Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

Zaphod has an interesting point to make about what will happen to America, if yet another white Republican dude ends up President. Inertia is killing America. (You can read Part I here, but I think the good stuff is in Part II)

Last Sunday and Monday I planted.
Beets (two types) peas, cucumbers (2 types), zucchini, spaghetti squash, green peppers, potatoes, spinach, romaine lettuce, radishes, beens (2 types), carrots, kohlrabi, two sunflowers. Hopefully everything comes up :-)

It rained on Saturday, and is supposed to rain on Sunday. Unfortunately, I’m away from the city for a prayer service for my godfather Raymond, who passed away from cancer this week.

This week I’ll have to put in some more food into the garden. I know it’s late for a few things, but I’m going to try anyway. Pumpkin, corn, and tomatoes are yet to go in.

This is a really impressive story. The guy has perfect form, and a bit of luck. I’m going to mention this to my Grandma, who has macular degeneration, and has bowled a lot in her life until about a decade ago.

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The past week I watched “Click” [8/10] which was very good for an Adam Sandler movie (or any movie really). I also caught “Superhero Movie [6/10] (What a forgettable title, some of the jokes though are not forgettable). They did too many bathroom jokes, but what else can you expect from a Leslie Nielson movie? I was laughing pretty hard through long stretches of the movie, which is always a good sign. Next I saw “Bucket List” [7/10] which is another nice movie, with what you know has to be a tear jerking story. They make it funny in a lot of parts, although some of it is rather nonsensical.

900ft Jesus explains very well how we are ending up with a struggling lifecycle in our environment, despite unprecedented level of wealth and convenience experienced by the majority of Canadians. The article gets a bit long for what most people actually read on the Web, but if you read the first part, you’ll see why declaring polar bears as Threatened, won’t do much for saving them. It’s not a hunting problem they experience, it’s an environment problem. Until people living in our country collectively realize that there are solutions to the parts of our economy that drive greed, we’ll suffer from environmental losses which our economic gains cannot replace for us.

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And a significantly related story, is the Wall Sask Party government, who has no idea what to do with $135/barrel oil. Brad Wall’s got the trick of fund raising in Alberta down pat, but how he’s going to build a capable infrastructure for the coming tide of labour (which he is attacking the rights of, by the way), is still up in the air. The incredibly stupid move of promising not to adjust royalties on oil extraction, is going to come back to bite him, and all of us. Journalists on The Morning Edition on CBC, were talking about these things in particular. Paying down the debt is of obvious importance, but so to is not burning so much more oil that even the few climate change deniers can’t point to China’s billion people and say “they are more polluting than us”.

There was a press conference today at The Terrace on the UofR campus, announcing a “greywater” project that is getting underway. The new Lab Building Addition (LBA) has had dual pipes installed, to provide greywater to toilets and other systems that don’t require drinking-quality water. This has a twofold effect, in that it reduces sewage output, and cuts drinking water intake. The hope is to turn Regina into a leader in this technology.

Currently, the U of R is focusing on the key component of the project — design and constructions of the portable pilot plant. The expected completion date of the detailed design is late summer. To test the system, greywater will be obtained from select bathroom sinks of the newly constructed laboratory building at the U of R campus, where specialized dual piping systems have been installed to independently collect the greywater. The pilot plant will be installed and tested in the basement of the new facility.”

There is a great need for this to work, since many sewer lines in the city have reached their capacity, which will hamper building development. In a time when we may start to reach record population levels due to an oil boom, we can’t afford to hold up building new homes because there’s no place to put the sewer water. Water reclamation that turns that waste water into reusable greywater, will be what saves the water supply on the prairies, and beyond. Dr. Young who is heading the project, says the systems can be modified to provide drinking quality water at additional expense.

This kind of project is really a no-brainer. Minister Lyle Stewart and Mr. Andrew Scheer (for Minister Rona Ambrose) have put money into the development. Naturally, Stewart pitched it as a way to make Saskatchewan a technology and investment leader, and Scheer played up how it was confirmation of the supposed fact that the Conservatives are committed to reducing greenhouse gases (What??). Regardless of their spin, it will help make Regina (and eventually the world) more sustainable for humans. A plant of the type Dr. Young specializes in designing, has already been put into production in China, according to the announcement.

So, in 2009, probably after December, please take a seat at the LBA’s washrooms, and poop our province to prosperity.

(Oh wait, they are only taking the water from the sinks to start with. So don’t misuse the sinks please. Also interesting to note, is that there are no-flush urinals in the LBA men’s washroom on the main floor. A “green” roof is going to be installed on a part of that building too.)

This is beyond creepy, and sick. There just can’t be a good reason this is happening. I’m not going to speculate as to the cause, nor make an easy pun. I know the blogosphere has mentioned this apparent serial crime when the last foot was found.

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And it looks like I meet the minimum requirements to be a Canadian astronaut! Perhaps I should apply, on a lark.

If two Liberals fight in the political wilderness, does a tree land on either, or both of them?

Two prominent blogging Liberals are bickering over the Green Party’s carbon tax proposal. Liberal Leader Stephane Dion has suggested recently that the Liberals would steal that platform plank from the Greens (just like we’ve been begging them to do!), except he apparently didn’t bother to learn the sales pitch that goes along with a “carbon tax increase”. Naturally, other taxes are proportionally decreased, leaving people with the same level of money, an improved atmosphere, and greener economy.

Jeff spent last week with people from all over the world. They were in Regina for the Student Sustainability Summit, a gathering of experts in the field of sustainable practices. Have a look at his summary, it’s interesting and uplifting. You can really feel the enthusiasm. He mentioned to me on Tuesday, that they got a tour of the flax house in Craik, among other sites. Several in the delegation were very impressed with how well they were treated (limo for transportation, etc.).