I've long been a proponent of proportional representation, the system of electing representatives in such a way that their numbers in a legislative body reflect the percentage of the vote their respective parties received in the last election. Now there are several different systems of PR, lists are one of the most common. My personal favourite is the Single-Transferable-Ballot with Multi-Member districts. Though complex, it gives the voter a good chance to make their vote actually count. This is different from our current first past the post system where a party that receives less than 50% of the popular vote, gets 100% of the power in the form of a majority government.

Today Mrs. Evil and myself spent the afternoon at the Calgary Zoo. Now we have been to the Zoo before but generally only for Zoolights, which is a good reason to go to the Zoo to begin with. Though by going in the afternoon we were able to look at the exhibits. We got to see:

Dr. Lisa Cuddy 55% Eccentricity, 55% Confidence, 45% Kindness

Congratulations, you're Dr. Lisa Cuddy! You've got a healthy balance of confidence, kindness, and general oddity (because asking a person who works for you to stick a needle in your butt is odd, no matter how hot he may be). You're probably an excellent leader with a good sense of humor. You also probably have a vulnerable side that not many people know about.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 99% on Eccentricity You scored higher than 99% on Confidence You scored higher than 99% on Kindness

Link: The House, MD Personality Test written by freedomdegrees on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

In their attempt to placate their theo-conservative base, the federal Tories are reopening the same-sex marriage debate with a free vote to rescind the act that allows it. Since the Tories are unlikely to win such a vote, they have also stated that they will introduce a "religious freedom protection" act. Such an act would allow people to discriminate against homosexuals in any aspect of life. So, under this act, if an apartment owner didn't like homosexuals, he/she could kick them out for that reason. A restaurant owner could put up a "no-gays" sign in his window. It would seem there's nothing the Tories won't do to turn Canada into the worst parts of the US south in the early 1950's.

In the continuing saga of the Calgary West nomination controversy it would appear that the Conservative Party is concerned about how the disclosure of the nomination documents would "irreparably harm" the party. Makes one wonder what these documents contain, given that the party is worried that it would turn of the ultra-conservative Alberta voter, let alone those in the rest of Canada.

It's been a while since I've written, mostly because it's been a busy week for me here at Castle Evil. Between my reserve commitments and work, there's been little time for much else. Mrs. Evil and I did make it out to Death by Chocolate at the Palliser Hotel on Thursday, which gave a nice break to the week. The weekend was occupied by the QCWA convention where I gave a talk on radio astronomy followed by dealing with the pile of laundry that had accumulated over the past week and a half. In the news we have the US congress passing legislation like mad before the election recess. One measure is particularly worrying, the legislation permitting the military tribunals for suspected terrorists to continue.

There's a climatologist over at Environment Canada by the name of David Phillips. He's probably the most well known of Environment Canada's meteorologists as he is generally the one interviewed when the press has questions about the weather. Now according to Phillips, the next winter will be a mild one, and that it has been ten years since we've had a seasonable cold winter. In fact in the last 37 years we've only had two winters that were colder than normal.

The race to succeed Ralph Klein is now officially underway. An uninspiring group of nine Tories are vying for the position of party leader and Premier. What's made me think about these people are comments by the president of the Alberta Progressive Conservative Party. Specifically, in response to the lack of rules for the leadership race, party president Doug Graham stated that there were few rules because the rules would be unenforceable. What does this statement say about the character of the candidates?

In a move reminiscent of the 2004 Calgary Montrose nomination battle between next to useless MLA Hung Pham and Gus Barron the courts have decided to look into the nomination process of Rob Anders. It's a sad comment on the Conservative Party that it's own members can't get rid of the cow-pie that is Anders. Now loathe that I am to improve the chances of a Tory getting elected, almost anyone would be better than the embarrassment that is Rob Anders.

I've set up a new poll question about what you think of "Canada's New Government (TM Pat. Pend)". So click here to get to this site's main page and the poll is on the right hand side.