High Speed Hope 2

Rural Ottawa could be fully wired for high-speed Internet by August

Who writes these headlines ??? How can you be "fully wired" to a wireless connection ??

Rural residents of Ottawa could be hooked up to the high-speed information superhighway as early as August, after city council approved a partner to deliver broadband Internet service to every home in the city.

Members of the city's rural affairs committee met on March 22 to approve a public-private proposal from New Brunswick-based Barrett Xplore Inc. (BXI) to deploy a Motorola-based fixed wireless broadband platform designed to cover 100 per cent of the rural Ottawa market.

The city received proposals from BXI, Inukshuk Wireless Inc., and Storm Internet Services. Of them, BXI's was deemed the "best value" for money by staff and consultants who reviewed them.

In this case, BXI will employ both line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight technologies to get residents hooked up. The company expects to need between 20 and 30 towers to deliver wireless broadband to rural homes, two-thirds of which already exist. The company may need to install about 10 new towers, each about 100 feet in height, in various locations, said BXI's CEO John Maduri.

The company proposed to offer various service rates to residents ranging between $30 and $60 per month for residential service and between $60 and $150 for business and enterprise packages.

The topic has been bantered around in Montague since last fall... I wonder if it might be a good time to jump in with the City & Barrett to ensure all of our residents have access too ... While the problem has been solved for me, I believe in order to attract industrial and residential development, all areas of the Township need access to affordable high speed. If the Township needs to partially subsidize one-time construction costs to achieve this, I'd be in favor it.

Reunions ...

Being away from home sure does make you appreciate your loved ones. I was in TO working last week, and "my ladies" missed me terribly. Nice to know you're loved.

To show them that being away a week was not the end of the world I showed them a video that aired on CNN Friday. The story was about a sailor, just home from Iraq after being away 7 months. He surprised his 6 year old son at school, who was unaware of his father's return home.

The piece comes from KING 5 News in Seattle, "Tears of Joy" . If your eyes don't well up at the sight of that little boy's face, you had better check your pulse.

My heart bleeds for all of those poor children whose parents won't return alive from that stupid war.

Get out of town ...

Ya don't say .... The teachers union supporting the Libs ....

Imagine that.

Teachers' union boss a big fan of McGuinty

The outgoing president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF) is leaving her job with good marks for the province's Liberal government.

Despite lingering concerns about "inadequate" base funding for school boards, Rhonda Kimberley-Young told The Recorder and Times "we've seen education as a whole make gains" under the government.

She attributed much of that to the respect she said Premier Dalton McGuinty and his education minister have shown educators.

"That's very much been a real change in attitude from the (Progressive Conservative) government we had before that didn't necessarily listen to our concerns, let alone take them seriously," said Kimberley-Young.

Few would be surprised to hear Kimberley-Young speak well of the current government, given the strife of the Harris/Eves years.

But critics have accused the McGuinty government of simply buying labour peace with teachers' unions by caving in at the negotiating table.

Indeed teachers won increased wages and more preparation time in contracts that were essentially negotiated with Queen's Park.

Boards had little choice but to sign on and many, including both the local public and Catholic ones, have since complained the contracts have compounded their financial struggles.

"Certainly we have no trouble defending the fact that some working conditions are a little better because they are the learning conditions of students," explained Kimberley-Young.

Asked her opinion of the present-day Progressive Conservatives under Leader John Tory, Kimberley-Young hardly sounded like the OSSTF will endorse them in this October's provincial election.

"We want a strong publicly funded system that's open and accessible to all students. We don't want to see the system be segregated," said Kimberley-Young. Tories are bringing to the table are the same things the Tories brought to government when they served in Ontario," she said.

OSSTF is particularly concerned, she said, that the party continues to promote a tax credit for parents whose children attend private or independent religious schools.

Goes without saying .. I say

Smaller chocolate bars 'could reduce obesity'

The Brits have got it figured out .....

Plans to shrink the size of chocolate bars, crisp packets and other snacks were unveiled yesterday by the Government's food watchdog in a bid to tackle obesity in Britain.

The Food Standards Agency [FSA] wants manufacturers to make smaller portions more widely available. Currently, smaller packets of crisps and confectionery are usually restricted to supermarket multi-packs and come at a price premium, the agency said.

This is something that's concerned me for a long time ... have you noticed that as the standard serving size of cola has gone up ... the waist line of the average soul has gotten wider ??

When I was a kid, you drank from a bottle, 280 ml. Then came cans, same size. Then the cans got bigger.. 341 ml. Now it's getting hard to buy a can ... 591 ml's occupy 80% minimum of rack space.

Am I on to something here ? This is not rocket science. Eat less, move more. That's how you do it. Simple.

Today's Rideau on You Tube

Today's Rideau ... featuring a friend, who happens to be lucky enough to both work at and live in the Lockmasters House at Poonamalie.

Chocolate merger ?

From Forbes:

When Cadbury Schweppes confirmed earlier this month that it planned to break itself into two sugary pieces, separating its confectionery and soft drinks businesses, Chief Executive Todd Stitzer said he wanted to build "the biggest and best confectionery company in the world."

The U.K. candy and soft drinks company may achieve that through buying the U.S.'s largest chocolate company.

Hershey acquired the license to manufacture and sell Cadbury products in the U.S. in 1988 after Cadbury failed to make any headway in the U.S., mainly because of sales and distribution difficulties.

If Cadbury bought Hershey, it would be able to take back the North American rights to these brands. However, if Hershey were sold to a third party, Cadbury would regain the rights to these brands in any case.

While Cadbury is a major player in the U.K. chocolate confectionery market, its international business has been built primarily on sugar confectionery, and the British company may want to redress that balance in the U.S.

Would a merger such as this help the Smiths Falls situation ... who knows... but it appears Hershey is steadfast in it's plans .... so a change in management surely could not bring any worse news !!

Made in Canada no more....

Gildan Activewear is closing all North American operations closing 5 plants, laying off 1800. More of the same ...

What really struck me about this story was this ....

Vice-president Cam Gentile said the cost to produce 12 T-shirts in North America is $3 higher than in Central America.

Wait a minute here ....

You mean to tell me that you're closing 5 factories, putting 1800 of my fellow NA's out of work over .25 cents a T-shirt....
ARE YOU F#$*&G MAD !!!!

I would gladly pay $2 extra dollars ... or more. Or 50 goddam cents more for a chocolate bar, if that's what it takes....

When I was a kid, I remember everything that was made in Canada was clearly marked with a common tag .... what the hell ever happened to that ? We had better put a stop to this now .... or there will be nothing left.

Bring back the "Made in Canada" tag ... and buy it.

Peek-a-boo

I bet it wasn't the "Head & Shoulders" he was lookin' at ....

MANCHESTER, Conn. (AP) - A man landed in hot water after police say he hid a tiny camera in a shampoo bottle to watch two of his female roommates as they took showers.

Police said Thibodeau made a compilation video of one of the women, but they have no evidence he transferred the files to the Internet. It wasn't yet known how long the shampoo had been wired.

Death by Sister ...

I cannot believe a human could be so callous to kin ....

A cancer victim has accused his sister of condemning him to death by refusing to donate her bone marrow for a life-saving operation.

Father-of-three Simon Pretty is likely to die from leukaemia within months unless he receives a transplant.

His sister Helen, 43, is a perfect match but he says she has turned down the chance to save his life. Without the donation Mr Pretty – who has a rare tissue type – could be dead by the end of the year leaving his wife Jacqueline to raise their children Rebecca, eight, Jack, six and Benjamin, three.

Hershey PA update

From Patriot News, PA

Six hundred to 650 jobs could be eliminated at two Derry Twp. chocolate plants under a proposed settlement between The Hershey Co. and Chocolate Workers Local 464.

Dennis Bomberger, business manager of the union, said the cuts would occur over a three-year period. The cuts represent more than a fourth of the 2,200 union members who work at the main chocolate plant at 19 E. Chocolate Ave. and the West Hershey facility.

If members don't approve the settlement, "the negotiating committee believes the alternative is even worse," he said. ......Ya don't say .....


RELATED: Know your enemy .... a profile of Richard Lenny, Hershey CEO and how we ended up in this horrible position.

ALSO RELATED: Sources (ok well, I) have noticed that Hershey Corp. has 4 boardrooms rented today in the Delta Hotel, Dixie Road Mississauga .... wonder what's up now ?