Another Earth Hour Has Come And Gone... But Did Anyone Notice?

This past Saturday night, many participated in Earth Hour. For one hour a year, so called "progressives" turn back the clock 200 years and turn off their lights for an hour in name of fighting climate change. I love pointing out on twitter every year that it's ALWAYS Earth Hour in North Korea

North Korea... Where it's #EarthHour ALL THE TIME! pic.twitter.com/t9CsDjtYWi

— Political Paradox (@PoliParadox) March 26, 2017

Is it me or does this event become more of a non-event every year? Earth Hour started in Sydney Australia in 2007 and went international the following year. As I recall, in the days leading up the the big day, there was quite a bit of media coverage in those first few years but as each year passed, the coverage seemed to dwindle. This past Saturday I didn't even know about it until it was mentioned on my local newscast Saturday morning.

Not that I participate in Earth Hour or anything. Quite frankly, it's a huge waste of time. Just another example of what I call "SLACKtivism". Those people who think changing a Facebook picture after a terrorist attack or putting some inspirational quote in their e-mail signature somehow changes the world. Of course, nothing really gets achieved. Forget the fact that burning a candle is far worse for the planet than burning a light bulb.

As each year passes, statistics on how much power was reduced seems to be harder to come by. The only province where stats are readily reported on is British Columbia. Reports from Toronto suggest this year's earth hour may have been the worst ever. A newspaper in the Niagara area suggested people participated this year however they failed to compare it to previous years. Last year, media in my city were all too eager to hype up earth hour ahead of time but failed to report on how we did after the fact. So I decided to tweet my local power company on numbers locally here in Kitchener and they got back to me about 12 hours later. What? No one in the local media could have bothered to do that? I'm not a reporter... I'm a nobody and they easily got me the answer I wanted. The reality is, the media rarely report on anything unless someone bothers to send them a press release. You know earth hour is getting really bad when even the media doesn't seem to care anymore.

Canada's Alert Ready System Needs Improvement

This past weekend in Ontario, we had an Amber Alert issued. And although the child was found safe and sound, there are some things that need major improvements.

Last year, Canada's "Alert Ready" system was rolled out, this is similar to the "Emergency Broadcast System" that has been in the United States for many decades now. This system uses traditional radio and television signals to inform people of important events such as severe weather, terrorist threats and Amber Alerts just to name a few.

Now, the Amber Alert system has been in place for quite a while now and the new alert ready system is another way to get the message out there. Prior to now, it would be up to the individual radio and TV stations to broadcast this information. This new alert ready system is an attempt to get information out faster and more efficiently by having important information broadcast on all media outlets at the exact same time. These alerts will interrupt the broadcast that you are watching or listening to. Some people have complained about this. That's not what this article is about. This article is about getting information out EFFECTIVELY.

On Sunday night, we had an Amber Alert issued for a missing child here in Ontario. Here is what the alert looked like on news websites and other social media:

THIS IS AN "AMBER ALERT" ACTIVATION MESSAGE!

Police: Toronto Police Service

Child : 3 month old baby boy, short dark hair,

Abductor: Male white, 20-25 years old. Short blond hair, 5 foot 11 inches, medium build

Vehicle: Tan colored 4 Door 1997 Toyota Camry, Ontario # BWRC 161

Location last observed: Northbound Highway #27 at Albion Road

If observed call 911

Looks pretty good right? Yes it does. Unfortunately, trying to get this information out via Broadcasts was a complete disaster. Here is the audio version as this alert sounded if you heard it on TV or radio:

 
So many things wrong here. What did the guy say? Of course it wasn't a real guy, it was obviously some text to speech system. And as you can hear, the numbers weren't translated correctly. The 1997 model year was transcribed to "one thousand, nine hundred ninety seven". And the best part, if you see this vehicle, call "September 1st, 2001". On top of that, this alert aired only ONCE. Imagine driving in your car and hearing this on the radio. Before you can really grasp what is going on, the alert is over and is never repeated. I have other beefs with the way this was all handled, I covered it this week on my podcast.

This system was in development for a few years before it rolled out. I have a hard time believing that somewhere along the way, someone didn't think to put some test text into the system to hear how it sounded.

I really hope improvements can be made to this system. Even though this was mandated by the government, it's still good to have as many venues as possible to get vital information out there. Perhaps the private sector could have pulled this off more efficiently.

The Gift of Freedom

The greatest gift you can give someone on Christmas (or the other 364 days of the year) is the gift of freedom. Be the best ambassador for freedom you can be all year long. Spread the word that the answer to the world’s problems is freedom, charitable giving and personal responsibility… not government.

As my gift to you this year, I’d like to share with you the two men who have influenced my thinking more than any other. The two greatest gifts to freedom that the world has ever seen. Unfortunately, both are no longer with us.

Harry Browne:

Harry ran for US president in 1996 and again in 2000. He introduced me to libertarianism when a few years ago, I heard on old radio interview with him done in 1996 with Art Bell… I`ve been hooked ever since. He single headedly turned me into a libertarian. In the last few years of his life, Harry had a weekly radio show of his own. Blow is a link to one of those shows titled ``Selling Libertarian Ideas`` . I have listened to this episode several times and I`m sure I will again in the future.

Note: It`s a 5 part youtube video, I couldn`t find a version that was uninterrupted.

Milton Friedman:

I`ve only discovered him more recently but he had lots of great things to say. Every time I search youtube, I find more fascinating material. Here is my favourite video I`ve discovered so far:

Glenn Beck - "The Forgotten Man"

As mentioned below, I've been listening to a lot of American radio talk shows the last couple weeks. In particular, I've been finding Glenn Beck very entertaining and informative.

On Today's show, he had a great commentary called "The Forgotten Man". It's a commentary about political power. How politicians put themselves ahead of the voting public and how they use vulnerable citizens to make that happen. It's 11 minutes long but well worth the listen... Link Below:

Link:
Glenn Beck - The Forgotten Man

The Rollye James 3 Constitutional Amendments

One of my favourite radio talk show hosts, Rollye James is back on the air. The other night on her program she went through the 3 amendments that she would like to see to the constitution. Now, these amendments are for the US constitution, but these 3 things can be applied here in Canada or anywhere around the world for that matter.

Government is too big. Politicians and political parties often don't have the public's best interest in hand when passing bills in the house of commons. Rollye's ideas would would change all this. The 3 amendments are as follows:

Lawmakers Must Agree to Live Under The Previsions of Every Bill They Passed

If they had to live under what they voted for, things would be very different. It would help with insurance premiums which is a hot button issue here in Ontario right now. 

No Unrelated Items Onto Bills At Hand

A lot of the ridiculous spending that happens occurs when things are added onto existing bills. These items usually have nothing to do with what is being voted on. Studies like whether Yoga is effective in reducing hot flashes in menopausal women... or the studies that continuously show time and time again that smoking is bad for you etc...

Every bill should stand on it's own. If it's good enough to pass, it should be good enough to stand on it's own.

Every Lawmaker Must Read The Entire Bill Before They Vote On It

This goes hand in hand with the above point. I recently saw a film called Whipped: The Secret World of Party Discipline. In this film, they mention that politicians often only have 20 minutes or so to read over a 400 page document that they are about to vote on. Of course, this is impossible to do. This would also make sthem shorter becasue... who is going to want to read all of that.

The flip side here is... how do you enforce this rule? Will there be a test? I suppose it's just the spirit of the law.

It's great to have Rollye back on the air... even if it's only on the internet. She is a strong voice for all this who advocate for freedom. Now... if we could only get Art Bell out of retirement

can be an effective method to
reduce the frequency and/or severity of hot flashes” in
menopausal women. - See more at: http://www.darwinsmoney.com/dumb-stimulus-bill-spending/#sthash.pjIqXjul.dpuf

can be an effective method to
reduce the frequency and/or severity of hot flashes” in
menopausal women. - See more at: http://www.darwinsmoney.com/dumb-stimulus-bill-spending/#sthash.pjIqXjul.dpuf

can be an effective method to
reduce the frequency and/or severity of hot flashes” in
menopausal women. - See more at: http://www.darwinsmoney.com/dumb-stimulus-bill-spending/#sthash.pjIqXjul.dpuf

can be an effective method to
reduce the frequency and/or severity of hot flashes” in
menopausal women. - See more at: http://www.darwinsmoney.com/dumb-stimulus-bill-spending/#sthash.pjIqXjul.dpuf

can be an effective method to
reduce the frequency and/or severity of hot flashes” in
menopausal women. - See more at: http://www.darwinsmoney.com/dumb-stimulus-bill-spending/#sthash.pjIqXjul.dpuf