There is no real rush or sense of direction for the Doju. Really, life unfolds day after day, all with its own trials and tribulations. He puts one foot before the other, wags his head and tail asynchronously, looking around as the world glides by. Food and water are plentiful, so once the necessities of life are taken care of, the mind can wander, abstracting from reality to a dream world of make belief. Worries are banished from his little head, as they are beyond his control anyway, so there is little he can do to change the passage of time.

Did the chicken come before the egg? If one cannot hear a tree fall in a forest did it really fall? Can an evil eye really cause the receiver harm? All these and more can be debated by the Doju, for it is better to occupy the mind than to slothfully pass through the day sleeping, not that the Doju has anywhere specific to go, oh no.

A tree approaches, creeping up on Doju and getting larger with each step. It is a tree with white bark. Who would take the trouble to partially strip the bark off this lovely tree, leaving the bark still attached? This is most puzzling. Maybe it is an odd type of bird that likes the ripping nose of taking white bark off the tree, but gets alarmed when the bark actually falls off? Is there some use for this partially stripped bark? Perchance the bark is used in winter to make ice cream cones, as in winter it could certainly hold ice cream in cone form. That must be it, as the ice cream would be held upright by the bark. Someone is so clever, but who would want an ice cream cone in the middle of a large white tree? I cannot think of a soul who would do this.

Maybe it is the same being that put those holes in the middle of the tree? And why would someone want to dig holes in such a manner? Again the Doju did not have much of answer. The questions keep popping up in his head though. Do others ask themselves and busy themselves with so many issues? Issues they are, and only of Doju could answer them all the would would be a much more orderly place, I guarantee it.

And so the Doju walks on, observing as he goes. His discovery of self continues undetected by himself or others. He has been walking all his life and still has a long way to go.

I have lived in Beijing, China for a couple of years and the bike culture there is pretty safe. This has degraded somewhat now as more people become wealthier and can afford cars. It’s sad to see China go backward on bicycles, but such us progress in the People’s Republic of China.

Taking my son to his sports camp yesterday by bicycle we were waiting at the intersection of Birchmount and Huntingwood for the light to turn green. Once the light turned green I looked to see if the way was clear, when a grey Prius, on a red light, cut us off and made an illegal right turn. The driver made no attempt to stop at the red light and almost ran us over. This is so dangerous and happens all the time. Toronto is a car culture through and through.

Honey Bee feeding on echinacea, Toronto, Canada

Canada Day, July 01, 2010, Toronto, Canada

Honey Bee on Shasta daisy 1, Toronto, Canada

Honey Bee feeding on Shasta daisy 2, Toronto, Canada

Honey Bee on Shasta daisy 3, Toronto, Canada

Honey Bee on Shasta daisy 4, Toronto, Canada

Canada Day, July 01, 2010, Honey Bee feeds on a Shasta daisy in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

British Petroleum damages Mother Earth. From Behind the Logo, Greenpeace

To damage Mother Earth is unforgivable. The risk assessment was flawed. No risk is worth gambling the health of the earth. The world, and particularly the US, will pay for this for generations to come.

McDonalds recalls Shrek glasses over fears of toxic cadmium levels

Fear not the monster Shrek, for he is not to blame. But if not Shrek then whom? The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) warned consumers early Friday to immediately stop using the glasses available for purchase from McDonalds, on concerns about toxic levels of cadmium. Twelve million glasses are recalled. Who is to blame? There are at least three parties involved: McDonalds, ARC International, of Millville, NJ, and presumably the Chinese factory that produced the glasses. So common is the fact that China makes most of our products and the fact that so many toxic products have been traced back to China in the past makes this a very good educated guess.

Certainly we will not knowingly poison our children by giving them drink in toxic glasses. Certainly McDonalds or supplier ARC International would not knowingly supply toxic glasses to their loyal customers. Recalls are a body blow to a business’ reputation, expensive to rectify and very bad for business. Certainly the Chinese factory would not knowingly use toxic cadmium paint on glasses, risk their own health and factory reputation? Yet somehow this situation came to pass and now has come to light. Who is at fault and how can we prevent this from happening so often?

Let’s play the blame game.

Blame McDonald’s Corporation: McDonalds is a vile and immoral company bent on extracting the maximum amount of profit out of their addicted customers. They want to cut costs at all expense to health or quality. They gouged their supplier ARC International, who eventually buckled under the intense pressure. What could ARC do but supply what the customer wanted? What could the Chinese factory do but follow the specifications of the contract and fulfill the order with toxic cadmium paint, knowing full well it poison that will be shipped.

Blame ARC International: McDonalds drive a hard but fair deal, expecting a fair price for their order. ARC took the McDonalds order, and to increase their profit margin, twisted the arm of their Chinese factory to use the cheapest paint, even though the factory knew that toxic cadmium paint can harm people. What could the Chinese factory do but fulfill the order?

Blame the Chinese Factory: McDonalds and ARC International drive a hard but fair negotiation. The Chinese factory thought that no one would know the difference and that testing of the paint would never occur. The factory has done this before and no one noticed. They substituted the toxic cadmium paint to save costs. What the difference anyway? It’s only a small change to the specifications? Cadmium has been around for such a long time and we’re still Ok?

Further investigation needs to be done. You can be sure that the blame will be passed around like a hot potato. Certainly it is clear that the world has a problem with many products made in China. It is not possible to test all products that we import. Customs cannot even spot inspect all import shipments for contraband drugs, much less test products for toxic substances. The Chinese know this and so do everyone else.

I do not have the solution to this massive problem, but for sure quality control and penalties need to be implemented. The problem is so clearly identified. There should be a huge disincentive to whichever company is at fault here, because our health depends on it. China is a relatively uneducated country with a very different culture, moral system and standard for consumer products. Their standard is by far much lower than ours, largely because it is unregulated by the Chinese government. Factories can be unscrupulous by choice or inadvertently and benignly ignorant. Either way the result is the same: dangerous products are imported from China with little chance of being caught. As someone who is fluent in Mandarin, has a minor in East Asian studies (China/Japan) and has lived in China for a couple of years, I know enough to take nothing for granted.

One of the reasons I have stopped buying inexpensive products from Walmart and Canadian Tire is that I cannot determine the risk that these products have on my family. It seems too easy for unscrupulous companies to use toxic paints and too easy for me to be deceived. If I have the choice I will not take the risk.

Maybe I am naive, but I expect my government to protect me. Is this too much to ask?

Note: Comments to various news agencies are quite funny. Many state that McDonald’s food is by far more harmful to children than the toxic cadmium paint on the glasses. One needs to shake one’s head at their wisdom. Warning: Do not eat the food.

Inattentional blindness, also known as perceptual blindness, is the phenomenon of not being able to perceive things that are in plain sight. This can be a result of having no internal frame of reference to perceive the unseen objects, or it can be the result of the mental focus or attention which cause mental distractions. The phenomenon is due to how our minds see and process information. Wikipedia

Motorcyclists are very in tuned to other drivers, because when anyone makes a mistake often the motorcyclists, whether right or wrong, pays the price with a trip to the hospital or the morgue. This leads riders, naturally, to curse the inattention of drivers. When the stakes for bodily harm are higher, people pay more attention. This is also true for bicyclists and pedestrians.

Others have noticed the apparent problem of of drivers not noticing motorcyclists.

…automobile accident reports frequently report driver claims that they “looked but failed to see” the other vehicle. Many collisions between cars and motorcycles involve cars turning in front of an oncoming motorcycle, with the car driver not seeing the motorcyclist. Given that in many contexts, motorcycles are less common that cars, inattentional blindness is more likely. Critically, the difficulty of the primary task in an inattentional blindness task increases the probability that people will miss the unexpected object. In practical terms, the more people focus on aspects of their visual world other than the detection of unexpected objects, the less likely they are to detect such objects. Recent evidence suggests that talking on a cell phone, for example, dramatically increases the probability of missing an unexpected object (Scholl et al, 2003).

Driving is an example. “Many accident reports include claims like, ‘I looked right there and never saw them,’” Simons notes. “Motorcyclists and bicyclists are often the victims in such cases. One explanation is that car drivers expect other cars but not bikes, so even if they look right at the bike, they sometimes might not see it.” Simons recounts a study by NASA research scientist Richard F. Haines of pilots who were attempting to land a plane in a simulator with the critical flight information superimposed on the windshield. “Under these conditions, some pilots failed to notice that a plane on the ground was blocking their path.” source

Magicians have exploited the principal of inattentional blindness in order to perform illusions. Clearly this is not a new phenomenon. The magician distracts the audience in some way so that they do not see what he is doing in another part of the stage, even if in plain view. This deception is then exposed, to the amazement of the audience. Other perplexing examples of innatentional blindness include lifeguards that fail to see a body at the bottom of a clear water pool.

The general theory is that if a person is distracted and concentrating on doing one task, he will not see other unexpected objects, even if blatant and in plain view. The use of cell phones while driving is given as a common distraction. Such studies have been used as evidence in favour of banning cell phone use while driving in Ontario and most other Canadian provinces, as well as many US states. Car drivers drive on “auto pilot” and do not see extraordinary objects on the roadway.

While it is clear that inattentional blindness does happen to all humans, why this happens is not well understood. In understanding this phenonemonon, riders might develop strategies that might break through a driver’s “auto pilot” and save themselves the pain of a crash.

One theory is that the brain is distracted from its main purpose and, due to inattentional blindness, does not see objects that are within plain view. The distraction could be a personal crisis at work or home, technological (cell phone, radio, GPS), or some other. Drivers then go into “auto pilot” and somehow get to their destinations without incident. It is certainly not a safe method of travel.

If a driver is too tired, sleepy, not awake, is inebriated or has a hangover, could this add to or further impair the brain, taking extra processing power or reducing the brain’s processing capacity?

Another theory is that the brain is exposed to an excess of stimulus from senses, which includes our eyes, ears, nose and skin. This stimulus, if individually processed, would indeed be overwhelming, hiding the most important information amongst the information that is benign. It would be like scanning a large yard of grass and processing the poisonous snake the same as each and every rock and blade of grass. A simple coping mechanism is to filter all stimulus, concentrating on only stimulus that is potentially dangerous or unusual. A simple scan of the large yard would filter out the grass, but find the snake and large rocks (danger to the lawn mower). If this theory is true, a car driver may filter out a motorcycle, bicyclists and pedestrians, and not notice them until they get run over.

Further theories postulate that as cars and other equipment become more automated, operators do not need to concentrate as hard, get bored and increasingly are inattentionally blinded. Repetition of an event (a daily event such as commuting) breeds experience, expectation and therefore inattentional blindness. Rare events (motorcycles, bicyclists, pedestrians) are rare because they are uncommonly experienced and are thus not built into our expectation, leading to inattentional blindness and therefore running them over. As well, while an inexperienced operator is forced to pay attention, the experienced operator has done the task so often that he is more prone to inattentional blindness. The experienced operator is more prone to a “violated expectation”, an event that is outside the norm. This is when bad events occur, such as the “right turner” into a motorcycle, or running over a pedestrian. It seems the more experienced and capable an operator the increased prevalence of inattentional blindness.

Striking is the conclusion of this Human Factors researcher:

It is difficult to reduce errors due to inattentional blindness. One reason is that people are unaware of the blindness. Training mainly affects conscious, voluntary behavior, so it helps little. You can tell a driver to be sure to check the oncoming lane before turning, but the advice will do little good if the driver is looking for a specific address, is in a hurry and in an unfamiliar part of town.

So let’s get some of the theory straight. Inattentional blindness results when your brain adapts and filters out routine events. The more you do a routine the more your brain adapts to the routine. The more experienced and skilled the operator, the more prevalence for inattentional blindness. The less experienced the operator the less possibility of inattentional blindness. This human filter does its job before your conscious mind gets the information, so extra training and other logical conditioning does not help reduce inattentional blindness. Is there something proactive one can do to reduce inattentional blindness? Someone help me out here? If we cannot prevent inattentional blindness through a change of skill set, which relies on the conscious mind, a solution may point to a systemic change of environment. Change the routine enough and on a regular basis so as to retard inattentional blindness.

Yet another theory that does not specifically relate to inattention blindness, but still may be of importance to motorcyclists, is called motion camouflage.

Motion camouflage is a dynamic type of camouflage by which an object can approach a target while appearing to remain stationary from the perspective of the target. The attacking object simply remains on the line between the target and some landmark point, so it seems to stay near the landmark point from the target’s perspective. The only visible evidence that the attacker is moving would be its angle and its looming, the change in size as the attacker approaches.

The theory goes that a car at an intersection wants to turn left. A motorcyclist is riding in the opposite direction of the car. The motorcyclist’s headlight, approaching the car, does not seem to grow larger, giving the perception that the motorcycle is stationary. The car makes the left hand turn and hits the motorcyclist. Riders in Britain have written about the “Sorry Mate I didn’t See You” (Bike Magazine 2005) or SMIDSY phenomenon.

Motion is difficult to perceive when it is directly along the line of sight. Because the object is stationary relative to the background, an observer doesn’t see a change in the overall image and thus isn’t cued to the presence of a moving object. Though the object increases in apparent size as it nears, the change goes unnoticed at first–moving from 1000ft distant to 900ft may not affect the image enough trigger a response. A motorcycle is particularly susceptible to motion camouflage because its cross-section area as seen by an observer is much less than that of a larger vehicle.

But as the object gets closer, apparent size increases more rapidly. At constant speed, an approaching object takes the same time to move from 200ft to 100ft as it did from 1000ft to 900ft, but the apparent size increase is greater. Eventually the object seems to grow suddenly in size, and the motion camouflage is broken. This is called the looming effect. According to the Bike article, when an observer is startled by the looming effect, he may freeze in his tracks. If the observer is an oncoming left-turner, he may stop in the middle of the intersection, making a bad situation even worse.

Indeed either of these theories point to a visual impairment that all humans possess. It is not an impairment of physicality but one of brain processing. How to overcome these visual impairments has not been well studied. The answers to these questions could lead to a marked reduction in traffic crashes and fatalities. Motorcyclists can only hope for advances in the understanding of human brain function.

Other reading: Inattention Blindness, conspicuous safety professional, Stop Signs are Dangerous
-Visual and Stereoscopic Acuity

After the $4B cut, here's what Metrolinx proposes for the TTC: Sheppard East is Ok, a 5 year delay for the rest

Promises are made by the Ontario Provincial government and are quickly broken. This seems to be the way of the Ontario government. Much of this is beyond the control of the average tax payer, until an election looms. Such is life with the TTC’s Transit City Plan. Recently the previously promised funding for Transit City had been cut by $4B by the Ontario provincial government (cut or deferred, the money is unavailable) , from an original $8.2B. That’s a 49% drop. Yesterday Metrolinx released what they propose to do with the scaled down $4.2B budget. The skinny: The Sheppard East LRT is largely intact, all other lines (Scarborough RT, Finch, Eglington) will be delayed 5 years. It’s best to assume that the other 3 lines will not get built, as within 5 years a project can easily lose funding for whatever reason.

Public transit is a bear to get going in Toronto, Canada. People would rather drive their cars, clog the roads and pollute the environment rather than take public transit. I know many people who think it is beneath them to consider public transit. Yet, unlike the rest of the world, public transit gets more cars off the road, reduces traffic jams and therefore lowers pollution levels. If you drive a car, having an efficient public transit will get more people off the road so you can get to your destination faster. Still, it’s a hard sell here in Toronto.

Metrolinx has proposed to use light rail transit technology, rather than build subways. The LRTs are above ground and run in their own lane. At 20% of the cost of a subway they are much cheaper to build. It would be nice to have a subway, but I’d rather have something rather than nothing built. Metrolinx is having such a difficult time funding the LRT plan that to consider a subway plan is sheer folly.

No matter. Metrolinx proposed a budget of $8.2B for 4 LRT lines. In a Toronto Star article today it seems the detailed budget has been revised up $2B to $10.2B, an increase of 25%. The original $8.2B budget was cut by $4B, leaving $4.2B, which means that now the funding shortfall is $6B, a 59% difference. In other words, only 41% of the Metrolinx project actually has funding.

As with many other large construction projects, cost overruns are common. There are always unexpected charges. I cannot recall a single large public construction project that has not seriously run way over budget. The St. Clair streetcar line (budgeted $48M, actual cost $106M, 221% over budget), The Bloor/Yonge Street Revitalization (budgeted $25M, so far $29M spent and one year late, 116% over budget so far) both had huge cost overruns, major inconveniences to citizens and long construction delays. This track record does not bode well for future projects, and we should all acknowledge and expect that these new LRT lines will be fraught with difficulty, delays and increased costs. If the past is a good indicator of future performance, cost and time estimates for public construction in Toronto are highly inaccurate. That or these original projects were vastly under estimated.

The skinny on the revised Metrolinx plan is that the Sheppard East LRT will go through as planned, largely intact, delayed 6 months but expected to open in 2014. We should expect, from past projects’ history, at least a 30% cost overrun and significant time delays. Conservative estimates will lead to more accurate estimates. Because this project will finish before any other LRT lines will start, we should expect that the Sheppard East LRT to take a significant amount of funding from the other three projects.

The existing Scarborough RT is falling apart and will not be supported by the manufacturer after 2011. It would be logical to convert the existing but outdated RT technology to the one used on the Sheppard East LRT. Once construction is started this conversion is expected to take 2 years. Within this time frame the Scarborough RT riders will use existing bus lines. Keeping this line running will become more problematic and expensive as their retirement is delayed. Used cars can be purchased from Vancouver’s Skytrain, and broken down for spare parts. This is very labour intensive and therefore expensive. Still, if you don’t have the funding you need to do whatever it takes to keep the trains running.

Realistically the possibility of completing the Scarborough RT, Finch and Eglington lines are very remote. The projects are delayed by 5 years, a long time considering their funding can be cut at any time. The government might not even be in power in five years and therefore cannot guarantee any such funding. Increased provincial funding should not be expected. It is reasonable and expected that the Sheppard East LRT will run over budget and require increased funding, which will eat into what is left of the $4.2B budget. There will be little funding left for any other LRT line in Toronto. It is better to have realistic expectations of project costs now than to be surprised in 4 years time. Anything else is self delusional.

Update May 17 2010: Metrolinx had a meeting today confirming their plan. Work will go ahead as planned with the Scarborough LRT. LRT cars will be ordered. Tunnel boring equipment will be ordered but work will not start on the Eglington line until 2012. One should note a degree of frustration from Steve Munro, a staunch advocate for public transit in Toronto, providing clarity on the situation:

Cold feet. Reconsideration. Indecision. That’s Toronto’s history of support for transit. We wait decades, and still transit has no dedicated funding for construction and operation. Every delay pushes the entrenchment of transit as a vital, permanently funded public service off to the future and the whims of whatever party might control Queen’s Park or City Hall.

Where is the leadership to build a real Transit City?

Related: TTC Sheppard East Construction Phases

This willow tree is majestic. Homeowners should appreciate the utility and beauty of trees.

Yes, you bought a house in Toronto, Canada and you are now master of your domain. This does not give you the right to do anything you want on your property. There are bylaws of the City of Toronto that all home owners need to follow, and if you disagree with them then maybe you should reconsider your purchase. Keep your yard clean and safe. Shovel the sidewalk in the winter. Cut your lawn. And don’t cut down all your trees. Yes, to cut down a tree over 30 cm in diameter or more as measured at 1.4 m above ground level, you need a city permit.

Home owners often love a neighbourhood of old growth trees. Trees provide shade and impart an imperial feel to a street. This is in stark contrast to a new housing development, where all the trees have been uprooted and thrown out. The new development feels barren. We all agree that trees are good, but some people like to appreciate trees provided the trees are not on their property. They dislike the work of having to take care of a tree and to rake its leaves in the autumn. If all home owners were this selfish they would cut down all the trees on their property and collectively affect the environment and our society in a very negative way.

Be kind to trees. They require so little work and give us so much more than they ask. They shade us from the hot sun. They filter pollutants from the air. They provide homes and a mini ecosystem for bugs and animals. Trees are part of our environment long before we were here. When you think about it, apart from health and safety issues, it’s hard to argue against having a tree.

If you see a tree being cut down in the City of Toronto that is larger than 30cm in diameter you should report this to the city. We need all the trees we can get.

Tasty pollen available to all bee friends, from a white tulip

Spring is finally here. I invite all bees to visit my garden for a very tasty good time. There is so much colour in the garden, which washes into the house, giving some rooms a fantastic pink hue. All photos taken today at 14:45.

On the negative side so many people have come down with allergies. Noses and eyes are itchy. People are stuffed up. This is nature’s way of reproducing. Still, what would spring be without renewal, growth and an uplifting shot of colour.

Without bees our vegetables and fruit would not be able to reproduce and feed us. I pay homage to the lowly bee, a tireless worker that silently goes about its business of fertilizing all living plants. Hats off to all bees!

Male crab apple tree will be in full bloom tomorrow. Still, he looks pretty handsome.

White plumb blossom in full bloom, but only lasts 3 days

Red tulips in a bunch. They are a couple of days old but still look fresh.

Six red tulips catching the sun's rays and waiting to feed bees.

Red tulip quadruplets face the sun. Calling all bees, calling all bees...

A red tulip duo on display. Where are the bees when you need them?

A lonely pink tulip on display. I think it's been in bloom for many days.

A white tulip duo in partial shade. The pollen really stands out.

A white tulip opens a bee buffet. So much messy pollen. Come and get it...