So I’ve been hella crazy busy since I got back. Wicked busy. And it’s culminated in a brand spanking new place. Two stories, 4 bedrooms (or 5, if we do it right), and in a wicked quiet part of the west end of Ottawa. I’ll probably write an essay on the thing soon enough. But right now? If there’s a wall, I’m bouncing off it. Twice. I’ll calm down eventually, but the blog might just take a beating first. Sorry. Except not really.
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BRB. Melting. All over the place.
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It’s time to watch the TSA quite handily mock themselves. Again.
I don’t do nearly enough of these. As evidenced by the stack of mock-worthy pages–or rather, pages that pretty much mock themselves–currently sitting here, staring at me, and waiting for me to get around to them. Now, granted that stack got a little bit bigger just this morning, but hey, you’ll have that.
The US Transport Security Administration seems to have several secondary jobs, not remotely related to actually catching terrorists–which they aren’t actually all that good at in the first place. when they’re not walking off with iPads and blaming their wives, or giving the third degree to dying women, they’re spending the majority of their time railroading people who have a less than positive opinion of their railroading tactics. And that’s just the material I remembered to save. Just think of how much lower the national debt would be if your taxes weren’t going towards funding this unholy mess. Or rather, the TSA would prefer you maybe not think about that–lest it keep them from doing, well, pretty much everything they can to make damn sure the money keeps coming in. Yep, including being in charge of determining who from the private sector is actually authorised to compete with the TSA to offer the same services, and bound by the same–er–rules. Nothing says anticompetition like letting the monopolists set the competition standards. So, yeah. The next time someone you know feels a rant about the US going bankrupt coming on, just smile, nod, and say very calmly, “TSA”. Then show them this entry. The counterpoint pretty much makes itself.
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I may have just been holidayed to death.
Have you ever run a 10 KM marathon with a 20-pound weight on your back? Okay probably not. Have you ever had one of those vacations that felt like you’ve just run a 10- KM marathon with a 20-pound weight on your back? Yeah, that was kind of me after the week spent with the family. We got there on the 20th, mostly as planned. And pretty much from that day outward, it was almost non-stop doing everything under the sun and then some. Visiting with people, putting things together for this or that little thinggy we do on occasion, being visited *by* people, all that stuff. And somewhere in between all that I remembered to actually, you know, breathe. And mock ODSP a little.
May started out not feeling quite so comfortable with the family. Not that I blame her–I’m not always comfortable with the family. It has one or two things to do with why I don’t very often go home anymore. But as the holiday went on she got a little better about it. We enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. And, uh, pretty much fell dead over at the end of the day as a result. Just in time to get up and do the whole damn thing all over again. It was kind of crazy, kind of whacky, and very much fun. And topping it off, we came back today to complete more of the paperwork for the new place–more on that in another entry.
All in all, it was a good holiday. Exhausting as hell, but good. And very nearly the death of me. As much fun as it’s been, though, the usual routine’s going to be nice to get back into–just as soon as I find it again. But first, I should probably go finish that entry I didn’t get a chance to finish before all hell broke loose. Ah, what the hell–it’s been sitting there this long. Where’s the vodka?
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Some food for thought for Ontario’s government: “Just get a job” doesn’t solve the ODSP problem.
I’m taking the week off from all manner of mockery, but as this affects several people who read this blog, and as I’ve kind of been–well–sitting on the government’s head over this for quite a while, It could use to be posted. This pretty much explains why just going out and finding work doesn’t actually help, and why rather than the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) just saying “well go apply for work”, they should actually be working towards–well, you know–making it a bit more liveable for people who can’t (note: I didn’t say won’t) find work. My bief with ODSP is rather well documented. Now, we can add this to the list. Are we getting the message yet, Ontario government? Didn’t think so.
ODSP Reform: Why Mandatory Employment Won’t Work
Ahila Poologaindran
Public Policy and Governance Review, December 7, 2012
Since its inception in 1998, the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) has been a parcel of Ontario’s social assistance program, providing income support benefits and employment support services to people with disabilities. Due to a recommendation in the 2008 Poverty Reduction Strategy that identified removal of barriers and importance of employment support as a vital poverty reduction strategy, the Ontario government appointed Frances Lankin and Munir A. Sheikh to review the province’s social assistance program.
In October of this year, the Commission for the Review of Social Assistance released Brighter Prospects: Transforming Social Assistance in Ontario. By consulting various stakeholders for nearly two years, it proposed some recommendations that, if implemented, would radically change the system. Though many of the recommendations are promising, one particular proposal might take the Province backwards.
Under the newly proposed system, all ODSP recipients would be required to set out employment goals and a course of action to get there – a Pathway to Employment Plan. Devised in collaboration with a caseworker, a recipient’s plan would identify and develop a “pathway” to employment, taking into consideration his or her limitations and abilities.
If a recipient cannot work full time or at all, a temporary deferral would be granted and he or she would be expected to participate in activities identified in the plan to prepare for and find work eventually. A recipient would have to meet these conditions in order to receive income support.
In order to understand the seriousness of such a regulation change, it is important to contextualize the challenges that currently face the Ontario government.
- For 2011-12, Ontario’s expenditure on ODSP totalled $4,101 million, excluding drug benefit program costs. In fact, the number of ODSP cases continues to increase at a higher rate than expected.
- Only 10% of primary recipients report earnings from employment.
- From 2009-10, 60% of new ODSP grants were due to a mental health disorder, either as a primary condition or a secondary condition.
In 2010, 5% of Ontario’s working-age population was receiving disability-related income. This number is expected to be higher of recipients of all disability-related income support sources were taken into account.
Despite the pressing need for including people with disabilities in the labour market, Ontario should not mandate some of its most vulnerable residents to find employment. The above-noted figures are due partly to the systemic barriers to employment that people with disabilities face.
Without addressing some of these pervasive factors contributing to low employment rate, it is unrealistic to expect all recipients to find and maintain employment by simply creating a plan.
Granted, the Commission recommended options that would raise awareness and promote the employability of ODSP recipients. Nevertheless, recommendations that highlight the employer’s role in integrating people with disabilities in the labour market must make substantial headway before ODSP recipients are forced to pursue employment options.
Research highlights that when many people with disabilities are employed, they are often relegated to the margins, receive low wages with no benefits, and are often the first to get laid off. In order to fully integrate people with disabilities into the labour force, they must be able to obtain meaningful employment that would make mobility within the workplace possible.
The Pathway to Employment Plan hopes to encourage and incentivize recipients to prepare for and find employment. However, it is blind to the fact that entrenched systemic barriers as well as employment conditions are not conducive to integration, even when the Plan considers the recipient’s abilities and limitations.
This is not to say that many recipients would not benefit from such a plan. On the contrary, the individualized approach to employment may facilitate a greater number of recipients into the labour market.
But recipients must not be threatened by reduction in income support. Rather, the Plan should recognize the value of volunteer work and child care along with employment-related activities. The value of an Ontarian should not simply be reduced to his or her ability to earn.
Ahila Poologaindran is a 2014 MPP Candidate at the School of Public Policy and Governance. She holds a joint degree in Political Science and International Development Studies from McGill University. Ahila has worked for the non-profit sector as well as for the Ontario Public Service. Her interests include migration, mental health, and social policy.
https://ppgreview.ca/2012/12/07/odsp-reform-why-mandatory-employment-wont-work/
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If you’re reading this, I’m causing trouble with the family. Or dying a firy death.
It’s around that time again. Time for me to pack up my minimal belongings, drag the girlfriend out the door, and go gain 400 pounds with the assistance of family and a ton of awesome home cooking. Or, if you’re of a different mindset, time for me to kick back, relax, and wait for the whole damn thing to get around to exploding around me. Whichever. there will probably be half a ton of amusement. I may turn up once or twice to post it. But the real hard core blogging’s about to take a vacation. WTN will be back in full swing on or around the 27th. Unless the Mayans were right–then I’ll see you all in hell.
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I’m dreaming of a wet Christmas?
Ottawa’s weather paterns are doing it to me again. there was actual, honest to goodness white stuff on the ground 3 days ago. There still is–in places. But largely, thanks to some nifty shifting in temperatures, the majority of that white stuff became very incredibly wet. to the point of there was a rather impressive river out in front of this building when walks were needing to be taken. Environment Canada’s recent forecast says the majority of Canada will have a very green Christmas this year. Apparently somebody somewhere is dreaming of a wet one. And that dream’s coming true. They’ll just have to move to Ottawa.
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In which I are a professional. Wait what?
I haven’t mocked one of these in a while. Then I get this one, which escentially chooses to mock itself. I’m an accomplished professional, you see. Globally recognised for–well, see, the letter doesn’t actually say. I’m going to assume they’re finally recognising my awesomely awesome personality, based only on–uh–I got nothing else. Oh well, maybe someone who reads this can explain just what kind of professional I’m supposed to be. Note: professional pain in the ass doesn’t actually count.
Note: Links in this email are removed. Why? Because page rank leaching.
Related: Hey Outlook? Please don’t eat this post. I just got this system working–again.
Update: It ate this post. Bloody hell. Alright, have a manual pasting.
——————————————————————————–
From: James Jackson [mailto:james.jackson@linkselected.com]
Sent: December 17, 2012 10:28 PM
To: my@email.address
Subject: Invitation – Please Complete Your ProfileFROM: Worldwide Registry for Business Professionals
TO: my@email.address
RE: Worldwide Registry PublicationHello,
You were recently chosen to represent your professional
community, deeming you eligible for the inclusion in
the new 2013 Edition of Worldwide Registry for Business
Professionals.We are pleased to inform you that your candidacy was
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The Publishing Committee selected you as a professional
based not only upon your current standing, but focusing
as well on criteria from executive and professional directories,
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Please kindly note that our registration deadline for next year’s
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we must receive your verification on or before this date.On behalf of our Committee I salute your achievement and
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James G. Jackson
Managing Director
Worldwide Registry for Business Professionals2532 Cambridge Court
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retiring Twitterfeed. Tho thorry, thir.
I’ve used twitterfeed for years. Since the days when LiveJournal was my platform of choice–so basicly, since it became possible to have what I ramble about in spot A be tossed on Twitter account B. But see, here’s the problem with a Twitter fed site. Sometimes, Twitterfeed develops an issue. Okay, granted, sometimes Twitter develops an issue, but more often than not it’s the middle man. So, effective this morning, I’ve sort of accidentally fired that middle man. What does that mean if you’re following the blog on Twitter? Well, see, here’s the thing. Nothing.
I’ve always prefered to bring things like that in-house, if only because then if something fails, I can actually see where, how and why it failed. I just hadn’t found a reliable way to do that yet. Well, until yesterday. It was in the testing phase, mostly because–hey–I’m braindead sometimes so sort of halfway bungled the authentication for my in-house solution. But once that got itself straightened out, away she went. so now, it’s the same questionable blog, with the same average or worse content, being tossed to the same somewhat tolerable twitter accoun. It just doesn’t have to wait for Twitterfeed to get around to it for it to happen. As I say on Twitter, #GoGeekMachine.
Note: If you follow the blog by any other means, you can safely ignore this post. I didn’t break it, I promise. That happens later.
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Well slap me in the face and call me a terrorist–I’ve mocked the government on twitter.
The US army has apparently been borrowing the Transport Security Administration’s (TSA) definition of a terrorist. That’s the only explanation for why use of a social network, like Twitter, could be considered a sign of radicalization. Also, apparently, so could complaining about bias, or even if you’ve changed your choices of entertainment recently. come on, Steve and Carin— you guys weren’t always into the comedy scene. I knew it. Also on their list: being frustrated with mainstream ideologies. So yeah–all those entries up here mocking the governments on both sides of the border? Yeah. Should probably delete those. And their asociated tweets. Oh, and the conversations on Twitter I’ve been involved in re: certain government policies–ah hell, I should just delete my twitter. Or the US army could just, you know, stop copying the TSA. So where’s that delete button…
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Documentation is key. so where the hell is yours?
I’ve been known to get my hands dirty with this or that random project. Occasionally, resulting in the consumption of something a bit stronger than the coke I often keep nearby. Sometimes, I do it pretty much by the seat of my pants–this looks like it goes over here, so let’s see what this does. And sometimes, either by choice or by force, I’ll actually have to go hunting for documentation. Occasionally, the hunt points me to the developer’s website, the developer’s twitter, the developer’s blog–but not, in fact, the developer’s documentation. Or any documentation, for that matter. A user manual? A half-page thing on someone’s personal, but publicly accessible, WIKI? Yeah, no.
admitedly, I occasionally have that very same problem with my twitter app of choice, but in this case there’s documentation, it’s just not in English. So it *could*, if it was absolutely needed, be translated. Awesome. Useful. I should get on that, eventually. But in cases where there’s no documentation, as in whatsoever, for this or that program, script, basic language or other such extra utility, it has to be asked–and Slashdot asks it–what the hell are you thinking?
You want your program, script, language, basic little utility to be used, yeah? And not solely by geeks with little else to do between job searches and family things but to try busting things, yeah? Yeah. thought as much. So, uh, how about manualing the hell out of it? Nothing says “oh crap” more than smacking the help option and being directed to a website that tosses me a 404 error instead of something useful, like a FAQ. And, if I don’t feel like playing a guessing game–usually because I’ve got 80 million other things to do as it is–nothing convinces me to toss your program in the maybe later pile faster. And probably increases the likelyhood of me forgetting I have that program, simply by virtue of its presence in the maybe later pile. I’m not averse to doing a little RTFM every now and again. Hell, maybe I’ll catch something obvious that gives me an excuse to redo something and easily waste away an evening I can’t spend watching hockey. But by all means, couldja maybe pretty please try and WTFM–write the fucking manual? It helps, I promise. Or, at least, it makes you immune to entries like this one. Which is always good.