In keeping with my plan for this blog to be unbiased I am ignoring the current election. In the present campaign any comment would be taken by someone as being partisan.
REALLY? 2,564 miles per gallon?
For the third year in a row students from Université Laval in Quebec, Canada, took home first prize in Shell’s Eco-marathon Americas fuel-efficiency competition, with a vehicle that was able to get 2,564.8 miles per gallon.
FOX NEWS NORTH?
A new 24-hour TV news station in Canada has been quietly launched by the Quebecor-owned Sun News Network. This is their second attempt. Their first run was held up when the CRTC blocked the use of “fake news”.
The specialty channel was the brainchild of Kory Teneycke, former spokesman for Canada’s Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
INCOME TAX DATE RANT
Doing my income tax reminded me of one of my pet peeves – the lack of common sense in dates. Can you tell me what date 12/11/10 is? 12h of Nov 2010? or Dec 11th 2010? or maybe even Nov 10th 2012 ? And have you noticed that receipts, banks and income tax forms are nowhere consistent in their use even within their own forms?
How hard can it be for Canada and the USA to decide on a format? I have noticed that the bank cheque printers have begun this silent revolution by printing “yymmdd” under the blanks for the date. Maybe FaceBook could move this revolution along.
And while we are at it why not promote a slashed 0 to distinguish it from a capital O like early computers did. and maybe some way to distinguish more clearly the numeral 1 from the letter l. Airlines like to use a mix of capital letters and digits for your unique reservation code.
There are a few other examples too, but I have to finish sorting my medical bills by date for my income tax.
BTW , today is April 20th which`could be written as 20/4. A lot of younger people prefer to think of it as 4/20. You know – “420”? If you still don’t get it ask anyone between the ages of 17 and 30. Or just hang out in a public park or place where kids gather at 4:20 this afternoon. And there are people who don't think it matters how you write dates !
Showing posts with label CRTC. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CRTC. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Do We Really Want Fake News In Canada ???
The initial stimulus for this blog was a discussion I had a couple of years ago with a fellow at a party in the USA about politicians telling lies. I, (being naively Canadian), felt that honesty was high on my priorities for a politician. His position, (being worldly American), was that he would never vote for a politician who DIDN’T lie. At that point we became ships that passed in the night – never to meet again. However, it has given me much cause for thought. Should we really expect our politicians to be liars? Maybe there are cases where the end justifies the means? I’m not as sure as I used to be.
But when it comes to our public news media being allowed to spew forth information they know to be false I would have said, “NOT IN MY CANADA. NOT NOW. NOT EVER.”
I had always thought that there was a ban (legal, or at least moral) on allowing the Canadian TV and radio news media to spew forth false information. And I find I was right. The CRTC has had a ban on broadcasting false information on radio and TV, and the CRTC was content with that current ban on fake news.
Then, late in 2010 the commission was “coerced” to approve a proposal to make "fake news" acceptable on Canadian TV and radio. One can only guess from where this political pressure came, but it is most likely related to the earlier move to establish a “Fox News North”.
" We never wanted to touch this thing. We put it forward because we were ordered to do it," von Finckenstein told reporters.
The CRTC is dropping this proposal to allow fictitious news items thanks to on the support from a Parliamentary committee. "All I can say is, 'Thank you committee.' I will withdraw this proposal tomorrow. This is the end of the issue,’”Finckenstein said.
I sincerely hope this is “the end of the issue.” MY CANADA didn’t (and never will) approve of giving right to broadcast information that is know to be false or deliberately misleading.
But it scares me that this sort of thing was going on without the knowledge of the Canadian public.
But when it comes to our public news media being allowed to spew forth information they know to be false I would have said, “NOT IN MY CANADA. NOT NOW. NOT EVER.”
I had always thought that there was a ban (legal, or at least moral) on allowing the Canadian TV and radio news media to spew forth false information. And I find I was right. The CRTC has had a ban on broadcasting false information on radio and TV, and the CRTC was content with that current ban on fake news.
Then, late in 2010 the commission was “coerced” to approve a proposal to make "fake news" acceptable on Canadian TV and radio. One can only guess from where this political pressure came, but it is most likely related to the earlier move to establish a “Fox News North”.
" We never wanted to touch this thing. We put it forward because we were ordered to do it," von Finckenstein told reporters.
The CRTC is dropping this proposal to allow fictitious news items thanks to on the support from a Parliamentary committee. "All I can say is, 'Thank you committee.' I will withdraw this proposal tomorrow. This is the end of the issue,’”Finckenstein said.
I sincerely hope this is “the end of the issue.” MY CANADA didn’t (and never will) approve of giving right to broadcast information that is know to be false or deliberately misleading.
But it scares me that this sort of thing was going on without the knowledge of the Canadian public.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Canada Today–some better, some not so much
Looking back over the past few decades there are some things which have changed to make Canada a better place in which to live.
One major positive change in Canada that comes to mind is the acceptance of same-sex marriage in Canada at a time when being “gay” is still identified a crime in some 78 countries around the world. Hate crimes appear to be increasing, but this may well be due to an increased awareness and prosecution of them.
Stats Can reports: Police services in Canada reported 1,036 hate crimes in 2008, up 35% from 2007. Just over half (55%) were motivated by race or ethnicity, 26% by religion and 16% by sexual orientation.
If you carry an outstanding balance on your credit card you should not wonder why you have less and less money to spend. My bank VISA card charges 19.99% on unpaid balance or for cash advances (and 24.99% for at least 6 months if I miss making even one minimum monthly payment). Kudos to our government for requiring these charges to be CLEARLY stated, but reducing the actual rates would be more helpful for most people. No wonder the banks can regularly post obscene profits and salaries for their CEO while they pay out 3 percent interest on investments and reduce employment through the use of ATMs.
The free lunch days of Internet usage are on the verge of disappearing in Canada. The CRTC has passed a requirement that Internet charges will be applied to an individual usage of more than 25 gigabytes per month. That is about 8 HD movies per month. More use than that and it would cost $2 per gigabyte. Minister of Industry Jim Prentice says he is looking into the situation.
One major positive change in Canada that comes to mind is the acceptance of same-sex marriage in Canada at a time when being “gay” is still identified a crime in some 78 countries around the world. Hate crimes appear to be increasing, but this may well be due to an increased awareness and prosecution of them.
Stats Can reports: Police services in Canada reported 1,036 hate crimes in 2008, up 35% from 2007. Just over half (55%) were motivated by race or ethnicity, 26% by religion and 16% by sexual orientation.
If you carry an outstanding balance on your credit card you should not wonder why you have less and less money to spend. My bank VISA card charges 19.99% on unpaid balance or for cash advances (and 24.99% for at least 6 months if I miss making even one minimum monthly payment). Kudos to our government for requiring these charges to be CLEARLY stated, but reducing the actual rates would be more helpful for most people. No wonder the banks can regularly post obscene profits and salaries for their CEO while they pay out 3 percent interest on investments and reduce employment through the use of ATMs.
The free lunch days of Internet usage are on the verge of disappearing in Canada. The CRTC has passed a requirement that Internet charges will be applied to an individual usage of more than 25 gigabytes per month. That is about 8 HD movies per month. More use than that and it would cost $2 per gigabyte. Minister of Industry Jim Prentice says he is looking into the situation.
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