blog post Today on Appetite for Distraction - Make the World a Better Place

Hi Lisa!  It was great to meet you in Vancouver!

FIrst off, for sad songs, my new go to album for when I'm down is The Rough Sea - Drawn In Crayon.  It's a great album, and displaces for the time being Hayden.  Also, the album really was drawn in crayon, which is awesome. 

I'll come back in a bit for world a better place ideas!

we have a holiday in Feb here in Saskatchebuzz, so does Alberta.

Not sure about the other provinces. Obviously not BC, though.

we have one here in PEI as well, 'Family Day'.  I have no family here, so I take it as a be lazy at home day.

Family Day in Alberta and Saskatchewan

Louis Riel Day in Manitoba

Islander Day in PEI

I can't change the world, i can barely handle taking the wallpaper off my walls right now. (If you'd be so kind as to play me some Zolas so my peeling speed increases, I'd love that).

Ontario just got Family Day a few years ago...its estimated that it cost like a billion dollars. I don't see the BC government doing that anytime soon... and don't want them to if they can't even find arts funding.

At least you get a day off. Unless you are a student there are no holidays here in NB till like Easter. That's harsh. 

Lisa when I'm at work!  In the new year!  This calls for celebration, Muppet-profile-pic style.

As for big ideas, hmm.  I'm against (government-supported) marriage.  Does that count?

Ooh, here's one I've been rolling around in my head: why does government track gender?  Why does my drivers' license need to say I'm female?

Yes, seriously.

And for dinner: white cheddar macaroni and cheese from a box, and veggie sticks.

I'll never beat MikeV's proposal...

but in the new year I would really like to see BC adopt a strong energy grid feed in policy. ie a set of regulations allowing for people who generate their own power (sun, wind, whatever else) can easily send any excess power back to the energy grid. I've been meaning to do some reading up on this, I believe Ontario finally has a sensible feed in policy and BC wants to model ours off theirs

We've all been there - way to handle it!

I believe that is know as 'everything going pear shaped'

It's monday and the first monday of the year, not your fault - it's how the universe works. 

If its any consolation, you give it back, plus about 10 times more, trying to get out of a marriage.  I also don't think the law really cares whether or not you make it official - it is your circumstance (living arrangements, finanical arrangements) that define 'spouse' from a legal perspective.  That sucks even more - you end up being defined by the law/government even if you don't want to be.

I just put my girlfriend on my work benefits and they actually now have a category called 'conjugal partner'.  That's so stupidly PC its awesome.  I regularly highlight that she can kiss those benefits goodbye if I don't feel like the conjugal obligation is up to snuff.

I know you are probably busy as hell with your two blogs, but I really wish you'd post more often the R3 blog..maybe I'm just not around when you are, but I rarely see you chiming in anymore..everytime you do though, I am happy to see it

Josie: The Venus Project (also: wiki) looks very interesting.  I will definitely need to read more about it when I'm not at work.

Justin: I like the guaranteed income, but I'm not sure about cutting money for prescriptions specifically.  It's possible for them to run over $1000/month.

Actually, I'd like to see medicare expanded in several directions.  Prescriptions, vision, dental, maybe ambulance service.

Thanks very much. I try, sometimes I'm too busy, sometimes I'm not near a keyboard, and it depends on the topic - if I'm around and someone asks a good question, I'll likely chime in. 

And Lisa - definitely smart, I'm always impressed. Love the new podcast. Great idea!

I agree on the idea you spoke of on the air:  Free education.  I've heard some criticism of the idea, usually in the form: "What about people who don't complete their studies?".  I think one great way to tackle free education is to provide student loans to anybody (not just based on financial need).  Whenever an individual finishes their program, their loan is paid off in full.  If they drop out (or are kicked out for poor marks/attendance), they have to pay the loans back.  I think this solution would require the least amount of bureaucratic changes since it would already be utilizing the federal student loan system.  Students with learning disabilities gain easy access to accomodation through the student loan program already (it 'gets the ball rolling' for assessment and accomodation); if all students went through the federal student loan system, all students requiring more than just financial help would benefit.

I've gotta take exception to the idea that we need to abolish currency...in the larger scheme of things more people are generally better off in this country than at any other time in it's history..and the same goes for the rest of the world too, developed and undeveloped. there are many things we still need to do to improve them, but getting rid of currency is not one of them. a basic part of any education should be understanding debt and credit though...we do not equip people very well to deal with those aspects of life, especially as the part of the brain that deals with processing that info isn't fully developed till about age 25

I left kids out of the equation on purpose (and I'm a parent) - you already get tax breaks for kids, and (in Ontario at least) there is a small income supplement for kids, but what I want to avoid is people who have kids to increase their income. I've seen some terrible parents with alot of kids as it is. I considered saying $1000 per person regardless of income but then you'd be saying that if you have a spouse and you have 10 kids you'll get $120,000 a year for doing nothing but having kids - not a good idea. 

Sean: Why not pay for the half-finished education?  The benefit to society of an educated populace is in their being educated, not their having degrees.  The knowledge gained in the first half of earning a degree is still valuable on its own.

Justin: Sure, but if you have ten kids anyways and are living on $12 000 a year, the kids are going to suffer, which is good for no-one.  The additional income for kids could be slightly less than the average cost of semi-healthy food for the kids.  Maybe $500?  Or, say, $400 to the parent/guardian/caretaker and $200 to a post-secondary tuition/job training fund?

I can understand that... and I have some issues with the idea of a 'resource-based' society. Without currency & a need for power, how would our world work? How foreign to us all.. The Venus Project outlines (in impressive detail, once you look through all the research & planning) how we would deal with work, equality throughout the world, etc. Our environmental issues do not have to BE, now that we have the technological resources to solve most things. I know I'm skipping all over the place here, but there's so much info to think about with this concept.

The energy spent trying to be 'better' and more 'powerful' could easily be turned into energy shared with others in a creative manner... if there's nothing to 'gain' in this new structure, how would people's attitudes change? What if the inherant GOOD in people was able to shine through without the pressure of money & survival? With all the resources of the world shared in an equal manner for ALL people, we could focus on the important stuff: relationships, ideas, research, music, FUN!

The background to all this & the reality of why this 'world re-vamp' is needed makes me a little weary of all I thought I knew before... ha ha. But very cool, hopeful look at the future. Check out Zeitgeist Addendum if you get a chance. It's mind-boggling!

I propose we co-initiate a think tank organization. 

Agreed.  Our country's economy relies heavily on natural resources and skilled trades are important for these resources as well.  Subsidizing appreticeship wages for employers would provide an incentive for these companies to hire and train those working on their apprenticeship hours.  This would go a long way to bringing skilled workers to the workforce, as well.

You're going to see a drain anyway. I know, for example, that it's becoming quite common for Americans to retire to Mexico or the Carribean to stetch their retirement dollars further. If I remember the stat right they recently said that half of Canadians aged 50+ have no retirement savings at all. - Zero - So, retirees moving abroad is likely to happen here as well. 

Hear hear for the expansion Medicare covering mental health...time is getting us to a place where it's not so stigmatized...bit by bit we are improving. I can't imagine how much of an impact that would have on the homeless

and look at the discussion!

Lisa, I see the Feb. holiday question was answered. I wondered why on Earth we'd need a holiday in Feb when I was living in AB and they introduced it. Turned out to be quite nice.

Justin, I haven't gone to look it up, but that sounds like the original idea behind the creation of the Social Credit party. I remember reading about it and thinking how much it changed from its inception.

Absotively, what are the tax advantages to marriage? It's been a while since I've been married w/out kids, but I don't recall any impressive tax credits or reductions because I was married (kids make a difference, though)

I've often thought that we should just go to a consumption-based tax. Just add a few more points to the GST, apply it to pretty much everything, and eliminate income tax.

The idea is that those who have more spend more, and therefore pay more taxes.

The catch is making sure the rich people who would create a system like this don't load it up with loopholes for rich people to avoid paying consumption taxes, and I haven't really thought much about businesses, either...

I love that "consumption tax;" it's like a toll, really. If you take the bridge, you pay.

Of course then the little guy/girl gets squeezed out of his/her semi-regular indulgence when the GST gets too high.

Well it used to be for the province to abolish the tuition fee freeze, but they've gone and done that already. But that's only one step. Student loans should either be eliminated or reduced and in their places bursaries should be given out (perhaps more as you finish more of your degree, just a thought).

Manitoba does this to some extent already with the tax break they give to students who complete their degree and live here for 5 consecutive years afterwards, but that's not good enough. First off, it assumes students can afford to finish their degree and second, I should feel forced to remain in a province where I can't get the kind of work I'm interested in. I mean, I could stay here for 5 years after I graduate, but I'd be miserable, and frankly, I'm anti-anything that is adversive to my mental health.

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Big idea 2:

The EU should sign an agreement with Canada that allows Canadian students to go to university in Europe for cheaper (and vice versa), no more of this charge foreign students an arm and leg to learn. It's not my fault that the EU offers more schools with the program I want to take (Peace and Conflict Resolution) or that they have the only school in the world that offers my friend's program (Conductive Education).

Learning in other countries is good for everyone involved. On an individual level, you grow as a person, you grow in your understanding of the world etc etc, and for each country involved you are getting a multifaceted individual that can aid both countries (and possibly more) with the different sets of skills they learn.

Particularly appealing if many of the things you consume fall outside government supervision.

re: the Homeless. This was an idea that came to me awhile back while reading someone writing into the local Metro imploring everyone to use hand sanitizer during flu season. he/she noted that when in the library recently they saw a homeless person washing their penis in the washroom. this got me to thinking about basic amenities. How easy or hard is it for someone who is homeless to just clean themselves? I said to myself if someone on the streets could at least clean themselves that might be a first step to gaining employment (of course this ignores other barriers, such as mental health). But then I thought, well, even bigger is the fact that they are homeless and don't have an address or phone. So what about a service that sets them up with a PO box (businesses do it, why not our disadvantaged?) and a pay-as-you go cell with a couple hours of talk time. So that's my ideas of what to do..allow homeless people to clean themselves, plus have a mailing address and phone number

My favourite song to listen to when sad is "Wagon Wheel' by Old Crow Medicine Show. Try it! You may agree!

I don't actually know the details, I just know that they're taxed differently, and I think they shouldn't be.

Apparently the Fraser Institute has studied this, although they have a different view on it from me.

It's not just taxes, that was just the first thing that came to mind.  For example, if I had a good friend I wanted to be able to visit me in the hospital, I couldn't set that up easily.  If I married someone, it could happen automatically.

On the other hand, if I for some reason married someone who believed in homeopathic medicine only, but I made it very clear that I only ever wanted science-based treatment, they would still be able to make medical decisions for me if I was incapacitated.  There wouldn't be any way for us to raise children together and live together without giving each other that power, so far as I know.

(The above scenarios are totally hypothetical.  I've never actually considered marrying someone, so I'm not that familiar with the details.  But then, neither are many of the people getting married.)

I totally agree with you on the international studying! I did my degree in northern England and paid seven times the regular 'home' classified students' fees. And to top it off, even after living there for over five years, working then studying & following all the immigration rules, I was still not allowed to become a citizen there.

Which makes me look back in a 20/20 fashion - I'm now back in our great country :) With a large university debt of course.. ha ha.

RE: public cleaning places

This reminds me of a great interview I heard, I think on radio 1.  It didn't deal wtih homeless people though, nope.  CLIMATE CHANGE.  But more specifically: our reliance on the automobile.

The guy made a lot of great points, how much of them are factual, I have no idea.  But he was very convincing.  Some things I remember:

-better public washroom facilities.  If toilets/showers were more accessible or upkept, people would use them more.  Then maybe stay downtown instead of driving back home to use the washroom.  It should be a basic right to have access to personal facilities.

-charging more for parking meters.  The more people pay, the more they hate it.  If they hate parking their car, maybe they'll car pool. Or take the bus.

-walking.  at any given moment in NYC, 30% of the traffic has reached their destination point and are looking for a parking spot.  He figures the amount of driving we do looking for spots could take us to the moon and back.  And he's probably right.  think of how much we look for that "sweet spot" when really we shoulda just took the one at the back to begin with.

anyways that's really off topic.  I do sympathize with the disenfrachised people in this country though.  They have a rough life, and we don't help make it any easier.

Oh, yes.  Being carless, making it easier to be carless is something I am hugely fond of.

Better public washrooms would be fantastic.

And a bus system that made sense and ran at least occasionally after 1 am.  But that's just Edmonton, so that's only a medium-sized idea.

I concur. You should be able to tell relatively easily what you are paying in taxes if you like, but neurologically speaking we can deal much better with paying that money if we didn't inherently think of it as 'in addition too' the subtotal. Same principle at work with auto deducted income tax...you don't miss what you never had.

I can't be doing nearly enough work right now...

The second episode comes out tomorrow, or midnight tonight. And good question re: comments. There will be a blog post for each episode, so we can start there and see what happens. The idea is to bring listener interaction into the show so we may need to think of something else.

And about Tariq, he says: "Thanks for your concern. I have to see the good ol'fashioned doc today."

What did you study over there? My friend who is taking Conductive Education was lucky enough to get a substancial scholarship through the March of Dimes that also allows for her to work for them back in Canada every summer and get paid for it, but she still has an enormous amount of debt and she's only 1.5 years through a 3 year degree. However, at the end of it all, she's guaranteed a job (both the Movement Centre here in Winnipeg and the March of Dimes (across Canada) have asked her to work for them already once she's graduated). I could go to Ireland and take a degree in exactly what I want to take (conflict resolution in Norhern Ireland affairs) but even though those are transferable skills I'm not guranteed a job, and I don't know if I want to take on that much debt  with so much uncertainty. Le sigh... Would I be able to find you on facebook to talk about this more?

@boders: You make mention of public property for parking spaces; that was actually discussed and one key point this guy was making.  I'm just unsure of the details. 

Maybe this just a pipe dream: Imagine if we were to remove a whole whack of parking meters, keep a few in core areas, but make the rates way up for those that do exist.  Offset the savings in maintenance by upgrading the transit system.  I wouldn't even be opposed to having a slight raise in my taxes if it mean better public transportation.  As an added bonus: all those parking lanes can now be bicycle lanes.

@absotively: edmonton at least has(or had?) the park 'n' ride system going with the train.  Wasn't the best system in the world, but people here in Regina can't even *grasp* the concept of not driving their vehicle.  Oh! and if you think 1am is bad..... Moose Jaw's bus shut down at 12 on weekends, 9pm weekdays.  Oh ya. super convienient

True, that's helpful for getting people who own cars to use transit anyways.  But it's totally useless to people who don't own cars.

Still, it is better than nothing.

So far as I can tell, Edmonton's transit is pretty good if you want to get from a far flung suburb to downtown or the university shortly before 9 am on weekdays and return shortly after 5 pm.  This has never described my use of transit here, so I find it really annoying.

excellent. a blog thread will be a good place to start..we'll go from there!

Just looked at the FAQs a little and, well, I don't think I can get behind this project regardless of how the social aspects are planned.  Way too much complex technology, including stuff that hasn't entirely been invented yet.  And way too much throwing out existing stuff; it sounds like they've hugely underestimated the amount of resources needed to construct things.

When this song started I thought someone had slipped in some Green Day

why so serious. this makes the world a beter place:

my brother just sent me this: http://bit.ly/1kgfEa

*swearing, so not work appropriate I suppose*

they made a porn based on 30 rock, and as I recall there are other fans of that show on this blog

I really don't think they have hugely underestimated anything though. His major point is that we have most of the resources we need already. And if money wasn't an issue, more technological research/testing could be done on the ideas that have 'gaps'. With new materials (that weren't possible before our technology advancement) and ways of working, a project like this could be possible. Probably not a seamless switch within society, but what a huge job.. with massive opportunity for a better world. I just really like the fact that he's one of the few that have actually come up with a plan, instead of simply moaning about all that's wrong.

I may look at it more closely, but I think it's energy and labour requirements that they have underestimated.  They talk about building entirely new cities and tearing down the old ones for resources because they're too inefficient.  The energy and labour required to do that would run the old, inefficient cities for quite a long time.  Keep in mind that the new cities, though they could be more efficient than the old ones, would still need energy.

It does look interesting.  But in general, current robots are only really good at repetitive tasks that can be broken down into very small sub-tasks and require little or no judgement.  For instance, they can sterilize and fill and label beer bottles, but they can't sew t-shirts.