GAIA

Global Warming and the human ‘ant’

The front page of the Globe and Mail, July 29, 2010, was filled with 7 – yes, seven - graphs showing how the plant – Gaia – is warming up while glacier and sea ice is disappearing. Some of the graphs start in the mid-20th century and 3 go back to 1850-1870 records.

That the planet is getting warmer and ice retracting is not in doubt,
but to what degree are humans to ‘blame’ and how does this change fit
into broader, past eras in the Earth’s climate history?

Camille Paglia, in a ROM (Toronto) lecture in 2009 – rebroadcast on TVO Big Ideas just a week ago -- mentioned in passing that the current environmentalist ‘save the plant’/green movement has lost its way.
Why, because it believes we humans are so powerful through our interactions with the environment that we are ‘the’ factor behind all changes. But, as she put it, we are “miniscule” compared to all the elements that affect the Earth.

I believe she is right. Why?

Did you know that a the Mt. St. Helens’ eruption in 1980 – which reduced the volcano’s height by 1,500 feet and carved out a huge crater inside – produced more air pollution than the entire history of mankind? And this was not the only such massive volcanic activity in history. Even this spring’s Icelandic minor eruption – which shut down flights over England and Europe for days – did massive polluting to the atmosphere with its continuous billowing ash clouds.

2. Remember the hole in the ozone layer – blamed on aerosol cans and
related CFC chemicals? The fear was that the hole and thinning
ozone would allow harmful UVB rays from the sun to reach earth, destroying crop production, cause worldwide starvation and increasing skin cancers. Yes, an international moratorium on CFCs was instituted in the 1990’s, but hardly enough to stop the already created – ‘damage’. Yet, so far, despite the 2 holes over the Antarctic and North Pole, no link to any of the projected harmful effects have been found.

The holes are no longer newsworthy;except when, for instance, the southern one was reported on the radio news to have been helpful after the massive Chilean earthquake this year, as it allowed much of the debris and pollution to lescape the earth’s atmosphere.



Concentrations of green house gases and carbon over the major industrialized nations due to coal use was feared to lead to increased breathing problems for young and old, and shortened life spans. While asthma numbers are on the rise, recent studies have shown that jet plane travel over these areas disperse the pollutants like giant fans and the pollutants not really concentrated at all. And now jet travel is seen as an ‘environmental plus’ (despite the gas fuel consumption and engine exhaust).


As for the changing of the climate, again, Gaia has gone through various stages over time. The last Ice Age ended about 10,000 years ago according to geological evidence and if the dinosaurs travelled across Alberta or the Gobi Desert in China – where their bones are found aplenty – then these places must have been lush tropical forest at one point.

To quote Wikipedia, Dinosuars”:
At the peak of the Mesozoic, there were no polar ice caps, and sea levels are estimated to have been from 100 to 250 meters (300 to 800 ft) higher than they are today. The planet's temperature was also much more uniform, with only 25 °C (45 °F) separating average polar temperatures from those at the equator. On average, atmospheric temperatures were also much higher; the poles, for example, were 50 °C (90 °F) warmer than today.[118][119]
The atmosphere's composition during the Mesozoic was vastly different as well. Carbon dioxide levels were up to 12 times higher than today's levels, and oxygen formed 32 to 35% of the atmosphere, as compared to 21% today. However, by the late Cretaceous, the environment was changing dramatically. Volcanic activity was decreasing, which led to a cooling trend as levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide dropped. Oxygen levels in the atmosphere also started to fluctuate and would ultimately fall considerably. Some scientists hypothesize that climate change, combined with lower oxygen levels, might have led directly to the demise of many species. If the dinosaurs had respiratory systems similar to those commonly found in modern birds, it may have been particularly difficult for them to cope with reduced respiratory efficiency, given the enormous oxygen demands of their very large bodies.[5]

Finally, El Niño and La Niña, two large pools of raised and lowered water temperatures off of Peru, have been recognized since the early 1980’s as major forces behind radical changes in the wind patterns over North America, South America and as far away as Indonesia and Australia – altering their snowfall and rainy seasons. The causes of El Niño and La Niña are still unknown, but when they peak every few years, much of the world dances to their tunes.

So, in brief, Gaia has gone through and continues to go through many and diverse climate ups and downs – irrespective of our human, ‘ant’ impact.

MEDIA

The truth on skinny and sports

Carl Pettersson has just won the Canadian Open with a mind boggling, birdie-filled come from behind win. But the focus of the Toronto Star’s coverage (July 26, 2010, S1), was not his play but his weight.
It starts with the article’s title: “Open worth the weight” and the opening words: “He’s a roly-poly kind of guy …” Then later on, “Listed at 5-11, 195 pounds – hardly the stature of a perfect athletic specimen …”. The accompanying front section photo shows a man with a large round face and huge double chin, though the 2nd photo (S6) of him and Dean Wilson , the runner up, shows Pettersson as husky but not obese.
Why obsess over Pettersson’s weight? If he can walk the links for days in this heat wave (mid- to high 30’s with the humidity) and play fantastic golf -- rather than collapse and need resuscitation -- why care about his weight or body shape?

Think John Daly, another pro golfer and John Candy clone. Think David Wells, the great and former Blue Jays pitcher with his Santa Claus midsection. Has their weight and body shape hampered their careers and limited their abilities?

Are NFL linemen not pudgy looking? Are sumo wrestlers not human bowling balls? Yet both are considered some of the most powerful and feared men in sports.

And what of the strongest men in the world, the Olympic weight lifters. No Arnold Schwarzenegger body builders in the lot. All are husky men with huge abdomens, because large stomach muscles are the key to lifting weight.
(And if you’re old enough, think back to the wrestlers of the fifties and sixties; tree trunk Yukon Eric or Whipper Billy Watson, Ontario’s own two time world champion, or the rotund Haystacks Calhoun ( just over 6 foot tall and always over 450 pounds). In those days, only the acrobatic wrestlers were slim or body builder shaped.)

So, get over the body image fixation; appreciate the skill and talent.

TECHNOLOGY

GM Volt shocking

GM’s Chevy Volt is finally in production after over a year of promotion and hype. As promised, the vehicle is not a hybrid – where the electrical and gas motors constantly interact one way or another. But to call it an electric car is a half-truth, or more accurately, by mileage, a 1/8 truth.

Yes, the car has a pure, electric motor and a 220-240 volt socket so it can be charged from the same supply that runs your home stove and dryer. And the battery is guaranteed for double the normal hybrid battery life
-- 8 years or 100,000 miles.

But the Volt also has a second, 4 cylinder gas motor! The electric motor handles the first 40 or so miles and then shuts down. The next 300 or so miles are powered by the gas engine!

While this design – 2 separate motors -- is less complex than hybrids – and so less likely to have computer glitches as Toyota is now finding, it still relies heavily on traditional gas power.

(See Time magazine, July 26, 2010 article on new electric cars, pp. 40-43.)



PS – The Volt takes 4 hours to recharge so you need to plug it in at work
or overnight. Fortunately, you always have the safety net of gasoline.

MEDIA

3D insanity

3D is the new wave in Hollywood and is sweeping the TV industry as well.
Avatar (live action science fiction) and Despicable Me (animation) have received rave reviews for their 3D effects, and that is great for them and their audiences. But so ‘cool’ in 3D today that 2010 Hollywood releases shot in the regular way – not using 2 eyed cameras as needed – are being ‘tweaked’ in post-production to have 3D-like scenes, The conversion process was used, for example, in Tim Burrton’s Alice in Wonderland. Maybe that’s why I found most of the frequent zoom in effects annoying and distracting from the story. Extra glitz that mired the film’s impact.


TV is also on the 3D bandwagon. Just yesterday I was at a Sony Style store and tried their special, battery powered glasses to watch clips and a video game in 3D. The 3 D glasses are great, but the 3D is just silly outside of the world of animation and game cartooning – where everything is always possible, and coyotes regularly stand in mid-air or survive a canon blast through the stomach.

You see, Hollywood’s 3D is not really 3D in the normal scientific sense. It is NOT how we see the real world. We do not see objects jump out from their settings, to float before our eyes as if in space. But that is the core of Hollywood 3D as it applies to Sony’s demonstration butterflies or a golf tournament audience standing just in front of your viewpoint. It is not reality any more than a painting’s use of the perspective trick.
.
Only if a bull or shark or Jabberwocky dragon is charging directly at the viewer is the 3D effect helpful, if exaggerated.

And as this craze is pushed further, team sports are the next big target. Soccer and hockey camera crews are rethinking how they film these events, as look down angles – for a broad view of the play – is not amenable to 3D impacts. The cameras will have to be at ground level looking up at the players so each individual ‘stands out’ and the 3D sense of extra nearness can be created.
For hockey, this could be a plus when players crash into the boards and a camera is directly there; it may be nice to feel as if you, the audience, are getting body checked too.

But the trade off will be reduced high angle camera shots following the ball or puck. So, who needs to see the game’s back and forth flow when, instead, players can be enlarged like Santa Claus parade giant balloons? Who would care?

I would.


In brief, 3D has its place in animation and fantasy/science fiction tales were suspension of disbelief are the norm. But not when supposed reality is being depicted. Then, the extra 3D element is a jarring hindrance.


PS - Word from inside Sony tech staff is that last year's tv - if 120hz or 240 hz - will play 3D; maybe not as well as the 3 times more expensive new units, but well. Also Intel already has a chip that will play 3D without the need for glasses. It should be in the next generation 3D TVs by next year - at least in Japan and vacinity. They get all the new stuff first, then Europe and finally North America.

The death of the classic, GM North American sedan

TECHNOLOGY


In today’s world of mini-car models, worries about gasoline prices and saving the planet, the reality is that last year and so far in 2010 SUV sales and big trucks have been on a tear while subcompacts and compact sales are down. The truth is that North Americans, by and large, are bigger people who need roomier vehicles with lots of storage/cargo space for long drives.

Personally, I am a classic sedan lover. Four doors, large trunk and plenty of headroom for someone 6’3” (namely me) or taller, and large front and rear crash/crupple zones for safety. That was the formula for the family vehicle for decades and GM did it well. Think full size Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Buick, and, for the rich, Cadillac.

But the designers at GM are abandoning that formula and this year it has been Buick’s turn.

Buick’s new 4 door large sedan model – the LaCrosse -- is getting lots of favorable publicity. Auto journalists love the new front style and ‘sporty’ look. It replaces the short lived Allure, which replaced the 8 year Century.

But I – as a longtime sedan lover– am not impressed.

I still own 2 Buick Centuries and find the new replacement not up to par.

To start, the LaCrosse, which I call a jellybean on steroids, has a very short, cuts off trunk design.

The trunk is not as huge as in the past, and more importantly has a very small access mouth that will prevent larger objects from getting in.
Great for golf clubs and groceries, but not that piece of furniture or family picnic cooler or new boxed (unassembled) barbeque you just bought at Canadian Tire.

Even worse, I cannot sit in the front without risking spinal injury, and getting through the rear doors is impossibility. At 6’3” I am well within the upper half the the North American male population. According to Wikipedia and Answer.com, half of Canadian males are over 5’9’ and the same for American males. (Females average about 5’4’ in both countries.)

But I can barely get into the front of the LaCrosse without scrunching down and, once inside, my head almost grazes the roof liner -- unless I angle the seat back to a semi-sleeping position. A good pothole or speed bump and my head would be trying to make its own sunroof while my neck and spine would be crunched.

And forget about the rear. Thanks to the sporty sloping roofline I cannot contort myself enough to get in. The door opening hits me in the shoulder – at about the 5’8’ level!

So, are only North American women and below average height males worthy of the new, big Buick?

Next year, its Chevy’s turn to abandon taller people as the Impala is to be replaced with a model in the new sedan look!

What’s left, then, at GM? Just the Cadillac; not your typical ‘average family’ car, but a vehicle design smart enough to know that grown ups do sit in back seats and taller people count as well.



PS - The police departments all over North America are also complaining about the disappearance of the large sedan. The Ford Crown Victoria is being discontinued, as is the Chevy Impala -- leaving only Chrysler’s C300 and Magnum wagon left. But these two Chryslers have poor visibility and huge bind spots (a major safety issue according to police) and drink gas like water. (Ford’s new Taurus – last year’s 500 – is too cramped for police taste, it seems.)


What say you, Taxi drivers?

MEDIA

Passing the baton to a new generation

This week saw the end of one era and the beginning of another; a passing of the baton, so to speak.

After 54 years on TV, with 256 episodes per year, As the World Turns is ending and will have its timeslot filled by an all women’s talk show (a la The View). Britain’s Coronation Street becomes the new longevity champion.

The decline in female daytime home audiences that has been going on for some 2 decades and increasing costs for more elaborate and outdoor scenes have led to its cancellation.

But all is not lost, for another generation is taking up the daily soap opera challenge.

Degrassi, the 4th generation Canadian teen soap - in it’s 10th year -- is now becoming a daily show. Canadian Much Music and U.S. Teen Nick network has commissioned a doubling to 48 episodes for the upcoming season, starting July 19, 2010. Degrassi will broadcast new epiosdes 4 days a week with a Friday catch up marathon.

Will Degrassi succeed in this new format?

Will a new generation get hooked on the long and venerable soap opera marathon?

Will it last for 54 years or will teens soon tire of the need to stay tuned every day to follow the stories.

We will see.

(Toronto Metro, July 19, 2010, p.16; Wikipedia, “Degrassi”)

Get real on kids and media

(See Globe and Mail, July 6, L4 from the Canadian Press and July13, A1, A2)


Both the American and Canadian Paediatric Societies recommend that all electronic media be limited to no more than 2 hours a day for kids age 2 to 18, and zero for those under age 2.

While these recommendations are well intentioned and due to fears of obesity, hyperactivity and poorer grades in school, social isolation, sleep deprivation, etc., achieving such minimal media access goals is simply wishful thinking.


Already by 1980 Canadian children were averaging 24 hours of TV a week
or 31/2 hours a day, and U.S. numbers were higher. And that was before computers and cell phones became ubiquitous and MP3 players and other devices were invented. (Toronto Star, Who watches TV most? …” Nov 30, 1988)

3 studies published this year show Canadian and American school age and college students average 4 ½ hours for TV and video games daily, and even more if multi-tasking activities (such as Facebook, Hotmail, MP3 listening, cell phones, etc.) are added in.


So, the paediatric societies’ recommendations, cutting back to 2 hours a day or less, will not happen across Canada, the USA or any country where electronic media are relatively inexpensive and readily available.

The genies have long been let out of the bottles. Even by the 1980’s!!!



PS Looking on the bright side, if you cannot figure out how to use the command structure of your new company cell phone, just give it to a 10 year old and she or he will solve it for you in seconds. The same with high tech multi-function remotes and computer screen savers or system glitches.

That’s today’s tech savvy kids.

I can hear music again!!!

There is a sudden flurry of activity in the music industry as ‘quality sound’ is coming back into vogue. By this I mean the return to vinyl records, and a new, multi-faceted attack on the poor sound of MP3 players, iPods and laptops.

Put simply, with the tsunami switch to CDs in the 1980s the quality of recorded sound dropped. CDs still use the same principal of ‘sampling’ a sound/music and copying ‘bits’ of the original. Today’s CD technology is far better as bit sample numbers have skyrocketed, but everyone in the digital industry knows that any CD ‘sampling’ leaves out enough ‘bits’ that the human ear can still tell the difference. Only an analogue or continuous copying process will reproduce the entire sound. That’s why people are reverting to vinyl, the original, continuous transfer technology. From near extinction to a healthy revival, vinyl is back and growing in popularity, with 2009 sales of 2.5 million in the USA alone. (See Globe and Mail, July 6, 2010, B1, B6)


On the MP3, iPod and laptop front, more companies are getting into making quality headphones, and the new HP Envy line of laptops isolate the sound components from the rest of the computer whir, have upgraded speakers and amplifiers, added a subwoofer and included Beat Audio software for sound personalization. Even better, the industry standard MP3 compression and iPod variation are under pressure as their sampling rates are, to put it bluntly, pathetic. MP3 means only 1 of every 3 bits of sound are properly recorded. (MP4 is even worse.) What you need for great sound is MP1 – a one to one copying: so, at the moment, CDs are still the digital quality standard, and old vinyl the ultimate goal. (See Maclean’s magazine, May 17, 2010, p. 55 “ A Sweeter Sound”.)

To relive that spectacular concert or theatre performance again – with all the richness and modulation of sound -- look for a vinyl copy. Otherwise, you’ll have to sit back, close your eyes, and listen from memory.

Today’s electronic shortcuts won’t do the trick.


PS If you own CDs, be aware that they ‘die’ , usually within 10 years. The Music Department archives at the University of Toronto schedules backing up their CDs on a 5 or so year rotation because, even with their meticulous care and safe storage, they found that CDs stopped working within 10 years. Why? Because, over time, air pollution creates microscopic pin holes through the plastic and the liquid that separates the metal disc from the plastic shell evaporates or hardens.

Two AV technicians I know recommend immediately on purchase coating the top (label) side with ordinary latex paint. It helps seal the thin upper plastic and extends the CD’s lifespan.

Your Health

Obesity epidemic – maybe not

For the last 3 years or so the media have been constantly reporting on the new obesity epidemic spreading like wildfire throughout the USA and Canada. Adults and children are ballooning according to the reports, with one in 5 or more people having excessive weight troubles. Efforts to eliminate high caloric foods – read fast foods – and sugar laden soft drinks, even diet pop, and snacks such as chocolate, ice cream, potato chips and French fries are all under attack as the enemy. Why the concern? Because excess weight does increase the risks of diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease. All are valid major concerns and I do not dispute these 3 health conditions as serious.

But the new fixation and definitions of overweight and obese are a problem.

It is not surprising the fat mania coincided with the more recent renewed interest and acceptance of the BMI – Body Mass Index – as a quick formula to determine safe weight. The formula is fast and easy once someone’s height and weight are known. Just go to www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi and your results are instant (with a category translation to the right).

Unfortunately, the BMI is often misused and has major limitations that are becoming well known in medical/research circles.

a. In a radio interview on CBC a few years with one of the major proponents of
the BMI pointed out:

1.it is based on statistics from the general population and not per se based
on actual research into body fat and weight factors

2. as a broad, statistical calculation, it should never be used to decide on
an individual’s weight and body health

3. the database used to create the formula was only of adult age 18 and over;
and he cautioned that the BMI scale should NOT be used on children as no
statistics from younger people were used

b. Since then, it has been found that the BMI does NOT reflect accurately the health
and dimensions of adult African Americans, Latinos, Southeast Asians and
Orientals – and especially females in these groups. I.e., non- European ethnic
groups

c. a study at Canada’s Queen’s University (covered by CBC’s The National the
first week in July suggested Caucasian Canadian adults who fall within the
formula still often have excess fat around the stomach and are at risk of the
above 3 demons. They are recommending measuring around the waist as the new test,
an idea that has been around for years in one form or another. Remember the old
high school Phys. Ed. waist pinch test? If an athlete had more than 1 inch of
flesh between thumb and index finger he/she was out of shape.

d. according to Time magazine, July 19, 2010, p. 13, yellow highlighted insert, the
BMI is not as good as determining deep hidden abdominal fat in children as
measuring their neck size (measurement details not supplied; obviously they were
not aware of a.2 above).


e. back in the 1970’s a study, by I believe Manual Life Insurance, came up with an interesting result. It found the ideal insurance customers were people who were overweight by about 10 lbs above standard medical charts. Why? Because when someone becomes seriously ill or undergoes surgery, weight loss is normal,
and people with some ‘excess body mass’ survived such illnesses more often than socalled healthier individuals. [This finding is supported by a Statistics Canada longevity study published in 2004 (See www.healthnewstrack.com/health-news-1606.html)].

f. finally, recognize -- as the women’s fashion magazines do -- that people come in
different body shapes. Some are pencils, some apples, some pears, some hour-
glass, etc.


So, is there a real epidemic or is it media mania and a misguided panic? According to Wikipedia,"Body mass index", "In 1998, the U.S. National Institutes of Health brought U.S. definitions into line with World Health Organization guidelines, lowering the normal/overweight cut-off from BMI 27.8 to BMI 25. This had the effect of redefining approximately 25 million Americans, previously "healthy" to "overweight".” [my Italics]


So, I suggest you do what I do. Just look around at your neighbourhood schools, malls or other places were large number of people – children and adults -- randomly gather, and see how many people look ’jiggly’ – at the waist and hips.

In Toronto and the high schools all the way north to lake Simcoe, some 80 kms away, the ‘jigglers’ are few and far between. Not one in 5 or one in 4.


In brief, TRUST YOUR OWN EYES and apply common sense.

MEDIA

Another sad day for print

Today, two more newspapers announced cutbacks to their print editions. Brazil’s 119 year old Jornal do Brasil ended all paper printing, and will only be available online through subscription (Toronto Metro, July 15, 2010, p15).


Also announced today is that The Montreal Gazette will stop publishing a Sunday edition at the end of August, after 22 years. Weekend news and sports will be kept updated via websites. As new CEO Paul Godfrey sees it, the ownership of Postmedia is “a digital first company”. (Globe and Mail, July 15, 2010, B5)

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

First, print newspapers usually have more articles and longer, more in depth reportage than their website versions. Print ads leave lots of space for story writing, unlike the tiny ads found on the internet. So the quantity and quality of information you receive is far less.

Second, if a paper is only by subscription, it cuts out a lot of people from the information loop – casual, street box or store counter impulse buyers.

So, in the end, in Brazil and Quebec, access to quality, trained journalist coverage has faltered another step or two.

Technology

Boo for Britain

This week’s Globe Drive section (Globe and Mail, July 8, 2010) highlights the British auto industry’s ongoing infatuation with the old, and soon to be obsolete.

Dinosaur thinking continues unabated at Britain’s top 3 vehicle brands (though owned by BMW, VW or Tata of India). The soon to be released new Rolls Royce mid-size Ghost produces 563 horsepower using a V12 turbocharged engine, and is projected by the manufacturer website to weigh in at 5150 lbs.!!! The new Bentley Continental Supersports, with its twin turbo W12 engine, can fly from
0 to 100 km/h in 4.1 seconds!!! And, as the manufacturer notes, it has been put on a diet --so it only weighs 2, 395 kg or 5281 lbs!!!

Finally, there is the new Range Rover which produces up to 510 horsepower using a supercharged V8 engine. Again, weight is high at 2,672 kg or a whopping 5892 lbs!!!

So, the pride of Britannia continue in the old ways --even under non-British ownership. Obese vehicles that drink gasoline as if it were free; to feed engines so enlarged or supercharged as to be on steroids – all to appeal to drivers who wish to travel at or near the speed of light on regular roadways.

Forget that it is now 35 years since the trauma of the Arab oil embargo and the ever increasing price of fuel. By 2016, vehicles sold in the USA (and by extension Canada) must meet substantially reduced gasoline consumption targets, and in Europe, 2016 is also the end date for new, more stringent vehicle emissions targets.

Good luck Britannia in meeting these goals. Your crown jewels may look shiny and appeal to the super-wealthy today, but soon your vehicles will only be seen in museums -- as your factories close!

Just do the math

Whenever I see numbers and statistics being used, I try to do some simple
arithmetic,to see what the numbers really mean. Often, numbers or statistics
are presented in such a way as to make them look much ‘bigger’ and
‘really important’.

Here is a case in point.


New, electrical outlet law

(See Maclean’s Magazine, July 5, 2010, p.65 “Just Plug It In -- if you can”).

New, tamper-resistant electrical outlets are becoming mandatory across Canada in the name of safety; to protect children horsing around with outlets and getting shocked.
In the last 6 years , 365 children were taken to hospital in Canada and 35% of these needed “medical follow up”, according to Maclean’s.

The magazine focuses on the difficulty adults are having with using the new designs and their frustrations, and points out how our 110-120 voltage is rarely harmful, and usually a one-of lesson in avoidance. The article even ends by quoting the executive director of the International Association for Child Safety, Colleen Driscall, that kids can still get electrical shocks in other ways.

My ‘difficulty’ is in the numbers.

365 injuries over 6 years is 60.83 per year, of which 22.5 required extra attention and treatment.

Since when is 60 or 61 child injuries per year a significant number?

I am sure the number of children who need medical attention for falling down stairs at home is far, far greater, and what of 2 wheel bicycles with their frequent spills when learning and thereafter? Are stairs to be banned and all homes forced to have elevators? Are 2-wheelers for anyone under age 18 to be outlawed? Are we going to ban kids from skiing, hockey, soccer, lacrosse, and any other sport or activity where falls or checks regularly lead to injuries such as broken legs or worse?

Of course not.

The math tells me common sense is not being applied in this case, Life in general is being made more expensive ( as new sockets are double the price) and people are encouraged to break the law as homeowners – in frustration – are seeking to replace the new with the old.


Remember, just do the math.

FIFA 2

FIFA 2
While the world is following this year's FIFA championships in South Africa -- with the upcoming final between Netherlands and Spain, most people do NOT know that starting Sunday there is a 2nd FIFA tournamnet being held in South Africa. As with the Paralympics -- which follow the regular Olympics in the same host city/country --soccer has its own 'special' second tournament.

Called the FIFA 2010 Football for Hope Festival, it hosts 32 teams of young people with 8 players per side.

The Israeli team, by the way, is truly egalitarian - 4 males, 4 females; 4 Jewish Isrealis and 4 Arabs; one Arab coach and one Jewish Israeli.

Will there be TV coverage? Will this, youth focussed program receive the publicity and praise it deserves? Will anyone but immediate relatives and friends care as to who wins and who even participated?

Let us keep an eye out and see what the media do.

(info from The Canadian Jewish News, July 8, 2010, pages 1, 28)

Did you know ...

People love the Shriners. They do great charity work for children with disabilities, fundraise children’s hospitals, wear funny fez hats and make
great clownish parades.

So why are Masons or Freemasons not equally admired and accepted?

After all, you have to have passed through the 3 levels of freemasonry before you are eligible to apply for Shriner membership. (See http://www.ben-ali-shriners.org/Want2be.htm)

Technology gone amuck

Hubris (Greek) – excessive pride; a feeling of invincibility that usually leads to one’s downfall


What do Apple and Toyota have in common?

You might say great success, innovative technology and quality products. But as of last week, Apple and Toyota (for the 5th time in 10 months) had to recall marquee products due to defects. Why? Because, I suspect, both companies suffer from the toxic mix of a sense of invincibility– I make it so it must be great – so ignore ‘some’ customer complaints for years; reliance on complex computer electronics that even they don’t fully understand; and the pressures to rush out products to market without proper pre-testing.


Apple has had to acknowledge its brand new iPhone 4 has defective signal strength circuitry. The news went public within hours of the product’s release as Apple-philes around the world started to howl! The new and improved design was even more dysfunctional in this respect than earlier versions -- and Apple claims it didn’t know about the problem even though it applied to iPhones sold since 2007!! Poor AT&T which has gotten the flak for years re:dropped calls and poor reception!

So much for a ‘redesigned antenna’ for better service. Ha, ha! (See for more details Globe and Mail on-line, June 25, 2010, “iPhone 4 owners in grip of reception problem” and the newspaper, July 3, 2010, B6, "Apple 'stunned' to find iPhone flaw", both Associated Press releases).

Toyota, the gold standard for car manufacturing quality and reliability has lost its golden glow even more so. Five – count them – five major recalls for diverse problems in less than a year, affecting, as it turns out, new models and some going back to 2005: redesigned/new gas pedals that get jammed under winter floor mats, old and new gas pedals that suddenly go wild and accelerate the vehicle without being able to have the brakes override the vehicle’s mad rush – I have a friend who had this happen to him twice with his new Avalon – a car which is new recalled for this problem going back to 2005!!!;
a new SUV model this year that failed the Consumer Report’s standard emergency test – and therefore CR notified the government of the problem, and now 2 more Lexus models, the best of Toyota’s best – have engines that suddenly shut down while driving and hybrid Lexus models “can spill fuel during a rear end crash”!!! (Globe and Mail, Friday July 2, 2010, B6 “Toyota engines deemed defective” Associated Press release.)

Why all these woes and life threatening problems? My guesses:

1. Hubris – Toyota vehicles do not have brake override mechanisms. Maybe Toyota thought ‘perfect’ cars don’t need such fallbacks (at extra expense), Tell that to Audi, the first manufacturer accused of sudden, unstoppable acceleration a few years back, who then introduced the first brake override system.

2. Computerization gone amuck. Just last year, Mercedes removed some 600 computerized sensors and circuits from its top models because they were constantly breaking down – electronics that made no real difference in the driving experience or safety.

3. Rush to market. Until a decade ago it took 36 months (3 years) from the inception of a brand new vehicle until it started to roll off the assembly line and be sold to the public. Today, car manufacturers target 18 months or less – half the old standard time! How, by using computer modeling and design software rather than building handcrafted prototypes and testing them on racetracks and real life situations for months on end.

The worst such example of late is – if memory serves me correctly - Nissan. They created a great new compact engine and designed an entire world class compact car around it. Only problem was that when it was sold to the public and started to be regularly driven, it was found the engine burned oil like crazy! The problem turned out to be beyond ‘fixing’ as it was a fundamental design issue. As no other available engine could fit into the tiny new car, the entire model HAD TO BE SCRAPPED!!!


So, to Apple, to Toyota and all other manufacturers, take note and rethink your computer dependant wizardry and haste.

Common advice on the street today is to never buy a car model in its first year. Why be the company's guinea pig and spend unnecessary time in the dealership’s shop?

And, as a machinery fabricator recently told me, quality among car manufacturers is more or less the same today, so if you want a reliable vehicle that doesn’t constantly break down and cost thousands in repairs, skip the fancy electronics. Buy models with mechanical rollup windows, with mechanical seat adjusting – and skip all the fancy razzle dazzle extras. Your car will spend more time on the road, and your wallet will bulge; after all, these are also the cheaper models to start with.

PS: I know he’s right from personal experience! 3 window electric motors shot
while under extended warranty (thank goodness).