54 Wheel Drive Electric Vehicle
1950’s technology. Developed by R.G. LeTourneau
Category Archives: Statistics
It is Time to Put an End to the Daily Spectical of Political Theatre in Canada
“We have chosen to help the most vulnerable….”
This scripted line has been repeated by The Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, almost every morning for how many weeks now? I have lost count.
The most vulnerable, the most frail of the elderly, are now dying in their beds. Not of age, not of COVID-19, of starvation.
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“No Canadian should need to go without food…”
By refusing to hear the pleas of business and press agents, Trudeau is ignoring another vulnerable sector of society. Businesses.
By handing out money, freely, to workers. By ignoring the needs of the employers (not the businesses, those are pieces of paper – the employers, the people who run the businesses) you are failing those vulnerable people whose payrolls keep this country running. It is people who keep the payrolls happening; bi-weekly payroll after bi-weekly payroll.
By supporting only the workers you are almost guaranteeing that there will be little work to go back to.
By not supporting farming in a way that gets qualified people out working on farms, you, Trudeau, are leading us into what could be – famine.
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“The most important people in this country, right now, are the frontline workers!”
Doctors, nurses, paramedics, ambulance attendants, care aids and janitorial staff are important. Are they more important than the chemists who put the drugs into their hands to administer to the sick? Are they more important than the carpenters, brick layers, boilermakers, iron workers, fabricators, boat builders, payroll clerks, realtors, etc.? Are front line workers more important than the kid at the drive thru window handing out a cup of coffee to a front line worker who just finished a shift?
The frontline workers are very important and need our support. So is the chain of supply. That has been broken. The support that was there to keep hospitals, pharmacies and doctors offices running efficiently has been broken – by those who have taken command.
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“There is a $40,000 loan available to small businesses…”
But, only if there is a payroll. There is always a way out for the government. This is an empty promise. Think about this one. Where does money come from? My second year economics professor has been telling every student that passes through his classes the answer to this one. Simplified – money comes from debt. More debt, more money…
The money isn’t going out to small businesses until they have built enough debt to sustain a handout. This is a slippery slope that leads, most often, to mass inflation.
Why the need for a payroll? I know so many people who have a business that has no employees and no payroll. They earn enough to support themselves and then, at the end of the year, they pay their taxes. There is no payroll. There is no need for a payroll.
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Businesses are failing. Not just small ones. The Canada Pension Fund is about to be in serious trouble. Canada is in trouble.
Canadians need leadership.
Canadians do not need any more of the political theatre that is currently being pumped out in the garden of a 22 room cottage.
In The Beginning (of this blog)…
There was a tomato plant….
Several years later, there is another tomato plant! It is gaining momentum!
No need for a chain of command to appear here or, is there?
Sir! Do we have enough tomatoes yet? Do we need a discussion on this matter? What about the aphids? Sir! Sir? There are aphids!
Aphids? This is not the Middle Ages! We have to ask for permission. This isn’t something we can just ‘handle.’ We need a committee!
Sir?
Stick around kid, I’m calling parliament — I’m on hold…. Be with you in a minute! Do we have a call-back number?
SIR?
Beautiful Warnings….
The cherry trees lining the street where I work now are in bloom. I have the privilege of walking by them several days a week. Many of the buds have opened.
The “For Rent” sign was removed from this nest on Monday afternoon. Renovations are underway and the new tenants are noisy and cheeky….
This afternoon, there are more blossoms open. Tomorrow the show of pink against blue should be stunning.
Tuesday Blossoms and the sky is even bluer….
I have been privileged to stand watch as a four hour sunset turned into a four hour sunrise. That was many July’s ago during a 12 hour graveyard shift on the roof of a coker at Syncrude.
I do not have a photograph, only memories… Inside the plant, personal cameras are not allowed to be carried by employees.
Today is February 23, 2014.
The photos of the cherry blossoms were taken in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada where in February’s past we have huddled under umbrellas, pulling our jackets close as the cold winds blew in off of the water. I grew up here. The cold winds and wet weather of winter are what is necessary to keep the rain forests green.
Climate change is real.
I have recently read Naomi Klein’s newest book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate. I do not believe that she exaggerates any point.
Every small thing we do (or don’t do) to stop the change helps.
Mangrove Forests….
I just found a wonderful and interactive site! Well, this isn’t just a site, this is a database and, it is worth a visit….
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Now, I tried to put the following into my own words but, it is so perfectly written that I have copied and pasted it here for you:
“A Case for Mangroves
The approximately 70 distinct species of mangroves in the world cover roughly 17,000,000 hectares globally (Valiela et al. 2001) – only 0.12 percent of the Earth’s surface (Sullivan 2005, Ellison 2008). The greatest diversity is in Southeast Asia (36-46 species); the lowest diversity is in the United States and the Middle East (1-3 species) (Polidoro et al. 2010). Mangroves are being cut down or otherwise destroyed at such a high rate that they may be functionally extinct by 2100 (Duke et al. 2007). In just the last 50 years, 30-50 percent of the global acreage has been lost. (Alongi 2002, Duke et al. 2007) Mangroves are among the most valuable and most threatened ecosystems on Earth. The ecosystems services they provide—e.g., buffering coastal communities against flooding and storms, fiber production, habitat for thousands of species of birds, mammals and marine species—are estimated to be worth US $1.6 billion dollars/year (Polidoro et al. 2010). In addition, recent evidence suggests that mangroves sequester carbon more effectively than any other tropical forest (Donato et al. 2011).”
This is important!
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There are 65 of the most influential papers on mangroves and mangrove forests listed on this site. All are worth reading but, we don’t all have that much time….
If there is a paper that you feel is missing, please add it in the comments below. I look forward to hearing from you.
Is this all the choice we get? Gender Bias in Universities…
There is a photograph on the home page of the Kwantlen Polytechnic University Website that I initially found amusing but after thinking about it for a while, I have decided that I actually find it offensive.
It is a photograph of a row of shoes. Three pairs are black, one pair is brown, one pair is white. Three are kind of dressy, two are kind of casual. Two are flats, three have heels. Four have a strap across the instep, one doesn’t. All five pairs of shoes would be appropriate for an entry level position in an office environment (my opinion only, I am sure you could wear them other places too….) The shoes are not the problem. The problem is the caption at the top of the photograph:
![ccls-itsf-slider[1]](https://themorningtomatoreport.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/ccls-itsf-slider1.jpg?w=610)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University Home Page link
Photograph and caption are being used here for educational purposes only. Fair use.
Where are the university watchdogs? The ones who sing at the top of their lungs if you accidentally put a “he” or a “she” into a piece of writing? Where are the people from the student groups who managed to get two gender-free washrooms at the Surrey campus? Well? Where are they? Or, is going after an approved photograph on the home page of the university website just a little too, ummmm…. up front and political?
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Okay, link time. I am not too certain where my article links might take me after this little rant but, I do know that they will probably be interesting. If you know of any articles or papers that would fit in here, please post a link in the comments section.
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Is there gender bias in university advertising? This article is not specific to university advertising but it is interesting and does provide an active mind with lots of relevant questions….
Article: Gender Issues in Advertising – An Oversight Synthesis of Research: 1970-2002. link
Author: Lori D. Wolin, Lynn University. Publications Link
Published in: Journal of Advertising Research [link]. March 2003
DOI: 10-1017/S0021849903030125
My copy was downloaded in December, 2014. I found using Google Scholar.
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Does education that is traditionally gender-biased (nursing / trades) put a person at risk of being an outsider? Having been through trades training and attained journeyman status (red seal tickets), I have to say that it does. The following article, viewed from behind my background in the trades, is particularly interesting.
Article: Fear Extinction to an Out-Group Face. link
Authors:
- Carlos David Navarrete, Michigan State University. Publications Link
- Andreas Olsson, Columbia University. Publications Link
- Arnold K. Ho, Harvard University. Publications Link
- Wendy Berry Mendes, Harvard University. Publications Link
- Lotte Thomsen, Harvard University. Publications Link
- James Sidanius, Harvard University. Publications Link
Published in: Psychological Science (link), Volume 20, Number 2, 2009 (Link). Pages 155-158
My copy was downloaded in December, 2014 and I found it using Google.
Click to access Mendes_FearExtinction.pdf
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Maybe feminine looking legs just have less risky preferences or is there a possibility that there is a lack of knowledge as to what the risks actually are?
Grey Paper: Gender Differences in Preferences. link
Authors:
- Rachel Croson, Harvard University. Publications List
- Uri Gneezy, Harvard University. Publications List
Published by: Harvard University
My copy was downloaded in December, 2014. I found it here: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/content/download/70408/1254442/version/1/file/rachelcrosonandurigneez.pdf
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The recruiters are out there, at the universities, looking for future banking, civil service, retail employees. What about the other choices? Is anyone actually doing any recruiting for the people that actually fit into the non-traditional roles? They used to!
Article: Girls. link
Published in: Fords and Raritan Township Beacon (Link)
Published on: Friday, April 28, 1948
My copy was downloaded in December, 2014. I found it using Google.
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…and maybe, it just comes down to what we want and expect from our career choices.
Article: A New Frontier for Title IX: Science. link
Author: John Tierney. Publications
Published in: The New York Times
Published on: July 15, 2008
My copy was downloaded in December, 2014.
Click to access tierney_TitleIX.pdf
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After reading the above, I need to read this. I have it on hold at my local university library!
Book: The Sexual Paradox: Men, Women and the Real Gender Gap (Link)
Author: Susan Pinker. Books
Published by: Simon & Schuster, New York.
Published in: 2009
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Not every question I ask gets answered. In fact, most of my questions do not have answers or at least, they don’t have easy answers…. This stroll through academia is just that, a stroll. For me, I ended up with more questions than I started with. This is not a bad thing. What are some of the questions you have?
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If any of these links do not work, please contact me and I will try to help you find the article, paper or book that you are looking for.
If you find any broken links on this blog, please leave a comment or send me a note so that it can be repaired. Thank you….
Small Change… Re-inventing Small Business on a Global Scale
I have an Etsy shop! It has become a goal to be able to work without schedule, to be able to study, create, get enough sleep, and pay my bills without have to time my morning coffee to the public transit schedule….
With this in mind, I began to go through some articles that I have here. Some are printed out, some are online, some have a partially finished precis. They are all interesting and in putting this post together I have read parts of all them although, not all of them have made it here.
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Article: Embroidery as Participation? Women in the Calakmul Model Forest, Campeche, Mexico. pdf
Author: Julia E. Murphy. Professor of Anthropology at Kwantlen Polytechnic University
Published in: 2003
Journal: Canadian Woman Studies, les cahiers de la femme, Vol. 23, No. 1, pages 159-167.
My copy was downloaded in November, 2014. I found it here http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/cws/article/view/6376
Why this article interested me: I love embroidery! I learned to do embroidery from my grandmother. When my daughter was small, my ability to knit helped to pay the bills. Small ventures in a cooperative atmosphere can make life easier.
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Article: Village Development Groups: Model Based on Participation in Achieving Rural Development. pdf
Authors: Mahmoud Falsolaiman, Hojat Sadeghi, and Mohammad Hajipur.
Published in: 2014
Journal: Journal of Geography and Regional Planning, Vol. 7, No. 4, June 2014, pages 78-85.
My copy was downloaded in November, 2014. I found it here http://www.academicjournals.org/article/article1403017553_Mahmoud%20et%20al.pdf
Why this article interested me: After finding the article by Julia Murphy, I went looking for more. One of the keyword groups I used was “micro credit.” Developing small businesses with very small amounts of venture capital has worked and is working. I wanted to know more!
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Article: New Venture Teams: A Review of the Literature and Roadmap for Future Research. pdf
Authors: Anthony C. Klotz, Keith M. Hmieleski, Bret H. Bradley, and Lowell W. Busenitz.
Publisher: Journal of Management, Vol. 40, No. 1.
DOI: 10.1177/0149206313493325
Publication Date: January 2014.
My copy was downloaded in November, 2014. I found it here http://jom.sagepub.com/content/40/1/226.full.pdf+html
Find more of Anthony Klotz’s writing here – Publications List
Find more of Keith Hmieleski’s writing here – Publications List
Find more of Bret Bradley’s writing here – Publications List
Find more of Lowell Busenitz’s writing here – Publications List
Why this article interested me: So, starting a business… Venture capital… Taking a chance… Is there still a climate in North America for the small partnership to succeed? I found this article. It has a lot about studies, research, benefits. But, cooperation between individuals was my question.
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Article: Does Studying Economics Inhibit Cooperation?. pdf
Authors: Robert H. Frank, Thomas Gilovich and Dennis T. Regan.
Publisher: American Economic Association, Vol. 7, No. 2, pages 159-171.
Publication Date: Spring, 1993.
My copy was downloaded in November, 2014. I found it here
Find more of Robert Frank’s writing here – Publications List
Find more of Thomas Gilovich’s writing here – Publications List
Find more of Dennis Regan’s writing here – Publications List
Why this article? Because the title caught my attention! To find out more about the differences between economics majors and non-economics majors and how self-interest might play a role in business decisions, this is a lighter than average and, an interesting read!
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Book: A Handbook of Fist Puppets. By Bessie Alexander Ficklen: With eight reproductions from photographs and numerous line drawings by Julie Brown
Published in: 1935.
Publisher: Frederick A. Stocks Company. New York.
Library Holdings: One copy (1963) is available in the reference section at the Toronto Public Library. Link
There are also many copies of this book for sale, online…
Why this book? The title of Chapter XIV is “Money-Making with Fist Puppets.” This book was a $1 find at a library book sale many years ago. I have enjoyed browsing the pages and it holds a special place on my bookshelf. Even though I will probably never venture to sell handmade fist puppets or write or stage my own fist puppet play, the author of this book encourages this as a means of creativity and possible income. There is also a short, annotated, bibliography!
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Article: Willow Smoke and Dogs’ Tails: Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems and Archaeological Site Formation. pdf
Author: Lewis R. Binford
Publisher: American Antiquity, Vol. 45, No. 1, pages 4-20.
Publication Date: January 1980.
My copy was downloaded in 2014. I found it here
Click to access Binford%2080%20American%20Antiquity%20Willow%20smoke.pdf
Find more of Lewis Binford’s writing here – Publications List
Why this paper? Lewis Binford’s description of the Nunamiut, “logistically organized.” Hunter-gatherer’s used their knowledge of the world around them to survive. They had to know when to move, when to stay, who to trade with. I love reading about ancient civilizations. We have discovered a lot about many civilizations, peoples, cultures but, we can only guess at what they knew and how they knew it.
Biology is about survival and there are only two outcomes to business, success and failure. Life is about much more. It is about cooperation, successes and failures, personal growth and continuation despite the outcomes. We need to read!
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If any of these links do not work, please contact me and I will try to help you find the article or book that you are looking for.
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If you find any broken links on this blog, please leave a comment or send me a note so that it can be repaired. Thank you….
Grey Paper Link to the Dissertation: Reading the Landscape of Public Libraries as Place, by Jean McKendry, 2013
I am placing the link information for this dissertation here with the thought that easier access to grey papers such as this will encourage reading and open discussion. This is also an open invitation for you to write a precis on this paper (or, on any other grey paper or peer-reviewed article that you find necessary or interesting)….
You can find more on the topic of “Homelessness” by using this search link.
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Article: Reading the landscape of public libraries as place: experiences of homeless men in public libraries in Vancouver, BC.
Author: Jean M. McKendry
University of British Columbia. Link.
Published in: 2013
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My copy was downloaded in November, 2014. I found it here
https://circle.ubc.ca/bitstream/handle/2429/44505/ubc_2013_fall_mckendry_jeanmarie.pdf?sequence=1.
If the link does not work, please contact me and I will try to help you find a copy.
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