Jim I am a Linux novice so please bare with me.Either Linux geeks can't spell, or Linux support has got kinkier than I thought.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Spelling
Seen in a Google search:
Friday, April 17, 2009
BC-STV is a Bad Idea
For the second time, we in BC are being asked to vote for a fundamentally flawed change to the way we elect members to the provincial legislature.
I went to the BC-STV website to "get the facts" so I could prepare a typical computer-geek detailed rebuttal to the single transferable vote system. I got that, but I also realized something more important: They're completely ignoring the social dynamics of what makes our current voting system, or any voting system, bad or good.
Before I go further, I should mention that I think the first past the post system of electing a single member for a geographic region based on who gets the most votes really sucks in many ways. However, I was able to describe it in a single sentence, and anyone can understand it.
More importantly, it's easy to implement a very transparent system to count the votes and ensure that the correct result is recorded. Immediately after the polls close in a Canadian provincial or federal election, a group of people representing different political views sit down together to look at and count every vote. Without widespread, serious physical intimidation, there's no way the votes will be recorded wrong in a significant way. The confidence we have in our voting system is like air, it's so all pervasive that we take it for granted, until we lose it and suffocate.
The BC-STV website doesn't even explain how the votes would be counted, or in fact what the exact rules for counting the votes are. They talk about "change back from your loonie" and "spending your vote", but they can't (or are afraid to) articulate how the counting would actually happen. That's not transparent.
In order to maintain transparency, the STV system would have to publish every single ballot (anonymously, of course) so that others could verify the election outcome. There's no other way to ensure transparency. Transparency is about people's perceptions. It doesn't really matter whether someone tries to steal the election somehow, it matters whether people think someone could steal the election somehow.
There are simpler systems that maintain transparency: straight proportional representation where you vote for a party and they get a percentage of the seats, or mixed, where your vote counts once for your electoral district and once for a proportional representation. All systems have advantages and disadvantages, but at least these approaches maintain the transparency of voting.
As someone who's voted all my life for parties that get fewer seats than their popular vote said they should get, I want a different voting system. But as someone who's seen in other countries how hard it is to build a society that can settle differences through voting rather than violence, I know that faith in the voting system is extremely important. And that faith will only come through transparency.
What's sorely missing from the debate here is a discussion of the social dynamics that distort any voting system. Big money advertising, toeing the line on internal party politics, attack ads, lying during campaigns, lobbyists, powerful special interest groups (for example, white males) and others, are issues that need to be looked at in this context.
I went to the BC-STV website to "get the facts" so I could prepare a typical computer-geek detailed rebuttal to the single transferable vote system. I got that, but I also realized something more important: They're completely ignoring the social dynamics of what makes our current voting system, or any voting system, bad or good.
Before I go further, I should mention that I think the first past the post system of electing a single member for a geographic region based on who gets the most votes really sucks in many ways. However, I was able to describe it in a single sentence, and anyone can understand it.
More importantly, it's easy to implement a very transparent system to count the votes and ensure that the correct result is recorded. Immediately after the polls close in a Canadian provincial or federal election, a group of people representing different political views sit down together to look at and count every vote. Without widespread, serious physical intimidation, there's no way the votes will be recorded wrong in a significant way. The confidence we have in our voting system is like air, it's so all pervasive that we take it for granted, until we lose it and suffocate.
The BC-STV website doesn't even explain how the votes would be counted, or in fact what the exact rules for counting the votes are. They talk about "change back from your loonie" and "spending your vote", but they can't (or are afraid to) articulate how the counting would actually happen. That's not transparent.
In order to maintain transparency, the STV system would have to publish every single ballot (anonymously, of course) so that others could verify the election outcome. There's no other way to ensure transparency. Transparency is about people's perceptions. It doesn't really matter whether someone tries to steal the election somehow, it matters whether people think someone could steal the election somehow.
There are simpler systems that maintain transparency: straight proportional representation where you vote for a party and they get a percentage of the seats, or mixed, where your vote counts once for your electoral district and once for a proportional representation. All systems have advantages and disadvantages, but at least these approaches maintain the transparency of voting.
As someone who's voted all my life for parties that get fewer seats than their popular vote said they should get, I want a different voting system. But as someone who's seen in other countries how hard it is to build a society that can settle differences through voting rather than violence, I know that faith in the voting system is extremely important. And that faith will only come through transparency.
What's sorely missing from the debate here is a discussion of the social dynamics that distort any voting system. Big money advertising, toeing the line on internal party politics, attack ads, lying during campaigns, lobbyists, powerful special interest groups (for example, white males) and others, are issues that need to be looked at in this context.
Parent Advisory Council Website
Since I'm "between contracts" I've been setting up the infrastructure for Marc's school's Parent Advisory Council website. It's now live at: http://hastingspac.ca/. For those interested in technical details, check out my technology blog posts about the PAC website.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Free Press
Last week I was reminded how really lucky we are to live in a society with "freedom of the press". One of our local dailies trumpeted, "One year to go," while the other had another point of view: "365 days to go."
They were referring to the 2010 Winter Olympics, which true to Canadian form are going to leave those of us who voted against them in the first place, paying for them years to come. Not a word about that in the orgy of Olympic boosterism last week.
They were referring to the 2010 Winter Olympics, which true to Canadian form are going to leave those of us who voted against them in the first place, paying for them years to come. Not a word about that in the orgy of Olympic boosterism last week.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Lego at Science World
There's a new exhibit of Lego at Science World. Marc spent an hour just studying the city. He was much more interested in the intricacies of the city, than in the really big items that, frankly, weren't that impressive except for their size. After we checked out the rest of Science World and saw the Roving Mars Omnimax movie, we came back and looked at the city for another 45 minutes.
Winter Cycling Vancouver Style
I went for an hour ride last Monday, out to Port Moody along Hastings and the Barnet Highway. It was -7 C when I left and -4 C when I got back. I used to commute all winter in Ottawa, but I was wearing big winter boots in really loose toe straps, not clip-on racing shoes, and I had a coat the covered down to my crotch. Going out dressed like a racer at those temperatures, I need to put on some wind protection for my crotch, and wear booties even if it's dry.
To top it off, I had a flat. There's so much crud on the road, and I took one of those big staples in at the edge of the tread. At least I was in the sun, so I didn't freeze while changing the tire. Had it happened a few hundred metres later, I would have been in the shadow of Burnaby Mountain. As it was, I was warmer standing in the sun than riding. Obviously that's the effect of the wind when I'm riding.
Whinging aside, it was really nice to go out and just ride.
To top it off, I had a flat. There's so much crud on the road, and I took one of those big staples in at the edge of the tread. At least I was in the sun, so I didn't freeze while changing the tire. Had it happened a few hundred metres later, I would have been in the shadow of Burnaby Mountain. As it was, I was warmer standing in the sun than riding. Obviously that's the effect of the wind when I'm riding.
Whinging aside, it was really nice to go out and just ride.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Vancouver Snow
All our neighbours who have lived in Vancouver all their lives say they've never seen this much snow in Vancouver. Even the famous snowstorm of 1996 was like a 36-hour phenomena. Wednesday, December 17 was the start of the snow and it hasn't let up yet. And of course, Vancouver doesn't know how to deal with snow. Here are some pictures.
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