So Canadian media has suggested we should be happy with our Olympic results, but I have to say I’m disappointed.  I heard a number of times on the CTV coverage that “our goal” was 12 medals.  Canada only seems to care about total number of medals.  Whereas the rest of the world cares more about which metal and who comes first.

Almost all the world ranking systems including the official International Olympic Committee (IOC) rank a countries’ performance based on total number of first place finishes (gold medals).  In the event of a tie it falls to number of silvers, then bronze etc.  Not Canada all the medals are equal.  Despite the fact that in some events 2 or even 3 bronze medals are awarded (3 bronze medals where awarded in high jump – we got one).  Despite that why were we hoping for a mere 12 medals?  A quick perusal of our summer Olympic record reveals we’ve had over 11 medals in every Olympics since 1976.  Way to shoot high!

Looking at the same summer Olympic record I will suggest this is Canada’s worst performance since our terrible showing at our own Olympics in Montreal in ‘76.  By international standards (where first place counts) this is the first year we’ve had less then 3 gold medals.  In fact in Barcelona in ‘92 (our best summer Olympics) we obtained 7 gold medals.  We actually came 11^th that year by IOC standards.   It’s essentially been down hill since.  The next year our total medal count was 22 (remember our goal this year was to get at least 12) with 3 gold and 11 silvers (we got a whopping 5 silvers this year).

I know these sports are of the highest level and the pressure is tremendous but on the other hand isn’t this what most of our athletes train for day after day for years?  Yet we can step out of bounds and get disqualified (loosing another bronze) or somehow careen off the road on our bike into the crowd.

I always seem to hear other countries athletes saying (bragging even) that they are going to bring home a medal or even gold.  Canadians seem to say all too frequently “I’m just happy to be here”.  Lets face it people, the Olympics is an international competition the objective is to win.  Showing up and participating is what a dinner party is about.

Canadians are going around trying to convince the rest of the world we’re number 13 (see CTV’s Olympic ranking) when in reality the IOC ranked us #36.  Don’t compare us to the United States you say they have ten times our population.  OK I won’t, how about I compare us to New Zealand they got less medals then us but came first 5 times as frequently.  New Zealand is a country with a population less then British Columbia (about 12% of Canada’s).  Or how about Kazakhstan? That’s the country Sacha Baron Cohen makes fun of for being backwards in the movie Borat.  It has less then ½ our population and a much lower GDP but Kazakhstan placed 12^th with 7 gold medals.

Perhaps in Rio in 2016 instead of hoping for 10,12 or even 14 medals (lets not get to excited) we aim for at least 5 gold medals – shoot high, it is the Olympics after all…

Awww the youth of today

Seems we've always been complaining about our youth and the complaints generally seem to be the same. Below are a number of famous quotes about "The youth of today". Some are difficult to authenticate but check the dates its remarkable when you think about it:

"The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for
parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress."
- Attributed to: Peter the Hermit, 13th Century AD

"What is happening to our young people? They disrespect their elders, they disobey their parents. They ignore the law. They riot in the streets inflamed with wild notions. Their morals are decaying. What is to become of them?"
- Attributed to Plato 5th century BC

"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers" - Attributed to SOCRATES by Plato 5th century BC

"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on
frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond
words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and
respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise
[disrespectful] and impatient of restraint" (Hesiod, 8th century BC).

Conclusion the youth haven't really changed in 3000 years and adults haven't either...

Stop the HST

Sorry had to post my thoughts regarding the planned transition from our current PST and GST to the HST. I really believe that in opposition to the claims of the current Liberal government, this will increase expenses on many items. It’s essentially a way to grab 7% tax on items not currently covered by PST at this time.
This harmonization will add an additional 7% tax to:

GOODS

• Residential fuels (electricity, natural gas) and heating.
• Basic cable TV and residential phones.
• All food products (only basic groceries will remain exempt under new tax).
• Non-prescription medication.
• Vitamins and dietary supplements.
• Bicycles.
• School supplies (books will continue to be exempt).
• Magazines and newspapers.
• Work-related safety equipment.
• Safety helmets, life jackets, first-aid kits.
• Smoke detectors and fire extinguishers.
• Energy conservation equipment (e.g., insulation, solar power equipment).

SERVICES

• Personal services such as hair care.
• Dry cleaning.
• Repair services for household appliances.
• Household maintenance such as renovations and painting.
• Real estate fees.
• Membership fees for health clubs.
• Movie and theatre tickets.
• Funeral services.
• Professional services such as accounting and home care.
• Airline fares within Canada.
• Self-Storage facilities.

I strongly encourage all readers to do what they can (legally) to oppose the HST

Christmas Creepiness

Christmas songs are clearly moneymakers. Some what astonishingly White Christmas (written by Irving Berlin) as sung by Bing Crosby is not only the best selling Christmas single of all time, but the overall best selling single of all time. That version alone has sold at least 50 million copies. When you add in all the other versions of the song the number soars to an incredible 100 million copies. No wonder Mr. Berlin is quoted as having said to his secretary “Grab your pen and take down this song. I just wrote the best song I've ever written — heck, I just wrote the best song that any body's ever written".

However some Christmas songs don’t make me feel quite the same as White Christmas. One in particular (you may be surprised to hear) really makes me feel creepy when I hear it. That song is “Baby its Cold Outside”. It was originally written by Frank Loesser in 1944, and sung as a duet with his wife at their Navarro Hotel housewarming party. Perhaps in 1944 the song was considered cute, playful and perhaps even appropriate. To me in these days of “date rape” and “no means no” it comes across as the slimy attempts by some misogynist to coerce a reluctant female (his girlfriend, someone else’s girlfriend?) to spend the night (sleep with him). In fact apparently the male character in the duet is referred to as “the wolf” and the reluctant female as “the mouse”. Some examples of the lyrics:

The Mouse’s first 2 lines:
I really can't stay & I've got to go away
Shes preoccupied with what others will think:
My mother will start to worry - My father will be pacing the floor- My sister will be suspicious - My brother will be there at the door -My maiden aunt's mind is vicious

The Wolf merely redirects :
Baby, it's bad out there, No cabs to be had out there

The Wolf starts to undress the reluctant female:
I'll take your hat, your hair looks swell

He starts to ply her with alcohol:
Put some music on while I pour

With her starting to feel intoxicated earlier then expected:
Say, what's in this drink?


She becomes increasingly firm with:
I simply must go, The answer is no, & I've got to go home

He counters with that terribly passive aggressive approach some morally questionable men use when they're trying to guilt women into sex:

What's the sense in hurting my pride?

Ultimately she even asks to borrow his coat, but he refuses

Creepy don’t you think?

Driving in Victoria / the Island

Ok this one is almost cliche, but it bothers me so much day to day I decided to vent. I have driven in a lot of cities around the world and Victoria is the worst I've experienced. Here's why:

1. "BC blockade". Unlike other provinces (e.g. AB) where people have the consideration to "stay right except to pass", or States (such as Washington) where the driving lane is on the right by legislation, BC drivers and particularly those on the Island seem to think they have an obligation to drive in the left hand lane. Not only do the frequently choose the left hand lane (known as the "passing lane" in other jurisdictions) but they blithley drive at the same speed as the person next to them in the right hand lane. They will carry on producing this "blockade" for Km after Km, frustrating anyone who wants to pass. Island drivers have such a predilection for the left hand lane, sometimes you can actually commute more efficiently in the right hand lane (the "slow lane" in other jusrisdictions)


2. Fear of driving. It seems at least 50% of drivers in Victoria are terrified by the concept of driving. I can see no other explanation for why they crawl along 10-20km less then the speed limit. They also drive in the middle of the road on side streets, although there is plenty of room for cars to pass each other side by side. I think its these same people who are terrified of the left hand turn. Even when one has an advanced left arrow! Seriously at least 6 to 8 cars should be able to turn left with an advanced arrow, but in Victoria the first driver in the row waits till the arrow is half over before proceeding (slowly) with their turn, so perhaps one or two more cars squeak in a left turn.


3. Island eyes. Or perhaps Island brain? The inability to judge distance = rate x time or even approximate, seems ubiquitious. All too frequently am I driving along and have to hit the brakes because someone chooses to merge in front of me. Then they usually proceed to drive as in #2. above at 20 km below the speed limit. Invariable there is no one behind me, so if they waited 5 seconds for me to pass they could merge and tootle along at their snail pace without disrupting others...


4. City (dis)planners: In the 60s and 70s city planners goals where to try to make automobile travel across a city efficient. This was the driving hayday when US cities put all the ugly express ways and such in to attempt to combat grid lock. One way streets where created to improve efficiency. The pendulum has completly shifted the other way now and city planners will proudly declare their goal is to slow down your travel across town. "You see you really should be taking public transit or riding your bike, because cars pollute and kill people". So they are actively turning efficient 2 lane roads into single lane bottlenecks (think Fort St from Cook East) . And desynchronizing lights so travel through town takes 3 times longer then it could. I've timed the lights on Fort St. West of Cook and they are synchronized for someone travelling 10 km under the speed limit (40 Km). After all you should just calm down, and plan 3 times as much time to make your commute. Well this may be OK for some ( i'm not sure who) but there are some people who do need to really get across town efficiently. I could shorten my office so less sick people get seen in a day, but that seems counter productive. At times I need to get from RJH to VGH quickly (or back), people are sick and need to be helped. But Blanshard which should be a 60 km synchronized 6 lane efficient route across town is instead a fragmented disruptive exercise in futility.

Oh well there seems to be little chance of improvement with so many happy to commute at "island time".

July 6 - Password update blues

I have at least 6 computer programs I access frequently through my work that require variable frequency password updates. Two different x-ray viewing portholes, 2 different lab work checking programs, a profile login, and a program specific to a clinic I run.

The frequency that these programs require one to update the password varies. I’ve managed to convince the IT guys who manage two of the programs to set my password to “never expires” but in spite of that they still randomly ask me for a new password and I end up having to call IT again… but at least this is pretty infrequent. The most annoying program not only expects you to update its passwords every 3 months or so, it starts 2 weeks ahead stating, “your password will expire soon, do you want to update it now”. You’d think that by doing this it might get you an extra 2 weeks, but in effect the opposite happens, you end up updating every 10 weeks.

I tried discussing this with the IT gurus that maintain this program. Not only did they refuse to set my password to never expires but I got the usual bull $h*t answer “its industry standard”. Which as far as I’m concerned is code word for fc*k off ignorant one, we’re doing what we’re doing anyways even though there is no research to back up this claim.

I suppose the rationale for frequent password updates is that somehow it increases the security of the system. However, if one actually observes what’s going on with the end users not only does it not improve security I firmly believe it makes the program less secure. Why would I claim such heresy? Well in the healthcare environment I work in people forget their password so they:

1. Write it down: on their person, in their PDA or often even on the computer itself
   


2. Add an incremental number to the last one e.g. blackbird 01, blackbird 02, blackbird 03 etc…
   


3. Complain to their colleague who obligingly says, ohh don’t worry about it use my profile/password, and either logon for them or give out their password.
   


4. Use other peoples profiles/programs that have been already open and left unattended

Each of these is less secure then a password that never expires. And I can assure you I see examples of one or more of these activities on a daily basis. The other outcome which may be of benefit to security but defeats the purpose, is users (that can) just stop using the program.

But why take my word for it. I have found several links including one to high tech security guru Gene Spafford that supports my argument.

I’d like to propose that everyone call their friendly neighborhood IT support person every time they have to login to a program that automatically resets the password. Ask them to reset your password because you forgot it and can’t keep track of all the password changes. I have a feeling that if they got hundreds of such calls daily they’d pretty soon change their “industry standard” to password never expires…

June 28, 2009 - The Start

Aparently blogging has been on the decline over the last few years. Recent stats suggest that only 1 of 100 blogs created in 2006 (apparently the height of blogging) are still active. I've generally thought myself too busy for such pursuits but lately i've been changing my mind. In 2006 (coincidence - i think not) A friend suggested I start a blog describing our recent reno but i didn't bother. Now I wish I had. So here goes i'll try to document my thoughts as i SIT and THINK...