From the monthly archives:

February 2009

US Losing in Innovation

by Rod Edwards on February 25, 2009

Its long been known that the US lags in productivity. More importantly, however, the states are lagging in innovation – the idea-generation that fuels productivity gains.  The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation attempts to quantify this.

Note that Canada is significantly worse that the US and most European industrialized nations, and is near the bottom in the “change” measurement. The message is clear: Canada’s technological competitiveness is poor, and were doing little to improve it.

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Recovery.gov uses an Open Source CMS

by Rod Edwards on February 19, 2009

logoThe US government’s Recovery.gov (an accountability site tracking the use of stimulus dollars) is built on Drupal – a popular, free, open source content management system (software for running websites).

Its innovative. It saves tax payer dollars. It allowed for quicker execution. Good to see that Canada is maybe one day possibly perhaps considering investigating open source software as well.

Read more at TechPresident.

(Waiting for TechPrimeMinister)

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Does productivity need to come out of the hide of the working people?

February 19, 2009

Quite the conversation with the mayor of Lansing, Michigan on Fox News. He’s vitriolic, and bombastic and sounds like he’s stumping for a presidential nomination. That being said, do you think competitive pressure puts us into a “race to the bottom?” Is there a difference between “fair” trade and “free” trade?

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Study: Widening sidewalks, adding bike lanes at expense of parking benefits all

February 19, 2009

A 2006 study of a Manhattan street (PDF) showed that, in fact, local businesses would benefit if parking was removed so that sidewalks could be widened. [Spacing.ca] I’ve often thought about this for Corydon, here in Winnipeg – its the area where I live, and one of the city’s gastro-vino-sushi-chic districts. In the summer, the [...]

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Crafting Policy that Works: Exploiting Laziness

February 6, 2009

This little tidbit stood out on a Macleans article titles “why smart people do stupid things:” …the difference between committed organ donors in Sweden (86 per cent) and America (28 per cent), where 45,000 people have died waiting for transplants since 1995. Why? In Sweden, unlike the U.S., consent is presumed; those who don’t want [...]

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Cautiously Testing the Waters for Preliminary Cautious Investigation of Maybe Considering the Use of Open Source Software, Cautiously

February 5, 2009

Just a side note on this humorous RFI that tech blogger Glen Moody stumbled across, from the Federal Gov’t to the FOSS (Free Open Source Software) community: Canada has a Request for Information (RFI) related to No-Charge Licensed Software (typically referred to as Free and Open Source Software or FOSS and also applicable to freeware). [...]

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An Example of Why First Past the Post Makes Some Sense

February 4, 2009

Just noticed a good illustration of why first-past-the-post makes some sense in the comments of a post on the blog of Kirk West. This comment by Wilson is in relation to discussion about Jack Layton’s performance in his own riding: As sor points out, Jack won more votes than EACH the runners-up. But not more [...]

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The New Right is a Little to the Left

February 4, 2009

Lots of conservative navel gazing going on today after Ezra Levant’s defence of the budget in the NP. I think BlueLikeYou sums it up the best, while making the point that having a left-of-center Liberal party and a right-of-center Conservative party battling for the center vote keeps both honest and accountable. True conservatives balk at [...]

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Injured man dies after rejection by 14 hospitals

February 4, 2009

Canada isn’t the only nation with healthcare challenges. Japan’s system is apparently so overburdened by its aging  population that situations like this are relatively common: After getting struck by a motorcycle, an elderly Japanese man with head injuries waited in an ambulance as paramedics phoned 14 hospitals, each refusing to treat him. He died 90 [...]

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The Human Cost of a Failing Justice System

February 4, 2009

The Megan O’Toole at the NatPost today covers the story of a Vancouver 13-year old: A 13-year-old boy who has had 75 run-ins with the law over the past year was arrested by Vancouver police on the weekend for allegedly slashing a man who refused the boy’s request for a cigarette. [National Post] As a [...]

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