Content Disabled By CBC

CBC moderated away these comments:

I’m pleased to see that the people who are skeptical of EVs in Saskatchewan are getting harder to find in CBC’s comments, and their concerns are quickly explained away by others who know that EVs do really well for lots of people on the prairies. It took until 2018, but a Regina dealership finally started advertising a PHEV on the radio here.
It’s a real pleasure to drive a LEAF in the Winter in Regina, with its B-mode regenerative braking, and heated steering wheel and heated seats (in the back for the kids too). If SaskPower got with the times and started offering Supercharging and Level 3 chargers in our province, we’d quickly improve our air quality to have healthier children.

—
” Bina C Edwards:
ok I’m confused at where the savings is, because $200 a month is quite a bit … is that in cost of the car? They are cheaper to buy then a reg car? Can’t be gas because we don’t even live in the city and drive daily to a job and we DONT use that much in a month for gas. Maybe the plates are cheaper? Still not sure what the $200 is and I re-read it twice..going back to re-read but hope someone points out what I’m obviously not getting
”
Response removed by CBC:
@Bina C Edwards Probably you’ll want to talk in person at an EV event where people can explain the details, but I’ll try to help:
My Leaf used was $15500, and a 2014. That’s obviously cheaper than most new cars, and more than some used ones.
The President of the Can ***[Ass]’ of Petrol’ Producers canceled the cheaper license plates for EVs while he was the Minister of SGI.
Some people use $400/month in gas, and if they had an EV they’d pay about $80 more in power and nothing in gas. They’d also pay for no oil changes or repairs to fuel burning and cooling/exhaust systems on their vehicle.

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Just Transition – last of the raw videos

Here’s the last bit of raw video (I think) from last weekend’s Just Transition summit in Regina, SK. Activists and scientists gathered to share and learn about ways of fairly transitioning our province away from fossil fuels that are causing inter-generational harm.

Regina Bitcoin Community meets at Tavern

About 40 people showed up to Vic’s Tavern on Tuesday to talk about cryptocurrencies. Among the hot topics:

“Is Bitcoin a bubble?”, and “What is Ethereum?”.

In my table before the group discussion, everyone said Bitcoin was a bubble, but with a big caveat, that it will burst into other newer cryptocurrencies, not mostly back into dollars. In the larger group, few were willing to say it was a bubble. I, and Mike S. were asked to speak for the group to the media that showed up with questions about cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. One person, I think it was Kai, or was it Mike (safe bet, there were no fewer than 3 at my table), explained that there were many bubbles in cryptocurrencies, all percolating and popping frequently, faster than most notice.

I felt a little like a celebrity in the room, as several people recognized me from my Bitcoin Symposiums I helped put together 3 years ago when similar crowds came out for an evening of education and visiting.

Friend Jim on Radio for Heroic Water System

Consider that Regina and area is prone to droughts that can last more than a decade. The last century has been mercifully wet.

Jim Elliott’s living off the Regina water grid in Broder’s Annex. He’s buying drinking water (brought by cargo bike), but his other water needs are met through efficient rainwater use.

Regina's Jim Elliott uses rainwater for everything but drinking https://t.co/YvbbuV0YrH #MorningEdition #yqr via @huckcbc @SheilaColesCBC

— CBC Saskatchewan (@CBCSask) April 21, 2016

Is Twitter Worth It?

Abuse on Twitter (and social media in general) is ending the usefulness of the network. I’m not blameless either, although I do attempt to be more helpful than confrontational and critical on social media. There’s an absolutely fascinating article you should read if you’re concerned about the decline of social media.

Can we create a better web? Sure. But I think we have to start with humility, gratitude, reality — not arrogance, privilege, blindness. Abuse isn’t a nuisance, a triviality, a minor annoyance that “those people” have to put up with for the great privilege of having our world-changing stuff in their grubby hands. It will chill, stop, and kill networks from growing, communities from blossoming, and lives from flourishing. If your purpose is social interaction, abuse is as central to it as bacterial infection is to selling meat. Get it wrong, and you might just end up like Twitter in 2015. Not a beautiful town square, but a raging mosh pit. Good luck selling tickets to that.

I’ve noticed a lot fewer new faces on Twitter since I first started my 2nd account when I ran for city council in 2012. That campaign was tinged by waves of new people to Twitter, including dedicated trolls attacking a mayoral candidate that got very little positive attention, and attracted the majority of negative attention during the whole campaign.

The waves of abuse that person saw compare to what many women face when using Twitter.

@Amyrhymeswith if you're going to comment on someone else's conversation u should look at your profile picture first. #fugly #looser 😉

— Jon (@Leafs4evr) October 16, 2015

Eden, from Regina, offers examples of what sort of violent abuse she faces as a woman using and making technology and music.

here we go again >.> pic.twitter.com/2nEUojr4BB

— Eden Rohaspooky (@edenthecat) October 5, 2015

So, how can we be critical, without being considered abusive by the targets of our critiques? A journalist at Global told me I wasn’t doing a good job of it.

@JohnKleinRegina @That_Ronald_guy 2nd – your media trolling gets old. Lefties say it's the right wing media, righties say left wing media

— Mike McKinnon (@mikemckinnon) September 15, 2015

So how are people to interact online given contentious political topics, especially where critique and peaceful public dissent is essential for maintaining an evolving democratic system? Leave your thoughts in the comments, without a trace of irony.

City Not Looking At Electric Future

I’m completely disappointed CBC didn’t contact the City or Sun Country for comment before publishing this rehash of the City’s report on free EV chargers. What about seeing if someone spoke to it at the Public Works meeting at 4pm yesterday first? This wasn’t balanced/responsible journalism.

The City’s perspective appears to be to preserve as much parking meter revenue as possible, at the expense of planning to accommodate/support presently available vehicle types their citizens own, and will own in greater numbers in the near future. The effort to save $26000 installing the chargers where the City wants isn’t commendable when they blow $1000000 on giving away parking to City employees every year, according to their own Parking Study they kept hidden for years until a journalist at another organization uncovered it.

The OCP says the City should be looking at improving sustainability, and the Transportation Master Plan makes a similar suggestion.

Out of Touch and Out of Water

I was frankly surprised that the Leader-Post actually brought up climate change in their editorial that is otherwise a little out of touch.

It would have been nice if they interviewed Dave Sauchyn. I learned from him a couple years ago at a provincial conference that the Palliser Triangle is prone to droughts (regardless of human generated climate changes) that can last decades.

Doubtless we’ll all have renewed respect for the water we too often take for granted once this episode is behind us. And the city and its water treatment experts will hopefully figure out a way to prevent a recurrence.

Nope. It’s happened before that Regina’s been on backup wells from a Buffalo Pound supply problem. Many times in the past years in fact, and nothing stopped this crisis because Regina wastes way too much water.

Some ideas, however, seem ridiculous, including bathing in a tub with “only a couple of centimetres of water” and — bizarrely — to “reduce toilet flushing”.

It’s “ridiculous” to reduce toilet flushing by switching to a model that uses less water, not flushing when not necessary, and even going to a water-free model of composting toilet? It’s bizarre to poop into drinking water, frankly.

If you can’t get clean in a bath with 2cm of water, how dirty or unimaginative are you?

No, if the City wants to be serious about saving lots of water, they should consider my plan to require new housing construction to have a greywater system.

we believe there’s a limit to the goodwill and patience the city can expect from its citizens, who have a right to expect service after paying water and sewer utility rate increases

City politicians will tell the Rockies to melt their glaciers faster, the polluted water growing algae to stop it, and notify the sky it must rain more west of here. There’s a limit to the goodwill and patience we have with those factors you know. We’ve paid for it, after all?!