It's over

Malcolm Mayes cartoon - The Edmonton Journal

“The most Important thing in communication is hearing what isn’t said”. The Canadian electorate spoke loudly on Monday electing a majority Liberal government thus ending the rule of the Harper Government. Canadians were ready for a change, and that desire for change affected everything in this election. It’s not what the Conservatives said that influenced people, unless their intent was to get the voters to vote for other parties. Let’s look at some of these messages.

“Justin Trudeau is just not ready.” This is an odd argument to make. We can also add “Does he have the experience to be Prime Minister?” and “He’s way in over his head.” The first time any candidate gets elected Prime Minister they are going to be inexperienced, yet Canada has survived. While the Conservatives focused on trying to make Justin Trudeau look inexperienced and even foolish, people engaged with the candidate on a personal level. They liked him, so the questions backfired producing selective perception, with the viewers decoding these messages in a globally contrary way. As a result, the voters answered the questions in a positive way, not with the negative conclusions the Conservative Party thought they would:

• “Justin Trudeau is just not ready” became “Justin Trudeau is ready to be Prime Minister.”
• “Does he have the experience to be Prime Minister?” was answered with “He does have the experience to be Prime Minister.”
• “He’s way in over his head” changed to “He’s NOT way in over his head.”

At the end of the campaign the Conservative Party tried to focus on the tax increases the Liberal Party would have to bring in once elected. It was done with a bit of theatre with someone counting out the thousands of dollars it would cost while a cash register “dinged” in the background. It was supposed to make people afraid of tax increases, but this too missed the mark. The message was that the Liberals will start spending again to build infrastructure and create more jobs. After almost ten Conservative years of neglecting infrastructure and with cuts to services and programs, the Liberal party was a refreshing change. The Conservatives were telling us that they’re not done yet with all their cuts, in spite of some paltry promises to bribe taxpayers with their own money. The Liberals, on the other hand, were saying they would spend and even run a deficit for three years to get Canada back on track. For voters who had lost their jobs, or suffered from the closure of government offices, this was a refreshing change and the Conservatives supplied a nice visual to confirm this.

Now that the election is over and the Liberals have a majority government, and now that Steven Harper has resigned, the Conservative Party has purged their website of all election rhetoric and negative ads. But the ads and messages still survive on the Conservative Party of Canada Facebook page. As we all know, pictures and video live forever on Facebook. The attempt to induce electors to elect Conservatives out of fear did not work.

Democracy is the process of making your voices heard and being able to communicate with those in power. This is a lesson the incumbent, Stephen Harper, forgot. His loyal base was still there, but he forgot to count the 3 million extra votes of the people who wanted change, like students. This is a perfect illustration of why every vote DOES count, and a good argument for NOT using negative ads.

Works cited

Image used: Mayes, Malcolm. “Malcolm Mayes cartoons for October 2015”. The Edmonton Journal Website”.  http://edmontonjournal.com/gallery/malcolm-mayes-cartoons-for-october-2015. Web. 20-OCT-2015.

Quote used: Drucker, Peter F. “Leadership”. Reader’s Digest Treasury of Wit and Wisdom. Eds. Wertheimer et al. Montreal: The Reader’s Digest Association (Canada) Ltd., 2006. 199. Print.

Hawk, Ad. "Conservatives' Trudeau attack ads worked, but maybe not 'forever'". CBC News Website - Politics Webpage. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-election-2015-attack-ads-trudeau-conservatives-1.3270164/. Web. 20_OCT-2015.

Conservative Party of Canada Facebook Page. https://www.facebook.com/cpcpcc?fref=ts/. Web. 20-OCT-2015.

What about jobs?

Men reading the want ads in Toronto during the Great Depression

As I was listening the the election rhetoric from last night’s CBC broadcast, it seemed to me that the messages are becoming much more personal and are moving away from discussions about jobs and the economy. All three parties claim they will improve the economy and produce more jobs for Canadians, but in a Free Trade economy, I doubt if that’s even possible any more.

In a recent blog posted on Motley fool, titled “Made in America? Not Exactly for These 5 Popular Products”, the author is lamenting that products identified as American are not really made in the USA. These include:

1. Levi Strauss: the manufacturer now makes most of it’s high-quality Levi’s jeans overseas, but it has not diminished the popularity of the brand.
2. Apple: It’s no secret that almost all of Apple’s iPhones and iPads are made in China.
3. Nestle: Nestle now owns Gerber’s and virtually all that baby food is now made in places like Poland, Venezuela, and Mexico
4. Jared: Rawlings baseballs used in virtually all the Major League Baseball games are now made in Costa Rica, not in the United States. Most of the baseball bats used by the MLB, The SamBat, are made in Canada.
5. Mattel: Barbie dolls are all made in China.

If large American companies cannot stop the expatriation of American jobs, how can smaller Canadian companies resist the trend if they want to compete? We’ve already seen this happening even when there are no off-shore manufacturing facilities to lower costs. Bigger corporations simply gobble up smaller ones and then, because of the economies of scale, reduce costs and often also raise prices, and there’s little we can do to stop this especially if the company has a monopoly or a near monopoly in the marketplace.

For example, we have no more major Canadian beer companies. Molson Breweries, the company that gave us a beer named “Canadian” was established in 1786, but in 2005 it was merged with Coors to form the Molson Coors Brewing Company, and the worldwide head office was moved to Denver Colorado, although the Canadian Division is headquartered in Montreal. The Labatt Brewing Company was founded in 1847 but it too was taken over by Belgian brewer Interbrew and is now part of Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Tim Hortons, the quintessential Canadian company, which first appeared in Hamilton in 1964, was most recently merged with Burger King, which is controlled by 3G Capital who are majority shareholders of Burger King. Tim Hortons was previously owned by Wendy’s, another American burger chain. The Canadian government insisted the head office remain in Canada and so Burger King shut the offices in Dublin Ohio to move their American headquarters to Oakville in Canada.

We have become consumers who like cheap and our economy is controlled by companies whose sole purpose is to “drive up shareholder value”. Investors can no longer earn 20% or 30% investments from bank interest or bonds or the old mainstays of investments like oil companies. So they are branching out into areas they would never have even considered before.

Take for example the recent takeovers in the pharmaceutical industry. In the Wall Street Journal Article “Pharmaceutical Companies Buy Rivals’ Drugs, Then Jack Up the Prices”, one company, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc., increased drug prices by 212% to 525% overnight. The costs of manufacturing these drugs had not changed - just the owner. The price increases were more driver by shareholder greed to pay out higher dividends, than they were for any other business need. Other companies doing the same thing are included in this article.

The point I’m trying to make is that full-time, well-paying jobs are quickly disappearing in Canada and the United States as more and more companies use these behaviours to improve their bottom lines. It’s not that the jobs couldn’t stay in Canada, or that the products couldn't be sold at the same prices they sold for before the takeovers. It would just mean that the investors and wealthy shareholders would have to wait longer to build up their obscene cash piles instead of cashing in right away and then moving on to other targets.

Isn’t enough enough? Shouldn't we be taxing the excess profits and dividends that these tactics are creating? Shouldn't we be closing the loopholes that corporations and wealthy individuals use to avoid paying these taxes?

When all the good jobs have been exported from Canada and the United States and all that’s left are the service jobs at Tim Horton’s and Walmart, who are going to be the customers that shop there? We’ll be left with a society of the poor, the vast majority, who will only be able to afford to shop at the Dollar Store and Goodwill, and the ultra-wealthy who will be shopping at Starbucks, Holt Renfrew, Nordstrom’s and Tiffany’s. The huge disparity will create discontent and conflict. Some theorize that this forcing of people into unemployment and then trying to over-tax them, but not taxing the wealthy to pay their fare share, are the type of events that led to events like the French Revolution. In order to create a just and fair society, we need to achieve a better balance between the rich and poor and find a way to provide hope and survival to the middle class, and allow that group to thrive and even grow.

Works cited:

James, William (photographer). "File:Men reading the want advertisments for jobs, Melinda Street.jpg". Wikimedia Commons. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Men_reading_the_want_advertisments_for_jobs%2C_Melinda_Street.jpg/. Web. 1919. This image is available from the City of Toronto Archives, listed under the archival citation Fonds 1244, Item 526.

Williams, Sean. “Made in America? Not Exactly for These 5 Popular Products”. Motley fool website. http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/10/17/made-in-america-not-exactly-for-these-5-products.aspx/. Web. 18-OCT-2915.

"SamBat: The Original Maple Bat Corporation". SamBat website. http://canada.sambat.com/. Web. 18-OCT-2015.

"Molson Brewery". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molson_Coors_Brewing_Company/. Web. 18-OCT-2015.

"Labatt Brewing Company". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labatt_Brewing_Company/. Web. 18-OCT-2015.

 "Tim Hortons". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Hortons. Web. 18-OCT-2015.

"Burger King". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burger_King. Web. 18-OCT-2015.

"3G Capital". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G_Capital. Web. 18-OCT-2015.

 Rockoff, Jonathan D. and Silverman, Ed. The Wall Street Journal Online. "Pharmaceutical Companies Buy Rivals’ Drugs, Then Jack Up the Prices". http://www.wsj.com/articles/pharmaceutical-companies-buy-rivals-drugs-then-jack-up-the-prices-1430096431/. Web. 18-OCT-2014.

"Valeant Pharmaceuticals". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valeant_Pharmaceuticals/. Web. 18-OCT-2015

 "French Revolution". Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Revolution/. Web. 18-OCT-2015

Interviewing Paul

When I agreed to do some interviews for the new CUSS blog, Humans of Carleton, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Fortunately my classmate Paul Campbell - the fire-breathing undergraduate - agreed to be my guinea pig. The experience was rewarding and fun and I learned a lot about what works and what doesn't.

The first thing we agreed on was the use of a recorder. I made a few notes to get Paul's name spelled correctly and some contact information so I could check facts, but then we just talked. I asked questions as they popped into my head, but I also had a vague roadmap of what I wanted to cover.

I wanted to tell Paul's story - how he got to Carleton. I asked him about growing up, his family, his personal relationships. He told me about is work, his hobbies, his passions. We spoke for over an hour just getting to know one another, and I found myself really enjoying the conversation - even forgetting I was doing an interview.

Fortunately, everything was recorded and after our meeting the real work began. as I listened to the recording, I began to see a story and created a mental outline of where the story would start and finish. My first draft was very rough, but had the basic structure and the seeds that would grow into the final story.

I kept re-writing and revising. At the time of the interview, Paul was not dating but, since then, he has started a relationship so that was one of the paragraphs I revised before posting the final article. I also verified my facts with Paul and my mentor, Owen, proofread the copy for any grammatical or other composition errors.

Interviewing someone is a tough writing assignment. There's a certain amount of planning and thinking about what questions you're going to ask. I had to ask myself questions like: "What is the story I'm going to tell here? What will people find interesting? How can I treat the person I am interviewing with respect and write an article that they will like too?"

Editing the information was also difficult. Paul was very open during our discussion and shared so many wonderful anecdotes and personal experiences. It was difficult to leave some of them out of the article but it was also important to try to make the article flow and not get sidetracked. In the end any interview article will be a compromise of what to keep and what to leave out. I think the result is a good compromise.

After I finished, I was apprehensive about whether other people would like what I wrote. Most importantly Paul did like it. When I'm writing, I tend to keep wanting to revise the language, paragraph order, style, etc., but at some point I just have to say "enough is enough" and stop.

I enjoyed the interview. Being an interview reporter is a tough job, but it is also rewarding. Being able to take a large amount of data and then distilling it into a meaningful story was a great creative outlet for my writing. I hope I'm lucky enough to find other interview subjects as interesting and as fun to interview as Paul.

Works cited:

Finnigan, Ron. Original photograph. Private collection. Web. 20 Oct. 2015.

Finnigan, Ron. "The Fire-Breathing Undergraduate". Blogger website.  Rondyn Musings. Rondyn Musings. Web. 20 Oct. 21015. <http://rondynmusings.blogspot.ca/2015/10/the-fire-breathing-undergraduate.html>.  

Chuck Norris Stares Down His Books

Chuck Norris stares down his books.

On Wednesday, I wrote my mid-term for Philosophy. In an earlier post, I lamented the fact that I had lost all my notes, which are still locked up inside my iPad thanks to a recent Word update from Microsoft that causes that app to crash every time I open it. Feeling a bit discouraged, I was walking through the tunnels at Carleton, when I saw this wall painting and took some inspiration from the artist.

While the satirical comment indicates the Chuck Norris "doesn't read books", the reality for University students is that there is a lot of reading and note taking. Losing all the notes you've taken in a school term has happened to others, but the information will not come back by "staring down" the books. You have to open them and read them again and again. The image is also appropriate in a digital age where more and more books are now downloaded. In the future we might even say "we download them to our embedded memory chips until we get the information we want". I wonder what that type of memory crash would look like?

Software didn't use to be that way. I know because I was a software developer that designed point of sale systems and databases, and my software was thoroughly tested before it was installed. Thirty years ago, memory and storage were expensive commodities and if you found bugs you had to re-write the whole program since there was no space to just put in a patch. The program had to fit in the available, non-expandable memory, usually about 4K worth on the first machines I worked with.

Cheap memory, unlimited storage, faster processors have all made programmers lazy. Instead of taking the time to manually write out programs on coding sheets, as we used to, then having them key-punched, then compiling and debugging them, programmers type code directly into terminals without any organized flow-charts or documented plan. This type of coding is analogous to traveling to a destination by car without a road map or even a gps - just a general instinct of the compass direction you wish to take and what the final destination should look like. The chances are your journey will not be as smooth as you would like.

We rely on media of all types to be delivered by working technology every day. We can't watch TV if the cable service is down. We can't surf the Internet if the modem can't connect. If our computer or tablet crashes, we lose everything saved on the internal hard drive. More and more we rely on our electronic media connections to stay informed, stay in touch and stay up to date with personal information stored in our digital filing cabinets. Banks and utility companies no longer send us printed statements - we get digital copies instead. Requesting paper copies results in a charge.

What worries me is the growing laissez-faire attitude of government towards corporations that continue to market incomplete and buggy software. No one is held accountable and it's only a large consumer outcry that spurs large corporations to respond. Most of the time they work quietly in the background, patching errors when they find then on a priority list they dictate. In my case, I've heard little about when the issues will be resolved. In the meantime I'm storing multiple copies wherever I can, and trying to rely less and less on Microsoft for the software I use on a day to day basis.

The Fire-Breathing Undergraduate

Blowing fire

On Carleton Campus

One of this year’s First Year Undergraduates is a fire-breathing, unicycle-riding juggler! His name is Paul Campbell and this 18-year old (turning 19 in January) comes from a circus family. He has been performing in his father’s circus company, Circus Delights in West Carleton, since he was twelve years old, although he began his training when he was only ten.

Paul is currently pursuing a degree in Social Work and lives with his cousin in Kanata, a much shorter commute than the one from his family home in West Carleton. He grew up with three older siblings, two sisters and a brother, and his parents also sheltered foster kids that were younger than him. Paul refined his listening skills and developed compassion for the young children in his parents care, and this experience was the inspiration for pursuing Social Work. Paul had considered Cognitive Science in High School, but he decided he had much better people skills than math skills.

Primary education for the youngest Campbell was an unusual one compared to the schooling most of us received. Paul was home-schooled from grade 4 through 7 before he returned to the public school system in grade 8. During these four years he followed the Ontario Curriculum on his own developing advanced research and note-taking skills that he is now finding invaluable at Carleton. Despite not making friends his age at school during those four years, Paul was heavily involved in soccer and hockey and had many good friends from those sports. In the winter, Paul’s father would make an ice rink in the backyard and he would play hockey with his brother after school and on weekends.

Paul’s experience as a performer had challenged him to develop a gregarious, out-going personality despite his inherent shyness. He made many friends in high school and was well-liked by his peers. He continued playing hockey. Growing up playing with baby and adult elephants, lions, and tigers gave him the skills to easily handle much bigger players on the ice.

In the winter, circus performing slowed down, allowing Paul to concentrate on his studies and practice more new tricks in the family’s over-sized garage / barn. But when summer rolled around, Paul the performer was raring to go. He never had trouble with summer jobs as his dad’s circus company continued to grow, and Paul was featured at corporate events, private parties and at virtually every busking festival in the Ottawa region.

Recently Paul traveled across the United States with an American circus company, Culpepper and Merriweather, and developed quite a loyal following on their Facebook page. His typical day started at 5:00 AM. Performers, like Paul, are also part of the manual labour that unpacks all the gear, sets up the big top and rides, and then has to get ready for his own performance. He usually didn’t get to bed until midnight, but then had to get up at 5:00 AM the next morning and start all over again, but he loved it. An added benefit was that he never felt so fit as he did at the end of that gig.

At 5 feet, 6 inches and 136 pounds, Paul is in pretty terrific physical condition. In addition to practicing his routines almost every day, he also does yoga and meditation at least four times a week. He could run circles on a unicycle around the rest of us while juggling lit torches! Need I mention that the ability to juggle things, like class schedules, mentor meetings, study and PASS groups, shopping, laundry and all the other undertakings of university life is a required undergraduate skill?

One of the biggest advantages of being an accomplished performer who has been gainfully employed since the age of twelve is that Paul is able to completely finance his own education from his savings. He pays his own rent, food and tuition and, because he plans to continue busking and performing until he graduates (and even beyond graduation) he feels he will be debt-free by the time he graduates.

It should be no surprise that Paul loves professional hockey, although it might surprise other Ottawa residents to learn his team is the Montreal Canadiens, not the Senators. This is a passion he inherited from his father and brother, who are also big fans. In addition, his family shares a lot more than just hockey. Paul describes his father as his hero and his brother as his best friend. In comparing a picture of himself at ten to one of his father at the same age, he tells me they could be twins. He has a great relationship with all his family and sees his father as a brilliant man who he could trust with anything. His mother is a kind, generous and loving person who would do anything for her family. His whole family is adventurous and fun-loving, and he relishes every outing together.

Paul is currently in a relationship which was recently posted on his Facebook page. He met his current girlfriend at the Kanata bus stop and they have been dating ever since. As a professional busker, he learned that flirting with females sometimes resulted in bigger tips and, if they were reluctant to drop some money into the collection hat, he’d use the line, “If you don’t have any money, you can always leave your phone number.” But in truth Paul is less of a flirt and more of a romantic who likes to hold hands and cuddle in front of the TV.

Tattoos and piercings are rampant among the performers in Paul’s profession, but the most radical thing he has ever done is sported a Mohawk haircut a few years ago. He hasn’t completely ruled tattoos out, though, telling me that he might get one with a unicycle, a man, and a bunny tattooed over his heart. A bunny? Yes a bunny. When his dad first started his circus business, he would go to children’s parties with his unicycle and a bunny. After doing tricks on the cycle, his Dad would make the bunny appear out of a magician’s top hat. The tattoo would be an homage to his father and the origins of his circus life.

Who would have thought that riding a unicycle, juggling and breathing fire would prepare someone so well for university life? Paul has this enthusiastic intensity that’s contagious. He has the imagination, dedication and commitment to set the world on fire. Breathing fire helps.

Paul's Mohawk

Practicing on a unicycle

Practicing juggling 6 balls

Playing with a baby lion

Practicing breathing fire

Juggling and unicycling with a friend

Works Cited

Photograph of Paul "On Carleton Campus" - photographer Ron Finnigan, used with permission of the owner.

All other photographs used are from Paul Campbell's Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/paul.campbell.921?fref=ts/. - used with permission of the owner.

"Culpepper & Merriweather Circus".Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/Culpepper-Merriweather-Circus-120717653417/. Web. 17-OCT-2015.

"Culpepper & Merriweather Circus".Web page. http://www.cmcircus.com/. Web. 17-OCT-2015.

Canadian Hover Board

October 21, 2015 is the date that Marty McFly borrows a hover board to escape the bullies that are chasing him in the movie "Back to the Future II". He steers the board over the water, only to discover that it doesn't work over water. The real future has finally caught up with Mr. McFly, but the real hover boards are not quite there yet.

A young Canadian inventor has come up with a prototype hover board invention that works over land and water and skims along very much like Marty's. Catalin Alexandru Duru's propeller-driven hover board was recently demonstrated for the Guinness World Records. He managed a total distance of 275.9 metres (905 feet) achieving a new world record title for the farthest hover board flight, easily beating the old record of 50 feet. Duru's invention was featured on Tuesday night's CBC National News. The image of a man flying on a hover board revived the dreams I had of owning one like Marty McFly's.

I'm sure it had the same impact on many viewers and, based on the worldwide reaction to his test flights and the Guinness World Record, I have no doubt that the first production models will sell like hot cakes once all the bugs are worked out.

It's amazing how science fiction movies have previewed some of the products we use today. Here are a few examples I can list of just off the top of my head:

• Mobile flip phones were originally envisioned as the communicator in the original Star Trek TV series (1966 to 1969)
• Voice activated computers, now a reality with virtual agents like Apple's Siri made their debut with the Hal computer in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968). They were also also prominently evident in the "Back to the Future II".
• Anatomically correct female robots have been around for decades in the movies, but my favorites are the fembots in "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" (1997).

While it's exciting to get a glimpse into our futures, we also have to remember that sometimes these envisioned advances never come to fruition. For example the concept of a flying car, seen in many popular movies including "Back to the Future II", has been around for over a century, but all we've seen so far in reality have been prototypes. In most cases these vehicles were actually planes with folding wings that just barely fit an automobile footprint - hardly the Star Wars landspeeder that I'd certainly like to own.

But having this technology begs the question about the safety of others around the rider(s). Currently daredevil skateboards are the villains that sidewalk pedestrians love to hate. But imagine hover boards that could also travel over grass or water. Suddenly hover-boarders would become hazards to picnickers in a park and even to boaters. Regulation won't stop those who are looking for new thrills. We need only to look at the hazards being created by owners of the new hobby drones for examples of how people will ignore regulation and use their "toys" for unintended purposes. In one recent report in the Washington Post, the reporter noted: "drones have smuggled drugs into an Ohio prison, smashed against a Cincinnati skyscraper, impeded efforts to fight wildfires in California and nearly collided with three airliners over New York City".

We'll have to wait to see if other imagined technologies ever comes to fruition, but for hover board aficionados, perhaps the wait won't be much longer. One day, the streets may be crowded with hover board riders zooming past pedestrians the way that skateboarders do today, and we'll wonder how we'll be able to regulate and control this growing safety menace.

Works Cited

"Back to the Future II: Hoverboard Scene" Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 22 Apr. 2006. Web. 28 Aug. 2012. Web. 14 Oct. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1ZdMOMUgXE>.

"Back to the Future II". Wikipedia. Wikipedia. n.d. Web. 14 Oct. 2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Back_to_the_Future_Part_II>.

Lynch, Kevin. "Video: Watch incredible footage of farthest flight by a hoverboard record set by Canada's Catalin Alexandru Duru”. On line video clip. Guinness World Records. Guinness World Records. 22 May 2015. Web. 14 Oct. 2015. <http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2015/5/video-watch-incredible-footage-of-farthest-flight-by-a-hoverboard-record-set-by-379420>.

"Communicator (Star Trek)”. Wikipedia . Wikipedia. n.d. Web. 14-OCT-2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicator_(Star_Trek)>.

"Star Trek: The Original Series". Wikipedia . Wikipedia. n.d. Web. 14-OCT-2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series>.

"Apple iOS 9 – Siri. Your wish is my command". Apple iOS 9. Siri.Web. n.d. Web. 14-OCT-2015. <http://www.apple.com/ca/ios/siri>.

"2001: A Space Odyssey". Wikipedia . Wikipedia. n.d. Web. 14-OCT-2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A_Space_Odyssey_(film)>.

"Austin Powers Fembots". Online video clip. Youtube. YouTube. 03 Mar. 2007. Web. 14-OCT-2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTv9AhCuSU4>.

"A Brief History of the Flying Car". Online slide show. Popular Mechnics. Popular Mechanics. n.d. Web. 18-OCT-2015. <http://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/how-to/g1038/a-brief-history-of-the-flying-car>.

"Landspeeder". Wikipedia . Wikipedia. n.d. Web. 14-OCT-2015. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landspeeder>.

Whitlock, Craig. "Rogue Drones: A Growing Menace Across the USA". The Washington Post. National Security. n.d. 10 Aug. 2015. Web. 18-OCT-2015. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/how-rogue-drones-are-rapidly-becoming-a-national-nuisance/2015/08/10/9c05d63c-3f61-11e5-8d45-d815146f81fa_story.html/.

Why 1984 wasn't like "1984"

Original Apple Mac

In one of the readings for today’s class, Matthew P. McAlister describes the impact of Apple’s “1984” commercial broadcast during the 1984 Superbowl (220) in his article entitled Television Advertising as Textual and Economic Systems. He defines this commercial as the first ever “event commercial” (220).

The impact of this commercial is hard to understand in an era where we are bombarded with commercial messages from everywhere, and where computers seem to be dominating everything. But in 1984, the Internet was still a text-only based precursor of its current self. Everyone had home entertainment systems built around their TV’s, not their computers. In thirty-one years since then, all that has changed. This type of commercial would never have the same dramatic impact today.

The paid commercial was only run once during Superbowl, but it became a news item and the "1984 commercial" was shown repeatedly at no cost to Apple on news broadcasts around the world. It is still available on YouTube (which also did not exist in 1984) and currently shows over 10 million hits.

The impact of the ad was the genesis of recognition for Apple as a serious company and it had a profound impact on the way people thought about computer products. For the first time a company was supplying a computer that was not mostly text-based, like the MS-DOS or Windows 3 computers that other manufacturers, including IBM, were offering at the time. It had a black and white screen (colour screens were an option the next year), instead of the green on black or orange on black screens that were typical of other systems including the Apple II. The commercial emphasized difference, and people flocked to the stores attracted to the promise of a computer that was easy to use and that everyone could afford. It wasn't long before Microsoft brought out newer versions of Windows to resemble the Apple graphic user interface, which has evolved into the versions of Windows we see today.

In 1985, Apple tried to create another Super Bowl commercial sequel called “Lemmings”. That one too is still available on YouTube. This time the commercial failed miserably and attracted a lot of negative press versus the all positive reactions to “1984”. The commercial essentially showed thousands of blindfolded persons being lead off a cliff to their deaths as they chose PC’s versus choosing Mac’s. From a public relations standpoint, the commercial was a disaster and Apple had to go into defensive mode. Apple didn’t air another SuperBowl commercial until 1999.

TV advertising, and now Internet advertising, can be powerful tools, but they can also lead to disastrous mistakes. When they work, the advertiser will reap the rewards of increased sales and more loyal customers. But when they fail, just the opposite may happen. In the case of Apple, the company was able to recover eventually although it happened slowly. During that painful transition, Steve Jobs was fired and John Scully, who came from Pepsi Cola, took the reins. Without any knowledge of computers or the passion of Steve Jobs, he almost destroyed the company. Eventually the board of directors, after firing Scully,  wisely brought back Jobs to begin rebuilding the company and today it is the largest company in the World.

These two ads clearly show the importance of advertising with the first one having a massive positive effect and the second one just the opposite. In 1984, I was so impressed with the Superbowl commercial and the Apple Macintosh I bought 100 shares of the company for just over $3,000. I sold the stock in disgust when Jobs was fired. If I had kept those shares, with stock splits I would now own 2,800 shares and the value of my investment would be worth as much as $400,000, based on recent stock prices. And it all started with one SuperBowl advertisement in 1984.

Works Cited

"Apple 1984 Super Bowl Commercial Introducing Macintosh Computer”. Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube.08 Oct. 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axSnW-ygU5g&feature=youtu.be>.

McAllister, Matthew A. “Television Advertising as Textual and Economic Systems.” A Companion to Television. Ed. Janet Wasko. Malden MA USA: Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 220. Print.

“Apple Lemmings Commercial”. Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube. 19 Mar. 2009. Web. 13 Oct 2015. <https://youtu.be/V-SJQdREDKM>.

“Lemmings (advertisement).” Wikipedia. Wikipedia. n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2015. < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemmings_(advertisement)>

Where is a typewriter when you need one?

Underwood typewrite keyboard (Wikimedia Commons)

My trepidation at writing my first blog for my Communications course at Carleton is probably why I’m up at 2am. My favourite tool for writing, editing, and researching the Internet is my Apple iPad but all my Microsoft apps started crashing yesterday as soon as I tried to open them. I was not even able to get the documents I had saved copied to my computer.

All my class notes, all my essays, virtually everything since September 1st is now locked inside my iPad and currently inaccessible. This brings up an interesting issue for media creators, especially those in the Communications and Journalism fields. We are all tied to new technology and depend on these computers, laptops, and tablets to compose, edit and then submit our creative writing. What happens when they don’t work? What happens when you have hours invested in creating notes, writing articles or reports, composing essays or putting other efforts into your computer only to have it all disappear with a crash? Don’t expect understanding from your peers. The first words out of their mouths will probably be: “You should have made a backup copy”.

It’s not impossible to recreate the documents I’ve lost. In many cases, I printed out my assignments since I find I catch my spelling and grammatical errors better when I review them in printed form. In some cases, there is no need to recreate them because they have already been submitted. In other cases, especially if the course requires electronic submission, I’ll have to retype them from scratch.

With a typewriter, you always had a carbon copy of the document you typed. That copy went into a filing cabinet, the equivalent of a computer hard drive today. It would be filed alphabetically by title, or perhaps chronologically by the date created. Retrieval was just a matter of knowing the filing system.

Today our trust in technology leaves us vulnerable. We don’t save or file hard copies in filing cabinets. We save documents in virtual filing cabinets either on our computer’s hard drive, or to a “cloud” service or an on-line server. In most cases, the document will be there when we go back, but I’m noticing more and more that the increasing complexity of the systems used to store these documents is creating inaccessibility and frustration. Software developers are doing less and less testing before releasing their software or updates making us vulnerable to catastrophic losses.

I’m sure Microsoft will eventually come up with a fix for my problem. In the meantime, deadlines loom and it looks like I have a considerable amount of re-typing to do. Now if I only still had my old typewriter.

Works cited

"File:UnderwoodKeyboard.jpg". Web Image. Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Commons. n.n. 13 Oct. 2015 <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:UnderwoodKeyboard.jpg>.

No-Service Canada

No-Service Canada

A few years ago, after moving to the province of New Brunswick, I became familiar with Service New Brunswick. This was an ingenious invention of the provincial government to consolidate all provincial departments into one department of multi-skilled, trained agents who could handle any customer service needs at one location. This meant one visit to one place to get my drivers license and health card, for example, replaced. During that visit I was photographed for the new identification cards and left the building with these new plastic additions in my wallet. One visit, one location. It was fast, simple and efficient and a big improvement over the previous multi-location visits required in the past.

The fact that this approach saved money and increased customer satisfaction did not escape the notice of other cities, other larger provinces and eventually the Canadian Government itself. When I moved to Ottawa, I was pleasantly surprised to find Service Ottawa, Service Ontario and Service Canada offices. Of the three, Service Canada, initially one of the best, is today officially the worst.

Service Canada which was first setup religiously following the New Brunswick example, has seen its staff decimated since Harper took power. Long lineups and wait times have returned and increased complaints from those in line are apparent on my every visit. Thank you, Steven Harper, for making dealing with the federal government more unpleasant than it ever has been in the past. Let me give a few examples.

This year, shortly after I retired, I visited the downtown Service Canada office, which is in Ottawa City Hall and is located at the back of the same large space shared with Service Ontario on the left and Service Ottawa on the right. Both of these latter organizations still follow the Service New Brunswick model with numbered multiple counter stations where you go to speak to an agent when your ticket number is directed there. The service provided by both of these organizations is quick, efficient and painless.

The Service Canada counter at the back had a similar system - but no more.

On that day, I found a single desk (yes, a sit-down desk) had replaced the multiple service counters, which had dropped to two on my last visit. This time I had to take a number before approaching the desk and could then only do so when my number was called. At the standard office desk I spoke to a seated agent while I stood hovering on the other side of her desk to inquire about my pension benefits. The agent advised me I could get all my answers by calling different phone numbers. I asked if I could speak to an agent - no, I had to phone these 1-800 numbers where I would get all the answers to my questions. She dismissed me by handing me a few forms and then called the next number. The visit and patiently waiting had been for nothing.

Last week I decided to change banks and went back to Service Canada to update my  information for auto-deposit of my government pension cheques, but this time I chose the Westboro location which was closer to my home. This was a Service Canada only location, but the long lineup leading to a single office desk with a seated agent behind was very familiar. Still, I was there and determined to get this done, so I waited patiently behind people making passport inquiries, baby bonus applications, etc.

When my turn came, I approached the agent and explained my purpose. The reply came back in a strong Slavic accent, and I could not escape the feeling I was being suspiciously interrogated before being admitted to the inner sanctum of some Cold War Soviet Embassy.

"I would like to update my banking information for my CPP (Canada Pension Plan) and OAS (Old Age Supplement)," I began, after providing my name and social insurance number.

"You can do that on the phone," came the reply.

"I would prefer to do it in person," I rejoined.

"All these changes are done on the phone now." At this point the expression on the agent's face appeared to me to be one of mild irritation, combined with slight amusement.

"Do you mean I can't make the changes here today?" I asked.

"You can make the changes on the phone," she repeated adding "I'll give you the 1-800 number."

Having noted she was probably trained at the Steven Harper School for Evasive Answers, I pressed the issue, "You mean I CAN'T make the changes here today?"

"You're insisting on making the changes here?"

"Yes, I'm here now and I want to make the changes."

"The wait time is over an hour."

"That's fine. I'll wait. Since I'm here I want to complete the changes now."

"I'll put down that you declined to do them on the phone and insisted on doing them in person. The wait will be at least an hour. We are short-staffed today." Yeah, today and every other day I said to myself. "Please have a seat until I call your name.

I sat at one of the many empty computer desks provided for the public and explored the various menus of government jobs, government benefits, etc. NOT FIVE MINUTES HAD PASSED when I heard my name called. It was the same agent I had dealt with at the "reception desk". She led me into the offices in the back and then sat at the desk in that office and proceeded to complete my request. Five minutes later, it was done and I left the office.

Here's the time tally:
- 29 minutes: waiting in line to be served
- 14 minutes: arguing with the agent that I wanted to be served today, in person and not on the phone
- 5 minutes: waiting for the agent who would complete my request
- 5 minutes: completing request, with the same agent from the reception desk

It is astonishing to me that an organization that calls itself SERVICE Canada is more attuned to NOT providing any service, but instead is geared to passing the buck. I hate calling 1-800 numbers, waiting in a queue, listening to elevator music and "your business is important to us" messages. I prefer face-to-face interactions and said so to this agent. She implied that in the future that may not be an option and only phone service would be available.

Really? Is that what we've come to? Even the Canadian government is going to outsource their Customer Service to Bangladesh and the Philippines?

In this case, the agent appeared to have tried to pass this 5-minute task off because it was one that SHE HAD TO DO HERSELF. Is this the new paradigm for Canadian civil servants? They show up for work, but then spend their days avoiding any work by passing it off to someone else. Does that sound familiar?

Welcome to the Soviet Canada.

The problems with customer service today.

THE PROBLEMS WITH CUSTOMER SERVICE TODAY.

Many of us seniors remember a time when customer satisfaction was the rule rather than the exception. Slogans like "customer satisfaction guaranteed" or "money refunded cheerfully if not satisfied" have pretty much become dinosaurs.

Today, you have to call a customer service line that will play this headache-producing music with either constant reminders "your business is important to us" or ads about all the other great products and services they have to offer. If your lucky enough to get a "customer service representative" in less than 15 or 20 minutes, you will have to argue, yes argue, about why you feel you should get a refund or a credit. The representative will point out you didn't read the disclaimer in paragraph 22 on page 695 of their 20,000 page terms and conditions agreement which is only available in micro print on their website, although that website is currently down for maintenance. Finally, after asking to speak to a supervisor, you'll be offered a partial credit of 10% of the price you paid which will eventually will rise to 59% the longer you stay on the phone.

Assuming nothing but 100% refund is acceptable to you, after 2 hours on the phone, the agent will transfer you to a supervisor. You will have to go through your whole story again and wait another 15 or 20 minutes before you finally have an agreement for a full 100% refund.

Then the fun begins. You'll be offered a credit to apply against any future purchase, and, if you have a monthly account, you'll be told that no, this credit can not be used to lower or pay off the balance owing on your account. At this point, if you decide to close your account, you'll be advised that a refund cheque will be issued after all pending charges and account closing fees have been applied, usually in 4 to 52 weeks.

If you insist on a refund cheque, you'll be transferred to a manager where you will start all over again. Up to another hour will be spent as this individual will try to convince you to keep the product and your account before they finally agree to send you a refund cheque in 4 to 52 weeks.

By this time you are angry and frustrated and you tell the manager you are closing your account and won't send them another penny, even to pay off your outstanding balance. The perky, cheerful manager suddenly transforms into Billzilla (the Godzilla of bill collectors) and begins threatening your credit rating village. If you don't pay your balance, this monster will rampage through your credit rating killing and destroying any chance you have to live a normal life, buy a car or mortgage a house. Plus after all that you will owe the balance currently on your account multiplied by ridiculous interest rates and late fees which will be turned over to collection agencies run by ex-mafia who are experts at offering "a deal you can't refuse".

In frustration, you hang up, swear you will never patronage that company again, and switch to a different company that offers better customer service. Your blood pressure returns to normal, your life becomes enriched with all the spare time you have from not having to spend hours on the phone arguing with reps in companies that provide bad service and you actually feel you might experience happy once again.

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have company reps treat others the way they want to be treated? Instead it is this avaricious pursuit of every last dollar. That sucking sound is the sound of money being sucked from the pockets of the poor and being channeled into the off shore accounts of the filthy rich. THIS HAS TO STOP!

SHARE THE WEALTH - POVERTY NO MORE.

How to fix the world.

HOW TO FIX THE WORLD

The biggest problems in the world today are caused by the increasing divide between the rich and poor. I see one of the most powerful forces creating this divide is the pressure from rich and powerful shareholders to continually increase profits by driving up prices and reducing customer service. While there are exceptions, for most large corporations, who are governed by Boards of Directors who themselves belong to this wealthy shareholder class, there is only an incentive to increase the shareholder dividends. In any business there are only two ways to do this: increase prices or cut costs.

My solution is at add a sales tax to every dividend cheque issued that is inversely proportionate to customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction would be measured by an incorruptible third party organization who would issue "grades" similar to school grades rating customer service from 0 for the absolute worst customer service in the world to 100 for the best. Whatever the grade is, it would be subtracted from 100 and the resulting figure would be the tax applied to every dividend cheque issued in that fiscal quarter. If companies decided to not issue a dividend cheque because of bad customer service, the taxes would be applied anyway based on the maximum dividend paid over the previous 10 years. This corporate tax would be taken from worldwide gross income before any expenses or deductions are applied.

How would this work? Let's take a few examples - note these are examples only so the numbers are used for illustration purposes only, not based on actually statistics.

Let's say Apple Computer, who consistently has among the highest customer satisfaction rates in the world, ends the year with 90% of customers saying they are satisfied. Apple issues a dividend of say $20.00 per share.  Those receiving the dividend cheques would see a tax deduction of 10% (100 - 90), or $2.00 per share deducted from their cheques, netting $18.00 per share. The deduction could not be claimed back either on corporate or personal tax returns.

Let's now look at XYZ Cable Company (actually his could be almost any cable company in North America) ends the year with one of the lowest customer satisfaction rates at 10%. It too issues a dividend of $20.00 per share. Those receiving the dividend cheques would see a tax deduction of 90% (100 - 10), or $18.00 per share deducted from their cheques, netting $2.00 per share. The deduction could not be claimed back either on corporate or personal tax returns.

Suppose ABC Company, having had a terrible customer rating over the last year and also having increased profits 1000%, declares they will not be paying out dividends but will instead start a huge share buyback to allow shareholders to benefit from the rocketing share price. At this point the government would tax them the same tax they would have paid as if they had issued dividends, based on the dividend history for the last 10 years. In addition, companies that use any tactic to transfer more wealth into the pockets of rich shareholders without improving customer service scores would find those additional "gains" taxed at the highest 90% tax.

What would be the outcome of all this? One hell of a lot of complaining from the uber-wealthy to start, and a flow of investment into companies who have outstanding customer service. We have suffered long enough. Companies like Apple have demonstrated that there is money to be made in providing quality products and superlative customer service. Other companies have to get on board even if it means dragging their board of directors and wealthy shareholders kicking and screaming in the process. In the end, better customer service will leave more money in our pockets and happier consumers. Anything else will result in chaos and continuing decay of our consumer society where the rich will live in exclusive gated and armed enclaves while the rest of the population scrapes through their discarded scraps outside.

SHARE THE WEALTH - POVERTY NO MORE.