Rachel Maddow - David Bahati "Kill The Gays" Bill Sponsor

Never take your rights for granted. In times of tumult there are always scapegoats. In the 21st century we will likely face a series economic, environmental and population crises. Any delusional belief that a certain kind of person, by their nature alone, is causing harm to the "foundation" of a culture (e.g. the family) cannot be tolerated. Something is not a fact because you assert that it is, yet we allow people to make these assertions based on their personal beliefs in ancient religions. When these sorts of campaigns are brought to the political realm, they serve as distractions to the root of real problems in society - none of which have anything to do with who your neighbor sleeps with. 

The rights of personal beliefs cannot supersede human rights - as it stands this most frequently means the rights of women, gays and minorities. Below you can watch the madness in this kind of assertion, as Rachel Maddow interviews Ugandan member of Parliament David Bahati. He came to the US to promote a bill that would punish homosexuality with life imprisonment or execution. You better believe there are numerous North Americans who feel the same way as this man - it's easy enough to find them, but I won't privilege them with a link here.

Fun with Google labs: Dogs more popular than cats

With all the power of the Google Labs Books Ngram Viewer we've finally been able to answer the age old question; which are more popular - dogs or cats? As it relates to references to the beasts in English books from 1800-2000 - dogs come out way ahead. Sorry cat people. 

Fuck you Fluevog! (a love letter)

Dear John,

I've had it. What the hell is it with your product? What the hell is it with your "oh-so-clever" marketing - targeted at freaks, geeks, nerds and dweebs? I mean, who would create an entire (immaculate) line of shoes named after bloody public-radio? Public radio? Really? Come on. No one listens to public radio these days. No one.

These are called BBCs. Apparently the BBC is some kinds of "news institution."

Who the hell to you think you are that you can just confiscate my hard-earned cash and force me, at virtual gunpoint, to apply it to something as impractical as a sixth pair of (Fluevog) shoes? In all earnestness - I'm an environmentalist - I don't need six pairs of (Fluevog) shoes. I didn't even need five pairs of (Fluevog) shoes. And because I'm a highly rational being, I'm blaming you, John, for your seemingly perfect understanding of your clients - me, obviously, being one of them. Now could you stop it? I'm running out of closet space.

As a rather petite woman with somewhat masculine sensibilities, shopping for anything - let alone footwear - can be tiresome. I cope, trust me - but only because I like a challenge and am as persistent as a mosquito at a Winnipeg garden party. However, unisex wear is rare and mostly not very fashionable - there is an unusual notion that the world between male and female is beige rolling sea of Pat-like sensible and sexless attire. You understand this as a ridiculous concept, John, recognizing instead that this very particular aesthetic space should just as easily be reserved for the fabulous -decidedly more Bowie than Pat. For that, I will hate you (until your next public radio shoe comes out. And then I will love you and throw hundreds of dollars at you. I know, it's confusing. Love can be that way).

It gets worse. As a pretty committed vegan who occasionally buys leather products if they are a) likely to last for a long time due to proper craftsmanship and a consideration to repair and/or b) from sustainable sources, e.g. used, waste or scrap leather - I would prefer to not have to have leather products. As a person who undertook veganism from an environmental standpoint, vegan shoes - often not very durable and/or made of petroleum products - are not always a more sustainable option, though they are, in theory, less cruel to produce. Of course, John, you make this simple - not only do you offer finely crafted leather shoes in fashionable, classic styles, which can be worn for years - but now you have a number of vegan and eco options.

Honestly. Just stop it. I can rationalize these kinds of purchases like it's nobody's business - shopping is almost a charitable act at this point. Damn you! What about consumerism, John? You are making it almost impossible to be anti-consumerist! There is no reason not to support your sweet blinking Canadian business. How do you sleep at night?

These dandy shoes fit men, women and VEGANS. WTF? (get out of my brain, John!)

I teach university students about positioning - and how many companies will sacrifice their position for growth, only to find that by straddling multiple markets they end up servicing the needs of no one particularly well and then resort to competing on price. This is a difficult concept for many business people to grasp. It's so tempting to think you can do it all - but you rarely can. We all want to feel special after all, so maintaining some kind of focus is key to a sustained competitive advantage. Clients become loyal to those that really want to service their particular needs and not doing so leaves room for someone else to jump right in and do just that.

Naturally, John, you are a master of positioning. For 40 years, you've successfully targeted a chronically under-serviced market of well-to-do oddballs at the expense of people who would rather not take the chance of looking a touch unusual. Oh yippy-skippy! Further, you seems to be deepening this relationship at every turn - suggesting a stellar understanding of your market. I assume this is because you are one of us, but I can't say that for sure, it's just a hunch. It's also because you want to hog our quantity-of-quality seeking dink dollars all to yourself, you inconsiderate jerk.

So congrats on getting to 40, as much as part of me hates you, I love to support Canadian businesses that are making responsible choices. May you have many years of continued success.

PS. Nice move on the sweet limited addition tie - another weakness of mine (naturally).  If only I hadn't blown far too much money on fistfuls of beautiful recycled bow ties last week.... but I'm sure you'll have no trouble unloading those little gems.

Chevron Thinks We're Stupid: the step-by-step guide.

A colleague of mine sent me a great collection of links pertaining to a recent Chevron greenwashing campaign, and it is with great pleasure that I repost them here.



It's really worth visiting the Chevron YouTube Channel to view the comments associated with this video, which include the following most popular comments, as voted by viewers of the above video: "In California, Chevron spent $4.1 million lobbying legislators to change regulations so it can refine a dirtier grade of oil at its facility in Richmond without conducting any environmental review on what the change would mean for the low-income community surrounding it." and "In Washington, Chevron spends millions each year lobbying Congress to make sure we don't get a cap-and-trade bill, or anything else that might harm their profit margins.In the Arctic, it wants to drill for oil even though knowing such operations would be risky and hard to clean up.It's also one of the chief sources of funding for disinformation about the causes of global warming."

As is becoming more and more prevalent, there has been a response to this ad, this time found at Funny or Die, and apparently credited to the Yes Men (there is more information on the campaign on their website).

 

Chevron Thinks We're Stupid from The Yes Men

And to drive the point home, sketch comedy style:

Anatomy of a Greenwash from Paul Scheer

Diversity Fail

I love the fine folks at Corporate Knights, I do. However, something jumped out at me while viewing pictures from the recent publicity around the Corporate Knight Cleantech 10(tm) TSX event -  the dearth of female and non-white faces in the photos.

I recognize this mostly lies well outside the hands of CK - they serve as a messenger for CSR and Enterprise sustainability, not the direction of it - but it still serves as a signal all isn't well in Corporate-Canada - even Green Corporate Canada. Granted, just prior to seeing this image, I had read an article on the search for female authority in university classrooms, another about the 30-year anniversary of women winning the right to serve as firefighters (spoiler: it's still not easy being recognised), a rather superficial post on Big Think about Women in Finance, and, most applicable, a succinct Business Week article addressing the issue of Why There Are So Few Women in Tech. So maybe I was primed to notice this wee gender (and race) imbalance when I got around to reading this particular post.

I'm not going to address the deep and challenging issue of diversity in Corporate Canada on this wee post (though I do have a lovely presentation on the topic) - but I will humbly point out the ad that appeared on the same page as the Corporate Knight Cleantech 10(tm)  image...

Update: the folks at Corporate Knights also noticed the issue of diversity at this event and an "article in upcoming issue will ask why [the] green movement lacks [diversity]".You can check out their most recent  report of diversity in Corporate Canada here. Or, for fun times with spreadsheets, download a spreadsheet with all the companies within the index and count the "0.00%" until your eyes bleed.

300 Years of Fossil-Fueled Addiction in 5 Minutes

A public service announcement from the Post Carbon Institute.

The piece is written and narrated by PCI Senior Fellow and "Peak Everything" author, Richard Heinberg, and animated by Monstro Design.

Converting Plastics into Oil

More on the theme of energy being everywhere, and in keeping with Braungart and McDonough's Cradle to Cradle, "Waste = Food" concept, below is a short presentation featuring Akinori Ito of Blest Co, a Japanese company that has developed a machine that is able to convert plastics back to fuel oil.

More details on the concept can be found at the World 2.0 website.