Jason's Notes About Stuff

As I continue to go through my old blog drafts, this is another one from 2010 where I took down some rough notes and never quite put something together. At the time, there was significant press (and a movie ) about how Mark Zuckerberg has "stolen" the idea for Facebook from the  Winklevoss twins . I would argue that there was very little original or truly innovative ideas that went into the core functionality of Facebook. On the other hand, it was pretty innovative to build up a huge database of his classmates' information without their permission...  ☺ --- I've read  Atlas Shrugged cover to cover, and I totally get the theme and the very real problems it discusses. What I don't understand is how anyone thinks that modern intellectual property laws provide any type of solution. If anything, they tend to make matters worse, since people that come up with the most profitable ideas today are usually bound by agreements that automatically assign ...

( image credit ) I was recently going through old blog drafts and came across this one from nearly 8 years ago . It was basically just brainstorming about how to improve society in general. I'm proud to say that in the meantime, I've done my best to move the needle ever so slightly, becoming more involved in politics, including running for office at the provincial level and organizing my thoughts further in a wiki . I also now work for a charity that helps bring free education to those who need it most. My most recent efforts include promoting proportional representation and helping organize a Green regional association . Who's ready to join in and help? :) Here's my original brainstorming notes from June 2010: Communist? Capitalist? Democratic? Socialist? Does anyone really know what these terms actually mean anymore? Hybrid system. Use best aspects of existing societal structures. Freely available to all citizens of the world: - Basic educa...

According to  Natural Resources Canada , "Canada has the third-largest proven oil reserve in the world, most of which is in the oil sands." "Proven oil reserves are estimated at 171.0 billion barrels. " Canada's current population is about 36.7 million . So, one could perhaps argue that my current share of Canadian oil is about  4,659.4 barrels . Since Brent Crude is priced at about $70/barrel today , that's about $326,158 USD or, even better: $420,662 CAD ! Hurray, I'm rich! 💵💰 But wait just a second, you say. That oil is still in the ground. It costs money to extract it and transport it to a buyer. Well, crap. Maybe I'm not that rich after all. So how do I turn this black gold stuck in the ground into big dollar signs? More bad news: Our infrastructure has evolved over the years to export most of our oil to the United States. That worked great when oil was scarce and prices were high. People raked in the cash. But ...

See:  The day oil rained down on Burnaby Ever since I moved to BC, not far from the path of the proposed Kinder Morgan pipeline expansion , I've been asked: "What do you think about that pipeline?" My response, from the beginning, has been a very confident: "Pipeline won't get built." "But how can you be so sure?", they ask. "'Cause people won't let it." I sincerely hope that I will be right about this. On March 23rd, 2018, two sitting Members of Parliment from two different political parties joined protesters at Kinder Morgan's gates in non-violent civil disobedience . They were both arrested. I completely support their actions, and those of everyone putting themselves in harm's way to help protect the land and water for future generations. These people are true heroes, selflessly sacrificing their own time and freedom so others can enjoy the safety and comfort of not being poisoned by catastroph...

Who remembers 2006? 12 years ago, Google launched a truly innovative suite of products to compete with Microsoft's behemoth Office suite called " Google Docs and Sheets ". This promised to revolutionize the way we work. Instead of having to email Word and Excel attachments to co-workers and worry about old versions , conflicting changes , etc., the document was hosted in one place, and everyone could always access and update the very latest version with no fuss or muss. Cloud Computing was The Next Big Thing™* and everything was going to be better ! *NOTE: Cloud Computing was not really new, but more a reboot of networked timesharing from the 60s and 70s distributed on a global scale. But that's another story for another time. Fast forward 12 years , and Word and Excel files are still everywhere ! Now, there are still a few cases where Docs and Sheets are missing features that Word and Excel have. For instance, I sometimes miss the automated hie...

About a month ago, before the big Cambridge Analytica scandal , I wrote that " Facebook is over ." My feeling was strong enough that I divested all FB holdings the same day. Glossing over the details at the time, I simply stated that Facebook had "lost its way." After posting, several of my friends and relatives (on Facebook, of course) suggested that I should create the Next Facebook . Funny enough, I'd already been there and done that. My reply: " I started a project called "FriendPortal" in 2003 that was to be a simpler, better alternative to Friendster. Before I could finish it, some scrappy Harvard kid beat me to the punch. Somebody will make the "next" Facebook. Odds are decent that it won't be me  :) " I thought it would be interesting to go a bit more in-depth on this topic. History Lesson In my mind, the first modern "social networking" site was Friendster (2002). It was quickly followed by M...

Some of my friends are big fans of WhatsApp, and have noted that I don't (and won't) use it, so I just wanted to briefly provide the major reasons why: It's owned by Facebook (and connected to the Facebook platform) and there are some major  privacy  concerns Since acquisition by Facebook, there have been major  security  concerns Due to similar problems, I advise  against  using similar apps like Apple iMessage, Google Hangouts, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, etc. If you're really keen on using a "Whatsapp-style" secure messaging app (with group messaging, voice calls, etc.), there is an alternative that is free, open source, and run by a  non-profit organization . It's called  Signal  and can be found at:  https://signal.org/   I have it installed, so feel free to send me a test message to try it out, and let me know if you have any further questions about the various privacy and security...

Alright folks, I'm calling it. It's quite sad, but as of 6pm Pacific on Feb 21, 2018, Facebook is officially over. Soon it will join the ranks of MySpace, Friendster, Slashdot, Digg, Orkut, and Google+ as dusty old sites that nobody really uses anymore. It had a good run. For a while, it was the perfect way to keep in touch with friends and relatives, but somewhere along the line, it lost its way. And unfortunately, I don't see a simple way back. Let's hope they can prove me wrong. But otherwise, I'm looking forward to seeing what's next. What is next? Twitter? Snapchat? Instagram? I feel like they're all mostly dead too. What's coming down the pipeline to help us all connect online? Or are we all slowly moving back to our smaller, more manageable offline groups? RIP Facebook, 2004-2018

"Should I buy Bitcoin?" This is a question I've heard a lot the past few weeks, so I'd like to quickly answer it in a public forum. My official answer is: "You should spend no more on Bitcoin than you'd be comfortable putting into a Vegas slot machine." As far as I'm concerned: Bitcoin is  not an investment . Bitcoin is a speculative, risky commodity gamble . If you do choose to put some chips down, remember that Bitcoin (BTC) can be subdivided up to 8 decimals places. Although fees make it difficult to trade very small amounts, you can easily trade down to 0.001 BTC, which at publishing time is worth about $15 US Dollars (USD). So at least you're not required to put a large amount of money at risk to play the game. Coinbase, one of the largest Bitcoin exchanges (where you can trade "real money" for Bitcoins) recently sent out an email: "Please invest responsibly." This might as well read: "Pleas...

Everything I'm going to write here seems painfully obvious to me, but apparently is not well known. I've read many recent articles and comments that seem to herald "free market capitalism" as the answer to every problem in society. They all seem to miss one critical factor though. Capitalism only works if there is competition. This seems like a very simple, bland, undeniable statement, and yet as I write it, I hear the collective sound of thousands of people picking up their torches and pitchforks and heading in my general direction. So -- Who disagrees with this statement? Please put up your hands. Now, how many of you that raised your hands understand economics? And I don't mean the philosophy or political nature of economics. I've read  Atlas Shrugged cover-to-cover and I'm not talking about the type of "political economic philosophy" introduced there. I'm talking about straight up basic  Microeconomics and the theor...

As CTO of  The Rumie Initiative , I spend a decent amount of time trying to find tech solutions that offer "the most for the least" in terms of computing power vs. cost. There is one thing that has baffled me in my long career in technology. Hardware capability increases exponentially , but software somehow just bloats up , using the power and space, without providing much more functionality or value. Computer specs from the past 30 years Year Example Cost Speed (MHz) RAM (MB) Storage (MB) 1977 TRS-80 $599.95 2 0.004 0.6 1981 IBM PC $3,000.00 5 0.063 0.2 1982 Commodore 64 $595.00 1 0.063 0.2 1985 Amiga 1000 $1,295.00 7 0.250 0.9 1990 Amiga 3000 $3,000.00 16 2.000 40.0 1992 Amiga 4000 $3,500.00 25 4.000 120.0 1995 PC Clone $3,000.00 33 8.000 1000.0 2000 PC Clone $2,500.00 600 256.000 40960.0 2005 PC Clone $2,500.00 2560 512.000 256000.0 2010 PC Clone $1,500.00 3072 8192.000 512000.0 2015 PC Clone $1,500.00 3584 8192.000 1048576.0 2017 PC Clone $1,500....

It's Sunday, May 7th, 2017, in the evening. In less than 48 hours, we'll have a good idea of how the 2017 BC Election is turning out. A mere two months ago, I was nominated to represent the BC Green Party in the BC NDP stronghold of Port Coquitlam. I must admit, at times, I am finding myself filled with some fear, doubt, and confusion. Fear of the worst. Doubt about our strategy. Confusion over how it has all unfolded. My confusion stems from the BC NDP's strategy. After spending the first half of their campaign firing missiles at the BC Liberals, the second half has featured them launching a full nuclear assault at the BC Green Party. Thankfully, my NDP running mate has not (to my knowledge) participated in this barrage, but I've seen very nasty behavior in many other ridings, especially on the island. The BC Liberals are running a classic neoconservative campaign, yelling loudly, and trying to scare people about losing their job, or having to pay ...

There's an old business saying: "What gets measured gets done." Politicians love to talk about jobs. Even better, how they are "creating" jobs. But is "number of jobs created" really a good metric to be tracking and optimizing for? Short answer: No. Why not? Some of the most urgent problems today are: Wealth inequality Environmental pollution An aging population An increasingly unhealthy population An increasingly uneducated population Does "creating jobs" solve any of these problems? No, and in some cases, it makes them worse. We need true education , innovation , and technology to solve these complex problems, not dead-end, part-time, low-quality "jobs" that sometimes pay less than being unemployed. Let's start setting and measuring some education , health , and wealth gap goals, and see what gets done.

This is an open letter to Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau. January 23rd, 2017 Dear Justin, You seem like a cool guy. We don't have a lot of time, so I'll get straight to the point. In 2015, you made a very specific promise (which is still online -- kudos for that). It reads: " We will make every vote count. We are committed to ensuring that 2015 will be the last federal election conducted under the first-past-the-post voting system." Time is ticking away, and so far you haven't made very many positive steps towards moving to a PR (Proportional Representation) system that would truly satisfy this promise. Late last year, you released a survey that seemed to be designed to confuse people rather than find out what they really think. More and more, it looks like the Liberal government is preparing to renege on its promise to " make every vote count. " I assure you, this would be a huge mistake . If you decide to keep FP...

Over the years, I've picked up a few interesting expressions from places I've lived that I've incorporated into my everyday conversation :) People are often confused, so here are the explanations. Texas / Atlanta / The South "Y'all" Usage: Abbreviation of "you all" or "you guys" or "yous guys" "How are y'all doing today?" "What about the rest of y'all?" New Zealand Pronouncing many short vowel sounds as "ee". Examples: "Builder" = "Beelder" The name "Ben" = "Been" France "Comme vous voulez" (pronounced: Come voo voo-lay) Usage: When you don't really have an opinion. Literally: "As you wish." or "However you like." "What do you want for dinner tonight? -- Comme vous voulez." "Should we invite the Jones? -- Comme vous voulez." The Caribbean ...

Recently, the Canadian federal government approved a pipeline expansion project that adds a second pipeline along an existing route from Edmonton, AB to Burnaby, BC. Here's the map: The pipeline has its own marketing site, touting the benefits: Helping us "keep up with the rising global demand for oil" and "increased tax benefits for all of Canada" sounds great, right? Except that it's misleading . While technically true that demand is rising: Demand is increasing much slower than previously projected Supply is increasing as fast or faster than demand And when supply increases faster than demand, prices fall . Most projections, including this recent one from oil-price.net , predict that oil prices will stagnate or even decrease over the next few years. It's also important to note that Alberta oil sells at a significant discount to the "regular" oil price you hear quoted in the news. For instance, when WTI crude fel...

This was the first time I've ever bet real money on an election. And I won. Even I'm a bit surprised. But only a bit. In mid-October, I posted " Why Trump Could Still Win " at a time when major news outlets said that a Trump win was virtually impossible . Good ol' Michael Moore  (yeah he's still around) made a far more eloquent prediction at " 5 Reasons Why Trump Will Win ". Of course, way back in July 2015, I took note of Trump's social media campaign, and realized that this election would be won or lost on social media . This was also true for Obama in 2008 and 2012, but one major, major thing had changed: The Facebook and Twitter demographic. It used to be that these were filled to the brim with liberal college students. Now there's a much more diversified crew. The rural "red" states are much better connected, and much easier to reach. My political leanings are complicated. I don't fit nicely into either...