On the COVID -19 Pandemic

Here is a 'Modest Proposal' (apologies to Jonathan Swift):

Take an area (size is choice) in the Country. Seal it off temporarily and test everyone in it; quarantine ALL those who test positive then release everyone in that area to carry on their lives completely free but only in that sealed off area. No one must be allowed INTO that area unless they test negative. People MAY MOVE OUT if they so wish. Then move to the adjacent area and repeat the process. Keep expanding in this way and you will get a huge area....whole County....whole Country. Otherwise you will not win without grief. 

This will require military style co-ordination. And it must be done piece by piece in the time frame it takes to do the testing in each area with results. Small towns could do this easily but they have to have the testing tools! 

I think this could be achieved before the vaccine is available but we had better hurry! I live in a valley town of say 20,000 where there are only a handful of infected people running around but we have to find them!

"If I ruled the World"! 

 PS: 
When this started in China (we think) the virus started to spread. People all over the world panicked and instituted measures to protect their citizens. Statistics were followed and Politicians responded. 
Now we have a "Pandemic". They now say we have a 'peak' so now we can start to relax. The trouble is the virus has nothing in its genome about relaxation! Its mandate is to keep spreading. It will. 
Governments have instituted controls without informing their people actually why. The "why" is to alleviate the pressure on the health services to cope. 
This virus will keep infecting people in future waves until it burns itself out, or we get a vaccine and therapeutic chemicals to curtail its effect. So take care, protect yourselves. The outcome will be the same, whatever, unfortunately.

On-line Classes

Online classes:
This is merely a discussion, or rather pre-discussion, hopefully, of this concept. I went to University 'back in the day' with all it entailed; and it certainly did not include 'On line learning'. What we have now in the present context is an opportunity.
With all the technology that is at our disposal, dynamic, multi-media lectures can be delivered right into the homes of the students.

This could include videos and a multiplicity of special effects, related to the individual course.
Sadly, the thing that is missing is the social interaction which I found most valuable when I was a student back in the 1960's.
For science (pure and applied) and practical arts subjects the 'Campus' is needed but all can be welded together after the crisis that we are experiencing abates; hopefully soon. Perhaps more practical facilities could actually replace lecture halls. Many are so large that large video screens and blue tooth devices are needed anyway. So these all could be done 'On-line'.
http://www.leerbeleving.nl/wbts/nieuw_basics/addis.pdf

On the 'First Nations' Protest against the Northern Oil/Gas Pipeline

What bothers me is the false perception that ALL indigenous people care for the land, our planet... and oppose this kind of thing. There are so many of them who have been paid off by the big corporations that dig up oil by the dirtiest means and strive to ship it to those Countries who unscrupulously burn the product to produce even more greenhouse gases. Indigenous people are NOT one Nation, no more than 'white colonists' are! Greed is universal!

I am in full support of the protesters but I wish the others would support them and, then, maybe, this nonsense can be stopped! Integrity is becoming rarer and rarer! Our Government is grossly hypocritical in fostering this.🤬 

"Racism" is irrelevant here for these reasons. There are people who want the pipeline and there are those who do not. 

The Government wants it because it supports their voting base and so they continue to thumb their noses at the need to, properly address Climate Change.

Regarding the recent expansion of this protest to include "Climate Change": 
In my lifetime, I have been in many protests; and in many effective ones. But none 'blanket targeted' aggressively ALL members of the public in their path. There were marches, chanting, sit ins, in strategic places but they did not jeopardize or damage the livelihood's of potentially sympathetic citizens deliberately. Any collateral harm was accidental. I believe this is how it should be. And ALL participants should be properly briefed regarding the elements of the 'cause'. The outcomes of many world revolutions have had very unpredictable and undesirable conclusions due to often inherent 'blind' actions.
We have an interesting world right now.
I respect the need for nurturing the world environment but I have ignorant people now passing almost 'racially' flavoured comments toward me because they know I actually care!
"Oh you are an 'Environmentalist', aren't you?...Don't you care about the Economy ?" Etc. I am so sick of this!
Some of such people care little except the state of their Stock-Market portfolios. Comments please! My local sports clubs are rife with this. I have stated my views on recent protests which are flaunting the law and are sometimes violent but that does not mean that I will ignore the plight we are all in regarding 'Climate Change' and the proven resultant 'Global Warming' which humanity is causing.🤬 

This being said, I do not doubt the underlying positive motives of many of the protesters.  

Icing problem on roofs in winter:

A phenomenon where when accumulated roof snow begins to melt when temperatures are just near freezing and remain so. The ice on the roof above the living areas starts to melt, but not above the overhangs. 

The water runs down to the over-hang area and then freezes building up ice . This dams up the water flowing down and then it creeps up below the shingles or tiles and causing a leak to your living area.
Under these conditions clear the snow from your over-hang areas. Or you can install deicing electrical heating systems...such a pain to do!

Fortunately here in Squamish this year, so far, we have not had these undesirable conditions for this to happen. But I have experienced it in the past. Fortunately the temperatures quickly rose way above freezing very quickly. Rain helps, don't knock it!

My take on the 2019 UK Election:

Socialism, particularly at the left end, always arises as a response to perceived or real neglect, mismanagement and greed on the part of the particular right wing which is in power. Right wing Governments usually have choices based upon their collective wealth. Often they take the more greedy route, ignoring the poorer parts of their society...and so the pendulum swings.

Let not the old adage, "Power corrupts and absolute power etc." apply here. Boris Johnson et al have a golden opportunity to forge new trade ties, attract investment and build the UK into a stable thriving, HEALTHY economy.
But don't hold your breath! An element of pessimism? Well many have been bitten before!
Regarding the Labour Party, read this, written by a Socialist friend of mine: 

http://www.davecolwell.com/Labour.pdf

Unlike Thatcher, Johnson was supported by hitherto socialist towns in the North. He owes them and, of course, others in need.. Careful Boris! No drawing a line across the Country like she did! And forget a Falkland-type scape goat this time!

The UK may now see itself dissolving into a country consisting only of England and Wales. This election has closed and opened so many doors. Time will tell.

Climate Change Hypocrisy in Canada

I love Canada but do lament the present hypocrisy which prevails here in its governance. 

It is said that we have a Climate Change Crisis and we need to address it immediately. Its people are even taxed in the name of this crisis.

YET the extraction of natural gas (by fracking) and oil by one of the dirtiest methods on this planet is encouraged. Its export to Countries who are environmentally irresponsible is strongly supported. One of the excuses given is that the profits from the export of these products will be used to offset the Climate Change Crisis! Go figure!
I live in a town which has declared a Climate Change Crisis and yet the local Council does nothing to discourage the development of a Liquid Natural Gas Export facility on its own doorstep.

 Even the workers that will setting up this facility will NOT be local, contrary to what was hitherto promised.

An effective control of devastating Climate Change is hard in wealthy Democracies. The 'rich' control the power strings most of the time and the 'rich' want to keep their wealth. Any sacrifice essential for any real reversal of our world dilemma will be very difficult.  

The survival genes imbedded during our evolution could, ironically, lead to our demise as a species. We might be the shortest lived in the history of life on this planet....Unless something drastic happens to help.

A Myth Buster Rant:

Recently there have been claims that paper and cloth shopping bags are worse than plastic bags for the environment (re. Climate Change).
We have had a few cloth bags for years and they have been used hundreds of times instead of plastic bags!
If you have a cloth bag USE IT LIKEWISE. Then you also will not need to use paper bags either. If you do ever use a plastic bag, find further use for it for a while and then ensure that it is buried somehow and not allowed to enter the ocean's food chain in any way. And cloth bags DO NOT HAVE TO BE COTTON. Many bags are made of synthetic fibers which are themselves derived from the oil industry and, as such, are 'carbon sinks' if they are kept out of the food chain or not burnt. Pass them down to your grandchildren!
BTW, in our town (Squamish), we have excellent lead free drinking water. THERE IS NO NEED to use plastic disposable water bottles. USE TAP WATER. Carry any drinking water in a permanently dedicated bottle.