When it comes to lowering greenhouse gas emissions, every
business can make a difference, regardless of size. If you're a small, medium or large-sized business looking to reduce your greenhouse gas
emissions, here are four key steps to get you started:
Step 1: Know
your carbon footprint baseline: Every plan needs a place to start.
Today there are internationally recognized standards, like ISO 14064-1
that are a good starting place for organizations wanting to establish
their existing GHG inventory or carbon footprint baseline.
Step 2: Establish
a credible carbon footprint plan: There are several online registries
that are an excellent resource for companies looking to develop or
improve their carbon footprint plan. They can provide a framework for
reporting an organization's GHG inventory. They also provide
information about what other leading edge organizations are doing to
improve their carbon footprint.
Step 3: Track
and document improvement: Once your business has quantified its carbon
footprint you can begin identifying opportunities to implement and
track emission reductions and improvements. The Canadian Standards
Association's GHG Clean Projects Registry provides a framework and a
website for reporting project-based GHG emission reductions based on
accepted international standards. Standards also exist to help
establish credibility for the carbon reduction improvements through
independent verification.
Step 4: Achieve
recognition and reward: In addition to the potential to increase
efficiency and reduce energy costs, the ability to showcase the success
of your GHG reduction plan and receive public recognition can bolster
your company's reputation, and generate competitive and shareholder
value. There are online registries available that are perfectly suited
for this purpose.
This
week we've brought you something important, but often ignored. The
increasing privatization and commodification of schools and education,
not just in North America but from vistas all over the world.
A team of university students from York University have voiced
their scholarly opinions on the growing trend of private schools and as
a high school teacher myself I am quite worried about this trend.
I
taught chemistry at a private school in Richmond Hill (Ontario, Canada)
briefly and it was not a pleasant place in retrospect. Dress code alone
was almost intolerable. Apparently I can't wear sandals when I teach
but high heels are perfectly acceptable.
I now teach at a Toronto high school and despite the larger classes
and the smaller computer labs, overall the students are basically the
same. They may not have parents who pick them everyday in the family
SUV, but their reasons for being there remain the same. They all
struggle to learn, most of them want to be there and they are all
looking forward to college, university and/or the future.
The one defining difference is that some of the private school
students have a sense of snobbery, that somehow they are superior just
because they have wealth and a supposedly better education (although
seriously, the margin of difference can be measured in the size and
shape of the computers and computer monitors in the classrooms/labs).
To me private schools are a matter of wastefulness and prestige. They
don't get you from diapers to university better than a regular school,
they just get you there in luxury.
The problems these days however is that there is a growing trend
(pressure from the private school industry) to create more private
schools and buyout/convert public schools into private schools. Corrupt
politicians who favour private schools for their own children are part
of the problem. They see the results of their own children going
through private schools and assume falsely that the private school is
better.
Private school students have more free time, better computers, more
complete libraries and pricier sports equipment and more school trips.
Those things can make a difference in how much a student learns and how
motivated they are to learn, but it is no guarantee they will learn to
be successful in life.
And while we waste all that precious cash on wealthy kids what is
happening to the impoverishing children who don't even have computers
and barely have enough food to eat, let alone cash for the latest
school trip? Poverty is a real threat these days and the more we ignore
it the larger the problem becomes. Poverty and lack of education leads
to crime, destitution, welfare and beggars on the streets.
Many criminals can trace the root of their problems back to school
when they were basically told they were too poor / too average
intelligence to ever amount to anything of value. Wealthy parents will
have little problem sending their kids to university or college (no
matter how brain dead their kids are) and the smarter kids will get
bursaries and scholarships to go to the schools of their choice. So
where does this leave the poor and average students?
It leaves them in crippling debt or worse.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin Editor of the Lilith eZine
It is complicated. Cyber feminism is about two things: The internet, and technology in general. The first is how feminism spreads (and treated) on the internet whereas the later is more about how the female body interacts with technology (ie. cell phones, blackberries, television, radio, etc.).
Overall cyber feminism can make for some very complex and interesting discussions.
We've been getting a lot of submissions lately from university students talking about "Disaster Capitalism", based on the book "Shock Doctine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" by Naomi Klein.
We're not sure why so many university students are suddenly interested in writing on this topic. We think professors just made the book mandatory reading.
So is this just a fad? We don't think so. When university professors pick books for mandatory reading they don't choose them lightly.
March 23rd 2008 - The Sunday Edition The Lilith eZine Sunday Edition
Letter from the Editor
The next 12 years are going to be exciting ones.
It
is not like the 1960s when people thought we'd be driving flying cars
or visiting Mars for our vacations. No, now we have much more practical
aspirations. We're going to communicate more through the internet, text
messaging and cell phones will become increasingly cheaper and
affordable world wide.
We're going to watch the rise of hydrogen power filling stations
across continents and car manufacturers switch to a clean burning fuel
that doesn't pollute. A whole new hydrogen industry which will bolster
electricity production and renewable energy.
We're going to see the world develop less borders, not more. The
success of the European Union has shown that there is economic benefits
of working together. South America, Africa, Asian and Middle Eastern
countries are already discussing trade unions. Immigration between
continents (and the flow of communication) will become more commonplace.
We're going to see education, literacy and women's rights slowly
spreading across the poorest nations of the world. It won't be rapid
progress (it never is) and there will be roadblocks and problems along
the way, but like Pandora's box it is something that has been unleashed
and is unstoppable.
We're also going to see governments stop playing this stupid game
of global warming "denialism". There will still be scientific stooges
from the oil and coal industries that deny it, but with time (and lots
of wild weather and droughts) politicians and people will see that
we've made some disastrous mistakes and now we have to change our ways.
The economic consequences of ignoring it will outweigh the economic
benefits of using cheap coal to make electricity (coal-electricity
plants is responsible for roughly 30% of greenhouse gases).
This era of inter-continental trade will begin to take its toll on
the economy. Already the United States is feeling the effect of cheap
consumer goods from China and overseas. Continents need to learn to
trade amongst themselves and form continental trade unions. It may be
cheaper to build things in Malayasia, but it is not worth it when you
could build the same products in Mexico or Canada and still reap the
economic benefits in the same continent. We will still be trading raw
materials like wood, minerals and metals, but we need to stop
outsourcing our manufacturing needs to other countries. It may take
longer to realize this, but it is something governments should be
thinking about.
Lastly there is the issue of technology. Mankind has made some
dramatic steps in the last 12 years in terms of genetics and DNA
research. Scientists just this month discovered how to prevent
blindness in mice. Will we be seeing a future that blindness is no
longer a problem? I don't know. We will make small steps over the
years, but we will likely see some dramatic results.
I personally think that we need to be studying the DNA breakdown in
cancerous cells from samples taken from cancer patients. I think there
is a lot of potential to learn how cancer and DNA effect each other and
we can possibly find solutions and cures wherein we could discover the
direct causes of cancer (different types of toxins and toxicity levels
in the cancerous cells) and maybe even reverse the effects of some
kinds of cancer.
Scientists have already determined that there is a direct link
between toxicity in our air, water and food and the amount of cancer
cells in our bodies. Regular smoking for example roughly doubles a
woman's chance of developing breast cancer. Which is silly frankly. Why
smoke cancer-causing cigarettes when scientists have already managed to
create Smokeless Cigarettes? All the nicotine without the carcinogenic smoke.
Surely if we can make smoke-free cigarettes that scientists can
think of other ways to better our society? It is whether governments
pay attention however that is the problem. Sometimes the public has to
shout really loud to get politicians to pay attention.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin Editor of the Lilith eZine
America in worst recession in 40 years FIVE REASONS TO WORRY:
1. The collapse of Bear Stearns, America's 5th largest bank and investment firm, has collapsed and been bought out by J.P.Morgan Chase & Co. (America's 3rd largest). The global banking and financial sector have seen their assets dry up in the sub-prime/credit crisis and the economy is collapsing.
2. The American dollar has plunged to new lows and is slowly becoming worthless.
3. The housing collapse in the USA is fueling widespread unemployment as the sub-prime mortgage crisis effects other sectors such as construction, automotive, manufacturing and others.
4. Foreign investors are "decoupling" themselves from the plunging US economy and investing in superpowers China, India and the EU.
5. American stores have been flooded with cheap Chinese goods that are pushing American manufacturers out of business (or forcing them to move to Asia). The squeeze between cheap goods from overseas and the collapsed housing sector places American manufacturers between a rock and a hard place and makes it very difficult for them to stay profitable.
And these don't even take into account America's two wars to pay for (which means higher taxes/national debt in the future), America's 8 trillion national debt and oil prices over a hundred dollars per barrel.
Brent Chua Fans
We've received a lot of comments regarding our recent Brent Chuasupermodel posting.
The attention directed to Brent Chua (and our new site) is a bit mind boggling. Indeed, if you Google Brent Chua our website is already in the top 20 (place #14 on a regular search, #12 if you use quotations around his name). That is pretty impressive. Hopefully it will continue to go up.
What is more unusual about the Brent Chua posting is that we did it on REQUEST.
So if any of you gals out there want to request more male supermodels, all you have to do is tell us and we'll get a staff member working on it ASAP. Depending on the number of different requests it may take awhile.
American Economy continues slide into recession...
The American economic index collapsed again in February, for the fifth month in a row.
"The economy may be grinding to a halt," said Ken Goldstein, the
Conference Board's labour economist, in a statement. "Growth will be
weak this spring. A small contraction in economic activity cannot be
ruled out."
The stock markets slid rapidly yesterday, with commodity prices diving and stocks crashing. Oil prices dove briefly below $100 US for the first time in awhile, after reaching a height of $111.80 US. Gold prices dropped suddenly to $904.70.
Today's markets fared better, but otherwise there was overall a feeling of uncertainty as America's economic woes seem to keep piling up during this unusual recession.
When U.S. President George W. Bush launched Stealth bombers at
Saddam Hussein's regime on March 19, 2003, five years ago today,
roughly 60 per cent of Americans backed the war. Most were convinced
Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. Most believed he had ties to
Osama bin Laden, their 9/11 nemesis. And most felt sure Iraqi democracy
would rise phoenix-like and strong from the cinders.
Those
certainties have long since been exploded. In the twilight of the
failed Bush presidency Americans are left contemplating a ruinous $3
trillion bill for a
war former defence secretary Don Rumsfeld once haughtily predicted would cost
$60 billion. Nearly 4,000 U.S. soldiers have died. And U.S. credibility
internationally has suffered a devastating blow. Iraqis, meanwhile,
mourn 151,000 violent deaths by their own government's estimate, as
they struggle amid "tears and blood" to patch together the broken
political pieces, rebuild a civil administration and economy, bring
home millions of refugees, and fend off a stubborn insurgency and civil war.
Despite
the fears the Bush administration fanned at the United Nations before
attacking Iraq, there never was a pressing need for war, beyond Bush's
demand for "regime change" in an "axis of evil" state. And most
Canadians and much of the world knew it. The UN inspectors were right.
Saddam had long since given up his nuclear, biological and chemical
ambitions. Nor did he have the ties Washington claimed with the 9/11
attackers, who were from Saudi Arabia for the most part.
While
Iraq's new democracy led by President Jalal Talabani and Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki is incomparably better than Saddam's murderous Baathist
autocracy, it is also fractious, unstable and weak. It has yet to agree
on laws to hold Kurdish, Sunni and Shia regions together in some kind
of federation, or on a plan to fairly divvy up Iraq's oil revenues.
Many Iraqis now live in mortal fear of a U.S. military pullout,
anarchy, and the breakup of their nation. If they break up into smaller countries they will undoubtably run into problems with corruption, fiscal mismanagement and possibly become training grounds for terrorist groups.
As leading U.S.
Democrats Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton recognize, the Iraq war has
also been a costly distraction from the effort to repair Afghanistan
after decades of Soviet occupation, civil war and Taliban misrule,
which included playing host to Al Qaeda. President Hamid Karzai
presides over a democratically elected but desperately weak government,
with insufficient military forces to preserve order. Bin Laden is still
on the loose. And the Taliban remain a threat. Meanwhile, 157,000 U.S.
troops are too busy in Iraq to help in Afghanistan.
When the
history of Bush's years in the White House is written, the accidental
president of 2000 will get due credit for rallying a shaken nation
after 9/11 and for confronting Al Qaeda and their Taliban hosts. But
Bush will be remembered as well as the president who scare-mongered
Americans into a debacle in Iraq that sapped their nation's psyche and
treasury, eroded its political and moral credibility, and misdirected
resources that were needed in Afghanistan to fight terror. Bush's attack on
Iraq defined a failed presidency.
And five years later today Americans are still tallying the cost.
Bush should have used the 157,000 troops currently stationed in Iraq to eliminate the terrorist threat in Afghanistan first and given weapons inspectors ample time to determine whether there was any need to attack Iraq.
Oil prices fall below $108 a barrel Oil prices fell below $108 a barrel for the first time in awhile. On Monday, oil hit a record trading high for a front-month futures contract at $111.80. But according to Platts Chief Economist Larry G. Chorn, this is only a temporary lull.
The rate reduction by the Federal Reserve "could result in oil prices rising to the
$112 to $115 (a barrel) range over the course of the next weeks,
assuming the other (Group of 10 industrial nations') central banks hold
their rates constant," Chorn wrote.
Oil prices are expected to soar to $120 to $150 during the summer driving period.
Eliot Spitzer
I'd like to take a moment and say I actually understand Eliot Spitzer paying $4000 to a prostitute to bind and whip him while he wore naughty school girl clothes and the working girl dressed in dominatrix garb. Stuff like that... well, you are really paying her to keep quiet on the matter (which she did do).
Paying for it with tax dollars however, and doing a shoddy job of covering it up... that is just pathetic and he deserved to get caught eventually.
I would hazard a guess his wife even knew that he liked to crossdress and get whipped by dominating women, but his wife just wasn't into that kind of thing.
I'd also like to thank the press and the media for being so quiet about the whole BDSM thing. When it was Bill Clinton people kept saying blowjob this and blowjob that, and oral sex, sex, sex. But this time around the media has been very hush on the topic, or perhaps that is because the investigators haven't been disclosing all the details just yet.
What is known is that Mr Spitzer was doing something "extra kinky" and it required the prostitute to travel on a train (instead of a plane) with luggage filled with whips, handcuffs, anal dildos and god-knows-what-else... so kudos to the investigators for keeping hush so far and only leaking minor details.
Frankly I can't get enough of the idea of Eliot Spitzer dressed up like Britney Spears and screaming "baby, hit me one more time" while the dominatrix whips him. F---ing hilarious!
I can't imagine why in the world the investigators and the press wouldn't want that all over the newspapers. Parents had a helluva time explaining oral sex 10 years ago during the Clinton/Lewinsky impeachment, now they would get the chance to explain why Eliot Spitzer likes to crossdress and get whipped for being a "bad little girl".
Bear Stearns Fallout and the American Recession
The collapse of America's 5th largest investment bank has badly shaken the American economy, which is already in a recession.
Bear Stearns stocks last week were worth $70 each and today went down to $2 each, and have been bought up by rival JP Morgan Chase for US$236.2 million.
Meanwhile the markets are also being rocked by massive recalls of faulty chinese products, most notably toys that pose a choking or poison hazard. The United States has a trade deficit with China and the communist country is destabilizing the American economy with mass amounts of cheap/faulty consumer goods.
Our advice? Buy Canadian or American products only. It is worth it to pay the extra amount for quality.
From the White House: George W. Bush says he will take "strong and decisive action", but his rhetoric failed to provide examples of what he would actually do. He said the White House would monitor the situation, which implies he is just waiting it out and continuing a "do nothing" approach when it comes to the US economy.
Meanwhile gold prices are soaring (as it usually does during a recession), reaching a new record: US$1,033.90.
March 16th 2008 - The Sunday Edition The Lilith eZine Sunday Edition
Letter from the Editor
Years ago I kept overhearing people talking about a hotel in Paris. I wondered why they kept mentioning the Paris Hilton
this, Paris Hilton that, until I eventually clued in... Oh, some idiot
billionaire named his daughter Paris Hilton, and she's one of the heirs
to the Hilton hotel chain.
The amount of media attention dedicated to Paris Hilton (and
Britney Spears) is ridiculous. Certainly we have better things to talk
about than some snobbish rich person's sex video and drunk driving
charges?
Like the war in Iraq. Or Afghanistan. Or the American Recession. Or obesity rates in Canada and the United States. Or global warming and climate change.
Except we can only take so much of such topics. Sometimes we just
want to tune them out and listen/watch/read something that is braindead
and vaguely humourous. That is where Paris Hilton comes in. She
satisfies the basic human desires of curiousity and mocking rich
people. It is entertainment in the lowest form, but we still enjoy to
mock celebrities and their mistakes (and in Paris Hilton's case mock
how she even became famous).
We should talk more about controversial issues, but will it do any
good in some instances? In many cases lengthy talks always end in
stalemates and nothing happens. Wars continue, the White House
continues to ignore the economy, fat people still eat more and more
because they're depressed and corporations refuse to change or slowly
change.
So reading the latest braindead gossip about Paris Hilton is
basically a favourite past-time for some people. It keeps their minds
off of issues that bother them, but can't do anything about. We can
protest the war all we want and demand George W. Bush pay more
attention to the economy, but Bush doesn't listen to polls, or protests
and doesn't give a shit about the economy.
But hearing the latest stupid thing a celebrity did brightens our
existence for the moment and take our minds off these pressing
concerns. We laugh, and laughter may not fix the economy or bring peace
to the world in a hurry, but it certainly helps. Paris Hilton reminds
us that we are human, alive and that we all make stupid mistakes.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin Editor of the Lilith eZine
What's in a Supermodel? Supermodels are weird creatures. They inhabit urban jungles and are hunted by fashionistas toting Visas and Gucci bags. Contrary to popular belief however, the supermodel is not extinct. During the 1980s supermodels were quite popular but during the 1990s they were nearly hunted into extinction by rival carnivores from the movie and music industries.
These days however supermodels seem to be breeding in mass numbers and are becoming popular again, despite society's tendency towards Vegan eating habits or over-eating. In order to keep the supermodel population down we recommend creating a supermodel hunting season complete with licenses to shoot (photographs) of these mysterious creatures.
Freak wave washes over Spanish town What has been described as a "freak wave" washed over a seaside town in Spain, turning over cars and frightening passersby.
Though
the waves broke Monday over the city of La Coruna, images and video of
the enormous wall of water didn't emerge until late in the week, El
Pais reported online Friday.
The wave was reportedly caused by a nearby storm that lashed the area and higher sea levels. No one was reportedly hurt in the incident.
Rising sea levels has Canadians concerned. The melting of polar ice caps has reduced pressure on the earth's crust causing the crust to buckle. Ocean levels have been rising dramatically, already up 20 cm in the last 50 years. Sea levels are expected to rise faster in the future, with an estimated 10 meter (30 feet) increase by 2030.
Oil prices near $110 US per barrel while US dollar slumps and America goes into Recession Oil prices skyrocketed again today, nearing $110 US per barrel.
The highest point was $109.72/barrel, a new all time record, even when adjusted for inflation. Learn more at Hundred Dollar Oil.
Part of the reason why the price is soaring so much is because the American dollar is becoming worthless, mostly due to the current American Recession. Unlike a normal recession the US economy is still growing in GDP (or at least holding stable), but the housing crisis and too much credit has created a credit crisis that undermines the actual value of American currency.
Think of it a bit like if someone pumped millions of dollars of counterfeit into the US economy, and then somehow the media found it. It would undermine the overall value of the American dollar and its value would plummet.
In this case however it isn't counterfeit (although technically speaking US currency is one of the easiest to counterfeit), it is simply too much credit. Americans have too many mortgages, too many credit cards and too much national debt. They rely on foreign imports from China and other nations and their own economy has become too service oriented and not enough actual manufacturing.
The result is that that the American dollar isn't actually worth much when you think about it. It is just paper after all. For decades its value has been boosted by strong overseas demand as banks used it as base currency because it was stable and strong. In this era of the Bush Administration however, with George W. asleep at the wheel, economic prosperity has been given a backseat and basically totally ignored while the White House focuses on international terrorism.
There was once a time when currency had to be backed up with actual substance such as gold in Fort Knox, but that era is long gone. Now a currency is valuable because the government and the markets say it is, but when a society bases most of its purchases on credit and isn't making enough to support those purchases the value of the dollar ends up plummeting.
Think of it like this: A group of Americans buys 120 million widgets for $1 each in a single year and pays for it with credit. They pay for the interest and the next year they buy another 120 million widgets and buy it on credit also, and keep doing it every year. They pay the interest on the widgets but they never actually pay it off. After 5 years they've bought 600 million widgets but have bought it on credit and have never paid any of the balance off, paying only the interest. Eventually the bank says: No. We're not giving you any more credit. You have no intention of ever paying us back in full.
Imagine if I bought your old TV, but instead of paying for it with gold or something of value I gave you an IOU instead. If I kept buying stuff with IOUs and never paid them off you would eventually say "Hey, these IOUs are worthless!"
Unlike the widget example above the IOUs don't gain interest. But what is the point of interest if the value of things keeps going up due to inflation? The price of grain, food, oil, gold, and other basic commodities are all skyrocketing in value, much higher than the actual rate of interest.
Imagine you have $10,000 in the bank and the yearly compound interest rate is 5%. Over a year you would get $500 in interest. But imagine for a moment if the value of food, gasoline and all commodities doubled in price in one year. Your $10,500 isn't really worth the same as it used to be... it is now worth approx. $5,250 in terms of actual purchasing power.
And so this is the situation the USA is in right now. Commodity prices are skyrocketing, which means our GDP is going up because prices are going up. But if you adjust the GDP to make up for the loss of currency value you realize what has really happened is the USA is now in a recession and just doesn't realize it because the numbers still look up, but they haven't clued in that the GDP's value has actually gone down.
In the last year the American dollar has dropped in value by approx. 18% compared to the Canadian dollar and the Euro (and numerous other commodities). So even though the US GDP increased 2.2% in 2007 in the amount of US dollars, the actual value of that GDP has shrunk by about 16%.
Couple that with a mortgage and credit crisis and the United States is in for a wild ride in terms of economics.
March 9th 2008 - The Sunday Edition The Lilith eZine Sunday Edition
Letter from the Editor
I know I've hit the nail on the head when I start getting a tonne of hatemail. It means I've provoked people to actually think about the subject and possibly have made some great insight.
In this case it is not so great as it is: "Why didn't I realize this sooner?"
For
over 11 years now I've been writing about feminist issues. Then back in
January I decided to go "behind enemy lines" and do some research. I
went to anti-feminist websites and started recording the major
complaints and keeping track of which ones were the most frequent
complaints. It was a non-scientific survey, but it garnered interesting
results.
Child support and spousal support ranked at the top, vastly
outnumbering all the other complaints put together. The complaints
included a variety of smaller comments about lack of money, that
spousal support was like "ex-husband slavery", that they weren't sure
if the kids were even theirs because they thought their
ex-wife/ex-girlfriend was a slut/bitch/c-word, that women are just
looking for free money/blank cheques, that they were tricked into
marrying their ex-wives, that their girlfriend forgot to take their
birth control pill and just wanted their money, etc.
Which made me realize that the anti-feminists, despite all the
posing and maliciousness, were mostly just a bunch of Deadbeat Dads
paying (or refusing to pay) child support.
So I wrote an article called "Dealing with Anti-Feminism" in which I explained my results. And then the hatemail started pouring in... from guess who? Deadbeat Dads.
Surprisingly they didn't refute my results. They didn't disagree at
all. Instead they just bashed me, told me to go back to the kitchen,
called me a lying c-word, a lesbian, compared me to Hitler (like WTF?)
and accused me of being a communist.
It all made me laugh and I pondered the question: How does
communist countries with dictatorships deal with deadbeat dads? I
believe the only remaining countries where this applies is Cuba and
North Korea. Do they execute them? Put them in work camps? Do they get
off Scot-free?
Somehow I doubt men in Cuba and North Korea are going around impregnating women without paying some kind of social consequence.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin Editor of the Lilith eZine
WebRing value for dollar.
We're increasing our funding to WebRing. We just sent WebRing another $24 and
have featured another 10+ of our webrings in various categories.
We're conducting an experiment to see just how good WebRing is at website promotion. Our hypothesis is that we will see a dramatic boost for only an extra $5 to $10 per month in advertising expenditures.
We've noticed previously (as mentioned in our February 16th post) that WebRing provides great value for dollar advertising.
Value wise WebRing provides about the same value as Google Adsense but at one quarter the cost.
We usually spend about $10 per month promoting our WebRings and we are increasing that amount to approx. $16/month while we conduct a 4 month experiment.
We currently receive about 5300 clicks per month from WebRing. We're expecting that number to go up to approx. 8000.
More importantly however, we think this added boost will also boost our Google ranking in search results. In 2007 LGN received over 1.3 million hits from Google searches. We're aiming for 2 million this year.
If our experiment succeeds we will be increasing our expenditures on WebRing dramatically.
Oil Soars to New Heights
On March 5th the price of oil soared to $104 US.
On March 6th it soared even higher, $105.97 US.
On March 7th (yesterday) it went to $106.54 US.
Oil prices are expected to soar even higher in the summer driving season, with estimates of $120 to $150, and even some analysts suggesting that geopolitical problems could push prices as high as $180.
Gasoline prices are expected to rise anywhere from 30% to 60% in the coming year.
Wow... those hybrid, hydrogen and electric cars sure are looking affordable now...
Experts predicting $1.40 gas / litre in Canada High energy prices will help oilpatch, but will hurt manufacturers and consumers, analysts say...
Gasoline prices in Canada could rise to about $1.40 a litre in a few
months if oil prices stay at current record levels and demand picks up
for the summer driving season, oil industry observers say.
Average Canadian gasoline prices were more or less steady at 111.60
cents per litre today, according to GasBuddy.com, a website that tracks
retail gasoline prices in Canada and the United States.
But the
cost of a barrel of oil surged to more than US$104 on energy markets
today after OPEC said it would keep global production steady for the
time being, despite U.S. calls to step it up.
Investors who had
also expected U.S. oil inventories to rise were also jolted by news
that there was, in fact, a decline in U.S. stockpiles of crude.
A fundamentalist Christian group called the
Canada Family Action Coalition has succeeded in convincing the Canadian
conservative government in passing a bill that will see tax refunds be
pulled for any movie that contains sex, violence or homosexuality...
basically anything that is remotely controversial. The end result is
that any Canadian film containing sex, violence or homosexuality will be censored.
A prime example is the movie "Breakfast with Scot", a comedy about
two gay men (one of which is a hockey player) raising a young boy.
On television today Charles McVety, the president of the Canada
Family Action Coalition verbally attacked the director of "Breakfast
with Scot", saying that the new bill would cut funding for such
controversial films that promote "gay propaganda". McVety
claims that the gay men in the movie molested the boy, but he obviously
hasn't even seen the movie at all. It is a COMEDY! Not a porn film.
So apparently gays and lesbians can get married in Canada, but we can't make movies about it?
Unlike
the United States, Canada has a very unstable film industry. We NEED
the government tax credits to make films in Canada. Without them our
directors and producers would make their movies in the USA or overseas
where it is cheaper.
Charles McVety argues that he
doesn't want his tax dollars going towards filth and pornography...
except Canada's porn industry doesn't get these tax credits (please
note they are TAX CREDITS, not tax dollars as he claims).
Currently, the federal heritage department tax credit
program excludes talk shows, game shows, advertising, corporate videos
and pornography from receiving tax credit support. The new bill would
also exclude films containing any sexual, violent or homosexual content.
Canadian actors and movie directors are not taking this action lying down.
Canadian
directors David Cronenberg and Sarah Polley are actively protesting the
proposed changes which are currently before the Canadian senate.
Under the new changes directors making any film that contains sex
or violence would be financially impossible. Canada's film industry
would fall apart and only boring non-controversial films would be made.
Anything controversial would have to be made in the USA or overseas.
It makes me so angry... I wish religious wackos would just mind
their own business. The rest of us still enjoy those movies and we have
rights too.
Invite
