Category: Society

EA To Sell Gamers To Advertisers.

On By WinstonIn Media, Pop Culture, Society, Technology, Uncategorized, Video GamesLeave a comment

The nice people at Electronic Arts (commonly know as EA) are rolling out a new service called “Legend”.  Sounds impressive right?  Well here’s the thing, it’s not.  At least not for gamers.  Or is it?

Confused?  Sorry.  I’ve got some mixed feelings about this one myself.  First, let me tell you what “Legend” is.  It’s an analytic tool which EA will use to provide advertisers with detailed usage habits of it’s products.  This would allow advertisers to be much more specific in their marketing efforts.

From the corporate side, this is a potential goldmine.  If it works as (you should pardon the joke) “advertised”, there isn’t a marketing department in the industry that won’t want a piece of it.  On the player side, my first instinct is, “Oh goody.  More ads shoved in my face while I’m gaming.”

But maybe I’m looking at this wrong.  Not that that ever happens, but maybe this one time.

Maybe this time, they’ll start to get it right.  What if they use this marketing data to develop a functional “less is more” approach?  How about using this new analytic to create ads which are more effective, and can therefore be less pervasive.  That could work out to being good news for gamers.

Only time will tell.  But if the vendors in Fallout New Vegas start trying to sell me a “Simpsons” t-shirt to go with my new “West 49” board shorts, then I’ll decide whether or not it’s a good thing.

Cheers, Winston

Psychology IS A Science

On By WinstonIn Psychology, Science, SocietyLeave a comment

For a long time now, people have been saying that psychology isn’t an actual science. This is based on the standard “scientific method”. This method requires repeatable results from repeatable processes. Seems like a good way to do things, and it is. When it works.

Psychology is one of the places it doesn’t work. Does that mean it’s not a science? Of course not, and I can tell you why. There’s another science that suffers from the same issues. What you may wonder would that be? Meteorology. What you may wonder do they have in common? It goes like this.

How about working with such large data sets that repeatable processes become impossible? How about dynamic systems where huge percentages of the relevant variables change constantly? The scientific method is predicated on the ability to control the variables in an experimental setting. That level of control is not viable in either meteorology or psychology. So how do you establish scientific validity for a field that doesn’t play by the rules?

Well, it’s not easy. First off, you need to change the criteria for “scientific” studies. Instead of requiring control, acknowledge that control is an illusion. There’s no reasonable way to duplicate any one person’s experiences, so an expectation of reproducible results is ludicrous. This is a more localized version of the problems meteorologists have predicting weather. Too many variables. Too little processing power.

Global weather systems and the human psyche are phenomenally complex systems. Expecting them to fit neatly in to labs makes no sense at all. The fact is, both systems are based as much on observation, as if/then logic. By wasting less time questioning it’s validity, we free up resources to push forward the study of psychology.

All sciences took time to achieve legitimacy. Few have as much raw data to work with. None are as dynamic as the human mind. Not even the weather, and I think it’s pretty obvious they still have some glitches to work out there.

So yes, psychology is a science. Not only that, it’s probably one of the most complex sciences there is. That’s why it’s not all neat and tidy and sorted out. That doesn’t mean it never will be.

Cheers, Winston

It May Be A Double Standard… At Least It’s A Standard

On By WinstonIn Politics, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

Bob Dechert exchanged amorous emails and messages with Shi Rong.  So how is that anybody’s business but theirs?  He’s married, she’s married.  She’s a correspondent for China’s Xhinhua News Agency, he’s parliamentary secretary to Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.

Dare I mention that Mr. Baird, and his parliamentary secretary are both members of the Conservative government that keeps going on about family values.  There’s also the minor detail that Xinhua is widely regarded as a common front for Chinese intelligence operations.  it’s not like Dechert might have access to any sensitive material.  It’s not like he works for the Foreign Affairs Minister…. oh yeah.  Oops.

Maybe that’s what happened.  Maybe he took a different meaning from the term “Foreign Affairs”.  Sorry.  I know that was low hanging fruit, but I couldn’t resist.

He insists it was just “flirtatious”.  She was planning to divorce her husband to be with Bob “Sexy Text” Dechert.  Her husband apparently wasn’t too pleased about how things were shaping up and started sending messages from her account.  No word on how Dechert’s wife Ruth Clark feels about it, but probably it’s safe to say she’s not pleased either.

All of which sets the stage for my point.  If it was a Liberal carrying on like this, Harper would have been demanding his resignation from the moment the story broke.  He would have been held up as an example of all that is wrong with liberal values.  He would have represented the disdain Liberals have for “Family Values”.  But Mr. “Sexy Text” Dechert isn’t a Liberal, he’s a Conservative.  A well connected,  back-room mover and important to the party Conservative.  The PM has yet to demand his resignation.

Like the title says, “It may be a double standard… but at least it’s a standard.  Maybe next elections, we can have less “Family Values” rhetoric.  It might give the Conservatives a chance to tell us how they’re going to create actual jobs.  Ones that pay actual living wages to ALL levels of a business, not just the the tax dodging executives.  But hey, that’s a post for another day.

In the meantime, I now have to explain to my teenager that I really don’t want her practicing Conservative style family values.

Cheers, Winston

Hoping For Horwath & The Provincial NDP

On By WinstonIn Personal Responsibility, Politics, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

For those who don’t know, don’t care, or aren’t from around here, we’re heading into a Provincial election here in Ontario.  For those in the US, that’s the State level.  For the rest of the world, it’s important to us, but likely most of the world won’t be greatly impacted by it.  Locally though, it’s a big deal.

If you’re new to this blog, I’ll get you up to speed quick.  I’m a big fan of social justice.  i think corporations have an obligation too be good citizens too.  I support social programming.and helping those who need it.  All of which is to say, I don’t generally vote for the Conservatives.  I used to vote Liberal because I didn’t want the PCs to get in.  That thinking changed with the changes Jack Layton brought to the federal NDP in the last election.

This time, I’m going to vote my values.  So far, that looks like voting for Andrea Horwath’s NDP.  If nothing else, her refusal to play gutter politics is very refreshing.  I also like the NDP plan to offer tax breaks to companies who hire and train new employees.  That’s an idea that directly rewards them for being “good corporate citizens”.  Sounds good to me.

Up until now, I’ve been voting Phil McNeely, My local Liberal MPP.  He’s done some good things for my local community, so it’s going to be hard for me to change.  On the other hand, the party as a whole leaves something to be desired.  The decision I have to make before election day is simple.  Do I vote for Phil because he’s good for me locally, or do I look at the bigger picture and hope Mx. Horwath lives up to her potential.

Decisions, decisions……  I’m just happy that I’m fortunate enough to live somewhere that I get to make them.  I can go to the polls without anyone threatening me or trying to kill me.  Once I cast my ballot, I am reasonably confident of a accurate count and legitimate winner.  If more people realized how rare and precious those things are in the world, maybe we’d see a better voter turn-out.

Instead, the pathetically apathetic non-voters will sit on their brains and waste one of the greatest privileges in our society.  You don’t have to vote in Canada.  Your also don’t have to eat, breath or not step in front of a bus.  None of those are any stupider than not voting.

I’ll close for now because I’ve got to go and do some pre-election homework.  See my fellow Ontarians at the polls.

Cheers, Winston

Feel Safer Now?

On By WinstonIn Discrimation, Politics, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

Here’s how the scenario unfolds.  The police follow a suspect in an active investigation.  They observe him go into the woods.  Fifty minutes later, he emerges, and drives away.  The officers enter the woods and observe an area where the pine needles and soil appear disturbed.  The following day, a forensic team returns and unearths four wooden crates containing fourteen hundred rounds of ammunition and a garbage bag containing fourteen tins of black powder.

Tony Spears, writing in the Ottawa Sun goes on to say that Claude Haridge has been charged with careless storage of ammunition and breach of undertaking.  That’s where I get confused.  A guy buries over a thousand rounds of ammunition and a pile of black powder in the woods and that’s the best they can come up with?  Either he’s a total nut job, or he’s up to no good.

Meanwhile, his defense lawyer is arguing there shouldn’t be any charges at all.  Seriously?  We’re just supposed to look the other way?  I’m not sure where Mr. Brown got his law degree, but that school should probably start offering a course in common sense.  I expect you’d have a hard time finding a fifth grader who wouldn’t see a problem with someone hiding bullets and powder in the bush.

Oh yeah, one more detail.  That open investigation that had them watching him in the first place?  It involved the firebombing of a bank in the city.  Now you maybe start to see my problem with this.  The police have apparently not charged Mr. Haridge in connection to the bank bombing.  On the other hand, they had some reason for following him as part of their investigation.

So here we have a suspect in an urban bombing who admits to burying large quantities of ammunition and black powder in the bush.  He’s facing a mickey-mouse careless storage charge.  If Mr Haridge were of “non-caucasian” ethnicity, or a practicing Muslim, I bet the charge sheet would have looked a bit different. It probably would have included words like, “terrorism”, “terrorist”, and of course “Al Qaeda in Ottawa”.

The good news…. Apparently local law enforcement has concluded that people with names like “Haridge” aren”t likely to be terrorists.  Really, he probably had some perfectly valid reason for stashing ammo and powder like that.  Probably just a fun geo-caching game with his buddies from “Definitely Not Al Qaeda In Ottawa”.  What else could it possibly be?  After all, he doesn’t look like an “islamicist”.  They’re the ones Prime Minsiter Harper said are the big threat.

Feel safer now?

Cheers, Winston

If “Not In My Backyard”, Then Whose?

On By WinstonIn Environment, Green Energy, Media, Politics, Society, TechnologyLeave a comment

Christina Blizzard, writing in the Ottawa Sun is slamming David Suzuki and Dalton McGuinty. One for being a “pompous ass”, and the other being praised by a pompous ass for wanting to build wind turbines where the wind blows.

Before I go any farther, I want to make it clear that this is not to bash Mx. Blizzard.  I subscribed to the Sun for many years.  I’ve always enjoyed Christina\s articles, and this is not an attack on her personally.  Only on the views expressed in the article in question.

Apparently, Dr. Suzuki endorsed McGuinty’s green energy initiatives and  stated bluntly that it would be “absolute insanity” for Provincial Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak to scrap them if voted in during our pending election.  She raises the point because of it’s status as a registered charity, The David Suzuki Foundation is not allowed to participate in partisan politics.  Fair enough.  On the other hand, Dr. Suzuki had apparently stepped down from the board, so is no longer bound by those rules.

Part of her ire stems from a plan put forward by Premier McGuinty’s Liberal party to place 260 massive wind turbines near the town of Zurich on Lake Huron.  According to Mx. Blizzard,  “Each turbine consumes 1.6 hectares of prime farmland – that’s some 405 hectares of farmland that could be use to grow crops.”  She then adds, “How green is that Dr. S?”

Just a couple of quick points.  If she’s so keen to preserve farmland, where has she been while the farms around Orleans have been sub-divided into the history books?  Oh and by the way:  Nice use of the diminutive “Dr. S” to undermine his standing with the readers.  She is an op-ed for a second string tabloid.  He is an internationally recognized leader on environmental issues who hosted a long running science program on national TV.  This probably has a lot to do with her later characterizing him as a “pompous ass” for telling homeowners to use energy efficient light-bulbs and caulk draft-causing leaks in a couple of “creepy” ads in partnership with the provincial government.  I suspect that when you can’t compare credentials, trash-talk is really all you’ve got left.

All of which serves as background for the point I want to make here.  In her unending quest for truth and objectivity, Christina Blizzard talked to the rural residents around Zurich, Ontario and discovered something remarkable.  They are “outraged” by the “monstrosities” springing up and feel they are a “blight on the landscape.”  I’m shocked, aren’t you?

Okay, maybe I’m being a little bit sarcastic there.  Realistically, I would have been more genuinely shocked if they had been happy about it and declared the turbines “paragons of aesthetics in harmony with their natural setting.”  That would have been news worthy.  The fact is, it’s another in a long line of “not in my back yard” issues.

Years ago, when I lived in  a different city, there was talk of building a Young Offenders Facility there.  Much of debate didn’t focus on the jobs such a facility would bring to a “one industry town” where the “one industry” had been declining for years.  Nope.  Most of what made the news were residents worrying what such a facility would do to property values and city councilors pandering to them.   Everyone agreed it was good, just not where they happened to live.

I don’t think you’ll find too many people who will argue in favor of coal burning generating plants over wind turbines in terms of sustainability.  Not unless they work for the coal industry, or they just want to be difficult.  As for the rural residents around Zurich, sorry, you just happen to live where the wind blows.  I’ve spent some time in the area myself, and I know how steady the winds are on the east shore of Lake Huron.  Nothing against the people there, but no matter where they wanted to put them, someone would complain.  It would be someone’s back yard.  This time, it’s in yours.

Sadly, coal, oil and other fossil fuels aren’t going to last much longer.  There are only so many waterways suited to hydro plants, and if the tragedy in Japan is any indicator, nuclear may not be the greatest either.  Barring any major breakthroughs, it seems probable that if you live in a naturally windy place, you could end up with a turbine or two… hundred.  By the same logic, if you live somewhere with a lot of sun, I see a high probability of solar panels in your future.

We need to develop these more sustainable energy technologies now, not when the last puff of smoke from coal drifts away on the wind off Lake Huron.  They have to go somewhere.

If “Not In My Backyard!”, then where?

Cheers, Winston

The Internet Isn’t The Last Haven Of Democracy.

On By WinstonIn Global Issues, Media, Pop Culture, Society, TechnologyLeave a comment

Courtesy of a raging bout of insomnia, I was browsing some back stories on Maclean’s.  That’s when this gem caught my eye.  On Aug 12th, Peter Nowak posted this article: “Governments Must Adapt To Internet, Not Other Way Around”.  According to Mr. Nowak, democracy “is the de facto model that almost every online operation works on”.

“The popular and good rise to the top… the bad and unpopular is ignored or voted down.” It seems he is equating popular with good.  Hardly a supportable position given the current popularity of reality tv and Jackass movies.  Rising to the top isn’t necessarily a sign of quality, only of popularity and people’s urge to part of the “In Crowd”.  The fact that something gets 80,000,000 hits doesn’t mean that it’s good, only that nobody wants to be the one that doesn’t know what everyone else is talking about.  Popular doesn’t equate to good, more often, only to easy.  Lolcats get more hits than ethical debates.  Contestants on reality shows garner more votes than elected officials.  Yeah, popular is a sure sign of quality.

His next little piece of genius involves praising the hacker collective known as Anonymous.  These self appointed judges/juries/executioners are defenders of openness and democracy according to this guy.  He indirectly praises them for their attack on Sony in retaliation for their lawsuit against the person who posted an illegal hack for the PS3.  Peter seems to believe that it was wrong of Sony to take legal steps to protect their intellectual property.  On the other hand, he is perfectly okay with Anonymous using illegal steps to punish them.  There are a couple of details he leaves out in his paean to digital frontier justice.  The takedown of Sony didn’t just affect “Sony”, it affected the employees, the gamers, the people whose jobs rely on those services being up and running.  It’s like Robin Hood burning peasant huts so they can’t afford to pay taxes to the sheriff.  It sounds good in theory, but the sheriff is still going to want his taxes.

Anonymous is also the group who took it upon themselves to post the home addresses of members of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit police force.  This was in retaliation for BART shutting down cell towers to prevent protesters using them to organize.  Let’s deliberately endanger the live of the officers, their spouses and their children.  Way to pick your heroes Peter. If the persons responsible for that particular act are caught and convicted, they should be tossed into the deepest, darkest hole available and left there.  Pending further notice.

“The fundamental principles of the internet, therefore, are then same as democracy – each user is entitled to freedom and openness, so long as they don’t harm anyone else.”  Where he comes by these “fundamental principle” is never actually explained.  >he also doesn’t explain why Anonymous gets an exemption to the “don’t harm anyone else” part.  The fact is, the internet was created to share information.  Pure and simple.  Other people may have chosen to use it for their own purposes, but that doesn’t make it anything more or less than what it was designed to be.  Just because of bunch of spoiled children have decided that it’s easier to play “activist”as a way to act out when they don’t get their own way, doesn’t make them right.  When an allegedly serious journalist like Mr .Nowak buys into their fantasy, it just feeds into their bloated ego driven God complex.

His closing statement is the best illustration of his clearly delusional disconnect from the real world.  “Governments will inevitably have no choice but to acquiesce and adapt to what are ultimately basic human desires: to be open and free.  Otherwise, as advanced technologies make living in a virtual online world more realistic and palatable, people will inevitably abandon the real world and move into the ether permanently, leaving governments with no one to govern.”

If luck is with us, maybe Peter will be an early adopter of permanent virtualization.  Then any decent spam filter will keep his views in the junk folder where they belong.

Cheers, Winston

To Him It’s A Joke… To Her It’s One Hurt Too Many

On By WinstonIn Discrimation, Society, ValuesLeave a comment

“No Fat Chicks Or I’m Gonna Scrape”  That’s what it said on some wannabe cool guy\s lowered Acura.  If it’s illegal to put blatantly racist comments on public display, what makes this okay?  Is anyone going to try and tell me that this type of filth is less hurtful than a racial epithet?

Can I pull up beside him and call him out for his blatant offensiveness?   Can I point out that he’s apparently about 14 I.Q. points shy of idiot?  Or can I just wait for him to pull over and let nature take it’s course from there?  Is there any good reason that this isn’t covered under anti-discrimination legislation?  How is this not deliberately hurtful to any overweight girl/woman who sees it?

Maybe the answer is just to wait until he parks and paint over it.  Possibly remove the offensiveness with a wood rasp?  That could be fun.  Then leave a note advising that hurting other people for your own entertainment isn’t cool.  Even if you do have skinny tires on your over-sized rims and a big fart-can exhaust.  If you put something ugly, offensive and hurtful on your car, you’re a gigantic, pathetic ass-hat.

There is enough in our society to make any woman larger than a size 8 hate themselves without that.  On behalf of every girl who feels bulimia is better than being bullied, who cries when they look in the mirror, who hates themselves because others hate how they look, for all these and all the others hurt by a thoughtless joke, I say enough.  It’s time to stop celebrating stupid.

I’ll close for now because I have to go shopping for some spray paint and a wood rasp.

Cheers, Winston

You Sorta Need Someone To Command & Control

On By WinstonIn Canadian Military, Politics, Society7 Comments

A report from a former Lieutenant General in the Canadian Armed Forces seems destined to be ignored…. again.  Apparently, there are as many military personnel in Ottawa’s National Defense HQ as there are on active duty in the navy or regular force army.  During the last six years, Command and Support has grown at four times the rate of actual deployable force.  That seems a tad disproportionate to me.

Andrew Leslie, the author of the report, wants to see that change.  Of course after years inside the Canadian military, he knows the odds against any of his recommendations being adopted.  In the last forty five years, not one plan to reform Canada’s Armed Forces has been fully implemented.  It seems like maybe it’s time for that to change.

When there are more people running the military than there are in it, it represents a really skewed set of priorities.  It’s hard to justify the amount of money we spend on our military knowing most of it stays right here in Ottawa.  The government talks about Force Projection, but the bulk of their personnel don’t seem to project much beyond DNDHQ.

My nephew served three tours in Afghanistan while upwards of twenty-thousand military staff did their best to bring peace and stability to Ottawa.  Recent stimulus spending has fueled a large part of this expansion.  Now that well is running dry, and the deployable forces seem to have been left off the gravy train.  Thirteen billion in awesome new jets is a grand gesture, but it’s meaningless if there’s no actual people to put them in the air.  The same is true of the army, and navy.  When the budget is being drained by a top heavy administration, there’s not much left for actual boots on the ground.

If you think of it from a business perspective, it’s not a good idea to have more staff at head office than you do actually doing whatever it is your company does.  That’s a recipe for disaster in the private sector.  In the Canadian Military, it’s business as usual.  The status quo has been institutionalized in the name of stability and a healthy dose of hidebound leadership.  Case in point, former Chief of Defense Staff Rick Hillier.

Hillier’s take on Leslie’s recommendations: “You try to implement that report as it stands and you destroy the Canadian Military.  You simply can’t take that many people out of Command & Control functions.”  Really?  How many bodies do you need in C&C per deployable person?  Apparently, the idea of a leaner more efficient military has yet to breach the fortifications around Ottawa.  While the deployable forces are tasked to do more and more with less and less, DNDHQ is doing a little bit more with a steadily growing mountain of resources.

Andrew Leslie’s own words seem like an appropriate wrap up.  “If we don’t do something along these lines, battalions will be disbanded, ships will be tied up and aircraft will continue to be grounded while headquarters continues to grow.”

Note to Defense Minister Peter McKay and current Chief of Defense Staff Walt Natynczyk: YOU SORTA NEED SOMEONE TO COMMAND & CONTROL!

Cheers, Winston

Tech Etiquette or Keep It In Your Pants When You’re Talking To Me!

On By WinstonIn Humor, Pop Culture, SocietyLeave a comment

Once again the fine people at Maclean”s have answered the perennial question, “What shall I write about today?” Thank you very much nice people. As you can see from the title, this post is all about tech and how we use it. Specifically, it’s about portable technology and how we use it to abuse those around us. Because so many people seem not to have figured this out, it seemed worth sharing this quick set of guidelines.

Here at the LakeArt Institute For The Advancement Of Simple Simplicity (Proud Developers Of The V.A.P.I.D. Goal Setting System) we have a mission. Our motto is “Making Simple Things Simpler For The Simply Simple-Minded”. Our products are geared to those for whom the Herculean task of understanding even the simplest thing is just too much effort. If you or someone you know falls into this group, DON’T PANIC! We’re here to help.

** If you are on call twenty-four/seven in some sort of emergency or life-saving capacity, you are automatically exempt from the following guidelines. For the rest of you, stop texting for a minute and pay attention.**

1. If you are in the presence of actual human beings with whom you are interacting, they take precedence. Before any of you scream “Heresy!”, let me clarify. I know you paid a lot for your techno-thing and you want to get your money’s worth. I get that. You just need to keep in mind that everyone else paid just as much for theirs so they don’t care at all about yours. When in the presence of actual people, turn it off/down. If you absolutely must use it in public, excuse yourself, move away and then phone/text/send pictures of your naughty bits. When you have finished, put it away and rejoin the real world.

2. Treat your techno-thingy like your private thingy. Dont’t whip it out and wave it around in public. While you may think your techno-thingy/thingy is the most impressive one in existence, others probably will not share this view. Even those who are awestruck by the size of your display will likely pretend otherwise (although they may discreetly ask for your number later). Use of your techno-thingy during dinner/movies/social gatherings should be treated like urination. It should only be done when absolutely necessary. It should be done as far away from others as possible. And remember that no one wants to hear about it when you return.

3. Just because you can share doesn’t mean you should. You know what I’m talking about. Those late-night, drunken posts about how desperately you need to get laid. Or anyone who has ever posted a Lolcat. Or anything else that you are the only person on God’s Earth who might give a crap about. Oh, and that also includes anyone who sends pics of their naughty bits. I know that when you are far from the one you lust for it’s nice to think of them ogling a picture of your bits. Just keep this in mind. If they can’t remember what you look like naked, they probably aren’t going to remember your name either. Unless you get it tattooed on your bits.

(On a related note, a recent survey found that ten percent of people under twenty-five feel it’s okay to text during sex. Here’s a tip for them. If you’re thinking clearly enough to find your phone, let alone text, YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG!) If you were surprised when you read this and made some very rewarding changes in your life, you can thank me later.

4. If the person you are phoning/texting/sending pictures of your naughty bits to is that that important to you, invite them out to dinner/movie/club. That way they too can have the opportunity to be all impressed by your techno-thingy while you ignore them. Of course, there’s a fifty/fifty chance that they will also be playing with their techno-thingy. If they are, that doesn’t make it okay for you to do the same unless the two of you are totally alone. Here’s some basic math for you. One Total Tool + One Total Tool is not equal to Zero Total Tools. When in public, 1TT+1TT=2TT. Two Total Tools are in fact more annoying than One Total Tool. The formula is pretty simple. Annoyance = Number of Total Tools * Number of Non-Tools within earshot * the Relative Importance of the meal/movie/event to the Non-Tools.

So there you have it. A simple guide to Tech Etiquette. You are probably not the most important person in the universe. The people around you don’t really care about your half of your drama. The glow from you phone makes me very angry when I’m watching a movie in a dark theater. If your text is that important that it can’t wait for the end of the movie: Leave. Fill in the same sentence for meal, party, get together, sunset, cuddle time, etc. Yes, that includes sex too!

Remember. If no one is about to die. Keep it in your pants when you talk to me!

Cheers, Winston