The Stern Report on Climate Change

Yesterday, a new major report - [ Stern Report ] - on global warming by Sir Nicholas Stern was released by the UK government that warns of devastating economic consequences if action is not taken now to address climate change.

For the business guys, the report warns that if temperatures rise by five degrees Celsius, up to 10% of global output could be lost.

For the environmentally minded (strangely not the same group as above), the report states that rising sea levels could leave 200 million people permanently displaced, up to 40% of species could face extinction and there will be more examples of extreme weather patterns.

Back from KS

I'm back from Kansas and Grandma's funeral.

The Funeral Mass was very nice and it was good to see the family. All five of the Harrisons haven't all been together in nearly two years!

Recent News - Mary Arth

This past Sunday, Grandma Arth passed away in her sleep. Grandma had just turned 97(!) a few weeks earlier and had her gall bladder removed on Friday.

Karina and I attended her birthday last month and found her in good form and spirits, although she did acknowledge then that she "had to shake this thing" that had been bothering her the previous weeks.

Grandma's was an interesting life. Her family emigrated from Croatia in the early part of last century and settled along the Missouri in a farming community. Although she could still speak Croatian, her story was that once the family came to America, "that was it" and they never spoke their native tongue again.

My brothers and I were probably too soft for Grandma, who would tell stories of how she and her brother as children would go down to the well to get the family's cooking and bath water. I can't imagine the labour and hardship that she and Grandpa undertook to ensure that their family had a better life.

It's amazing to think about the changes that Grandma would have seen and experienced in her lifetime - from the universal adoption of the automobile and the modern utility infrastructure to the development of the global commodity and foods market.

From this perspective, the next several days will be remarkable as the family returns to Kansas, flying in from across the continent. My correspondence and arrangements have been entirely made with technologies that probably seemed otherworldly when Grandma was at my age - cell phones, email and web-based business services.

I always loved visiting Grandma and Grandpa as their love was always so honest and abundant. Although she probably found my studies and occupation to be unusual, Grandma was always interested and supportive. She had a great and at times mischevious sense of humour - and there was no fooling her. But the trait I will most remember about Grandma will be her sharing - sharing her memories, her opinions, her table and her heart.

We'll miss you Grandma.

Website Restored?

My website may or may not be now restored. Seems there were some Blogger.com issues.

UK out of Iraq in 16 months

With expectations that the Iraqi security forces will be ready, Tony Blair set a 16-month limit for keeping British troops in Iraq yesterday as he admitted for the first time that they would be a 'provocation' if they stayed too long.

The state of the Iraqi state is now as uncertain as it has ever been. A "helluva mess" is how the former US Secretary of State James Baker is said to have described the state of Iraq - and the search is on for the least-worst option for US policy makers.

Under the Tusken Sun

Hysterical!

Online Gift Finding Service

For those of you who have difficulty finding or thinking of gifts, the internet comes through for you again! Three sites: surprise.com, Gifts.com and FindGift.com all provide a service to supply gift ideas.

Trying out surprise.com, I find that wandering the "related categories" column is a fruitful exercise (the manly man category was pretty lame). I like that you can search on broad ideas like "spacenik" or "coffee fiend" - this is essentially a referral index site.

Microsoft u-turns on Vista allows for Anti-Virus Development

For the security conscience, this news should be welcome - Microsoft has agreed to provide code so that software companies can provide their own security to the Vista Os.

Symantec and McAfee had previously complained they were locked out from the security system for Vista. (Microsoft has such a good record in this area!) Vista is due to ship to businesses within the next few weeks, so time is running out. Good grief!

U.S. Population to hit 300M

Tomorrow the U.S. population will officially exceed 300 million people.

For population stat fans, Canada's population currently stands at 32,657,487 and will exceed 33M within 2 years.

Real Life is going Online

The Revolution will be online. And probably lead by a 7' Teddy Bear named "MoBius" in a leather jumper and playing the hurdy-gurdy.

My suggestion that OANDA create an online avatar doesn't seem quite so much a stretch. Reuters has opened a virtual news agency in the Second Life online world.

While many online virtual worlds are games that encourage users to live out a fantasy existence as a warrior or wizard, Second Life is intended to be a more playful version of the real world. Telus recently opened a store front there. An interesting trend given that a non-insignificanr part of the SL economy is the sale and use of online sex toys

UN slaps sanctions on North Korea

The UN Security Council has voted unanimously in favour of a resolution imposing sanctions on North Korea over its claimed nuclear test.

Resolution 1718 imposes weapons and financial sanctions but is not backed by the threat of military force.

2005 Bordeaux Futures

Here's my latest contribution to the wine community - I have converted the current LCBO/Vintages list for the 2005 Bordeaux Futures into an Excel File.

Download the [ 2005 Bordeaux Futures ] list here.

2005 is being called by some one of the great vintages of recent memory.Please note that some great buys still are available - especially if you like Sauternes.

British Army out of Iraq?

The chief of the British Army, who triggered a political storm by calling for troops to withdrawn from Iraq "soon", has denied attacking government policy, insisting he meant a phased pullout of British forces over two or three years.

Gen. Richard Dannatt said comments published in London's Daily Mail newspaper were misinterpreted as an assault on Prime Minister Tony Blair's commitment to long-term involvement in the violence-ravaged country.

In his Daily Mail interview, Sir Richard, who took on his role in August, also said planning for what happened after the initial successful war military offensive was "poor, probably based more on optimism than sound planning".

He said: "I don't say that the difficulties we are experiencing round the world are caused by our presence in Iraq but undoubtedly our presence in Iraq exacerbates them."

Totally new Network for Extreme Sports

Building communities is the core concept of Web 2.0 plays (I'm proposing a Forex play tomorrow), but here is an option with a little flair - FantasyLifeGame.com is a unique mixture of social networking and fantasy sports. It dovetails nicely with my family's apparent passion for extreme sports (I just booked a surf vacation for Novmeber). Perhaps a certain brother of mine will check it out...

"Yes, Prime Minister"

I had forgotten how much I enjoy "Yes, Prime Minister". Great program - although I would probably vote for re-runs of Yes, Minister ahead of it. Brings back memories of Sub-Heaven.

Online poker is still going on.

So this week Bush is expected to put pen to paper and sign legislation that will make life very difficult for online poker players. Top poker players have come out saying how bad this development has been for the game. Guess they have figured out that this will mean a whole lot less people who don't know poker rules and feed money into the system. Many of the firms that "went legit" and were listed on Exchanges are now fighting for their lives as they have lost between 75% - 85% of their revenue base.

I'll admit I never was a big online poker player - at most I spent a few weeks online - but being familiar with the game has certainly been useful in our company's Friday night poker games (in as much that I don't embarass myself).

Croatia 2-0 England

Paul Robinson was left embarrassed as England crashed to a dismal defeat against Croatia in the Euro 2008 qualifier in Zagreb.

Eduardo's header had given Croatia a deserved 61st minute lead before keeper Robinson was involved in a nightmare moment eight minutes later.

Google Docs & Spreadsheets Launches

Microsoft? Who the hell are they?

Today Google Docs & Spreadsheets has been launched.

Although I haven't tested the feature set out yet, I'd say this product offering does have the potential to attract home PC users - especially those who see an opportunity to knock $400 off their PC purchase price. Again, I think this technology will benefit fron the enabling technology of broadband.

Based on my observations at Infoware, most people don't use more than a small faction of Office features (a concern of Microsoft too which has been confirmed by friends working there).

Organizations will not like the fact that the documents are stored on Google Servers - perhaps a document encryption technology company is soon Google target.

Richmond St. Hockey Pool - The Early Days

I haven't jumped off to the greatest start in the Richmond St. Hockey Pool. Paul Kariya had better start delivering or I'll regret switching him in and taking out Marian Hossa.

I'd rather be Surfing

On a grey day like today, I'd rather be surfing - or rather, falling off a long board in what I call surfing. As it cools down in NA, I will likely have to venture further afield to find nice warm waves. A surfing trip to Costa Rica is in order perhaps? I should just spend some time on a Costa Rica Forum to find out where I can dream of going. ()

It's done - Google buys YouTube

Google is buying video-sharing website YouTube for $1.65bn (£883m) in shares after a weekend of speculation that a deal was in the offing.

The two companies will continue to operate independently, Google said as it announced the news today.

The Problem of E-Commerce

If you're active in the e-commerce space, then you are likely sensitive to the risks of online payment fraud. Services like PayPal try, but don't necessarily have the ability to fulfill on bad payments. But the market space is improving and the maturity/sophistication of ecommerce solutions is also growing. Expect that preCharge solutions will become commonplace - perhaps this is an idea for a certain fx firm that I know.

Russian Population Collapsing

Here's a terrifying trend - Russia is rapidly losing population.

Its people are succumbing to one of the world's fastest-growing AIDS epidemics, resurgent tuberculosis, rampant cardiovascular disease, alcohol and drug abuse, smoking, suicide and the lethal effects of unchecked industrial pollution.

In addition, abortions outpaced births last year by more than 100,000. An estimated 10 million Russians of reproductive age are sterile because of botched abortions or poor health. And the public healthcare system is collapsing.

Sergei Mironov, chairman of the upper house of Russia's parliament, said last year that if the trend didn't change, the population would fall to 52 million by 2080.

New UN Secretary-General Named

South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon was formally nominated as U.N. secretary-general today, only hours after North Korea defied the world body by announcing a nuclear test.

The U.N. Security Council voted by acclamation, thereby effectively anointing Ban as successor to Secretary-General Kofi Annan, whose 10 years in office expire on December 31. Six other candidates for the job had withdrawn, leaving members to vote only for Ban.

Adding a Wiki to this Site

With all my reading about Web 2.0, I've been thinking about adding a Wiki component to this site. Of course the trick will be to determine the general topic/thrust of the BenWiki as it must pass the "so what?" factor.

The are resources on How to create a free wiki on the web that are very useful. ()

Movie Review: The Constant Gardener

Finally saw the movie "The Constant Gardener" this weekend and enjoyed it very much. Was a very well done story of intrigue that promoted social awareness, particularly advocating for greater corporate oversight. Of course in the end we're not sure if the corporations are reigned in -- it didn't look like this would be the case. It was not quite 100% clear as to the inner workings of Justin Quayle's character, however I enjoyed the performances overall.

Securing Technical Documents

Secure document encryption and sharing is again rearing it's head as a critcial element for IP management for business - document management solutions seemed to be the critical piece not so long ago.

I have to assume that Document Security is emerging as a concern as broadband becomes more prevalent and the ability to share very large file formats - like CAD files - becomes realistic. It should also be of concern given the complex partnerships that are now commonplace in engineering/manufacturing products.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - my basic requirements for living are food, shelter, clothing, and a broadband connection. ()

N Korea conducts 'nuclear test'

The UN Security Council has strongly condemned North Korea's claim to have tested a nuclear weapon underground.

A emergency meeting will also debate what further steps should be taken, including binding sanctions.

On the State of the News

Here's an interesting article about news reporting in general and the growth of Bloomberg specifically. Very interesting reading as the story boils down to a "faster news, with (probably) less analysis".

An Important Stat: "The number of newspaper reporters is in decline. According to decennial workforce estimates published in The American Journalist in the 21st Century, the number of daily newspaper journalists rose steadily from 38,800 in 1972 to a peak of 67,207 in 1992 before sliding to 58,769 in 2002, the most recent year surveyed."

Thoughts on VoIP

OK, at the new job I'm not receiving that many calls - which is great from a "no interruption" POV. But I do have a VoIP handset that works - which is great from a technology POV. I'm SO cutting edge!

Our office VOIP (Voice Over IP) service allows external contacts to call me using a regular phone, but my handset is connected to our network and converts the call to digital. One of the advantages of this solution, apart from being WAY CHEAPER is that the technology interfaces with our mail system -- my voicemail messages are emailed to my account and I can listen to them like any other digital audio file.

This technology is quite different from services like Skype which are PC/computer based (for now) and allow users to use their computer's microphone and speakers to make calls. Skype is free for personal use (but requires broadband). I used this technology with great effect to work a deal in Mexico when I was at Infoware.

So overall there's good VoIP quality of service solutions. Makes you wonder what companies like Bell are going to do -- these services are much easier to work with now than the traditional carriers. ()

Google / YouTube Merge Rumours

Blog-site TechCrunch is reporting that there may be a Google/YouTube Merger in the works and closing soon. YouTube's future has been in the air of late as it's expected that content copyright issues are going to cause some serious headaches. Google has lots of cash.

Non-Cash Poker Alternatives

Of course, poker addicts don't have to go to the money tables to get their fix in. Sites like Triplejack Poker will offer prizes and allow you to humiliate your opponents by throwing pies and tomatoes at them. They're offering Nanos as prizes. They're playing no-limit Texas Hold'em - look to have a fairly active community looking at the forums. ()

Richmond St. Hockey Pool

My picks are in for the Infoware Hockey Pool - a much tighter set of picks this season so I'll hoping that Cheechoo is again a top scorer, Datysuk and Kariya have very good years. Last year was a pretty tight race until I missed the final trading deadline.

Blogging for a dime.

My work of late has lead me into some varied reading, specifically in the area of what's termed Web 2.0 - concepts of which include online social networking, wikis, blogs and different ways of advertising. Conventional media businesses (TV and print) are struggling to find their way in this new marketplace and there are many different cuts now emerging among marketing firms as to how to tap a skeptical and decentralized audience.

One of the "controversial" entries into this space is the idea of paid text in blogs like this one - simply called blog advertising. For a few bucks a firm can get the blog community to place their links and common on their sites. I can't say that I find it that controversial -- you're relatively free to comment as you like.

Yet more evidence that the revolution will be blogged. ()

A turning point today. (well not really)

Big news from this one-time Microsoft puppet - I have stopped using IE as my internet browser. Instead I'm now using Firefox - it's more secure and so far seems more stable. Looks nice too. Of course I'm still a heavy user of Windows, Excel and Visio so they'll still inevitably get my money. The Thunderbird experiment is overall good although I have to use Outlook for my calendar.

What to do when Poker Gone

Alas, the Online Poker industry is in for some difficult times. But this doesn't mean the industry is down and out. In fact there's some sites that will still bootstrap your earnings. Payments are through NeTeller - who are based in the Isle of Man and were at one time were the #1 player in online payments. ()

Ryanair: From no-frills to flag carrier

" An airplane is nothing more than a bus with wings on"

So says Michael O'Leary, CEO of Ryanair. Ryanair - one of the world's most successful airlines and patterned after Southwest Airlines - has today made an offer to purchase Irish rival Aer Lingus. The two carriers have 78% of the Dublin to London traffic.

Balsillie buys Penguins

The Pittsburgh Penguins have a new tentative owner, as an agreement is in place for the NHL team to be sold to Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie for $175 million.

Balsillie, the owner of Waterloo, Ontario-based Blackberry manufacturer Research In Motion, is expected to announce the purchase over the next few days.

More Fox Revisionist Reporting:Foley now Democrat

The Daily Show as substantive as the "real" news

A new study from Indiana University says The Daily Show has the same amount of meat on its bones when it comes to coverage of the news. The brand of news coverage Jon Stewart and the rest of The Daily Show's staff brings to the airwaves is just as substantive as traditional news programs like World News Tonight and the CBS Evening News.

Individual broadcasts of the nightly news and corresponding episodes of The Daily Show were analyzed by the researchers, who found that the 'average amounts of video and audio substance in the broadcast network news stories' were no different from The Daily Show. Perhaps more telling, The Daily Show delivered longer stories on the topic.

Eat Salmon? Read this.

Governments now have all the proof they need to take action and move open net pen fish farming operations out of wild salmon areas to protect wild stocks from deadly sea lice infestations, says the David Suzuki Foundation.

It has been shown in this recent study that fish farms produce a cloud of sea lice that kill as many as 95 per cent of juvenile wild salmon that migrate past the farmed salmon open net cages.

Taking the idea further, here are my personal actions on the sea lice/fish farming issue:

1. Demand that fish farming operations be removed from open water.


2. Refuse to eat salmon until salmon fish farms no longer endanger the viability of natural stocks.

North Korea 'to conduct nuclear test'

This is not a way to make friends. North Korea (called part of Bush's axis of evil in 2002) has announced today that it is planning to conduct a nuclear test 'in the future'.

The BBC reports "The move would 'bolster' the country's self-defence in the face of US military hostility, official agency KCNA said."

The regime will no doubt face international pressure over its nuclear programme as it can be imagined that this declaration has many countries worried about the stability of the region.

Minimally invasive computer education for India slums

An Indian educator put a PC with a broadband connection in a wall in the slums of New Delhi and saw some amazing results. Specifically, the street kids were very quickly able to achieve basic computer literacy and start surfing the net with a particular interest in online games. In his judgement, the effectiveness of teachers could be greatlt increased with children' access to computers.

No more Internet Poker?

It is said that the US govenrment is working on a system to identify and stop payment to gambling sites. The news comes after the US Congress passed a bill cracking down on internet gambling, sending shares in gambling sites plummeting on Monday as the lucrative US market folds at the table.

The American Gaming Association, which represents casino operators based in Las Vegas and elsewhere, had asked Congress to fund a commission that would study whether online gambling can be regulated and taxed in the US.

Liverpool ponder BBC legal action

Liverpool FC have sought legal advice after featuring in BBC Panorama's investigation into the growing bung football corruption scandal. The Reds could face FA charges after agent Peter Harrison was filmed touting Middlesbrough's England youth player Nathan Porritt to the Anfield club.

MediaGuardian on Fox News Anniversary

Hated by Democrats, demonised by leftwing blogs (like this one?) and worshipped by the right, Fox News is 10 years old this week, but the channel has no plans to grow old gracefully.

Return from Kansas

Karina and I have returned from our weekend trip to Kansas where we celebrated Grandma's 97th Birthday. She seemed in good spirits. A big thanks to Uncle Rob and Aunt Barbara for their warm hospitality.

A requisite trip to the Waffle House was of course undertaken. Don't think Karina was too fond of Cheesy Grits. We also were able to spend a good amount of time with Otto who has grown so much since I saw him last year!

We ended up getting into Toronto fairly late on Sunday after our flight was delayed for mechanical reasons