, a friend is initiating the first steps to innovate in the UK a system of using agricultural sludge and other bio-matter to create energy products. There is money in human waste. Farmers use it, but don't tell you. The bio-energy industry is in it's nacient steps, but before long the sewerage problems of past generations could be history as we transform a potential pollutant and source of disease into clean energy.

In its simplest form, we have what Sintex has done to create units for production of energy from biogas:

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/26/news/international/kahn_biogas.fortune/index.htm

More complicated systems to create energy are envisioned in the United States. Just think how communities and households could alter the landscape by producing products that would be good for the environment and dramatically reduce bio-pollutants.

http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/converting-human-waste-to-energy-here-today-dung-farms-booming/19162953/

The Canadian Company Dyomotive has plans to turn human waste into oil:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2006/nov/29/energy.ethicalliving

The BBC Science team reports on the potential:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/768672.stm

The list of potential products from human and animal waste is quite long:

http://buildaroo.com/news/article/vw-bio-bug-energy-human-waste/

The bright sparks in urban communities are catching on, as in San Antonio, Texas:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0937395520080910

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.

If you like photography!

This is where the photo community real takes off

http://www.fotocommunity.de/

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.

Various Critical Letters Concerning Proposed Sewer System in City of Lambton Shores

I apologize for the confused state of the following blog. It arises in part from the poor quality and lack of completeness coming from the services of information dissemination afforded by the city of Lambton Shores.

I have not been able to find the letter on line which states that serious money is now being sought for development of the sewer system:

Blank and awaiting a copy? Transparency!?

The most important document seems to have been assembled by Dillon a company located with a London, Ontario office. Has Dillon done other work for the municipality / city?

This loads to a single pdf file of 444 pages in my iPad and includes responses of some people in the Southcott Pines neighbourhood.

Each time that the file provided by the municipality is separately viewed, the download into the viewer requires about ten minutes to download so I have read many articles on the environment in the New Scientist during that time. Wow!

That the single pdf file should also be broken down into about twenty smaller files is self evident. Few people otherwise would have the multitasking needed to study the many interesting papers and letters included seriously.

I don't recall myself receiving an invitation to comment on the project and still at the end of August 2010 have not received such an invitation, but the letter to me may have been returned to sender, which is really rather rare, but not beyond the stretches of some imaginings.

I think that I am better informed to comment now having been appraised of the environmental destruction that would accompany installation of any other system than the septic system within Southcott Pines. I am still agonizing over the trees that have already been wantonly removed nearby!

I almost count the trees in this area and would propose that they be individually identified and a protection order requested for each one. I have planted more than 50 new oak trees on my property and will gladly supply acorns to those wishing to plant more. The deer have eaten away at one maple. Yet, the maple is alive and I believe still a blood red symbol of Canada and should not be arbitrarily cut down, even by a deer!

We remember the human fallen who gave of their blood for the values inherent in the tree forests of Canada that some people seem so intent on destroying through unaffordable unsustainable development. How many more shells of failed businesses do we want to see in the province, and indeed Grand Bend. What a depressed sight it is! And, so much unemployment and lost careers. Is there no planning authority or national trust?

My opinion is that the city should not interfere with the fragile ecology already established in Southcott Pines, however, well intentioned. I would favour a new system of planning control modeled on that in the United Kingdom and I do take umbrage at the comments suggesting that people in the neighbourhood are somehow less eager to support environmental issues, especially the idea that they are abusive.

It is said that my now deceased mother once climbed a tree in Kincardine to stop it from being wantonly destroyed by municipal workers cutting away to keep busy and have an excuse to be paid a wage, and it still stands on the corner of Durham and Huron Terrace Streets.

I believe I should be provoked into a similar reaction were the proposed project for Southcott not be cancelled. Many people are with me on this. Some are suggesting action is almost inevitable.

That anyone would say we are abusive is clearly outside the realms of credibility and demonstrates as stupidity beyond comprehension, or just plain ignorance. How many thousands of new trees would be planted in association with the sewerage system I would ask, but I guess the response of Dillon would be to leave that to nature. I see no costing for replacement trees as this would be rather expensive.

My response is to ask for a examination of the lack of forests along the waterways of the watershed feeding into Grand Bend and around the fields and especially around the main agricultural points of effluent into the feeding rivers and streams.

Why is the provincial park forest waste to be transported out of the park? If anything the park should set an example of a self sufficient system that is sustainable. That the park is now part of a city system is not a good enough answer for any thinking individual.

http://www.lambtonshores.ca/Docs/Zone%203%20Project%20File.pdf

This is the FINAL NOTICE OF COMPLETION hidden away and only named as such as a file. how would one know unless searching diligently for it?

http://www.lambtonshores.ca/Docs/Zone3_FinalNoticeofCompletion_EXTENDED_Summer2010.pdf

The following is the letter from the Ministry to the Municipality:

http://www.lambtonshores.ca/Docs/lttrtopropsgrandbend.pdf

Water tests:

http://www.lambtonshores.ca/Docs/0811321160-L18Aug1710-groundwatermonitgrandbend.pdf

Most of this interesting stuff is posted by the Municipality on:

http://www.lambtonshores.ca/living/index.htm

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.