Category: government

NEW – Patagonia National Park, Chile

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, hiking, travel1 Comment

Patagonia National Park — announced January 2018 — combined the Jeinimeni National Reserve (400,000 acres), the Tamango National Re􏰁serve (20,660 acres), and the privately􏰄-owned Patagonia Park (200,000 acres).

The part donated by Americans had been a sheep ranch.

Conservacion Patagonica, the organization founded by Kristine and the late Doug Tompkins of The North Face bought the the huge property in 2004 and had been returning it to natural state.

The sheep were sold but Gauchos offered work in the new Park.

Fences and invasive species were removed. Cows are long gone.

They donated it to the Chilean government.

I visited as part of a 6 hour tour out of Cochrane. Watching large numbers of guanacos running free was the highlight.

The Park Headquarters built by the Tompkins is first class, even better than Pumalin.

It includes a wonderful museum and library of essential conservation information.

I learned a lot.

Patagonia National Park should evolve to be the second best hiking destination on the Carretera Austral after Cerro Castillo.

Right now you still need private transportation to get to trailheads. No convenient hiker shuttle yet exists. IF only I still had a bike. 🙄

related – NY Times – With 10 Million Acres in Patagonia, a National Park System Is Born

important film – Minority Report 2002

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, internet, moviesLeave a comment

Minority Report is a 2002 American neo-noir science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg and loosely based on the short story “The Minority Report” by Philip K. Dick. …

The film’s central theme is the question of free will versus determinism.  …

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Eye in the Sky with Helen Mirren

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, moviesLeave a comment

Though gripping and fantastic, very few people saw this movie.

It’s got 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Eye in the Sky is a 2015 British thriller film starring Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman …

… the film explores the ethical challenges of drone warfare. …

It is the last live action film to feature Alan Rickman, who died in January 2016.  …

Terrorists are targeted in Nairobi, Kenya .

 

March For Our Lives – Welcome To The Revolution

On By Rick McIn firearms, governmentLeave a comment

Ban assault weapons.

Young people — including the Stoneman Douglas survivors — have to campaign for change. It’s their future.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Time’s Person of the Year 2018 – JOURNALISTS

On By Rick McIn ethics, good news, government, human rightsLeave a comment

Great decision in an era where dictators and toddler-dictator-wannabes call all criticism FAKE NEWS.

Time magazine’s 2018 Person of the Year title goes to the “guardians and the war on truth.”

The honour has been given to four journalists and a newspaper that Time says “are representatives of a broader fight by countless others around the world. …

The “guardians” are:

  • Jamal Khashoggi, the prominent Saudi journalist who was killed in that country’s consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2.
  • The Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Md., where five people were shot and killed at the newspaper’s offices in June.
  • Maria Ressa, a detained Philippine journalist who is head of independent news website Rappler​.
  • Reuters journalists Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, who have been jailed in Myanmar for nearly a year.​

CBC – Time names killed, jailed journalists as 2018 Person of the Year

Amal Hussain | dies of starvation age-7

On By Rick McIn ethics, government, human rights, photosLeave a comment

Most Canadians know very little about Yemen.

I’ve been there and left very discouraged. The Houthi rebels are terrible. The vastly stronger Saudi military brutal.

Little Amal Hussain was born into this disaster. She died a few days after this photo was taken.

She’s only one of about nearly two million children suffering from severe malnutrition in Yemen.

The only upside – U.N. sponsored peace talks.

Certainly Saudi Arabia and Yemen need to work this out. The USA should QUIT Saudi Arabia. All Americans are complicit in the role their government has in this war.

Listen to an interview with the photographer:

In the three years that Saudi Arabia, supported by the United States, has been at war with the Houthis in Yemen, very few journalists have been allowed into the country to document what’s happening there. The New York Times journalist Tyler Hicks is one. This is the story of how he came to take a photograph of Amal Hussain that drew international attention to the country’s plight.

The Daily podcast

NEW Calgary Public Library OPEN

On By Rick McIn books, government, product endorsementsLeave a comment

I’ll be spending time here.

Lots of wood. Natural light. A relaxed and inspiring space. Perfect for kids on a cold winter day.

The indigenous touches are nice.

With a FREE library card you can print up to $5 / month.

Click PLAY or watch an introduction on YouTube.

Click PLAY or see the weird and wonderful architecture on YouTube.

Click PLAY or watch the construction on YouTube.

I was only 70% if favour of spending tax dollars on a future Olympics. But I’m 100% for opening my wallet for the new library. It’s all good. I particularly like public transit train access on site.

CAD $245 million project was on time and on budget.

The Calgary Public Library (CPL) is the second most used system in Canada (after the Toronto Public Library) and the sixth most used library system in North America.

… one of the lowest per capita funding in the country, receiving as little as half the money of other Canadian public libraries …

Nexen, a Chinese government company, donated 1.5M dollars. If this is part of their Belt and Road initiative, I’ll take it. 🙂

It’s not all good.

  • Opening hours are still lousy. Sunday’s only 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm.
  • There’s no EASY free wifi. You need to log-in with your FREE library card.

related – ‘Spectacular’: A look inside Calgary’s new Central Library on opening day

the BUSINESS of American Politics

On By Rick McIn audiocasts, economics, ethics, governmentLeave a comment

I’ve followed politics in the USA since G.W. Bush was elected a second time in 2004. I had one question:

Why are so many Americans so stupid?

And why are Americans so close to a 50/50 split in so many elections.

Here’s one possible explanation. Many, MANY make a lot of money when American elections are close: lobbyists, consultants, media, broadcasters. They have incentive to try to keep it close.

In the most recent two-year election cycle, the political industry generated roughly $16 billion in revenue. Meanwhile, customer satisfaction — that is, from voters — is at a historic low. (Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty)

Freakonomics audiocast:

Some say the Republicans and Democrats constitute a wildly successful industry that has colluded to kill off competition, stifle reform, and drive the country apart.

America’s Hidden Duopoly (Ep. 356)