Check your riding- see if you can help topple the Tories.

 Vote splitting between Liberals, New Democrats and Greens has allowed Conservatives to win many ridings with a minority vote. Check your riding- see if you can help topple the Tories.

Given that the Greens, NPD and Liberals are all generally more similar in policy than the Conservatives, here is a list of ridings where a strategic vote might help topple the Tories. I am not playing favourites. My goal is to minimise Conservative winners- For example, Liberals and NDP supporters should vote for Elizabeth May in Saanich Gulf Coast, otherwise the incompetent Conservative Minister, Gary Lunn(Co-author of the Chalk River nuclear reactor fiasco) will stay in office.



This information is drawn from ThreeHundredEight.com so you can check my information. If you didn't see your riding, it is because a strategic vote probably wont make a difference. If your incumbent is NDP or Liberal, simply vote for them. Likewise, Independents. If this strategic vote pattern were followed, the NDP would gain 12 seats, the Liberals would gain 24 seats, and the Green Party would elect Elizabeth May.


The Conservative party would lose 36 seats reduced to 107 seats out of 308.

British Columbia


Burnaby Douglas- NDP need Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

Delta- Richmond East- Liberals need NDP and Green voters to defeat Cons


Fleetwood Port Kells- Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons


Nanaimo Alberni- NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons


Richmond- NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons


Saanich Gulf Islands- Green Party needs Liberal and NDP voters to defeat Cons


Surrey North- NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons


Vancouver Island North- NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

West Vancouver– Sunshine Coast- Sea to Sky Country- Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Alberta


Edmonton Center- Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Edmonton East- NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

Saskatchewan


Desnethé- Missinippi- Churchill River–  Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Palliser–  NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

Manitoba

Elmwood Transcona–  NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

 St.Boniface– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Winnipeg South–  NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

Northern Canada


Nunavut- Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Ontario
Brampton Springdale—Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons


Brampton West—Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Brant– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Essex– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Guelph–  Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Huron Bruce– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons


Kenora– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons


Kingston and The Islands– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Kitchener Center–  Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Kitchener Waterloo–  Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons


 London West- Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

 Oakridges Markham– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons


 Oshawa– NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons


Ottawa Orléans – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Ottawa West Nepean–  Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons(Please let's remove John Baird from office)

Simcoe Grey– Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons
  
Vaughn–  Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Welland–  NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

 New Brunswick

Fredericton – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Miramichi – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Saint John – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Nova Scotia

Central Nova – NDP needs Liberal and Green voters to defeat Cons

South Shore St.Margaret's – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

West Nova – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Prince Edward Island

Egmont – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Newfoundland & Labrador

Random - Burin - St.Georges – Liberals need NDP  and Green voters to defeat Cons

Nuclear vs Solar

The tragedy of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan have now raised the threat of nuclear radiation escaping from nuclear reactors melting down and releasing atomic radiation into the air. This danger, along with the difficulties of storing used and highly radioactive fuel and materials have long stymied the expansion of nuclear power. The Three Mile Island accident in the U.S. during the 1970's and the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1980's pointed to the danger that nuclear energy poses. How ever, the threat from chemical & fossil fuel energies have become apparent in the last 20 years. This danger, both to human health and the global climate have suggested that the only way to power our advanced technological civilization necessarily involves more nuclear power.

The argument arises from the assertion that wind and solar power are insufficient to provide the necessary energy. Given that wind arises from solar energy– the heating and cooling of air masses by the sun's heat– how much energy actually reaches earth?  And how much energy do humans use?

It is estimated that the earth receives 1.8 x 10¹⁷ Joules/s (1) or about 1.6 x 10²²Joules everyday from the sun. In contrast, humans consume about 4.7 x 10²⁰Joules(I derived this figure by converting the Tonnes of Oil equivalent provide by BP into joules). Elsewhere I have seen figures of total energy consumption a magnitude smaller. So total human energy consumption seems to range between a 1/10 of a percent and 1 percent of solar energy. So why can't we gather that energy? It would require turning over 1 percent of the earth's surface to energy production with up to 3 percent to accomodate population growth and increased demand. On the other hand, we wouldn't be injecting an extra 1 to 3 percent of the energy the planet's ecology has evolved to cope with, with the attendant pollution.

So if we want to maintain the lives we enjoy, we either have to accept the dangers of nuclear radiation or that massive changes as we incorporate solar, wind and wave power.  



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(1) http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/qa_sun.html#sunenergymass

http://www.vaclavsmil.com/publications/

Microblogging

So I signed up for a Twitter account, and use it to update my Facebook status. The thesis continues apace- starting the fifth, concluding chapter tomorrow. finishing the dense conclusions of chapters 2 & 4 today.

Had a nice German-style breakfast of sausage, strong coffee, a croissant(let's hear it for Franco-German accord!) and a german beer. Since then I've been sorta reading and napping, after putting in a good few early hours on Lefebvre's the Production of Space and the countergaming chapter from Galloway's Gaming:Essays on Algorithmic Culture. My idea is that Wafaa Bilal's Domestic Tension performance was an example of both countergaming but also subverting current museological practice(countermuseology?) by reaching an audience with no investment or indeed an active disdain for contemporary art practices. This arises from the paintball gun that was the central element of the performance acting to tie together the space produced by the overlapping of the gallery, the art community that supported Bilal in Chicago during the performance, and the space created by the web-based actions- Youtube, chatroom and remote control of the paintball gun via the internet.

Now, does that all make sense to you?