Food, OH! Glorious Food!

Yes, I stole that quote from the movie 'Demolition Man'.
Now the Grey whale population has been recovering over the last decades and seemed to be doing quite well. But during this winter the Grey Whales arriving in their breeding ground in Mexico seem to be malnourished. The scientist seem to be unable to explain the reason completely. What is known is that warm weather means less oxygen in the water and less oxygen means less food in the water. This means that the Grey whales would have a harder time to find food in sufficient amounts to still their hunger.
The current whale population is greater then ever recorded before and that means that more whales have to feed on less food.
This can be seen as a warning sign scientists warn since this could be simply the precursor to the entire Pacific food-chain and variety of species. How these changes will come and what the effect of those changes would be can only be speculated at this point yet it is certain that the change is likely to be drastic and is even more likely not to be confined to the Pacific alone.

Relevant Article:
Pacific whale decline 'a mystery' (BBC)

Interesting turn of events

Apple now had to admit that their Macbooks and Macbook Pros have seen some battery problems for which they offer a software patch and a free of charge battery exchange.
It would almost seem that since apple began to sell great numbers Ipods and Computer systems that the quality has declined to some degree since the production had to be increased to meet the new demand. These new sales records have bolstered Apple's stock and financial reserves, yet at the same time Apple suddenly seems to be haunted by legal problems and technical problems. Ipods suddenly seem less sturdy then their predecessors did and the computers seem to show the occasional issue as well.

Relevant Article:
Apple admits laptop battery issue (BBC)

International Cooperation in space...a dream?

The Russian space agency offered NASA to work together on the goal of creating a station on the moon. But while the Russians show a great interest and willingness in cooperation NASA does not. In fact NASA has denied the offer and does not seem to be interested in contemplating this issue any further. This is another event in a series of events which once more strain the relations between the US and Russia. The Anti-missile system was one of the major issue causing conflicts which by the Russian leadership was condemned as an expansionist strategy which would only insure MAD. Russia also threatened to stop supporting the agreement between Russia and the EU concerning the build down of conventional weaponry. The EU and NATO responded to that threat with great concern and strongly emphasized the gravity of the situation.
The US leadership responded only by saying that the anti-missile system was intended to protect allied countries against the Iranian threat. Further that these missiles would not pose any threat the security of Russia since they would be deployed in small number to only cover against the Iranian missiles and not against the hundreds of Russian Missiles which in great number could simply penetrate the Anti-missile shield.
Scientists turned to Star Trek for answers concerning certain issues of space travel since the health risk of traveling in space is tremendous the only solution is to insure that most or all of the radiation can not enter the spacecraft. For this the Deflector which serves in Star Trek that and some other purposes offered itself, and now scientists now look at ways in which the Deflector could be implemented.
At the same time scientists suddenly fear the miss-use and even in-humane use of the Robots that are being designed now and want to establish rights, laws and other protective measures for the Robots and humans involved before the Technology surpasses the legal framework once more.

The Wall is back...

Yes, the American forces have decided some weeks ago that it would be a good solution to build a wall straight across Baghdad. This wall then is intended to separate the waring parties in Baghdad and thus solve the issue of the conflict in the Iraqi Capital. This of course has spawned a series of violent outbreaks in Baghdad and several very strong protests. The US leadership however decided to continue on its course and hold steady on its chosen course.
The US Congress decided that the US forces should withdraw within a certain time frame shortly after all these events transpired. The Iraqi government protested that the US should not withdraw just yet since they represent the military presence in the Middle East. The Iranian government while all this occurs shows willingness to talk but also maintains a hard-line policy and which unsettles its neighbors and insures that the US leadership continue to consider Iran more as a threat then a potential Allie.
While a bit east North Korea admits how direly it needs the supplies given by the aid organizations, and China suddenly wants to have close ties with Taiwan after so many decades of tension. Japan while this is happening explains that it has no responsibility to compensate the 'pleasure women' which had wanted compensation from the Japanese government for the forced 'pleasure' they had to supply to the Japanese troops during World War 2. The reason why Japan does not have to pay is that the Chinese government accepted that no further claims could be made when the Japanese-Chinese diplomatic relations returned to a strained peace in 1976.
Finally in all these issues the war and or at least the wish to gain remains a very important issue and remains at the center stage. Or in some places it is even more the issue of not losing to much, or more then already has been lost. The war in Iraq or rather the US involvment has to end because simply the US economy can not sustain this war much longer especially now when it begins to cave-in.

Surreal Reality and Taxes

The time of the Tax Return is upon us once more, yet this time I actually had to do them myself...while attempting to understand what the Canadian Government wanted to know from me and how I could make them understand what I had made or not made over the last year. Well, I noticed a most interesting fact which shocked me a bit, this fact was that the organization of the Tax forms seemed to defy all logic and that it seemed to be designed to do nothing but to confuse the victim. This victim then would have to try to mule through the enormous amount of cross referencing that would seem more then unnecessary, further while trying to make sense of this most evil piece of confusion and illogic I further noticed that for some inexplicable reason all these lines in my specific case could be reduced to circa asking basic questions, thus questions that could more easily be answered and would not cause problems: How much have you made over the passed year? How much have you spend for education and similar? etc.
Yet, the sheet seems to be less designed for ease of use then for complicating the use, thus making it more difficult for the victim to claim any money for themselves and if they become to confused in the marsh of cross-reference then the victim might even have to pay extra since that is 'fair'. What does the victim get from paying those taxes? Well interestingly enough if a several corporations would take over the areas for which we pay the government then we suddenly would be likely to see improvement, now the reason for that would less be that the corporation would care about the victim or that the corporation simply is better then the government. No, the answer is far more simple, the corporation would try to keep the customer by not confusing them unnecessarily by simple stating how much is due, this would also mean that you would only pay on the services that the individual actually wishes to receive. For example as heartless as it may seem a married couple with double income but without children is illogically paying for services that they would never require such as schools. If this couple had the choice they could continue to do so but would not be forced to do so, now in the capitalistic system this would actually be something to be desired since logically if they have more money available they are also more likely to invest more and spend more.
Of course there is another interesting feature concerning taxes, something history professors and students like to point out with equal vigor which are the facts that many of the taxes today are a) not necessary Canada does have a very thick surplus today b) was promised to be a temporary obligation to make the war effort possible, yes the World War 2 war effort c) that historically people if percieve the governing body to be in such a place rightly that the government then is always right and that the person that would deny the government would automatically be thus in the wrong. If that is the case the people can not deny the government the payment of taxes.
Ultimately it is curious that taxes have become something so very accepted that the government has gained more and more power over the last hundred years, and not just in Canada but in many countries.
This is a form of tribute that we pay to the government for what? Protection? Good Roads? Payed Schooling? The main part of these taxes of course is absorbed by the monstrous bureaucracy which such a government creates, more then 40% of the Canadian population actually is employed by government. Now some of those people provide services for which people are paying anyhow such as the postal service.
Yet, there are things that could be significantly simplified if attempted to do so first of all of course taxes that were necessary during World War 2 for the war effort are more then unnecessary today and the government is responsible to cancel such taxes aka income tax. Now of course it has to be noted that the government of today does provide in some areas more services then it did before but it is not neccessary for any government to make money that is not the mandate of ANY government that is the mandate of a Corporation, which at least is honest on that aspect, but any government is only responsible to request money that is necessary to maintain services required by the public, and to expand services if necessary but not to make money beyond the needed.