Five Years of Harper – Broken Promises

Technorati Tags: Five years of Harper,Election 2011

2006 Conservative Platform:

1. Require ministers and senior government officials to record their contacts with lobbyists. Government Action: Broken

2. Prohibit nominated candidates or MPs seeking re-election from accepting large personal gifts. Government Action: Broken.

3. Ban the use of trust funds to finance candidates’ campaigns. Government Action: Broken. The Conservatives subjected trust funds to the limit of the registered trustee.

4. Ensure that all Officers of Parliament are confirmed through a secret ballot of all Members of Parliament. Government Action: Broken.

5. Establish a Public Appointments Commission to set merit-based requirements for appointments. Government Action: Broken. The Harper Conservatives haven't appointed a single member, despite wasting over $1 million on the promised commission.

6. Prevent ministerial aides and other political appointees receiving favoured treatment when applying for public service positions Government Action: Broken.

7. Give the Public Service Integrity Commissioner the power to enforce compliance with the Public Servants Disclosure Protection Act. Government Action: Broken. Conservative appointee Christiane Ouimet didn’t find a single case of wrongdoing amongst 228 complaints. The Auditor-General concluded that she did not discharge her duties as Integrity Commissioner.

8. Remove the government’s ability to exempt Crown corporations and other bodies from the Whistle Blower Act. Government Action: Broken. The Conservatives exempted the RCMP and other security agencies from the Act.

9. Require the prompt public disclosure of information revealed by whistleblowers. Government Action: Broken.

10. Ensure that whistleblowers have access to the courts and that they are provided with adequate legal counsel. Government Action: Broken. The Conservatives gave the Integrity Commissioner the option of granting legal assistance.

11. Establish monetary rewards for whistleblowers who expose wrongdoing or save taxpayers dollars. Government Action: Broken.

12. Require departments to provide the Parliamentary Budget Officer with the information it needs to provide accurate analyses to Parliament. Government Action: Broken.

13. Have the Auditor General audit all federal grant, contribution, and contracting policies, and a commitment to following all of her recommendations. Government Action: Broken.

14. Allow citizens, not just politicians, to make complaints to the Ethics Commissioner. Government Action: Broken.

15.Implement the Information Commissioner’s recommendations for reform of the Access to Information Act. Government Action: Broken.

16. Give the Information Commissioner the power to order the release of information. Government Action: Broken.

17. Expand Access to Information Legislation to any organization that spends taxpayers’ money. Government Action: Broken.

18. Subject the exclusion of Cabinet confidences to review by the Information Commissioner in relation to Access to Information requests. Government Action: Broken.

19. Oblige public officials to create the records necessary to document their actions and decisions. Government Action: Broken.

20. Provide a general public interest override for all exemptions, so that the public interest is put before the secrecy of the government. Government Action: Broken.

21. Ensure that all exemptions from the disclosure of government information are justified only on the basis of the harm or injury that would result from disclosure, not blanket exemption rules. Government Action: Broken.

22. Ensure that the disclosure requirements of the Access to Information Act cannot be circumvented by secrecy provisions in other federal acts, while respecting the confidentiality of national security and the privacy of personal information. Government Action: Broken. At least 50 provisions in other laws continue to override the Access to Information regime.

23. Give the Comptroller General the overall authority for the internal audit function in each government department. Government Action: Broken. Deputy Ministers remain responsible for their departmental internal audit functions.

24.When a Minister and deputy Minister disagree about administration of the department and the Minister chooses to override his deputy, the Minister must provide written direction to the deputy and alert the Auditor General. Government Action: Broken.

25. Eliminate the capital gains tax when the proceeds are reinvested within six months. Government Action: Broken.

26. Pay down the national debt by a minimum of $3 billion each year. Government Action: Broken in Budget 2008. Eliminate the capital gains tax when the proceeds are reinvested within six months. Government Action: Broken.

27. Limit the future growth of federal grant and contribution programs and federal departments to the rate of inflation plus population growth. Government Action: Broken.

28. Ensure that regional development agencies are non-politicized Government Action: Broken. The Board of ACOA is stacked with Conservative insiders and programs like RInC send far more money to Conservative ridings.

29. Replace CAIS with separate farm income stabilization and disaster relief programs that are simpler and more responsive. Government Action: Broken. The Conservatives simply changed the name of the program but farmers say it’s no easier to use.

30. Commit to adding an additional $500 million annually to farm support programs. Government Action: Broken. Although they committed the money early on, overall support for farm support programs has dropped.

31. Get the $5B in softwood lumber tariffs back. Government Action: Broken.

32. Guarantee repayment of illegally imposed softwood lumber tariffs through Export Development Canada. Government Action: Broken.

33. Extend the two hundred mile limit to the edge of the Continental Shelf, the nose and tail of the Grand Banks, and the Flemish Cap in the North Atlantic. Government Action: Broken.

34. Create mandatory consecutive sentences (instead of concurrent sentences) for select multiple violent or sexual offences. Government Action: Broken.

35.Replace statutory release (the law entitling a prisoner to parole after serving two- thirds of his sentence) with earned parole Government Action: Broken.

36.Toughen parole provisions once you have been convicted of committing a crime while on parole, and eliminate parole for life after the third such conviction. Government Action: Broken.

37. A constitutional amendment to forbid prisoners in federal institutions from voting in elections. Government Action: Broken.

38. Ensure federal corrections officers have the tools and training they require to do their job as peace officers. Government Action: Broken.

39.Create a joint national task force on security. Government Action: Broken.

40. Strict monitoring, including tracking place of residence, of high-risk individuals prohibited from owning firearms. Government Action: Broken.

41. Tighter restrictions on individuals on bail or parole for firearms offences, including the use of electronic monitoring. Government Action: Broken.

42. Crack down on gun smuggling. Government Action: Broken.

43. Improve safe storage laws for firearms. Government Action: Broken.

44. Require firearms safety training for everyone wishing to acquire and use a firearm. Government Action: Broken.

45. Eliminating exceptions to firearms prohibition orders following criminal conviction. Government Action: Broken.

46. Adopt a zero tolerance policy for child pornography, eliminating the so-called “legitimate purpose” defence. Government Action: Broken. The Conservatives only modified the use of the "legitimate purpose" defence.

47.Prohibit conditional sentences for sex offences committed against children. Government Action: Broken.

48. Allow judges to impose residency restrictions on where offenders released on peace bonds can live. Government Action: Broken.

49. Work with provinces, municipalities, police, and community leaders to ensure at risk youth reject gang and gun violence. Government Action: Broken. The government's 2009 Evaluation Report of the Youth Gang Prevention Fund found that "Canada’s youth gang problem has escalated and continues to escalate."

50. Support results-oriented, community-based initiatives for addictions treatment, training, and rehabilitation of those in trouble with the law. Government Action: Broken.

51. Direct $50 million in funding into community-based, educational, sporting, cultural, and vocational opportunities for young people at risk. Government Action: Broken.

52. Make anyone 14 years or older who is charged with serious violent or repeat offences is automatically subject to adult sentencing provisions. Government Action: Broken.

53. Amend the Youth Criminal Justice Act to include deterrence and denunciation as mandatory sentencing principles to be considered. Government Action: Broken.

54. Restore the Canada Ports Police Government Action: Broken.

55.Name a National Security Commissioner. Government Action: Broken. Even after the Air India Inquiry recommended it.

56.Create a Canadian Foreign Intelligence Agency. Government Action: Broken.

Amend the Youth Criminal Justice Act to include deterrence and denunciation as mandatory sentencing principles to be considered. Government Action: Broken.

54. Restore the Canada Ports Police Government Action: Broken.

55. Name a National Security Commissioner. Government Action: Broken. Even after the Air India Inquiry recommended it.

56. Create a Canadian Foreign Intelligence Agency. Government Action: Broken.

57. Make the Canadian Coast Guard as a stand-alone agency. Government Action: Broken. It remains a Special Operating Agency as the previous government had made it.

58. Create a National Security Review Committee. Government Action: Broken.

59. Reopen RCMP border detachments in Québec and the West. Government Action: Broken.

60. Permit sentencing courts to order deportation following conviction on select offences and prohibit persons already ordered deported from parole eligibility before deportation. Government Action: Broken.

61. Create evidence-based benchmarks for medically acceptable wait times, starting with cancer, heart, diagnostic imaging procedures, joint replacements, and sight restoration are established as soon as possible, as promised in the Health Accord. Government Action: Broken.

62. Ensure Canadians get regular reports on progress towards meeting these wait-time targets, as promised in the Health Accord. Government Action: Broken.

63. Increase the numbers of, and expand educational programs for doctors, nurses, and other health professionals. Government Action: Broken.

64. Allow patients who can’t be treated within an acceptable amount of time to be treated in other jurisdictions. Government Action: Broken.

65. Improve access to natural and complementary health products and supplements. Government Action: Broken. Bill C-36 reduces access.

66. Introduce a National Disability Act. Government Action: Broken.

67. Create 125,000 childcare spaces. Government Action: Broken.

68. Not tax income trusts Government Action: Broken.

69. Increase the Pension Income Amount to $2,500 in five years. Government Action: Broken.

70. Remove postsecondary education funding from the Canada Social Transfer and create an independent Canada Education and Training Transfer. Government Action: Broken.

71.Spend at least one percent of total federal health funding annually on physical activity, including amateur sport and programs for school age children. Government Action: Broken.

Increase the numbers of, and expand educational programs for doctors, nurses, and other health professionals. Government Action: Broken.

72. Allow all cities and communities, including cities with more than 500,000 people, to use gas tax transfer dollars to build and repair roads and bridges to improve road safety and fight traffic congestion. Government Action: Broken.

73. Develop a national Road Congestion Index to track progress in reducing road congestion. Government Action: Broken.

74. Develop tax incentives for developers to build affordable housing. Government Action: Broken.

75. Develop a strategy for greenhouse gas emissions in concert with the provinces. Government Action: Broken.

76. Create a Canadian Agency for Assessment and Recognition of Credentials, to provide pre-assessment of international credentials and experience. Government Action: Broken. The Conservatives created a Foreign Credentials Referral Office with a much narrower mandate.

77. Accept the targets agreed upon at the recent Meeting of First Ministers and National Aboriginal Leaders and work to achieving the Kelowna Accord’s targets. Government Action: Broken.

78. Let aboriginal parents choose the schooling they want for their children, with funding following the students. Government Action: Broken.

79. Replace the Indian Act (and related legislation) with a modern legislative framework which provides for the devolution of full legal and democratic responsibility to aboriginal Canadians. Government Action: Broken.

80. Implement the resolution of the House of Commons to acknowledge the historic inequality of treatment and compensation for First Nations, Métis, and Inuit war veterans, and provide compensation to them. Government Action: Broken.

81. Support the important contribution the Council of the Federation is making to Support the important contribution the Council of the Federation is making to strengthening intergovernmental and inter-provincial cooperation. Government Action: Broken. Stephen Harper has still not participated in a single Council of the Federation meeting.

82. Ensure that all new federal-provincial cost shared programs have an opt out with compensation option. Government Action: Broken.

83. Achieve permanent changes to the equalization formula. Government Action: Broken. The “permanent” changes lasted one year before they were changed again.

84. Support the Official Languages Act, ensuring that English and French have equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all institutions of the Parliament and Government of Canada. Government Action: Broken. A report from the Commissioner of Official Languages says the government is not providing the necessary leadership to protect language rights.

85. Propose an amendment to the Constitution to include the right to own property, as well as guarantee that no person shall be deprived of their just right without the due process of law and full, just, and timely compensation. Government Action: Broken.

86. Ensure that full, just, and timely compensation will be paid to all persons who are deprived of personal or private property as a result of any federal government initiative. Government Action: Broken.

87. Create a national process for choosing elected Senators from each province and territory. Government Action: Broken.

88. Make the Senate an effective, independent, and democratically elected body that equitably represents all regions. Government Action: Broken.

89. Establish fixed election dates every four years, except when a government loses the confidence of the House. Government Action: Broken. Stephen Harper broke his own fixed election law in 2008.

90. Make all votes in Parliament, except the budget and main estimates, “free votes” for ordinary Members of Parliament. Government Action: Broken.

91. Increase the power of Parliament and parliamentary committees to review the spending estimates of departments and hold ministers to account. Government Action: Broken.

92. Ensure that party nomination and leadership races are conducted in a fair, transparent, and democratic manner. Government Action: Broken. The Conservative Party continues to trample on local riding associations such as Calgary West and Dauphin-Swan River-Marquette.

93. Prevent party leaders from appointing candidates without the democratic consent of local electoral district associations. Government Action: Broken.

94. Advance Canada’s interests through foreign aid, while at the same time holding those agencies involved in this area accountable for its distribution and results. Government Action: Broken. Despite CIDA’s recommendation to continue funding numerous NGOs the Conservatives cut them without an explanation.

95. Increase spending on Overseas Development Assistance beyond the currently projected level and move towards the OECD average level. Government Action: Broken. Once the projected level was achieved they froze the international assistance envelope.

96. Make Parliament responsible for exercising oversight over the conduct of Canadian foreign policy. Government Action: Broken.

97. Complete the transformation of military operations and defence administration. Government Action: Broken.

98. Recruit 13,000 additional regular forces and 10,000 additional reserve forces personnel. Government Action: Broken.

99. Reduce defence rank structure overhead, review civilian and military HQ functions, and increase front-line personnel. Government Action: Broken. While regular force personnel have increased 9.7% civilian staff at National Defence have increased 31.9%

100. Treat Canada’s veterans with the respect and honour that they deserve. Government Action: Broken. From drastically paring down their promise of $3 billion to veterans exposed to Agent Orange to failing to fix the lump sum payment system for severally wounded modern day veterans, the Conservatives have let down veterans both young and old.

101. Explore the possibility of appointing special envoys between Canada and the United States to chart a course for the future of NAFTA Government Action: Broken.

102. Reassert Canada’s traditional leadership in negotiating the Free Trade Area of the Americas.

Government Action: Broken. Canada was barely visible at the Fifth Summit of the Americas in 2009.

2008 Conservative Platform:

103. Reducing Taxes on Diesel Fuels. Government Action: Broken.

104. Restricting Unfair Text Messaging Charges. Government Action: Broken.

105. Ensure that any regulation of natural health products balances the protection of Canadians' health and safety with the freedom to choose alternative products. Government Action: Broken.

106. Allow families where one spouse is not working full-time in order to care for one or more family members with disabilities – whether children or adults – to split their income between spouses for tax purposes. Government Action: Broken.

107. Fully index the $100 per month Universal Child Care Benefit to inflation. This will ensure that the value of the benefit does not erode over time. Government Action: Broken.

108. Ensure that Aboriginals have the opportunity to fully participate in Canada's economy and society. Government Action: Broken.

109. Work with the private sector and small business organizations to identify inefficiencies and make permanent a formal process of measuring, reporting and reducing the burden on businesses.

Government Action: Broken. The Red Tape Reduction Commission announced in January 2011 has yet to produce meaningful results.

110. The government has already established two new funds – the $900-million Strategic Aerospace and Defence Initiative and the $250-million Automotive Innovation Fund. These funds emphasize leading-edge technology and innovation to ensure that Canada remains a world leader in these industries. Unlike previous governments, a Harper Government will ensure that taxpayers' investments are repaid. Government Action: Broken.

111. Committed to implementing the reforms contained in the 2008 Budget to reduce the immigration processing backlog and to expedite applications from people with the skills and professions most in demand in Canada. Government Action: Broken. The immigration processing backlog has increased by 145,000 under the Conservatives.

112. Modernize the administration of our fisheries to ensure greater focus on conservation and using administrative sanctions, rather than court proceedings, to deal with violations. Government Action: Broken. The new Fisheries Act died when Stephen Harper called an early election in 2008 – the bill has not been re-introduced.

113. Work with Western Canadian grain farmers to ensure that the results of the barley plebiscite are respected and that they are given the freedom to choose whether to sell grain on the open market or through the Canadian Wheat Board. Government Action: Broken.

114. Reaffirming the Ban on the Bulk Transfer of Water. Government Action: Broken.

115. Make biofuels and renewable energy a key part of our environmental and energy strategy. Government Action: Broken. Canada lags other countries, like the Unites-States, in renewable energy investments.

116. Assert Canada's rights over our Arctic waters, including the Northwest Passage Government Action: Broken. The Conservatives released yet another “Arctic strategy” in 2010 while failing to fulfill their past promises for the North. They continue to insult the people of the North with more empty promises and rhetoric.

117. Reforming or Abolishing the Senate. Government Action: Broken. Stephen Harper broke his pledge to only appoint elected Senators, instead he appointed 38 Senators -all Conservatives -just since the last election.

118. Continue to reform appointments to federal agencies, boards, commissions and Crown corporations. Government Action: Broken. After riding into town on the white horse of accountability, Stephen Harper continued appointing Conservative insiders to the Senate, courts, and government boards and agencies – bringing the total to nearly 400 partisan appointees since the 2008 election.

119. Ensure that appointees to federal agencies, boards, commissions and Crown corporations reflect the diversity of Canada in language, gender, region, age and ethnicity. Government Action: Broken. Figures show that when the Conservatives took over in 2006, the percentage of women appointed to Governor-in-Council positions began to drop. While the figure was about 37 percent from 2002 to December 2005, it dropped to 32.5 percent from February 2006 to May 2010.

120. Appoint members to the Public Appointments Commission. Government Action: Broken. The Harper Conservatives haven't appointed a single member, despite wasting over $1 million on the promised commission.

121. Ending Insider Loans to Political Candidates. Government Action: Broken. The on servitudes tabled Bill C-19 in March 2010 but never moved forward.

122. Respecting the Provinces and Territories, Establishing a Charter of Open Federalism. Government Action: Broken. The Conservatives have quietly dropped any talk of a Charter of Open Federalism.

123. Limiting the Federal Spending Power. Government Action: Broken.

124. Create a new, refundable tax credit on up to $500 of eligible fees for children under 16 who participate in eligible arts or cultural activities, such as music lessons, drama or art classes. Government Action: Broken.

125. Enhance the Children's Fitness Tax Credit by making it refundable. Government Action: Broken.

126. Committed to a Canada First Defence Strategy that will provide predictable growth for Canada's defence budget, increase the size of our forces to 70,000 regular and 30,000 reserves. Government Action: Broken.

127. Ensure that we acquire the ships, aircraft, vehicles and other equipment our Forces need in a manner that ensures our troops have the best possible equipment and that taxpayers' dollars are prudently spent. Government Action: Broken. After promising an open and transparent competition to replace Canada’s CF-18s, the Conservatives flip-flopped and announced that

Canada would purchase 65 F-35s without holding a competition – costing taxpayers at least $30 billion.

128. Leverage these dramatic increases in defence procurement to ensure that new high technology jobs are created in Canada through a combination of buying Canadian-made defence equipment and securing high-value industrial benefits when equipment is purchased abroad. Government Action: Broken.

129. A re-elected Conservative Government led by Stephen Harper will continue to improve the lives of Canada's veterans. Government Action: Broken. From drastically paring down their promise of $3 billion to veterans exposed to Agent Orange to failing to fix the lump sum payment system for severally wounded modern day veterans, the Conservatives have let down veterans both young and old.

130. Increase funeral and burial assistance rates for veterans to bring the rates for veterans in line with those of active duty Canadian Forces and RCMP officers. Government Action: Broken.

131. Make the promotion of Canada's democratic values on the world stage a major focus of our foreign policy. We will establish a new, non-partisan democracy promotion agency that will help emerging democracies build democratic institutions and support peaceful democratic change in repressive countries. Government Action: Broken. The Conservatives failed to create the new agency.

132. Implement our Turning the Corner action plan to reduce Canada's greenhouse gas emissions in absolute terms by 20 per cent over 2006 levels by 2020. Government Action: Broken. From Copenhagen to Cancun, the Conservatives consistently block progress on climate change.

133. Work with the provinces and territories and our NAFTA trading partners in the United States and Mexico, at both the national and state levels, to develop and implement a North America-wide cap and trade system for greenhouse gases and air pollution, with implementation to occur between 2012 and 2015. Government Action: Broken. The Environment Commissioner issued a damning

report on the Conservatives’ total abdication of responsibility when it comes to adapting to the harmful effects of climate change.

134. Proceed with an impartial third party investigation of the recent listeriosis outbreak. Government Action: Broken. Despite assurances from the PMO that Sheila Weatherill’s listeriosis report would be released unedited and without interference, key alterations were made to her findings, including the elimination of her finding that the crisis was “preventable.”

135. Continue to take creative measures to tackle major lung, heart and neurological diseases.Government Action: Broken.

136. Work toward bringing an end to discriminatory life insurance practices. Government Action: Broken.

137. Take additional steps to ensure that Canada's communities and hospitals have more doctors and nurses where they are most needed. Government Action: Broken.

138. Extend the benefit of the existing Children's Fitness Tax Credit and the new Children's Art Tax Credit to lower income families that pay little or no income tax by making both credits fully refundable. Government Action: Broken.

139. Replace the automatic release of prisoners after serving two-thirds of their sentence with earned parole for behaviour and rehabilitation in prison. Government Action: Broken. The legislation was killed by prorogation and still hasn’t been implemented.

140. Amend the Criminal Code to make sure that serious crimes, including serious property offences, are not eligible for house arrest. Government Action: Broken. The legislation was killed by prorogation and still hasn’t been implemented.

141. Allow Canadians who have been affected by terrorism to sue the sponsors of terrorist organizations, including recovering funds from states that are designated as sponsors of terrorism. Government Action: Broken. The legislation was killed by prorogation and still hasn’t been implemented.

142. Continue efforts to change Canada's drug laws to ensure that serious drug crimes, such as trafficking and running large cannabis grow operations or crystal methamphetamine labs, face mandatory prison sentences. Government Action: Broken.

143. Amend the Criminal Code to make the pregnancy of a woman an aggravating factor in sentencing if a woman is assaulted or killed. Government Action: Broken.

144. A Conservative Government will not initiate or support any legislation to regulate abortion. Government Action: Broken. The Conservative government further isolated Canada from the rest of the developed world and breaking with 25 years of Canadian tradition through its refusal to include the full range of family planning options in its maternal and infant health initiative.

145. Abolish conditional sentences and introduce mandatory prison sentences for impaired driving causing bodily harm or death. Government Action: Broken. Legislation to this effect was introduced in 2007 and passed the House committee but never advanced by the government.

Unzip American Sexuality and What Do You Find? Tech

 

 

 Sex Drive   Commentary by  Regina Lynn  Culture  :  Lifestyle

Unzip American Sexuality and What Do You Find? Tech

By Regina Lynn     03.14.08 | 7:50 PM      

Brian Alexander investigates how Americans have sex in his new book, America Unzipped: In Search of Sex and Satisfaction.

When journalist Brian Alexander set out to investigate how Americans have sex, he didn't expect to be studying it through the lens of technology.

"I knew I was going to find that digital culture has changed the way people get sexually involved, but I surprised even myself at how true it really is," he says.

Alexander's new book, America Unzipped: In Search of Sex and Satisfaction found that you can't write about contemporary sexuality without bumping into technology.

Virtual worlds, chat rooms, social networking and Catholics using birth control -- sex is infused with tech at every turn.

Alexander is the Sexploration columnist at MSNBC.com and a contributing editor at Glamour magazine, and it sounds like his inbox looks a lot like mine. Like me, he noticed a shift in what readers were asking in the past year or so. More sophisticated queries ("Where can I learn more about safe ways to use electricity during sex?") were replacing questions about the basics ("If my husband wants me to put my finger in his ass, is he gay?").

Unlike me, he pitched a multimedia investigative series to find out why. The result is America Unzipped, which includes articles, online videos and discussion forums in addition to the book.

Alexander traveled all around the United States, delving into smaller communities and conservative regions as well as sexually progressive cities like Seattle and San Francisco, to uncover what we're really doing under the covers.

It turns out that Americans are not nearly as Puritanical, frightened, angry or perturbed as the religious groups and politicians waging the war on sex would have you believe.

We’re not even terribly bothered by the notion that technology has become an integral aspect of sexuality. In fact, "love and let love" is a much more widely held philosophy here than is generally assumed.

In the South, Alexander found that faith and sexual freedom can blossom side by side; plenty of Southern Baptists and Catholics see no conflict between their relationships with God and their choices to use birth control, sex toys, pornography or to have sex outside of marriage.

He tried his hand as a sex educator/retail clerk at an adult store in Tempe, Arizona for a week. ("The longer I worked there, the more I realized it's a very middle-class bourgeois thing to do, going to an adult store.") And as a Passion Parties assistant in the Midwest, he learned that mothers, daughters and sisters can sit comfortably around the living room to shop for arousal-enhancing gels and vibrating cock rings.

In Maryland, he spent time with a couple that uses Craigslist to find other people for group sex. "In five minutes she opened the laptop on the kitchen table, found responses to ads they'd placed, and decided who to meet up with," he says. "While it's not news that people can do that, to see people do it so easy and so quickly was almost startling to me."

Over and over again, Alexander's subjects told him that the internet had opened their eyes, dispelled their fears, given them new avenues for pleasure, and provided support as they figured out what they really wanted from sex.

(In the book, he confesses to reaching a point where he simply refuses to allow one more person to gush about the internet. "Isn't it possible," he muses, "that we're just bored?")

After touring the Adam & Eve toy factory in North Carolina, attending a fetish conference in Florida, watching a hardcore BDSM porn shoot in San Francisco, and taking in an all-kinks-welcome sex party in Seattle, Alexander concludes that while this explosion of sexual exploration is not hurting American culture, the culture that enables it may actually be hurting sex.

"I think we are living in ever more disconnected times without great senses of community, family, belonging," he says. "People go looking. Some turn to fundamentalist religious views. Some turn to phony tribalism -- I mean, really, white boys with Maori tribal tattoos? Come on.

"Turning to sex is at least as rational a response as religion. Maybe more so, because at least it is a connection with another human being. Sex is believable in a world which offers us very little to believe in anymore.

"But sex gets hurt when this response leads to a loss of subtlety, of romance and sex as an art form, a dance, a work of imagination."

And yet, by definition, we lock the investigator out of those subtle, romantic, imaginative spaces. The dance he speaks of may be too subtle for an observer to notice (especially amidst the sensory overload of a fetish ball or the extremely cerebral work of sex in virtual worlds). If you haven't experienced the subtleties, the art, the works of imagination that are particular to sex tech, can you learn to see them in others?

Alexander is skeptical about critics who suggest personal experience may be necessary to present a truly balanced chronicle of contemporary sexuality.

"It's called journalism," he says. "If I'm going to cover a war, I have to kill people? "

See you online,

Regina Lynn  

- - -

Regina Lynn unzips at reginalynn.com.

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See Also:

Internet Pushes Polyamory to Its 'Tipping Point'

Unexpected Sources Drive Progress of Sex Tech

Real Sex Tantalizes as Processed Porn Gets Boring

'Sensual Intelligence' Gives New SaSi Sex Toy an Erotic Edge

 

Technorati Tags: America Unzipped,Wired,Regina Lynn

7 Kinds of SEX!

I buddy of mine passed this on to me on Facebook tonight & I just had to post it

Results of a recent research shows that there are 7 kinds of sex:

The 1st kind of sex is called Smurf Sex.

• This kind of sex happens when you first meet someone and you both have sex until you are blue in the face.

The 2nd kind of sex is called Kitchen Sex.

• This is when you have been with your partner for a short time and you are so needy you will have sex anywhere, even in the kitchen.

The 3rd kind of sex is called Bedroom Sex.

• This is when you have been with your partner for a long time. Your sex has gotten routine and you usually have sex only in your bedroom.

The 4th kind of sex is called Hallway Sex.

• This is when you have been with your partner for too long. When you pass each other in the Hallway you both say 'screw you.'

The 5th kind of sex is called Religious Sex.

• Which means you get Nun in the morning, Nun in the afternoon and Nun at night. (Very Popular)

The 6th kind is called Courtroom Sex.

• This is when you cannot stand your wife any more. She takes you to court and screws you in front of everyone.

And; Last, but not least,

The 7th kind of sex is called Canada Pension Sex.

• You get a little each month, but not enough to enjoy your self.
  

Technorati Tags: Sex,Lists,7 Kinds of sex

Have You Fallen for these 7 Negative Attitudes Pushed by the Media?

The following came from   john place online . com

The Pursuit of Happiness in the Modern World

Like it or not, we live in a media driven world. We spend on average 11 hours a day bombarded by television, radio, Internet, and other forms of media, a non-stop onslaught on the psyche, an ever-churning series of images, sound bites, opinions, and advertisements, but precious little substance.

The media provides shared experience, collective memory. Unfortunately, many of the ideas we’re exposed to are negative and self-defeating. The pervasiveness of these negative ideas makes them hard to ignore; easy to internalize.
If you’re curious about the cumulative effect of all this media upon the mind, here’s a list of 7 negative attitudes common in the media and tips for dealing with them.

1. Mindless Consumerism: The average American is exposed to 247 commercials everyday. Buying things has become reflex, due partly to the ideal lifestyle flickering on the television: big house, giant SUV, three-car garage, flat-panel television. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying life, but are you buying things to improve your life? Or to compensate for feelings of emptiness? Find something to believe in; fill the void with something real.

2. Poor Body Image: Never before in history have we been surrounded by so many examples of physical perfection, shaped by cosmetic surgeons, airbrushed by artists, and distributed by print and video. Remind yourself that fitness is more important than perfection. And while it’s true that Americans outside the media are fatter than ever, even physically fit individuals struggle with a poor body image. Yes, attractiveness is an advantage, but your value runs deeper than your appearance, and those actors don’t look half as good without make-up and lighting.

3. Roaming Eye: Television gives everyone (men in particular) the idea that the world is overflowing with beautiful, willing sex partners; even if it’s true (which depends largely upon your own skills with the opposite sex), that roaming eye, that tendency to want what you don’t have, can be destructive if not monitored and controlled. Like all the elements in this list, human nature is the root here. Remind yourself that relationships are built upon more than physical attraction.

4. Destructive Communication: Electronic media brims with insults and anger. On message boards, gentle persuasion has collapsed beneath the weight of incivility. In real life, victory is seldom obtained with witty one-liners or rude put-downs. Hone those communication skills. Learn to Persuade without offending. Connect.

5. Clique Mentality: As if cliques weren’t prevalent enough, television programs often have casts that are socially, ethnically, and racially homogenous. That’s fine; it’s free enterprise at work, for the most part, and not every story involves a melting pot. I make no bones about it; I’m simply reminding everyone not to be afraid of diversity in the real world.

6. Stereotypes: As evolved as we believe we are, television is overflowing with stereotypes: the dumb jock, the bubble-headed blonde, the geek with a pocket protector, all products of lazy writing. Most of us are smart enough to recognize a stereotype for what it is, but I question the subconscious impact of such repeated exposure. The best defence is to remind yourself that every human being deserves to be evaluated as an individual, no matter how prevalent or justified a stereotype might seem.

7. Danger Fixation: We’re wired to pay attention to danger, which is why the Discovery Channel broadcasts so many programs that show the world being destroyed by tsunamis, earthquakes, and giant asteroids; why the news leads with gunfire and bloodshed. Remind yourself that there are just as many positive forces in the world as negative; your focus on the negative is a matter of personal choice and perspective.

Listen, I’m not trying to say all media is bad; it’s not. Movies in particular can be wonderful works of art or much-needed distractions, and there’s nothing inherently evil about television, radio, print, or the Internet; quite the contrary, all forms of media provide wonderful channels of communication. I’m simply saying that the media’s darker side is bound to seep into our collective conscience; it surrounds us. And we’re receptive to it.

Earlier this year, I watched a short film entitled Evidence. More art film than documentary, the film focused on the faces of a group of small children as they watched television: their blank expressions, comatose eyes. Every now and then, their facial expressions hitched in response to some image on the television, but for the most part, they appeared undead.

I’ve never forgotten that film. And now, whenever I’m watching a sitcom or game show, I think of the way my own face must look, staring blankly up at the glowing screen. Sometimes, this compels me to turn the tube off and go outside, exchanging the gloom of the TV room for the calming brightness of sunlight, the sound of commercials for the chirping of birds; detaching from the hive mind long enough to find some peace and quiet and develop some memories (and a few ideas) of my own.

Technorati Tags: 7 negitive attitudes,Media,Lists,john pace online.com

Marshall McLuhan Quote

“ The past went that away. When faced with a totally new situation, we tend always to attach ourselves to the objects, to the flavour of the most recent past. We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march

backwards into the future. ” Marshall McLuhan

Technorati Tags: backwards into the future,Marshall McLuhan Quote

Drug legalization proposed at conference on drug use

 

The legalization of drugs, including marijuana and heroin, is among the controversial solutions being offered at an international conference in Vancouver.

The conference on drug use will give advice to the United Nations and is expected to play a role in forming international policies to deal with addiction.

'The war on drugs is coming to an end, hopefully in my lifetime.'—Philip Owen, former Vancouver mayor

Ten years ago, the UN pledged to dramatically curtail drug use around the world. But the goal has not been met and discussions at the forum are designed to find a fresh approach to the problem.

The 10,000-member organization Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, among groups attending the conference, is made up of judges and police officers who want drugs legalized.

"I decided this didn't work three years into my undercover work," said former police lieutenant Jack Cole, executive director of the organization. "I started working undercover in 1970. That was the beginning of the war on drugs.

"Cops are so concerned about being labelled soft on drugs, soft on crime, and that next promotion, that we don't even talk to our peers about what we believe."

Former Vancouver mayor Philip Owen said drug use shouldn't be treated as a criminal problem.

"The war on drugs is coming to an end, hopefully in my lifetime.

As mayor, Owen lobbied for Vancouver's safe injection site and other measures to reduce harm to drug users. He said the federal government's anti-drug policies put too much emphasis on enforcement.

"They say, 'It's not an illness, it's a lifestyle choice to use drugs. So just smarten up, get a job, and start paying taxes and be like the rest of us, and we're not going to burden the health-care system with your illness.' That's just stupid."

But others at the conference argue legalization would lead to more drug use.

"I don't think liberalizing drug laws is the way to go," said Colin Mangham of the Drug Prevention Network of Canada. "The only person that would benefit is the person who uses drugs who has no desire to stop."

Kelly Corcoran, director of international affairs for the Drug Free America Foundation, said legalizing drugs will only hurt society.

"Look at alcohol and tobacco. They're legal and they've had a tremendously negative impact on society," Corcoran said. "Why would we want to legalize other substances that are clearly harmful to individuals?"

Technorati Tags: war on drugs,Philip Owen,Vancouver

A Girl's Guide to Geek Guys

 

 

 

 

http://ifaq.wap.org/sex/geekguide.html 

By Mikki Halpin and Victoria Maat geek guide See the Web site!

So, your crush on the bass player from Vibrating Sandbox has finally died a whimpering death and you're wondering where to go from here. All the sinister dudes are either dating a series of interchangeable high-school riot girls in baby doll dresses and an overdose of manic panic, or permanently shacked up with some bitter old lady who pays all the bills. Which will it be, a wifely prison or a humiliating one night stand? Into this void of potential mates comes a man you may not have considered before, a man of substance, quietude and stability, a cerebral creature with a culture all his own. In short, a geek.

Why Geek Dudes Rule

• They are generally available.
• Other women will tend not to steal them.
• They can fix things.
• Your parents will love them.
• They're smart.

Where The Geek Dude Lurks

While they are often into alternative music, geek dudes tend not to go to shows too often. Instead you'll find them hanging out with their friends, discussing the latest hardware revolution or perfecting their Bill Gates impressions. You know how some people wear t-shirts with their favorite bands on them, thus showing that they went to certain shows? Well, geek dudes wear t-shirts with the logos of different software companies on them, thus showing that they are up on the latest, um, releases. A small, though convivial, rivalry may be detected here amongst the geek dudes. Try wearing one yourself and see if he strikes up a conversation.

Of course the best way to meet a geek dude is through the Internet. All geeks harbor a secret fantasy about meeting some girl in cyberspace, carrying on an e-mail romance in which he has the chance to combine an activity he is comfortable with, computing, with one he is very uncomfortable with, socializing. To many geek dudes, cyberdating is just an advanced form of some kind of video game, but they are frustrated by a lack of players. Their lack is your strength.

Imprinting

You might notice that these men harbor some strange ideas about how the world works and some particularly strange ideas about women. There is a reason for this. Because they've had limited interpersonal experience, geek dudes must look elsewhere for behavior models. Lacking a real world social milieu, geeks often go through a transference stage with such narratives, and try to model their interactions on them. Thus, certain media images and themes come to have an overly cathected, metaphorized reality to them, while the rest of us view such programming as mere entertainment. Case in point, our next topic...

The Trek factor

If you're not up on your Star Trek, you can forget about getting or keeping a geek dude. And I'm not just talking vintage-era Captain Kirk and Spock either. You've got to be up on your The Next Generation, your Deep Space Nine, your Babylon 5. Armed with your own knowledge of Federation policies, you can better gauge when and how to act. The sexual politics of Star Trek are pretty blunt: the men run the technology and the ship, and the women are caretakers (a doctor and a counselor). Note the sexual tensions on the bridge of the Enterprise: the women, in skin tight uniforms, and with luxuriant, flowing hair. The men, often balding, and sporting some sort of permanently attached computer auxiliary. This world metaphorizes the fantasies of the geek dude, who sees himself in the geeky-but-heroic male officers and who secretly desires a sexy, smart, Deanna or Bev to come along and deferentially accept him for who he is. If you are willing to accept that this is his starting point for reality, you are ready for a geek relationship.

Once You've Nabbed Him

Of course, catching that geek guy is only half the battle. Keeping him by your side is another story altogether. I was privileged to speak with Miss Victoria Maat, who not only got herself a geek guy but was also clever enough to marry him just a few short months ago. She interrupted her newlywed bliss to give us a few tips on the care and feeding of a geek man: Geeks are sensitive and caring lovers and husbands. If you can hang with the techno-lifestyle, they make the best mates. They are the most attractive people, not flashy or hunky, but the kind who get cuter and more alluring over time (I told you she was a newlywed). Definitely give geeks a chance.

Geek Cuisine

Geeks tend towards packaged, junk foods since they prefer to work and think and aren't all that into cooking for themselves. Make sure that your geek understands that you are not merely a replicator, and provide him with home cooked food. A batch of chocolate chip cookies will let him know that you love him. You do have to monitor your geek for weight gain; however, remember that most of their days are spent sitting and staring at a monitor.

Geek Lifestyle

The geek dude has long work habits and tends to bring his work home with him. He seems permanently connected to his hard disk. You must at least appear interested in his work. Generally, a solid understanding of the computer is a must; if you cannot master this, you should at least be able to talk the talk. Remember most geeks are anal and they get stressed about details which appear insignificant. Be understanding, put on your best Deanna Troi face (see above) and empathize.

To relax, geeks love to play the latest computer games. Let him play Myst or Chuck Yeager's Air Combat for hours if he wants to. Act concerned if he's stuck or has just been ambushed by three MiGs. My geek loves to try to help people on the Internet who say that they are stuck in Myst. He comes up with clever riddles instead of directing them point blank. Geeks also like to go to sci-fi and Japanese animated movies, again, a basically harmless vent for your man.

Geek Buddies

Many geeks extend their work friendships into what they jokingly refer to as RL (Real Life, also known as "that big room with the ceiling that is sometimes blue and sometimes black with little lights"). The greatest thing about your geek's buddies is that you can feel secure in setting them up with your girlfriends. They may feel awkward around females at first, so don't overwhelm them. In time they will come out of their shell and realize that you are into the same things they are.

Post-It Note

I thank Victoria for the above advice. I must say that when she read my draft of the piece, before writing her section, she asked her husband which one he thought she was more like, Deanna or Beverly. Howard, the devil, immediately replied that he had always thought Victoria was actually most like Ensign Ro Laren, a cute character with a slight authority problem who is always had trouble (this is fairly apt).

This exchange is interesting for several reasons:

Howard had already thought about who she was most like.

He could summon up characters from seasons past with ease.

Victoria actually knew who he meant.

Folks, I think this marriage will last.

One Last Thing

Because they have been so abused and ignored by society, many geeks have gone underground. You may actually know some and just haven't noticed them. They often feel resentful, and misunderstood, and it is important to realize this as you grow closer to them. Don't ever try to force the issue, or make crazy demands that he choose between his computer and you. Remember, his computer has been there for him his whole life; you are a new interloper he hasn't quite grasped yet.

Geek dudes thrive on mystery and love challenges and intellectual puzzles. Don't you consider yourself one? Wouldn't you like a little intellectual stimulation or your own? We thought so.

Making News, Without Saying a Word

How'd you like to wake up in the morning after a great nights sleep (or sex) to find that while you were otherwise engaged you had apparently held a press conference and made statements .... that you cant remember? It's time to either reassess your drug use or sue the bastards in the media that let this one out. My advice to Paris Hilton ...Sue the bastards!!! maybe they'll leave you alone for a day or two.

clipped from www.nytimes.com Making News, Without Saying a Word By JOANNE KAUFMAN Published: November 19, 2007 As journalistic blunders go, it wasn’t quite up there with “Dewey Defeats Truman.” But last week, The Associated Press had to eat its words after running a news article about Paris Hilton’s supposed desire to publicize the plight of elephants in northeastern India. For the record, it is apparently true that elephants there get drunk on farmers’ homemade rice beer, then go on rampages. But it is not true that Ms. Hilton, who served jail time this year for violating probation after a drunken driving arrest, told reporters, “The elephants get drunk all the time. It is becoming really dangerous. We need to stop making alcohol available to them.” The quotation showed up in numerous places after The Associated Press ran an article by a reporter based in India named Wasbir Hussain. An A.P. spokesman described him as a highly regarded and conscientious stringer who had nonetheless inappropriately

Laptop With a Mission Widens Its Audience

finally cheep computing & its got a bonus...

clipped from www.nytimes.com Laptop With a Mission Widens Its Audience Correction Appended In November, you’ll be able to buy a new laptop that’s spillproof, rainproof, dustproof and drop-proof. It’s fanless, it’s silent and it weighs 3.2 pounds. One battery charge will power six hours of heavy activity, or 24 hours of reading. The laptop has a built-in video camera, microphone, memory-card slot, graphics tablet, game-pad controllers and a screen that rotates into a tablet configuration. And this laptop will cost $200. The computer, if you hadn’t already guessed, is the fabled “$100 laptop” that’s been igniting hype and controversy for three years. It’s an effort by One Laptop Per Child (laptop.org) to develop a very low-cost, high-potential, extremely rugged computer for the two billion educationally underserved children in poor countries. The concept: if a machine is designed smartly enough, without the bloat of standard laptops, and sold in large enough quantities, the price can be brought way, way down.

6 of 10 scientific reasons to have sex

My girlfriends have been telling me this for years!

clipped from www.despardes.com 1. Scientific tests find that when women make love, they produce double amounts of the hormone estrogen, which make hair shiny and skin smooth. 2. Gentle, relaxed lovemaking reduces your chances of suffering dermatitis, skin rashes and blemishes. The sweat produced cleanses the pores and makes your skin glow. 3. Lovemaking can burn up those calories you piled on during that romantic dinner. 4. Sex is one of the safest sports you can take up. It stretches and tones up just about every muscles in the body. It's more enjoyable than swimming 20 laps and you don't need special sneakers! 5. Sex is an instant cure for mild depression. It releases the body endorphin into the bloodstream, producing a sense of euphoria and leaving you with a feeling of well-being. 6. The more sex you have, the more you will be offered. The sexually active body gives off greater quantities of chemicals called pheromones. These subtle sex perfumes drive the opposite sex crazy!

Signs You're a Crappy Programmer (and don't know it)

http://damienkatz.net

Damien Katz

My privilege is a chance to change the world.

My reward is to know I have succeeded.

Signs You're a Crappy Programmer (and don't know it)

You know those crappy programmers who don’t know they are crappy? You know, they think they're pretty good, they spout off the same catch phrase rhetoric they've heard some guru say and they know lots of rules about the "correct" way to do things? Yet their own work seems seriously lacking given all the expertise they supposedly have? You don’t know any programmers like that? Come one, you know, the guys who are big on dogma but short on understanding. No, doesn’t sound familiar?

Then here are some signs you're a crappy programmer and don't know it:

• Java is all you'll ever need.
You don't see the need for other languages, why can't everything be in Java? It doesn't bother you at all to see Python or Ruby code that accomplishes in 10 lines what takes several pages in Java. Besides, you're convinced new language features in the next release will fix all that anyway.(BTW, this can be almost any language, but right now the Java community seems most afflicted with this thinking)

• "Enterprisey" isn't a punchline to you.
This is serious stuff dammit. "Enterprise" is not just a word, it's a philosophy, a way of life, a path to enlightenment. Anything that can be written, deployed or upgraded with minimal fuss is dismissed as a toy that won't "scale" for future needs. Meanwhile most of the real work in your office is getting done by people sending around Excel spreadsheets as they wait for your grand enterprise visions to be built.

• You are adamantly opposed to function/methods over 20 lines of code.
(or 30 or 10 or whatever number of lines) Sorry, sometimes a really long function is just what's needed for the problem at hand. Usually shorter functions are easier to understand, but sometimes things are most simply expressed in one long function. Code should not be made more complex to meet some arbitrary standard.

• "OMG! PATTERNS!"
Developers who actively seek to apply patterns to every coding problem are adding unnecessary complexity. Far from being something you look to add to your code, you should feel bad every time you are forced to code up another design pattern, it means you are doing busy work that makes things more complex and is of dubious benefit. But hey, your code has design patterns, and no one can take that from you.

• CPU cycles are a precious commodity and your programming style and language reflects that belief.
There are plenty of problem domains where you have to worry a lot about CPU cycles (modeling/simulation, signal processing, OS kernels, etc), but you don't work in them. Like nearly every software developer, your biggest performance problems are all database and I/O related. The only effect of optimizing your code for CPU is to shave 2 milliseconds off the time to get to the next multi-second database query. Meanwhile your development has slowed to a crawl, you can't keep up with the rapidly evolving requirements and there are serious quality issues. But at least you’ll be saving lots of CPU cycles... eventually.

• You think no function/method should have multiple return points.
I've hear this from time to time, and usually the reason given is because the code is easier analyze. According to whom? I find simple code easy to analyze, and it often simplifies the code to have multiple returns.

• Your users are stupid. Really stupid.
You can't believe how stupid they are, they constantly forget how to do simplest things and often make dumb mistakes with your applications. You never consider maybe it's your application that’s stupid because you're incapable of writing decent software.

• You take great pride in the high volume of code you write.
Being productive is good, unfortunately producing lots of lines of code isn't quite the same as being productive. Users never remark "Wow, this software may be buggy and hard to use, but at least there is a lot of code underneath." Far from being productive, spewing out tons of crap code slows down other devs and creates a huge maintenance burden for the future.

• Copy and paste is great, it helps you write decoupled code!
You defend your use of copy and paste coding with odd arguments about decoupling and removing dependencies, while ignoring the maintenance drag and bugs code duplication causes. This is called "rationalizing your actions".

• You think error handling means catching every exception, logging it and continuing on.
That’s not error handling, that’s error ignoring and is the semantically equivalent to “on error next” in VB. Just because it got logged away somewhere doesn’t mean you’ve handled anything. Error handling is hard. If you don’t know exactly what to do in the face of a particular error, then let the exception bubble up to a higher level exception handler.

• You model all your code in UML before you write it.
Enthusiastic UML modeling is typically done by those who aren’t strong coders, but consider themselves software architects anyway. Modeling tools appeal most to those who think coding can be done in conference room by manipulating little charts. The charts aren’t the design, and will never be the design, that’s what the code is for.

• Your code wipes out important data.
You wrote some code that’s supposed to overwrite application files with new files, but it goes haywire and deletes a bunch of the user's important data files.

That last one, I did that. Just last year. Honest mistake and it never showed up in QE’s testing. Sometimes I’m crappy. Sometimes we all are. I have been guilty of most of the items on the list and still struggle with a few (especially premature optimization). So try not to take anything on the list too personally, but feel free to flame me anyway if it makes you feel better.

Posted May 8, 2006 11:36 AM

Image is everything

There was a time when doing a background check on a prospective employee or student applying for funding involved a long and expensive process. Google ended that ... a persons digital footprint can be researched with a click or two of the mouse. You should really think about that .....

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk Young warned over social websites The Information Commissioner's Office found more than half of those asked made most of their information public. Millions of young people could damage their future careers with the details about themselves they post on social networking websites, a watchdog warns. could damage their future careers with the details about themselves they post on social networking websites, a watchdog warn Some 71% of 2,000 14 to 21-year-olds said they would not want colleges or employers to do a web search on them before they had removed some material. The commission said the young needed to be aware of their electronic footprint. The ICO also said young people could be putting themselves at risk of identity fraud because of the material they post on social networks such as Facebook and MySpace. Vetting tool The data regulator's survey found that two thirds of those questioned accepted as friends on such websites people they did not even know.

Worth checking

clipped from www.makeuseof.com 6 Unique Web Communities That You Won’t Forget You may be well familiar with biggies like Youtube, Digg, Wikipedia, and StumbleUpon. They are all big and 100% user-powered websites. However, what about the smaller ones, focused on a single aspect and still able to attract a huge user base. So here you go, six really cool and fast growing communy-powered websites that you should definitely see. 1. Instructables - Extremely useful, entertaining and rather addictive online community where people share what they do and how they do it. Here you can find hundreds of excellent home-made DIY (Do It Yourself) guides detailing how to turn some of the garage junk into cool stuf, like invisible book shelf, hairspray-powered potato cannon or even making a wallet (from an old keyboard). See pic below.