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Check out this deleted scene from Michael Moore’s Sicko.   In the mid to late 90’s, Canada was #1 on the Human Development Index - aka. we were the best country in the world. Yes, we’re still doing pretty good, with a rating of 0.950 at #6. It’s only 0.025 points difference to Norway. In comparison:

• 3. Australia: 0.957
• 8. U.S.: 0.948
• 18. U.K.: 0.940
• 21. Germany: 0.932

As you can see just from the clip, Norway is obviously doing a number of things right. Heck, as most would agree, almost all of Western Europe as some of the best countries around. So, why don’t we learn from them and adopt some of their policies. As the country sways more conservative, isn’t it intriguing we continue to drop on the HDI? We seem to be going backwards. Doesn’t anyone else have a problem with this?

Shocking revelation by General Wesley Clark.

I don’t always agree with Mr. “Hyperbole  Catchphrase” Trump, but he’s got a good take on Bush.

Thanks to TV Squad for the trip down memory lane. I know there’s a few readers of the blog who might recognize these. How come we don’t have such awesome PSAs anymore?!

Alright, sing with me now!

Don’t cha put it in your mouth! Don’t cha put it in your mouth! Don’t cha stuff it in your face! Don’t cha stuff it in your face…

I cannot believe this show was ever on television! Not only is the crowd completely out of control, high on it’s own mob mentality, but the host is literally *this close* to hitting the guests! Completelty despicable. I’d actually say it’s worse than Jerry Springer.

I thought the age of stealing Apple’s acronyms has over. Boy was I wrong. I wouldn’t be surprised if the terrible name was created by the same web firm that designed this ugly website. iMOVE is Translink’s attempt to bring together regional transportation information into one place for easy access.

Unfortunately, I don’t think it succeeds very well at all:

• The site is, as I said before, fuuuuuugly. This thing looks like it was designed in 1997 - yes folks, that is a decade ago now. I am pleasantly surprised they used Google Maps with the site (yay!), but it’s implementation is far short of even Google’s own offering, Google Transit (which would’ve been a far better use of money, IMO). The icons are ugly and bland, the multiple grey tabs on top of the map completely eschew any purpose for the coloured tabs, not to mention how many clicks one has to make to view info such as the traffic cameras. And again, why take up 1/3 of the page with the stupid logo and colourful tabs, when what I really want to see is (a much larger) map, real time accidents and traffic cameras.
• The information integration is not there. I assumed that, when I first read about this site, I would be able to plan a trip going from, say, Langley to Nanaimo. Far short of that, sadly. First off, you can’t actually plan a transit trip, you can only view the bus routes. Secondly, all that talk about integrating regional transportation options - it actually means a link to BC Ferries website. There is no info about VIA Rail, nor is Greyhound even mentioned on the site.
• Useful transit info is not there. Okay, so they have the bus routes and SkyTrain plotted on the map. Don’t get me started on why the bus routes were done with the Google lines, whereas the SkyTrain was plotted in some completely different way. Click on a SkyTrain station, you think they’d have multiple pictures, station address, connecting bus routes, maybe even the station layout. Nope, all they have is the name of the station! Bus routes don’t have any info about which stops have what services, let alone any stop info at all! Select two bus routes, and they won’t be indistinguishable from one another, because they are both in blue!
• Cycling info is cool, but sucks. First off, I barely understand the difference between an “Alternate Off-Street, Alternate On-Street, Designated Off-Street, Designated On-Street” bike path, and I doubt any member of the public will either. It does not tell me which SkyTrain stations have bike facilities either.
• This info doesn’t help anybody. It’s hard enough to get people to plan their trip ahead of time. I don’t think having this site will encourage very many more to use it. The fact of the matter is, real time traffic info is only useful on the road and there is no mobile version of the site!

It’s a huge disappointment and makes me want to make my own version of the site. Too bad I don’t know how to code. There was so much potential with the idea of having this great all-in-one resource. I’d like to know what web firm designed this ugly piece of crap, and how much they got paid to do it.

There is one good feature of the site, and that is the trip calculator at the top of the site. It figures out how much is will cost, based on the price of gas, to drive somewhere, in either a car, truck, SUV, etc. Very cool feature. It could be better though, if it did something like Google Driving Directions, and you were able to plot an actual location and destination, and then tap into those gas checking sites to get the last available price, based on the start location.

Scientific American has posted up a terrific CGI video, with an albeit freaky looking host, to show us what New York City might look like if all human activity were to cease immediately. I had read an article about this a long time ago, but it’s fascinating to actually *see*. Makes you really understand the kind of impact we have on this planet. You can check it out here.

Doug Sanders has a terrific column about the Canada of 1967, or the so-called golden age of my country. This quote really made me think:

“For right-wing writers like David Frum, 1967 marks the end of the old, self-sufficient Canada and the start of the state-controlled, high-tax, welfare-dependent nanny state, the working woman and the liberated homosexual, the rise of easy divorce and birth control. It was in 1967 that the Canada and Quebec medicare programs sprang fully to life, that our unemployment-insurance system (called Manpower in those days) became a full-fledged assistance plan, that our banks became protected with deposit insurance and, most gallingly, that the federal-provincial Canada Assistance Plan was created, launching the modern welfare state.”

It’s odd to me to think of the Canada before the 60’s - a country still largely controlled or influenced by Britain and populated by Europeans, a country of only two major political parties (Conservatives and Liberals), a country that discriminated against Asians, East Indians, Aboriginals, Germans, and Italians.

My Canada is the country of Medicare, of peacekeepers, of strong and resilient social justice for all citizens; of beavers, maple leaves, and moose; of countless innovators in sports, technology, and the arts (hockey, the telephone and insulin, comedians abound); of mountains, prairies, and the tundra. This is the Canada I am proud to call my home.

I wonder, today, what my Canada is becoming, just as the people of the 40’s pondered the same thing in the 1960’s. Sure, we are a multicultural society, but is there too much immigration without enough assimilation? Are citizens becoming more conservative in the 21st century, with many questions surrounding war, health care, human rights, and the environment? Is my Canada a country slowly dying, or is it bound for a strong evolution in the coming years?

We all have a part to play in the country we live in. There is nothing wrong with patriotism or nationalism as long as we remember we are above all things human together on this Earth. With that in mind, enjoy today with your friends, family and fellow citizens, and celebrate living in such a wonderful country.

Here’s two great clips that symbolize Canada to me. The first is a great little cartoon that used to play on TV all the time for me as a child, made by the National Film Board of Canada. The second was a slideshow I made two years ago for Socials class on Canadian Pride. Enjoy :)

Rock on Mika. Rock on.

[via TV Squad]

[via While the Earth Burns]