Hergest Ridge

While I’ve failed to keep abreast of the progression and the justifications given for it, my observation is that our city began with a single red light camera at an intersection with the highest accident rate, and since expanded the campaign approximately hundred fold.

According to a local newspaper’s February 11th story by Geoff Kirbyson, “46 dedicated traffic officers have been removed from the street” – plenty of room to make a counter claim against “photo-radar making the streets safer.” Unlike the original, cameras are now installed at intersections with low accident rates. The city and the firm which provides the photo service are both paid commission style, with no independent body overlooking their practice.

A “2006 City Audit of the Photo Enforcement Program shows that the city used misleading statistics in an attempt to cover-up the program’s failure to reduce accidents. Independent evidence cited in the report indicates that the number of insurance claims for accidents, injuries and property damage expenses went up significantly at sites using camera enforcement in the year following the introduction of the devices.” (Audit PDF)

But perhaps most frustrating about the whole situation is that few question the authorities when a claim about safety is made. When someone at an airport tells you to get rid of your water, few seem to realise that the ceased containers are stored inside the airport loaded with people. If it all really was a threat, should it not be removed immediately? And how many of all the “safety regulations” are a placebos to problems which have always existed, and will continue to exist until each and every citizen has all their liberties removed?

What I’m getting at is that in the name of safety, you’re likely getting ripped off financially while being stripped of your privacy – both often done by your own government.

If you live in the Winnipeg area, please review and consider signing the petition against current photo-radar practices, set to be presented in court in April.

I got my first taste of the Internet back in 1994. While in computer class, the teacher finally succeeded to get through to the Internet provider – right before being called away for some school emergency. As the resident class nerd (although to this day you’d never know by looking) he selected me to keep the connection alive.

Even if you’re only a few years younger than I, you probably are not quite sure what I mean by “getting through”, or “keeping the connection alive” – and that’s okay. The point is I got very lost trying to keep track of what I clicked on as I surfed from page to page. In the end I was a bit nervous because I was sure my teacher would never find his way back to the spot where he left me… URLs, history, and bookmarks were all foreign concepts to me at the time. All I knew was how to open doors to new, random worlds by clicking links.

By now you’re probably looking around the page, looking for the next link to hop to. This is indeed a long intro for something rather simple: a few portals to things I found interesting, and thought you might too.

• The artwork of Sven Prima with my favs being:
  1. Raven lady
  2. Death in hospital
  3. Drinking in the park
  4. Mind thief
  5. Umbrella men
• Advertising vs. Reality
  What you see on the box vs. What’s actually inside
  A visual comparison of 100 different products.
• Pastel Stories
  A polish artist by the name of Mateusz Skutnik who creates wonderful virtual and ink based worlds in forms from comics to games. Inspiration awaits.

Perhaps next time I’ll post something like this on a Friday. Or, perhaps a distraction early in the week is more to your liking? Either way, enjoy.