Ontario is having a referendum on “electoral reform.”

The government formed the Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform to assess the current simgle-member plurality-system (often referred to by a stupid name) and propose a new system if they could find a better one. The assembly was made up of citizens, one from every riding in Ontario.

Electoral reform K-W consultation today 10 Jan 2007

One of the benefits of the Mixed Member Proportional system that thye propose is, they say: “Fairer Election Results - Election results are proportional [. . . .]”

Another way to look at this is that you don’t have to make strategic decisions when voting, because your vote will count towards something. Under the current system you might be in the situation where you might feel compelled to vote for a less preferred candidate to try to stop your least preferred candidate from winning.

But now I am in a situation where I don’t want the current system, but don’t think the proposal is very good either, though it is better. So now I have a strategic choice of supporting an improvement I don’t particularly like or choosing the terrible status quo by speculating on the likelihood of a better proposal in the future.

Why didn’t they do referendal reform first.

Last week I found Ian’s technology and development blog. He writes about and has videos on the use of technology in the developing world.

A personal blog to document my experiences in particular with technology in the developing world. A log, mostly for my own use, though perhaps occasionally helpful to others.

More and more I am feeling the need for mobile computing. I do pretty well with having desktop computing in my different workspaces, but sometimes I am in places where I want simple web connectivity.

I don’t think I want a normal laptop, because I don’t need to use it for all my computing, like many people do.

When I heard about the One Laptop Per Child foundation’s Buy One Gift One program, I thought about my mobile computing needs.

OLPC is a foundation that grew out of an MIT project to build a “$100 laptop.” Its purpose is to bring computing to children in the developing world. The recently-announced BOGO program would be where you pay $400 to pay for two of the computers called XO-1. You would get one and essentially donate the other one to the project for the $188 they say the unit cost is.

I am unsure of the quirky specs, but I think $400 for a portable web terminal is pretty good.

When I talked to Hiro about it, he said “Why don’t you just get an iPod touch?”

The iPod touch, as he described it, is like the iPhone without the phone. It has wi-fi connectivity and uses Safari browser. I guess it is essentially a handheld computer with a multi-touch screen. It is listed at $329.

It might be too little computer and more media player than I need, but intriguing.

When I was thinking about all that I read about the Neo1973 on Frederic’s blog.

The Neo 1973 made by OpenMoko is a touchscreen smartphone that runs linux.

So, essentially it is a non-iPod touch with the unlocked phone.

Only the developer model is available now, but that is listed at $300 US, which shouldn’t be much different than Canadian for now.

Then when I was going back to look for that link, I saw that Frederic had also written about an inexpensive and light laptop.

This Ink Media computer uses the Freescale i.MX31 processor which is also used in the Ford Sync in car “communications and entertainments system.” The procesor uses little energy. The computer has no moving parts and uses flash memory.

The computer is quoted at $300 (US again).

So, I those are some of probably many more possibilities. Since it is not at the top of my capital priorities, I have some time to think about it. Maybe I’ll just end up with a used conventional laptop.

Months ago we learned that Health Canada doesn’t require things labelled whole wheat to be whole grain.

I thought it would be interesting to compare Nutrition Facts labels of different “whole wheat” flours and see if I could find any differences.

Since the regulations allow for part of the bran to be removed, I thought I might see a difference in the fibre content of the flours.

So, when I was at the store, I took images of the labels for the three different brand they had there.

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Two weekends ago on the Saturday was the Ides of September.

Doors Open Waterloo

Lenks and I went to Doors Open Waterloo Region in the afternoon.
She came by around noon and was hungry so I made scrambled egg pita wraps and we got on the road.

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CanadaHomeHealth.com has changed its name to Well.ca

The change message says:

We’ve changed our name! Well.ca is the new name for CanadaHomeHealth.com. Same company, same people, just a shorter name!

Along with the name change it looks like they are expanding into beauty products.

The new thing that we’re most proud to show off (and the part of our site that is generating the most discussion) is our new beauty site. You can visit it at well.ca/beauty — we’ve got hundreds of products your favourite cosmetic brands including Almay, L’Oreal Paris, RoC, CoverGirl, and Revlon. Take a look!

The organization is bigger now with Ali leading a staff of six.

People who were in Waterloo Engineering in the past three quinquennia know about Unit 36.An era is about to end if I am to believe what I read on an fb event.

So as some of you may have heard, 36 will be no more after this term. As of January 2008, it has been leased out to someone outside of engineering, and therefore has forced us to clear out the place at the end of December.

Laurier beat Waterloo 35-3 in the Battle of Waterloo on Saturday.

Ryan Lynch and Ian Noble handled the offense – and the Golden Hawk defense took care of the rest as the nationally #5 ranked Wilfrid Laurier steamrolled their cross town rivals, nationally #10 ranked Waterloo, 35-3. Students and alumni alike were out in full force, setting a Laurier Football record with a crowd of 9,347 this afternoon.
– Hawks Triumph in Battle of Waterloo 22 Sep 2007

They said the count was 9,347 people at University Stadium for the match that was WLU’s homecoming game. In 1999 when Warriors beat the Hawks in the all-Waterloo Yates Cup game, there were about 6,500 people there on Waterloo’s homecoming weekend — 13 Nov 2007. I don’t know where they would fit the extra 3,000. Back in ‘99 the place was overflowing.

Well, next week is Waterloo’s homecoming and the game is against the Guelph Gryphons (2-2).

• Sparklines and Unbeaten teams in Battle of Waterloo 19 Sep 2007
• Warrior football upsets Windsor 16 Sep 2007

Friday afternoon I saw Hiro, Nick, Michelle, Kwab, Lynsi, and others at the B2 green flanked by hundreds of paper pinwheels.

The Record reported on it.

Worried that International Day of Peace might pass unnoticed, psychology student Nick Petten gave peace a chance yesterday on the University of Waterloo campus.

He invited children in a campus preschool where he volunteers to make “pinwheels for peace.”

Yesterday, the four- and five-year-old children planted their pinwheels in the ground on campus and drew pictures on the sidewalk.

– Children, university students plant 300 ‘pinwheels for peace’ 22 Sep 2007

In addition to the pinwheels made from letter size sheets of paper, they tried to make a larger one. I helped too.

When I saw tomato plants on a nearby boulevard — the earthy space between the sidewalk and the curb — I thought, “Why would anyone plant tomatoes here? People are just going to take them.”

I got a sarcastic rejoinder when weeks later I saw this sign.

The sign says:

Free tomatoes
I grew these tomatoes as community tomatoes. If you are walking by, help yourself to ripe tomatoes.

I think it is the sign of a cool neighbourhood.