Who benefits, and how, from the operation of human social hierarchies?
This article from Michael W. Diehl looks at social and economic inequality and the need to asses the costs and benefits that accrue to persons of varying status in social hierarchies.
This “behavioral ecology” has historically been concentrated on food selection between classes or statuses. Has ancient competition for food resulted in modern human social and economic equality? Read on by clicking on the blue image below. CP
Starting in 2022 it will be possible to ask for the beloved’s hand in marriage while flying over the lunar surface to the sound of Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon”. The one-week interplanetary flight will be carried out using a self-contained and autonomous spacecraft allowing the two lovers to travel alone.
The ApoteoSurprise agency, a French marriage proposal planner specialized in creating extravagant proposals, introduces a whole new service for 145 million dollars which will allow 21st century handsome princes to propose while flying around the Moon. Reaching for the Moon in the name of love is about to become a reality, the ultimate goal of the Paris-based agency being to “stage the craziest and most outstanding marriage proposal of the last 13.8 billion years“.
From March 2022, elite lovers will be able to book the all-included service on the site www.proposeinparis.com and five months later find themselves enjoying the following program:
– Twelve weeks of pre-requisite technical and physical training.
– Takeoff on D-Day from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
– Richard Strauss’s “Thus spoke Zarathustra, Op.30” (Theme from 2001 Space Odyssey) resounding in the two space tourists’ helmets when the first effects of weightlessness are felt.
– Arrival in lunar orbit, three days later, flying over the satellite’s grayish surface at only 200/300 kilometers altitude.
The famous ‘Earthrise’ photo from Apollo 8, the first manned mission to the moon. The crew entered lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, 1968. That evening, the astronauts held a live broadcast, showing pictures of the Earth and moon as seen from their spacecraft. photo:NASA
– Cut-off of all communication with Earth for around thirty minutes while the capsule flies over the dark side of the Moon.
– The Frank Sinatra song “Fly Me to the Moon” played halfway through the orbital flight, allowing the suitor to make his marriage proposal far from any form of human life (engagement ring secretly hidden in his spacesuit).
– A spectacular Earth-rise seen from behind the lunar craters and return trip of nearly four days before atmospheric re-entry and final touchdown.
The flight-plan followed by the space capsule will mirror that of the mythical Apollo 8 mission in 1968. The spacecraft, traveling at a speed of up to 38,000 km/h, will be equipped with eight cameras allowing the couple to immortalize their entry into the history of the conquest of space and the conquest… of love! For the Silo, Nicolas Garreau.
The maniacal Hal9000 computer was in charge of operating a spacecraft in Kubrick’s 2001:A Space Odyssey.
It’s time to scrap Ontario’s Drive Clean program and the latest reboot of the decade old Drive Clean program should get the boot altogether. I make this claim following the Wynne government’s latest set of changes introducing a bureaucratic and excessively onerous procedure for consumers and car dealers to follow if their vehicle fails the new Drive Clean test. The changes build on a government revamp of the program that now have vehicles undergo an OBD (On-Board Diagnostics) test instead of an emissions test directly at the tailpipe – changes that resulted in an immediate jump in failure rates from 5 per cent up to 10.5 per cent.
[In the scene below- astronaut Dave is refused entry back into the main spaceship after retrieving the body of fellow astronaut Frank. The Hal9000 computer incorrectly diagnosed a failure in the spaceship’s communication antenna array. CP]
When our previous government introduced the program in 1999, emission reduction was both the goal and the result – today numerous drivers are being told their car has failed the test simply because its on-board computer isn’t ‘ready with the only reduction coming to the motorists wallet. It’s clear government introduced a more stringent e-test as a way to justify a program that has obviously outlived its usefulness.
To ensure all monitors/on-board computers are ready, the Ministry of the Environment has suggested motorists should spend a few days driving the vehicle on the highway and around town.
It seems hypocritical that a program geared to emission reduction would also encourage Ontarians to drive around aimlessly to remedy a technical glitch before they can pay more money to take another e-test. The fact that this is an unworkable, ineffective money-grab that has well passed it’s best before date. The Auditor General specifically warned the Liberals last year to delay the implementation of their new e-test in order to ensure that all technical testing was completed and problems were resolved.
In typical Liberal-fashion, the government ignored the advice of the Auditor General and rushed ahead with their new emissions test – neglecting any due diligence whatsoever. For the Silo by Toby Barrett
Contact Toby for more information at 519-428-0446 or 1-800-903-8629
