Dumb and Dumber
Every once in a while, our premier does something silly, but politically expedient. Banning speed cameras is dumb. Yes, there were problems with the program. One of my former bosses (KH) posted this idea in Facebook, so down the rabbit hole I run. What were the problems and what created the outrage over these cameras? A quick read would suggest that those problems were moronically easy to fix with a few policy and programming changes.
1) Force municipalities to purchase the gear. You can outsource maintenance and billing, but you need to have an ownership interest so the income goes to taxpayers in that region and not some foreign-owned corporation. That bugs people.
2) Cameras can’t be within one kilometre of a change in speed limit. There's a spot here in Guelph (Victoria going south from Conservation Road where the speed limit goes 70, 50, 40, 50, 40, 50, 60, 70 in three kilometres. They are building a high school at Arkell, so I guess there is going to be another Maximum 40 tacked on to that string? You put a speed camera in that stretch and issue a ticket for eight over, folks will be pissed. Don't do that.
3) You must pair cameras with those automated speed trap (Too Fast!) displays. Here's a concept. I don' want to blow any bureaucratic minds here. Remember the original speed cameras in the white vans on the 400? That flash would go off, and everyone for a mile in all directions slowed down? Put a flashing Sad Face 😢 on the back of the camera so, as you leave the detection zone, you get a little "Ticket Issued" love note. That way, when it shows up in the mail, you can feign surprise, but you kinda sorta knew it was coming.
4) The system issues tickets at 8 and over. None of this five over crap!
5) The system can issue only 1 ticket against any plate within a 6 week window. That way, no one opens the mail one day and finds out they got nine tickets in the same spot.
Having $130,000 constable sitting on the side of the road and forced into court for a $55 fine just does not work. Neither does throwing all the hardware and money spent on these systems into a landfill? Now, was that so hard?
Altered Carbon
It's the height of hypocrisy that I am writing a piece (coming soon) on how AI data centres need to pay their own way for infrastructure ... while seeking free trials for my influencer efforts. Hey, when I charge you, I will pay for my AI. Actually, I do pay for Pro Writing Aid which is a like a poor man's Grammarly. It reminds me of Mrs. Penkins from grade seven, who would tut tut over my shoulder as I struggled to master the basics of grammar. She ensured that the entire class could spell n-e-c-e-s-s-a-r-y. I remember because she kept putting it on Friday quizzes and said she would continue for "as long as it takes", emphasis on the word takes. She said she would have used the word necessary, but we couldn't spell it ... yet. She thought she was funny, but all these years later, I don't write that word without hearing her voice. Pro Writing Aid is like that. At first, it bothers you incessantly. After a few thousand words, I think, "oh that bitch won't like this sentence!" so I am fixing my mistakes before they happen. Probably the best use case for AI?
My second foray into AI was trying to get art for my piece on the Olympics. I settled on Reve for my first effort, and DB had a crack with Nano Banana. Very similar products. It's like playing Marco Polo with a Siri ... that can actually do stuff? I also created an image for the piece on medicine cabinet snoopers, but that was after the fact. The technology is amazing.
So now I'm into logos. I looked at Pixela & Logo Pony first, then used some ideas I developed over there and plugged them into the Vistaprint AI site. We generated twelve different versions and asked five of you artsie fartsie types to help me boil it down. I love different thinking contrarians. (Mmmm, nope). Those five lunatics picked five different images. Sigh! Feel free to use the comment section (1 through 12, left to right, top to bottom) and throw your two cents in?
So far, the consensus (joking) is 2,3,3,5,7,9,12,12 FFS's!
Our Optimum Week
We were rockin in the free world last week. There were lots of points to be had, and we got most of em. With a week left, we are over 100K for the month and completed most of the work on another 15K from continuity offers. While the posted offers and the digital offers were weak this week, the flyer was pretty solid. I think they figured there was enough going on with all those February 4th continuity deals that they did not have to sweeten the pot any further. Here is your list:
We are Watching
Season Two of The Pitt - It continues to be outstanding.
Season Two of Landman - The lawyer gets tipped over, thank God!
... and finally
In 1989, Poland instituted sweeping economic reforms named after its Minister of Finance. The Balcerowicz Plan slashed government spending, invited foreign investment, and encouraged entrepreneurs. The results have been startling. Its economy is now bigger than Japan's!
Argentina, on the other hand, has been through five presidents who were voted into power by promising the masses a whole slew of social programs that they simply could not afford. The results have been predictable and disastrous.
Canada has been going around touting its low debt when compared to other G7 counties but this Fraser Institute article explains what even us liberals all knew in our hearts.
Mr. Carney and a revolving door of federal finance ministers of both stripes have been going around talking about how low our debt is for years. What they are not saying is that a portion of what we report for debt ... hides in provincial balance sheets. They also throw CPP assets into the overall picture, which is, at best, disingenuous. That 800 billion could never offset debt without lynch mobs on Kiweki Point in Ottawa? It's not so much a shell game as it is a simple reflection of how Mr. Harper downloaded responsibility for social programs to the provinces. I believe we all thought that was a good idea ... at the time? I voted for him. Twice! These days it makes us look good, but perhaps provides a false sense of smugness? Going province by province, there certainly seems to be a correlation between woke and broke? The Libs need to thread the needle, increase our military spending (icebreakers sound like a good idea), deliver large infrastructure projects (pipelines sound like a good idea), and still trim the bureaucratic bloat that seems to have infected democracies all over the world. It sounds like a tall order for a kid from Edmonton, but I like our chances.
Mitch & Maddie
Before I leave you this week, I wanted to suggest that every Canadian take fifteen minutes and watch the speech given by our Prime Minister on Monday at World Economic Forum in Davos. Any doubts as to what a great decision we made when we voted for this guy should finally be put to bed. Any of you who think we made the wrong decision ... I am not sure what to tell you? The entire world is talking about it? Thinking you are right when 500 world leaders leap to their feet following a 12 minute speech should, if nothing else ... give you pause? I have appended an abbreviated (by me) version of his comments below. I'm pretty proud of that guy this week!
Our prime minister on Monday in Switzerland ...
"It’s a pleasure – and a duty – to be with you at this turning point for Canada and for the world.
Today, I’ll talk about the rupture in the world order, the end of a nice story, and the beginning of a brutal reality where geopolitics among the great powers is not subject to any constraints.
There is a strong tendency for countries to go along to get along. To accommodate. To avoid trouble. To hope that compliance will buy safety. It won’t. In 1978, the Czech dissident Václav Havel wrote an essay called The Power of the Powerless. In it, he asked a simple question: how did the communist system sustain itself? His answer began with a greengrocer. Every morning, this shopkeeper places a sign in his window: “Workers of the world, unite!” He does not believe it. No one believes it. But he places the sign anyway – to avoid trouble, to signal compliance, to get along. And because every shopkeeper on every street does the same, the system persists. Not through violence, but through the participation of ordinary people in false rituals.
It is time for companies and countries to take their signs down.
Great powers are using economic integration as weapons.
They are using tariffs for leverage. Infrastructure as coercion. Supply chains as vulnerabilities.
The question for middle powers, like Canada, is not whether to adapt to this new reality. We must. The question is whether we adapt by building higher walls, or stick to our principles while acting with pragmatism. Principles in our commitment to fundamental values such as sovereignty, territorial integrity and the prohibition of the use of force. Pragmatism in recognising that not every partner shares our values. We need to apply the same standards to allies and rivals. When middle powers criticise economic intimidation from one direction but stay silent when it comes from another, we are keeping the sign in the window.
We are engaging broadly, strategically, and with open eyes. We actively take the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. We are no longer relying on just the strength of our values, but also on the value of our strength. We are doubling our defence spending; we are diversifying abroad. We have joined Europe’s defence procurement arrangement. We have signed twelve other trade and security deals on four continents in the last six months. We have new strategic partnerships with China and Qatar. We are negotiating free trade pacts with India, Thailand, and the Philippines. On Arctic sovereignty, we stand firmly with Greenland and Denmark and fully support their unique right to determine Greenland’s future. Our commitment to Article 5 is unwavering.
Middle powers must act together because if you are not at the table, you are on the menu. Great powers can afford to go it alone. They have the market size, the military capacity, and the leverage to dictate terms. Middle powers do not. When we negotiate bilaterally with a hegemon, we are forced to accept what is offered. When we compete with each other to be the most accommodating, we both lose. This is not sovereignty. It is the performance of sovereignty while accepting subordination. Canada has what the world wants. We are an energy superpower. We hold vast reserves of critical minerals. We have the most educated population in the world. We have capital, talent, and a government with the immense fiscal capacity to act decisively. Canada is a pluralistic society that works. We are a stable, reliable partner—in a world that is anything but—a partner that builds and values relationships for the long term. We understand that this rupture calls for more than adaptation. It calls for honesty about the world as it is. We are taking the sign out of the window. The old order is not coming back. We should not mourn it. Nostalgia is not a strategy. From this fracture, we can build something better, stronger, and more just.
This is the task of the middle powers, who have the most to lose from a world of fortresses and the most to gain from a world of genuine cooperation.
The powerful have their power. But we have something too – the capacity to stop pretending, to name reality, to build our strength at home, and to act together. That is Canada’s path. We choose it openly and confidently. And it is a path wide open to any country willing to take it with us."
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