Saturday, November 29, 2008

The Banff Mtn Film Fest Trailer has arrived!

Boo-yeah! I love the slacklining.

 
 

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via Algonquin Outfitters web log by Gordon Baker on 11/29/08

Tickets are on sale now for the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour in Huntsville!

Please note there are two shows, on Tuesday, January 20 and Wednesday, Jan. 21. Different films are shown each night. I recommend going to both! No, I haven't picked the films yet but will in the next two weeks or so. Check this blog later for a list if you would like more details on the films being shown in Huntsville.

Tickets are available at the Algonquin Theatre box office at 37 Main St. E., on-line at algonquintheatre.ca or by calling the theatre box office at (705) 789-4975, or 1-888-696-4255, ext. 2352.

Here's a teaser - check out the always exciting World Tour Intro Video:


 
 

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Friday, November 28, 2008

Don't You Hate It When Your Own Words Come Bank...



 
 

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via CalgaryGrit by calgarygrit on 11/28/08

April 18th 2005
On Monday, Valeri said he would cancel a Conservative opposition day motion because setting opposition days is the responsibility of the government, not the opposition parties.

That provoked outrage from Conservative Leader Stephen Harper who met with reporters Monday evening on Parliament Hill to denounce Valeri and the Liberal government.

"I think they are just signing their own death warrant," Harper said. "This is the kind of behaviour a government does when it is scared to death of the electorate.

"It is not up to the government in our system to decide whether an opposition motion is order or not. It's up to the Clerk and the Speaker. Our motion was in order. We don't have to get the approval of the government to express dissent.

"When a government starts trying to cancel dissent or avoid assent is frankly when it's rapidly losing its moral authority to govern."


About an hour ago:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has delayed for a week a confidence motion vote that could bring down his government.

 
 

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Harper plays chess... while Rome burns

finally, and about time, someone puts it right.

 
 

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via inkless-wells « WordPress.com Tag Feed by Paul Wells on 11/28/08

Well, I looked. There's not a line about changes to political party funding in the risible excuse for a platform Stephen Harper released in the last few days of what I had been calling, perhaps prematurely, "the campaign of 2008," with no 's' on campaign. But then, the 2006 platform didn't have a word about senators in cabinet either. The immediate post-election period is Harper's favourite time for little surprises, so he can show everybody what a super-genius 3D Vulcan chess master he is.

But you know, it's a funny thing. I've heard from a lot of people since the election, I did Q&A sessions at two speaker gigs where people from politics and business asked a lot of questions about how Harper would handle the current economic storm. And not a one of them said, "Is he going to do something clever to wrong-foot the opposition? I sure hope he'll be clever. Our sales are collapsing and we can't get any financing, so please tell me, Paul, that we're going to get some o' that old Vulcan chess from the tactical genius." No, that's not what people have been asking for.

The stock market is a bit of a mess these days. Every week another massive pillar of American capitalism collapses. The OECD and Kevin Page say we're headed for a deficit and probably a recession, and I profoundly don't care if Jim Flaherty disagrees, because he's not in the credibility business, is he? There's a religious gang war in the streets of the world's largest democracy and the latest quarterly report from Afghanistan suggests, as cheerfully as possible, that that benighted country is slipping a little deeper into the drain despite the most heroic efforts of our best men and women.

So you'd really have to be Stephen Harper to survey all of this wreckage and tell yourself that this is another excellent buying opportunity.

It's bad enough, as Heather Scoffield points out, that much of the world is taking a different policy track from Canada. Harper would be free and might be well advised to take a different path. But even Angela Merkel, the poster child of the anti-stimulus set, passed a budget this week. Barack Obama, meanwhile, had three news conferences in three days to put serious, serious people in charge of economic policy.

And Harper has not led any kind of anti-Keynesian resistance. In Peru on the weekend he called deficits essential. So on the economy as on the war in Afghanistan, he is now in the full-time business of spinning like a weathervane. But then, wars and jobs aren't what Harper's in politics for, right? No, he just likes to play chess.

So, drawing his inspiration from Jo Moore, the Downing Street spin doctor who thought 9/11 would be a "very good day" to get some embarrassing news releases out, Harper decided an economic crisis would be an excellent cover to use for a little political kneecapping. What could be more clever? That'll show them he's a serious guy.

So the real outrage of yesterday's economic "update" is not that it seeks to impose on most parliamentarians a change to funding rules that most of them would never ordinarily accept; it's that it accomplishes nothing else. It's that in the most dangerous economic times Canada has faced in 20 years if not far longer, this prime minister can't wipe the smirk off his face and grow up a little.

What comes next is beyond my ability to guess. The forces facing Harper do not look more encouraging, for me as a taxpayer, than the forces arrayed around Harper. But so what? Too much of our politics in recent years has been given over to warring camps who don't care what their guy does as long as he's their guy and he wins. A lot of the rest of us care less about the colour of the winning team so much as they desperately hope that whoever it is, he might take the job seriously.

At least since September, we have not been so lucky. Stephen Harper is my prime minister and for all I care he can go on being my prime minister as long as he cares and can win the little fantasy confrontations that so excite him. But he is acting like an idiot and I am ashamed of his behaviour.


 
 

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Tech in the Soo

Neat stuff going on in the north.

 
 

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mr. bon soo thinks tech in the soo is cool too

mr. bon soo thinks tech in the soo is cool too

I recently visited the Sault Ste. Marie Innovation Centre and Science Enterprise Algoma to check out this small community of tech innovation. Flying into the city, you're immediately greeted by their massive wind farm. Operating since 2006, Brookfield Power's Prince Wind Energy Project comprises 126 wind turbines extending over nearly 20,000 acres, and a total installed capacity of 189 MW. Up until a couple of weeks ago (with the opening of the 199.5 MW Melancthon Grey Wind Project in Shelburne, ON) Prince was the largest project in Canada.

If there are some common themes that link the innovative opportunities in this region, it's the community's support and adoption of new technology opportunities and the absence of NIMBYism.

Renewable Energy
On the renewable energy front, we see this in a number of projects in addition to the wind farm:

In EnQuest's case, the Niagara-based company encountered too many obstacles to set up the test plant in that region, and so looked to Sault Ste. Marie. When the key step to commercializing technology like this is proof-of-concept and demonstration, the ability to do so for an early stage venture like EnQuest means everything to their commercial development.

Health IT
We also see examples of a collaborative and tech-friendly community in the health sector and its adoption of health IT solutions. The Group Health Centre's electronic medical records systems was one of Canada's pioneers in this space, building its initial system in 1997. Now the EMRxtra project extends this capability to pharmacists, better integrating the city's circle of care. These capabilities provide a platform for further development of the health informatics sector, and SSMIC, in collaboration with Algoma University, the Waterloo Institute for Health Informatics Research is working on assisting to build that capacity. Toronto-based start-up Infonaut now has a new "Saultellite" office in Sault Ste. Marie in order to better leverage the capacity of the Community Geomatics Centre in further developing its infection control tools, applying GIS to hospital health decision-making.


Forestry Bioproducts

While the gaming and IT sectors continue to develop as newer entities in Sault Ste. Marie, the region's strength in forestry science is not to be discounted. This is evidenced by two companies that I visited, SITTM (aka Forest Bioproducts) and BioForest Technologies. SITTM's Greenstar Biorefinery System is a mobile, fully automated 1M L/yr batch-type biodiesel production unit, where the uniqueness of the system comes from the ability for the end user to cost-effectively and safely produce quality biofuel at a small scale from a variety of feedstocks. With Greenstar, SITTM offers people in remote or rural areas and developing nations a way to independently create clean fuel. BioForest Technologies has developed an insecticide based on a natural chemical, the active ingredient extracted from the seeds of the neem tree, as well as a novel injection system in order to more safely and effectively counter invasive forest pests like emerald ash borer. The revitalization of the area's forestry industry is also reliant upon a new focus on the production of other high-value chemicals from the forest through green chemistry and biorefining, whether those are pharmaceuticals from yew trees, or precursors to bioplastics and biopolymers.

All in all, there's some pretty cool stuff going on out there in the Soo.


 
 

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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

7 wonders of the modern world.



 
 

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via Indexed by Jessica on 11/26/08


 
 

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Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Is Swimming a Real Sport...

If nearly every record gets broken every year?

 
 

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via The Science of Sport by noreply@blogger.com (Ross Tucker and Jonathan Dugas) on 11/25/08

Swimming's credibility crisis: How FINA's blind eye is affecting the purity of the sport

The Beijing Olympic Games have come and gone. And with them, aided by technology including a uniformly deeper pool, improved wash-off areas, and high-tech swimsuits, so have 70 world swimming records this year.

In fact, swimming now suffers from such a dramatic credibility crisis that a race in which a world record is NOT broken is a disappointment. I dare suggest that you will be able to recall such a race in Beijing (though you may have to try hard, because there were not many). If an Olympic Gold was one without a world record being broken, it was met with rather disappointed silence.

Olympic fever - how bad was it?

The table below demonstrates just how easily records were broken in Beijing.

Out of a total of 32 events (16 men's and 16 women's), an incredible 21 events had world records broken a total of 25 times, and 66 Olympic records were set. Only ONE SINGLE Olympic record managed to survive for men and women. It was a complete clearing out of the Olympic (and World) record books.

That is, in my opinion, a problem for the sport of swimming - 70 world records in one year, and 66 Olympic records in one Games is not a symptom of a credible sport. I'm sure that some will disagree, but bear in mind that these 70 records are only the times of the WINNERS. There were races in Beijing where the first 5 finishers were swimming faster than the old world record! The South Africa 4 x 100m relay team, for example, swam almost a second faster than they swam only four years earlier to win gold in Athens, and they finished seventh!

Swimming records - an endangered species

Admittedly, there are other factors involved, and people will argue that this is a positive sign of progress. But consider the following:

The 100m freestyle record first went under 48-seconds in 2000. And then for eight years, 48-seconds was the magical "barrier" which only one man could break (Peter van den Hoogenband). Since the start of 2008, ELEVEN men have swum faster than 48-seconds. The result is that legends of the sport, whose position in all-time lists was secure, are suddenly line items in the swimming record books, forgotten and displaced almost overnight thanks not to improved swimmers, but improved technology.

That this should happen is not the problem - Paavo Nurmi and Jim Peters, two great long-distance runners from the past, can hardly expect to remain in the record books given the advances in technology over the last 50 years in their sport. The problem is the pace with which it has happened. Within one year, records have been forgotten, and the swimming world record is now an endangered species. And that is not good for the sport.

The lifespan of a swimming record

To look at this a little more objectively, I looked at the AVERAGE AGE (in days) of world records in the swimming events. The tables below show the age of men's and women's world records on the day that the Olympic Swimming events ended. The arrows on the left hand side show which events had their records broken in Beijing (these records are then "aged" zero days old for this analysis), while the red arrows on the right show the records that had stood for longer than 2 years going into the Beijing Olympics.



For the men's analysis, the average age of the swimming world records BEFORE the Beijing Games was 680 days. As a result of the carnage in Beijing's Water Cube, it fell to 382 days (because 11 events had their records reset to zero days). There are now only THREE records older than 2 years - the 100m Butterfly (Ian Crocker), the 400m Freestyle (Ian Thorpe) and the 1500m Freestyle (Grant Hackett).

On the women's side, it's even worse. The average age BEFORE Beijing was 921 days, though that was massively skewed by one record - that of Janet Evans in the 800m freestyle. That record was broken in Beijing (by Rebecca Adlington), and the result is that a female swimming record now has an average age of only 247 days. In other words, women's swimming records have on average been set in the last year. Only one record is older than 2 years - the 8 year old record of Inge de Bruijn in the women's 100m butterfly.

You may still believe this is not a problem, and that is, I guess, personal choice. The essence of the sport is the competition - the race - and so the times are the fineprint, you may argue. Does it matter that a gold is won in a time that does not rewrite the record books? Perhaps not. But as someone who comes from a track and field background, where world records are special and meaningful, swimming really does face a crisis of credibility. It can certainly not boast about a meeting in which 66 records are set - that's not progress. Rather, it makes a mockery of the past, or the present (depending on your point of view).

Who is to blame? FINA, quite simply

So the obvious question is who do we put this down to? And the answer, as we have actually been saying this whole year (this is a topic we covered extensively in the build-up to Beijing), is FINA, swimming's governing body.

FINA showed very weak leadership when first presented with the issue of the Speedo Swimsuit, and they have followed this up with even worse leadership on subsequent suits. You can read one such example here - it talks about the Rocketsuit, which very openly promises to make swimmers more buoyant. The article is well written and direct, and I agree entirely with its conclusion: "the sensible thing for FINA to have done would have been to call for a moratorium on suit approval so that sensible debate can ensue..."

The founder of the company that makes the Rocketsuit is quoted as saying "The Rocket Skin has already been used in triathlons for non-wetsuit legal races and we have seen performance advantages of up to 6 seconds per 100 meters and 1500 meter races done in 87 degree water with no issues of overheating". I feel safe in suggesting that this is probably marketing hype speaking, and we won't see a 42 second 100m freestyle in this suit!

But the point is, the technology exists, and FINA failed miserably to impose its admittedly weak laws on suit design back in April when they met about the suit. Now they must face the consequences. The trouble is, they don't seem to care.

Fortunately for swimming, some people do. The big nations, notably Australia and the USA, are actually pushing to have these suits banned, and hopefully, they'll carry enough clout to do something. Otherwise, every single time a big meeting is held, we'll see a repeat of the Beijing result, and swimming's world records will move from one meeting to the next with little chance of survival. Again, that may be fine with some. I find it hard to swallow...

Ross

P.S. Looking at those lifespans of the swimming world records raises some interesting thoughts, and perhaps you've already begun wondering how swimming compares to track and field? Never fear, I've done that analysis too, and I'll post on that next! And it throws up a few very interesting implications! So join us then!
The Science of Sport Dr. Ross Tucker Dr. Jonathan Dugas


 
 

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Thursday, November 20, 2008

Map of the Week: Impaired driving, part 1



 
 

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via Map of the Week by Toronto Star on 11/20/08

This week starts our two-part series on impaired driving.

The map shows the top 20 of Ontario's 523 postal areas for driver's licence suspension for impaired driving in 2007. I excluded two low-population areas.*

There are several distinct clusters:

Northwestern Ontario stands out, with Sioux Lookout (#1 on the list), Kenora and Fort Frances all in the top 20.

Communities in the Muskoka-Parry Sound area have four places in the top 10.

Two postal areas in and around Brockville are in the top 20.

Both of Cornwall's two postal codes are on the list.

Preston and a nearby Cambridge postal code are #20 and #19, respectively.

The information was obtained from the Ministry of Transportation under freedom-of-information legislation. It is taken from the database that supports this program (scroll down to Immediate Licence Suspension).

Using the FOI process sometimes seems to imply some tension between a journalist and a branch of government. That is certainly sometimes the case. However, in this instance, the MOT very helpfully threw in the age and sex of the suspended drivers, data I hadn't thought to ask for.

Here is what we learn from this extra information:

The male-female ratio is about 7:1 (14,551 to 2,365).

The age graph is surprising. There are very few teenagers. The graph rises steeply at 20, peaks at 23, declines gently after that point, then starts to rise again at 40, hitting a second peak at 45. After that point, it shows a clear second decline.

Click on the chart to see the full image.

In part 2, which may or may not run next week, we will look at the impaired driving map of the GTA.

Map may display better in Firefox.

* L0H (Gormley), with five suspensions and a population of 713, and K1P (central Ottawa) with two suspensions and a population of 396.


 
 

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Backyard Trees Made Possible by LEAF

Free, custom-fitted trees

 
 

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via blogTO by joshua on 11/20/08

LEAF Tree PlantingToronto environmental non-profit LEAF (Local Enhancement and Appreciation of Forests, for those of you scoring at home) has been planting trees in people's backyards since 1996, but mostly under the radar of Toronto's best green services or organizations. Although known especially for their backyard tree planting, LEAF also runs workshops and training sessions, gives tree tours and organizes the popular Leslieville Tree Festival each year. But for those of us thinking about planting a tree - and the fresh white stuff on the ground sure makes it hard to think ahead to spring - LEAF is still doing consultations this year to get ready for next year's plantings.

The process is straight-forward, and the cost is minimal: $80-120 for most trees, all inclusive. Considering you pay more, often much more, at the typical tree retailer, the partially subsidized not-for-profit offerings from LEAF sound pretty good. Plus they send out a certified arborist to ensure your tree will succeed, and they strongly encourage native species. So you won't just have any tree in your yard, but a tree that was meant to be in your yard.

Fresh off a move to the new Artscape Wychwood Barns, passionate and certified arborist Sarah Lamon took some time to answer a few questions about LEAF, tree plantings and her favourite tree in the city.

More...


 
 

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Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Seven more things you need for your computer

Any other suggestions?

Global Warming? What Evidence Do You Have?



 
 

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via The Big Picture by Barry Ritholtz on 11/17/08

I'm no expert, but a century worth of data shows the change in global temperatures:

>

Global Annual Mean Surface Air Temperature Change


Source: NASA

~~~

Global Air Temperature

Source: Climatic Research Unit : Information sheets

~~~

Global Temperatures of the Last Five Centuries

Source: NOAA Paleoclimatology Program

~~~

Global Glacier Thickness Change

Source: The National Snow and Ice Data Center, Cryospheric Research Since 1976 University of Colorado

~~~

Sea Ice Decline Intensifies

Source: The National Snow and Ice Data Center, Cryospheric Research Since 1976 University of Colorado

~~~

Sea Level Change

Source: University of Colorado at Boulder

~~~

Proxy Temperature Studies

Source: NOAA


 
 

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Monday, November 17, 2008

"This should end well" dept.

Can we start a dead pool please?

 
 

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via Daimnation! by damian on 11/17/08

A German university professor - and convert to Islam - says Mohammed may never have existed. And he doesn't appear to be suicidal:

Muhammad Sven Kalisch, a Muslim convert and Germany's first professor of Islamic theology, fasts during the Muslim holy month, doesn't like to shake hands with Muslim women and has spent years studying Islamic scripture. Islam, he says, guides his life.

So it came as something of a surprise when Prof. Kalisch announced the fruit of his theological research. His conclusion: The Prophet Muhammad probably never existed.

Muslims, not surprisingly, are outraged. Even Danish cartoonists who triggered global protests a couple of years ago didn't portray the Prophet as fictional. German police, worried about a violent backlash, told the professor to move his religious-studies center to more-secure premises.

"We had no idea he would have ideas like this," says Thomas Bauer, a fellow academic at Münster University who sat on a committee that appointed Prof. Kalisch. "I'm a more orthodox Muslim than he is, and I'm not a Muslim."

[...]

Prof. Kalisch, who insists he's still a Muslim, says he knew he would get in trouble but wanted to subject Islam to the same scrutiny as Christianity and Judaism. German scholars of the 19th century, he notes, were among the first to raise questions about the historical accuracy of the Bible.(via The Volokh Conspiracy)

Many scholars openly question the existence of Jesus Christ and the veracity of the Old Testament, and Kalisch should have every right to promote his provocative theory about Mohammed. (To their credit, many European academics - including several Muslims - have risen to his defence.)

That said, questioning the existence of Mohammed - not whether he was a prophet, but whether he existed at all - seems more like questioning whether L. Ron Hubbard really existed:

Many scholars of Islam question the accuracy of ancient sources on Muhammad's life. The earliest biography, of which no copies survive, dated from roughly a century after the generally accepted year of his death, 632, and is known only by references to it in much later texts. But only a few scholars have doubted Muhammad's existence. Most say his life is better documented than that of Jesus.

Damian P.


 
 

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Model this in the forecast...



 
 

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via Daimnation! by markc on 11/17/08

The bigger industry picture is being noticed at last:

The failure of one or more of Detroit's Big Three automakers would put a huge initial dent in American manufacturing, but in time foreign car companies would pick up the slack by stepping up production in their plants here, many industry experts and economists say.

Whether Washington should let that play out — risking hundreds of thousands of jobs — is a central question Congress will weigh this week as it hears testimony from Detroit leaders who are pushing for immediate federal intervention, before the next administration takes over in January.

"Barack Obama has made it clear he understands the importance of the industry. The question is, do we get that far?" Ron Gettelfinger, head of the United Auto Workers, said in an interview Friday, raising the prospect of a General Motors bankruptcy. "At this juncture, we are in a crisis that could have a major negative impact on this country."

But many industry experts say the big foreign makers are established enough to take control of the industry and its vast supplier network more quickly than is widely understood.

"You would have an auto industry in the United States more like that of Mexico and Canada: foreign-owned," said Sean McAlinden, chief economist at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., which describes itself as a nonprofit organization that has "strong relationships with industry, government agencies, universities, research institutes, labor organizations" and other groups with an interest in the auto business...

This is related:

Why Bankruptcy Is the Best Option for GM

Meanwhile, there's a canary sniffing around the Pentastar:

EDC's Chrysler action signals growing fears

Agency declines to take new requests from parts makers to insure receivables

And a canary chez le General:

GM to sell stake in Suzuki to raise cash

Mark C.


 
 

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The Obama administration: Here's your briefing book. Better pack a lunch

For Emile and Joel.

If you wanted a heads up on the short, medium and long term direction of the Obama gov't, it's hiding in plain sight.

 
 

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via inkless-wells « WordPress.com Tag Feed by Paul Wells on 11/17/08

So here's the thing. I interviewed Jim Prentice today for a piece a few of us are working on, about the shape relations between the Harper government and its looming Obama counterpart might take. The environment minister named three people who have been leading on climate-change policy for the Democrats. I nodded sagely, then ran back to the office and googled their names. All three are affiliated with the Center for American Progress, a centre-left Washington think tank.

But it's rather more than that, actually. Under John Podesta, Bill Clinton's last chief of staff, the Center for American Progress has been described by one of Washington's finer reporters as a Democratic government-in-waiting. And here's how it can be useful to you, the incredibly wonky Inkless reader.

Last Wednesday the Center for American Progress released a book purporting to be a proposed policy agenda for the Obama administration. The damned thing has 57 chapters. Ten are available free online. And there is streaming video from five sessions at the day-long conference they had to launch the thing, cut up by files including foreign policy, energy and the environment, and the economy.

A think tank isn't a government, but when it comes to Podesta's group, the lines are intentionally blurrier than they usually are. Podesta is one of three people running Obama's transition, after all. I leave this trove of insider counsel to you, to dip into or devour according to your preference.


 
 

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Parliamentary Budget Officer: The sequel, baby



 
 

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via inkless-wells « WordPress.com Tag Feed by Paul Wells on 11/17/08

From the Inkless emailbox:

From: Page, Kevin
Sent: November 17, 2008 4:36 PM
To: - SEN SENATORS' OFF/BUR. SENATEURS; MEMBERS' OFFICES/BUREAUX DES DÉPUTÉS
Cc: - BLOC: CENTRE DE RECHERCHE ET DOCUMENTATION; - CONSERVATIVE RESEARCH/RECHERCHE CONSERVATRICE; - LIBERAL RESEARCH BUREAU; NDP Research; Nyhuus, Ken; Gallagher, Bob; Boyer, Sylvain

Subject: PBO Economic and Fiscal Assessment / Évaluation économique et fiscale du DPB

Le français suit

As the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) one of my key responsibilities is to inform you of developments in the nation's finances and trends in the national economy. In meeting the commitments of my mandate, I intend to provide to you with timely assessments of the Canadian economy and federal finances.

I would like to invite you or your designate to a closed meeting to present and discuss my first report.

Date and Time: Thursday November 20 at 9:00 am
Location: Room ___, Centre Block

It is my hope that this report will provide you with helpful information and analysis as you begin to prepare for upcoming budgetary deliberations.

My economic and fiscal assessment will be followed by a technical briefing session open to the media, where my staff will be available to answer technical questions concerning the report.

I am also attaching a short briefing note that explains the process the federal government uses to prepare its economic and fiscal forecasts. This document is also available on our Web site at www.parl.gc.ca/pbo-dpb.
Sincerely,

Kevin Page
Parliamentary Budget Officer

I have inquired, and am given to understand that Mr. Page has neither sought nor received clearance from Parliamentary Librarian William Young for this latest sortie. Mr. Young won't be thrilled. In other words: It's on.


 
 

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California is burning

Some pictures of California wildfires from the Big Picture

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Global Real Estate Ratios

Nooooooooooo!!!!

 
 

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via The Big Picture by Barry Ritholtz on 11/15/08

Trader's Narrative has two excellent charts showing just how overpriced real estate remains on a global basis:

Median Home Price to Median Income Ratio

Purchase Price to Rent Ratio

Source:
Global Real Estate Ratios Show Extent Of Bubble
Trader's Narrative November 13th, 2008
http://www.tradersnarrative.com/global-real-estate-ratios-show-extent-of-bubble-2066.html


 
 

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MOvember



 
 

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via furmy.com by Jesse on 11/15/08

First, my bad.
I forgot about MOvember.  It wasn't until a friend hit me up for a donation that I remembered.

So I get a late start - Nov 13th.  No MO wastin'

Why?  To raise awareness (and money) for mens' health issues and encourage my friends and family to be proactive in getting, and staying, healthy.  The funds raised go to research and fight prostate cancer in Canada.

And also because it's loads of fun to grow a moustache (ask my Dad!)

Go here to make a donation to my MOvember campaign.
Online payment via credit card or PayPal, or mail a cheque in.


 
 

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