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What better way to spend our tax dollars than investigating a missing ass.

“I think you might know him [...]]]> Apart the normal police stuff like driving raids, arrests, big sting operations, and enforcing orders given by judges (OK maybe a little bit less of that last one) the OPP needs to keep itself busy some how right?

What better way to spend our tax dollars than investigating a missing ass.

“I think you might know him very well!”

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I can’t write too much on this due to time constraints at the moment, [...]]]> I have updated with my response to the letter. Please note I do not offer a solution just my opinion on the letter. As many people in our society nowadays, I’m an opinion-giver, let others do the work of fixing it.

I can’t write too much on this due to time constraints at the moment, but the Ontario Minister of Training Colleges and Universities responds to the Hamilton Spectator article condemning the government (on behalf of good ol’ Peter George – my entry on this) for not offering extra funding for the extra student McMaster decided to take on this year. The text of the letter follows, I will come back to this post later on so fix it up

The article/letter is here: http://www.thespec.com/printArticle/20947.

To summarize it for you: ministry says “hey we gave you money and you would have received it even if you hadn’t taken on more students.”

Some key points of the letter (everyone likes numbers and statistics. Makes you look cool, unless you fail probability and have to take it again cos the damn prof figured theory would be much better to test students on than…but I digress). Note: these are from the article, in full, I did not even paraphrase. Got it? Alright so here we go with my opinion on this letter and the article it responds to: BULL. To both. I have already explained why I think McMaster’s position is bull (they keep building and the projects keep going over budget). So the key points:

• Between 2002-03 and 2006-07, four years, McMaster’s operating funding increased by more than $60 million to $183 million, a 54 per cent increase in four years.

• I understand the number of students taught increased, over the same period, by 32 per cent, substantially less than the budget increase. We are funding every student, and more. In presenting McMaster’s budget challenges, the much larger contribution by the people of Ontario to education at McMaster over the past four years should be recognized.

In terms of the government’s response…alright I’ll give you the operating fund increase. It’s huge, although I don’t quite see the correlation between a 54% increase in funding and a 32% increase in students. Actually I just don’t see the point of the second statement I’ve extracted. “The number of students taught increased…by 32 per cent, less than the budget increase.” That’s all fine and dandy but are you saying a 1% increase in students should result in a 1% increase in costs and thus funding? [seriously I'm not being sarcastic or anything of the sort, I would just like to understand what you meant to say by that.] Sure it’s a smaller increase but:

What if each 1% increase in students requires more than a 1.6875% increase in funding? Say 1.69%. That alone amounts to a shortage of 0.08%. It doesn’t seem like much, but take that out of the operating budget of $183 million and you end up with $14.64 million $146,400. And all that because every 1% increase in students needed 0.0025% more funding than allotted. It’s amazing how numbers work isn’t it? [I'm not saying that's the math the ministry did, it's just what I understand from their letter. I welcome comments on it and everything else]

• The number of students McMaster takes is up to McMaster, not the Ontario government. McMaster would have received more operating money even if it had not taken additional students.

Again, what are you saying? Of course the number of admissions is up to McMaster and not the Government. That’s just an obvious statement of fact, probably fort those of us who can’t see the obvious, obviously. You’re also saying “McMaster would have received more operating money even if it had not taken additional students.” Did you read the article? It was saying they took on students, and now you’re not giving them enough money. So what you’re saying is that even if you hadn’t taken on that extra 10% we would have given you the money that we haven’t given you anyway. Do you follow that? Because I certainly don’t.

The way I see this charade, university complains, Ministry responds generically. This response is so badly structured it might as well not have existed at all. The points it makes are confusing at best if not irrelevant. I’m sure the ministry’s PR people figured they should respond and wrote this after attending a pub crawl. At least I’m hoping, because if they actually put more thought than looking up facts and spewing them on paper…

~Last edited June 19, 2007 11:20 PM EST

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Anyway enough introduction. I was browsing it today [...]]]> Since I have a lot to post about, here’s another from The Hamilton Spectator. The newspaper has a section dedicated to the schools in the area called The Pulse where every week or so one school (elementary or secondary) receives the chance to publish articles about their school.

Anyway enough introduction. I was browsing it today and I noticed my former high school had been recently published. I figured I’d give it a read. Unfortunately I started with this article on Organ Donation.

Organ Donation
By REMOVED TO SPARE SOME EMBARRASSMENT
The Hamilton Spectator

Heroes. No, not the ones we read or hear about in great sporting moments or the ones with supernatural powers, these heroes are different. These heroes are organ and tissue donors who, like any hero, make a difference in the lives of others. By volunteering to donate organs or tissue, their unselfish deed aids in the good of society.

In Ontario there are approximately 1,715 people on an organ waiting list. Facts show that one person dies every three days waiting for an organ; therefore in one year alone 442 people die waiting. Incredibly a person who has passed away still has the power to save lives through organ or tissue donations. One person alone can save up to 8 lives by donating organs or a remarkable 50 lives by donating tissue. Organs such as the heart, lungs, pancreas, or kidneys and tissues such as eyes, heart valves, or skin are all gifts which can be given to save or improve the lives of people in need. Individuals like Nancy Hemica who work for Ontario’s Trillium Gift of Life network are dedicated to not only finding suitable donors but also organizing the process by matching organs or tissue with people in need.

As Christians Jesus calls us to love one another as he has loved us. “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15: 12-13). By donating a gift of life to a stranger we act upon what Christ has taught us. We have the power to become heroes to people in need by donating organs or tissues.

Notice anything wrong with it? Please say you did. If you didn’t go ahead and read it again.

Done? OK Well you might have noticed that to the writer, there are over 1300 days in a year. Where did I get this number? Well according to the writer: “one person dies every three days waiting for an organ” and in “one year alone 442 people die waiting.”

Some great math there buddy (and amazing proofreading). Let’s recap:
1 person dead / 3 days
442 deaths / year (=x days)
Solve for x. x = 442 * 3 = 1326 days in a year.

Great math skills there buddy. That’s why when you write something, you don’t just COPY the numbers, you try to make sense of them too. It’s called thinking. Apparently they don’t teach that in high school…I wonder if a teacher proofread that article…if he or she did…oh boy!

Today is day # 158 of 2007, only 1168 to go…bet Christmas seems that much farther away doesn’t it?

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