A Belated Merry Yuletide and Happy New Year Post

It has been nothing but work work, sleep, work, work, sleep, work work work
YEAH CHRISTMAS BREAK,... sleep sleep sleep sleep,...

That is what it has felt like for the last few weeks, and thus my absence from blogging.  Do not fear, the Grumpy Hobbit will return in the New Year, the Tiny Home Project is still continue, although the dog ate one of my design, or more correctly, I stupidly over wrote one of the design sections with a computer save and could not recover it, sigh,...

New solutions have been found that save literally a thousand dollars, new ideas have been formed and Engineering solution figured out based on them.  Things are looking Shiny.

So stay tune.  In the mean time, hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Yuletide and here is wishing you all a Happier New Year.

Grumpily,
A Grumpy Hobbit

Going Green - The Tiny House Project - Trailer Design CRITICAL IMPORTANCE (Part One)

My current job, it is not mentally demanding and it allows me time to think through problems and find different solutions.  This often means that a design I figured out the day before goes in the filing cabinet and a new modified design or a entire new design is born to solve the same problem.

SEGWAY, case in point, just got off my shift, but during my shift I mentally calculated my Minimum Critical Build Height requirement.  This excludes trailer bed height, and thickness of the floors and ceiling.  My critical required minimum build height is 10' 5", and can squeeze to 10' 2.5" but I will be making energy efficiency trade offs that I would prefer to avoid

The Problem - A Tiny Home on wheels requires a trailer, the size, dimensions and load characteristics of the trailer greatly effect the end design of the Tiny Home.  The end result is the Tiny Home is often designed to fit the trailer and not the trailer designed to fit the Tiny Home.  To get the MAXIMUM design space we need to design the trailer to FIT OUR NEEDS and not fitting our Tiny Home design to the trailer specification.

PROs - It maybe cheaper to construct the trailer than to buy a custom trailer or even a stock trailer.  The trailer construction will be designed to fit the needs of Tiny House Design.  The trailer will be design so it can be reusable.  By reusable, I mean it will be a simple process to jack the Tiny Home up and drop the trailer and then the Tiny Home could be lowered and leveled on to blocks.  So in theory you could design a Tiny Shed and attach to the trailer and move it, then attach a Tiny Green House and move it and the then attach your Tiny Home and move it.  One Trailer serving all you Tiny Homestead moving needs.

Since I actually plan on doing a storage shed and Tool Shop/Work Shop shed and I also want to do a Tiny Greenhouse and external vegetable garden boxes it makes sense to design one trailer to move all these objects.  So if I move from one plot of land to another I will only need one trail.  Moving day will require multiple trailer trips, but then again, most moving days do anyways.

It may also prove to be a major cost savings if we do this our selves.

CONs - We will have to go through the hassle of registering the trailer with the MTO and make sure it complies with ALL HTA codes.  We will also need to source and purchase all the parts and we will need to design and build the frame and all the mechanics for raising and lowering the Tiny Home and designing the connection and securing points.

MAXIMUM Tiny Dimensions

Since the Tiny Home we are design is meant to moved on the road without special permits, we have to comply with the HTA,  I am designing for Ontario, but the HTA none-special load restriction are uniform with all regions in Canada, and I believe the USA as well.

Load Restriction  Ontario HTA Section 109

There are weight, length, width and height restrictions that are all addressed under the HTA, the ones that are critical us are WIDTH and HEIGHT.  Weight is also important, but as long as your Tiny Home is within the weight restrictions of the trailer frame and axle limits we are fine in that department, I seriously doubt anyone's Tiny Home will exceed 65000 Kg (a special HTA weight limit)

1. Maximum Length - 23 meters or 75.4 feet (includes towing vehicle 19 feet)
2. Maximum Width - 2.6 meters or 8.5 feet
3. Maximum Height - 4.15 meters or  13 feet 7.25 inches

The Length Limit here is the combined length of the trailer, the trailer's tail overhang load and the length of the towing vehicle and the length of the trailer tongue and the length of the towing connection points.  A Ford F-250, F-350 and F-450 all have the same vehicle length 19 feet.  So we really don't need to worry about the length limit here

The Width Limit is not something to screw around with.  The width limit includes wheel axle assemble, the load on the trailer, the trailer frame, the trailer wheel fenders.  If you exceed this 8.5 foot limit you may be in for a world of inconvenience.  Getting special permits in Ontario is easy enough, providing you don't exceed other special over size limits, but if you want to go to another Province or to the USA, you will need special permits in each State or Province.

The Height Limit is another one not to screw around with.  If you get caught with an over height load the police can remove the plates and tags of the trailer right on the spot.

For the Tiny Home Design, it is the width and height that are critical design limitations, every inch is worth its a mile and the lose of a single inch in width can make or break a kitchen design.  Trust me on that one, going from walls with 2 by 4 studs to walls with 2 by 6 studs will cost you 4 inches in internal width, that lose of four inches was enough to completely trash my initial kitchen design. The difference in R value for a my 2x4 walls design is R=23.5 the 2 by 6 wall has a R=33.5.  So there are trade offs to be consider, loose 4 inches but get a 40% improvement in wall's ability to resist heat transfer.  The recommend R-Value for Southern Ontario is 28, so it is worth considering.  While Tiny Homes are NOT subject to building codes if they are on a trailer, you still may want to consider getting as close to or exceeding the building codes them if you can.

As for Height, it is best to limit your design to 13' 6" and this from the ground to the tippy top of Tiny Home WHILE it is on the trailer.  The critical trailer design characteristic here is your trailer bed height.  The lower slung the trailer the better.  Many off the shelf trailer designs have beds that start at 20 inches and go as height 30 inches.  That is a lot of lost height and can make or break you bedroom and storage loft areas.  So anything we can do reclaim from the trailer bed height is living space we can add to our Tiny Home. 

• A trailer bed with a 30" high bed is an 18.5% lose in living space
• A trailer bed with a 20" high bed is a 12.4% lose in living
• A trailer bed with a 12" high bed is a 7.5% lose in living 

The lowest deck height I could find in a trailer were those that are used to transport cars, from my limited search the lowest was 18"  I think this will be very best we can do in the design, but further research is required, but I think with specialty design for tiny homes I can get it down to 16", that and possible cost saving, the trailer designed to fit our needs and some other added design benefits, I believe it worth while to invest further research time into this area.

On a related note, just got the final design for the Kitchen and Bathroom completed.  I don't want to boast, but it is pretty awesome and fully functional.  Counter top space galore and plenty of room to move around in,... for one person.  Only one Chef allow in my Kitchen at a time,... and it be me!!!

Related Articles

1) December 3rd, 2015 -  The Tiny Home Project
2) December 5th, 2015 - The Tiny Home Project - The General Plan
3) December 7th, 2015 - The Tiny Home Project - Minimum Requires For Going Off Grid

Going Green - The Tiny Home Project - The General Plan

Many people are looking at tiny homes.  This solution is not for everyone and it requires a good deal planning and prep-work.  One of the very first things you need to do is down size.  I mean down size with a vengeance!!!  I have already accomplished over the course of the last few years and I still need to do some more, but I am good to go in this department.

MY TINY PLAN!

I had planned to move forward on this project in the spring, but if I can manage to get the right piece of land I will start in the dead of winter.  My plan has four stages to it.

1. Acquire a wooded lot, 1/8th to 1 acre in size in the region of Simcoe-Port Dover-Turkey Point.  This is my preferred area, it allows me to keep my Car Pool Ride for work and is still near all the things I need.  Maximum Price for rental/lease agreement $250.00 per month.
2. Build a quick and very small Tiny Home for immediate living.  Minimum requirements, Shit, Shower and Shave. Cooking, Sleeping Area, Plan/Work area and place to get dressed. Minimum Heat, Power Generation and Water. More on this initial build tomorrow.
3. Save money to buy the ideal custom trailer for the my ultimate Tiny Home and building materials and begin construction as soon as resources permit.  At this point my monthly living cost is be between $800.00 to $900.00 a month, thus leaving ample left over income to save and then buy required building materials.
4. After building and completing the Final Ultimate Tiny Home, save like a mad man so I can buy my own land in the area, thus reducing my living costs even more.

I will discuss the costs and bare minimum requirements for the first build in my article tomorrow.  I just want to point out I will actually be building TWO Tiny Homes.  The first one will be a quick and very rustic Tiny Home, which will end up being my Tiny Home Away from my Tiny Home.  In the end, it will serve as a guest house and for when I want to travel around and do road trips.  It will be no where near as energy efficient or as large as my final Tiny Home.
 

Going Green - Rechargable Battery Packs

In my first article about Going Green - Transportation I touched on Electropeds/Electro-Peds and the battery requirements and costs.  That was on November 22nd.  The thing that was burning my butt was the cost, a 48volt, 1500 Watt - 20Ah battery pack that uses Lithium-Manganese based chemistry was expensive ($850.00 USD) and I seriously got to wondering if I could construct one of these bad boys myself?  Could I make a better design?  Could I make it cheaper? Could I make a higher power density Battery Pack(BP)  The answers are yes, yes, yes and theoretically yes.

Cost of Battery Pack Technology

There are four major components to Battery Pack(BP) Technology you have to consider

1. Cost of the cells.  Typically you are looking at 100s of individual cells in each pack.  This will vary according to the voltage of the motor, the power the motor draws (Watts) and amp-hours you require (how long the battery will last on full charge).  For the Electro-Ped I am designing from scratch, I will need 48volts at 1500 Watts, switchable to 3000 Watts and as much amp-hours as I can pack into the size.  It seems that the best cell tech right now is the 18650 cell configuration and they are costly. 
2. The BCM, Battery Controller Module.  Now some people say you don't need a BCM other say you do.  I say it is mandatory!!!  The first reason is safety, the pricier 18650 Cells you can buy claim to have circuitry protection built into each cell.  This protection is limited at best being chiefly short circuit, open circuit and thermal protection.  For this level of protection you can end up spending $20.00 per cell, low end $10.00 per cells.  How good is this circuitry?  No idea, you would  have to buy a couple of these pricey cells and dissect one and then test several to failure to find out.  I have seen about a dozen youtube videos of one guy doing this and unless you are buying TOP OF THE LINE, you are wasting your money.  Also this type of cell protection only makes economic sense when you are using the cells in limited number, in expensive electronic equipment and using a crappy charger.  Since I want a cheap BP, a good BCM is mandatory.  More on BCMs in another article.
3. The BP Housing.  Some people go with making their BPs as small and as light weight as possible.  In order to do this you sacrifice maintainability, serviceability and safety.  Basically, they connect the cells in various parallel and series connections and make the connections with nickel metal strips and spot weld them directly to the cells (say good bye to maintenance and serviceability).  They bundle the cells into what are called offset parallel cell configuration and hot glue them all together(say good bye to maintenance and serviceability again).  This makes for a smallest and lightest weight parallel cell configuration possible (don't worry, in yet another article I will go into great detail about connect the cells and you will not need a freaking spot welder, and by that I mean parallel-series design).  This small, light design has a serious safety design flaw.  If you have a single or multiple bad cells in your pack (this can happen with a faulty cell(s) or a cell(s) that has aged into failure) it can cause a run away discharge and cause your BP to catch fire or even explode.  Remember we are talking about a very high density power source here, it can go all explody-wody and going BOOM!  With this in mind, it seems to make sense to put in a few extra design features that will increase safety and allow for serviceability.  Again, this will be another entire article,... maybe several. Ain't Engineering Design grand?
4. The Battery charger.  Ok, no sense beating around the bush here, buy a very good one, and one that will meet your BP Technology charging needs.  You want safety, testing and rapid charging capability, you may also want a good portable charger as well if you plan longer trips where you will need to charge on the road.  Sorry kids, cheap charges are just that CHEAP.  Even with a BCM on your BP you still don't want to risk it, cause things can go BOOM when charging as well.  Annnd once again, this will another article. 

So you kiddies have three (maybe more) boring articles on EV-Cell rechargeable technology to look forward to.  I know this might sound boring, but understanding this technology is key when you want to do solar, wind, alternate energy production and alternative transportation.  In the long term it makes you a smarter consumer, saves you money (I hope) and provide you with greater degree of safety.  There are some many variables at play here and juggling them all at once is a bit overwhelming if you don't have the math and sciences to understand them.  Hopefully I will assist you in this regard.

The first article I will be doing will by BP Housing and and BCM design/selection.  Since these two things are the core of a safe Battery Package.  "Wait, hold on a second Grumpy Hobbit, what about the cost of the battery cells?" you all cry.  Well problem solved, I have found a source for inexpensive 18650 Cells.  I plan to buy about 600 cells in January.  Before I reveal the cells in questions, I first want to test them, see how they fail, when they fail, under what conditions they fail and how Explody-Wody they are. Also I will need to test their safe discharge/charging and power performance (this is kind of important)  This will involve a video or two and maybe a trip to the hospital,... don't worry I will be using extreme care and safety measures when I do this, I is a Engineer after all.

A Word on Safety

This should be address, please DO NOT attempt this stuff yourself, some of the things I'll be doing require a high degree of Engineering Science, Education and Experience.  One of the reasons why I am doing this series is to help you understand the risks and if you choose to build your own BP, provide you with the safest and easiest construction design for the end product.  Many of the tests I will be doing will be done to demonstrate the problems, risk and dangers of cutting corners.  I have seen some pretty piss poor designs for BPs on the web and if you follow those designs without understanding the risk, you could easily kill yourself and I am not exaggerating here one bit.

Related Articles

• Going Green - Transportatio, November 22nd, 2015

E-FLAP #000010 - Joshua Attempts Science/Science, Again

Well Joshua is back with his second installment of  "How Conservatives Can Reclaim Science", and still no science.  When I first read Joshua's second article I didn't think much of it, for he had very little to say about science.  Then after a second, more careful reading, I realized I was mistaken and there is much to dissect.  So what can we learn from his second installment? Well we find out that Theo can count to six, but that is about it.  He first mistake is the claim that his last article was last week, when in fact it was nearly two ago, so I guess Theo can't count past ten.

His latest installment are six rules or thingies, which I will boil down and remove all the meaningless drivel.

1) Science serves no end but itself

1. Science is science, it is not good or bad.  (Very good Joshua, you get a cookie)
2. Science's purpose to increase our knowledge and understandig (WOW two in a row, another cookie)
3. "Human cause global warming could overthrown tomorrow...", well technical true, ya, but I wouldn't bet your two cookies on that, or the rent Joshua.
4. I want to quote this part "We "knew" the world was flat, that it was the centre of the universe, and that it was 5000 to 6000 years old" Well, we have know the Earth was not flat, with scientific certainty since Eratosthenes of Cyrene made the first estimate of the Earth diameter in 240 BCE, that was 2256 years ago.  Oh and for claiming the Earth is the center of the Universe and the Earth is only ~6000 years old (aka religious theology claimed this, not Science), would you, Joshua like the very long list of RWNJ morons in North America that still believe this poop?  Some of them are even running for POTUS.  The failure is mounting and it doesn't look good for Joshua.

The more science is done, the more science changes

1. Science leads to more science.  Well yes, Joshua, if it doesn't then you are clearly not sciencing correctly *rolls eyes*
2. Don't like Scientific Consensus,... and I have to quote this  "Do studies showing that it’s wrong!" NO, BAD Joshua, BAD, you just failed miserably.  The correct method is to form a hypothesis based on your observable data.  Take that hypothesis and study it further. Collect more data and test.  Determine methods show that your hypothesis CAN FAIL and see if it does. MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL!!! You follow the data to where is leads, not to a predetermined conclusion.  Seriously Theo, do you even science?

Nothing in science is ever truly “settled” 

1. WRONG! Sorry Joshua there are things in Science that are settled and indisputable. We call these thing Scientific Laws.  Like the Law of Gravity, The Laws of Thermodynamics, Newton's Laws of Motion and I will bold and say it THE LAWS OF EVOLUTION!  These are settled, people with sound educations know this, it is only the quacks out there that depute these Laws.  Oh and by the way, Joshua, a scientific law has less mean and value than a Scientific Theory.  I know you didn't suggest or mention this, but I am going to correct the record before you stupidly make that error in the future.

Again Joshua, do you even Science?  The evidence is building that you do not.  Almost time to make a Hypothesis about Joshua (evil grin)

Scientists have no reason to take rejection of science personally
 
Time to directly quote Joshua again because his failure is massive

Similarly, a scientist should not be wasting his or her time attacking believers or people who reject evidence. Does someone refusing to get the flu shot make the shot less effective? No! So why are you being so insecure? Oh, wait, I know -- it’s up to you personally to make sure we don’t have a flu epidemic. Mmm-hmm. Sure.

Really Joshua? How about when these morons take their rejection of solid indisputable science and try to market it is alternative medicine by sell people what constitutes nothing more than distilled water?  Or how about when they take their faith and try to get it taught in School Science class rooms? Joshua you are failing so bad at science, it isn't even funny any more, it is just sad and pathetic.

Scientists also block scientific progress

To quote the Joshua

There are so many stories of scientists getting so attached to their discoveries that they refuse to let go, but my favourite is about good ol’ Albert Einstein.

Yes Joshua, Scientist are people, not computers or robots.  I ma not going even go into the long and inglorious history of  Religion blocking Scientific Progress (When was the last time any religious text was updated to reflect reality?)  This is why we adhere to the Scientific Method and INDEPENDENT PEER REVIEW.  To bad you didn't mention that in your article, eh?  Again, do you even Science?  My hypothesis is Joshua will present very little real science in his future articles and I base this hypothesis on the limited data that Joshua has presented and his failure to form cogent arguments and his general lack of understanding of the Scientific Method and Scientific vetting procedures.  I shall call this hypothesis

The Joshua *Dunning-Kurger* Lieblein-Bro, Do you Even Science Hypothesis, and it holds a very important element, it can be verified false with further data and study.  I would truly love to see it proven wrong, and Joshua can easily do it too,... just be learning how to science.

Scientists should be humble

To Quote the Joshua

The amount of stuff we don’t know, and we don’t know that we don’t know, is awe-inspiring. Don’t lord your scraps of knowledge over so-called ignorant people. You really are in no place to judge. 

Um, why, you have present no logical reason why humility is required?  Yes I will lord my scraps of knowledge over stupid and willfully ignorant people.  I will slap them in the face with it, cause that is how you deal with willingly ignorant people, you know the types, they reject science because they believe in an invisible Sky Daddy and they believe the Earth is 6000 years old and 4400 years ago there was a global flood, and that Jesus is a Zombie.  Yes, those people I will LORD OVER and slap them silly.

As for the video he links in article, Jesus (must not swear, must not swear,..) Poopy Pants, that video is high level dumb stoopid moronic poop.  I can't go into discussing that video without using swear words.  Watch if you dare.  Joshua's failure is complete by including it, clearly Joshua is going to be push religion in his "Reclaiming Science" series, in fact he was doing it in this article, but I am going to let it slide for now.  If religion rears its ugly head in third installment, the gloves will come off. (take my advice Joshua, stop now before you make a complete fool of yourself, you are already 70 percent there, stop now and shut your mouth before it is too late.)

*Curriculum Vitae, The Grumpy Hobbit of A Grumpy Hobbit Blog holds a Bachelors of Engineering Science, Mechanical Engineering (B.E.Sc., Mech. Eng.), Numerous Computer Coding Certs and Information Technology Certs, Worked in the IT field for over two decades.  Currently doing Hobby Engineering (Science and Engineering for fun, ya, I am that nerdy) in the field of Green and Alternate Transportation and Green and Alternate Housing and Energy Production at the practical and applied level.  So if the question is "Bro, Do you even Science" the answer is yes, I Science, I try to Science everyday.  The Grumpy Hobbit is not famous for his writing skills, but he is working on those, knowing that they suck and that continuous practice will lead to improvement,... hopefully (well that's my other hypothesis and theory).

  

Going Green - Transportation

Back in 2014 I gave up my car.  It was mainly due to very limited cash flow, but also desire to be more eco-friendly.  While I was still living in Toronto, getting around was not an issue. Public transit, cycling and walking worked just fine, and in many case it was far less time consuming and less costly.

Now I live in Simcoe Ontario and public transportation is none existent, walking can be little bit too time consuming but cycling is still a viable option.  Thankful I am not completely stuck, one of the kids where I work has offered to pick me up and drop me off so I can get to and from work with little effort or cost, he only asks for $10 a week for the carpooling, which is a bargain. 

Yet I still plan to cycle in the from late March into late November, weather permitting.  Yet I need a little more flexibility and power in my cycling kit to make this work.  Things tend to be more spread out here in Simcoe, almost any cycling trip will be a minimum of a 10km round trip.  I was looking at buying a used Jeep, but that is still at least $8500 for the Jeep, then there is gas, insurance and maintenance, so owning even cheap vehicle would end up running about $400 bucks a month.  So after looking around at used Jeeps and thinking it over I decide to stay green and go with another solution. The solution?

THE ELECTROPED

An Electroped is not an e-bike, it is normal bicycle that has had a kit conversion applied to it.  The kit conversion has two major componets

1. A Electric Motor hub that is either on the rear or front wheel, and
2. Battery.

The huge benefit of the electroped is that it is still a fully function bicycle with a proper gear train.  An e-bike may have peddles, but if you ever had to peddle one of those things you would be hard pressed to call it a bicycle.  The electroped is very best of both worlds; if you want your electroped to be a pure bicycle again,  it only take about five minutes to drop out the electric motor wheel and pull the battery and control system (leave the wiring in place).

Costs of the conversion will greatly vary depending on the type and power of the electric motor wheel you install and what type of magnetic braking and pedal power assist option you go for.  The cost of these motorize wheels can go for as little as $250.00 and as high as $850.00.  The battery system is another great cost variable, and is dependent on many factors:

1. The power requirements of the motor 
2. Your desired range before recharge
3. How much extra mass you want to carry
4. How quickly the battery can be recharged
5. Lifetime of the battery system

The cheapest up front option on the battery are lead-acid cells, but they are extremely heavy, shorter recharge cycle life and not very environmentally friendly.  After much research I have opted to go with the top end type of battery.  The Lithium-Manganese type of battery, but even these you have to research carefully, cause not all lithium-manganese batteries are equal.  In the end, I have opted for 48 volt, 20Ah Lithium-Manganese battery cell.  Comparing Lithium-Manganese to a lead-acid battery array and you see why the extra cost is worth the extra up front cost.

Comparison Of Lithium-Manganese vs Lead Acid

Voltage of all Required Cells	48 Volts	48 Volts
Amp Hours of all Required Cells	20 Ah	16 Ah
Power of all Required Cells	960 Watt●Hours	768 Watt●Hours
Charge Time from Dead	Depends on charger you use, but a reasonably cost 48V 15Amp charger will do the job in about 2-2.25 hours	Depends on charger you use, if you only have a charger that can handle one cell at a time it will 16 hours for the total array. If you have really good charge 4-8 hours
Cycle Life	1000 to 1500 charge cycles, some people claim as high as 2000 charge cycles	300 to 500 charge cycles
Number of Cells Requires	1	8
Size of All Require Cells	Per Battery Length 10.84 inches Width 7.17 inches Height 3.17 inches One Battery Required Length 10.84 inches Width 7.17 inches Height 3.17 inches	Per Battery Length 5.94 inches Width 2.56 inches Height 3.70 inches For the Eight Required Batteries Length 11.88 inches Width 5.12 inches Height 7.4 inches
Mass of Required Cells	Per Battery 11.7 lbs One Battery Required 11.7 lbs	Per Battery 6.5 lbs For Eight Batteries 52 lbs
Cost	$840.00	$18.50 per battery $148.00 for eight and shipping cost will be on top of that
Cost Per km* (*not adjusted for extra mass) (a car cost about $0.60/km)	$0.219	$0.193
Cost/Size/Mass/Life/Power Index (the lower the better)	1.24	5.60

The last two rows are what it all boils down to, the average cost per kilometer and CSMLP Index.  I guess I should explain CSMLP Index number. It is a calculation that takes into account the cost, size, mass, Charge Life Cycle and Power the resulting calculation allows you compare the all the variables. The lower the CSMLP Index number the better, but it must also be compared to cost per kilometer.  The cost of the lithium-manganese is about $0.026/km more than the lead-acid batteries, but the CSMLP Index Lith-Mang is 4.5 better, I think the Lithium-Manganese batteries are far superior given that your ride will be 40 pounds less top heavy.  If you should get stuck with dead batteries and have to manually peddle home, believe me, those 40 extra pounds is a huge ass amount extra weight to move around.  Yet is you looking for a dirt cheap solution, then the lead-acid battery is the best route in the short run (ie, the up front costs).  In the long run, they cost just about the same.

Anyways, more on this later and I will be following up with the custom design Electroped I am planning to build and hope to have on the road in the late spring.

E-FLAP #000008 - The RWNJs at The Rebel Is Going To Do Sciency Science

Oh God, the impending hilarity that is going to ensue with this series from Joshua Lieblein at The Rebel Media.  Yup they are going to reclaim science for Conservatives and be like all sciency I guess.  So who is Joshua Lieblein?  I guess we should know who we are dealing with first.  Jashua is;

1. A Pharmacist by Education and Employment
2. He is also a member of The Toronto Tax Payer Federation, or at least he was back in 2011 when he wrote this Mayor Ford awarded a ‘B’. Though, since this article, has not written anything else for them, and I have no idea why, so I will not speculate. UPDATE : According to this internet cached article he serves as Research Director for the Toronto Taxpayers Coalition and the York Region Taxpayers Coalition, from April of 2015
   
3. He claims to be a blogger and activist by night, ya well join the club Joshua, we even have tee-shirts.
4. He writes for The Rebel Media, I guess this is his nocturnal blogging and activisting activities.
5. He also seems have been working for and paid by the Manning Foundation for Education.  , or maybe the Manning Think Tank paid to have it published and Joshua got jack-squat.  Who knows, who cares, the thing is he has work hand in hand with Consevative *Think Tanks*

Which brings me to the internet cached article.  I am not certain as to the original source, it is from an internet Google cache, but it appears to be from one or Preston Manning's non-profit charity think tanks and septic tanks.  I have include the full text of the article below, plus a screen shot at the end of the article.  Red or green text has been highlighted to point of the interesting tidbits.

Since the Harper government, and conservatives generally, are usually out-gunned in this environment, they try to protect themselves by using language that stretches the meaning of neutral words and phrases to suit their objectives, a phenomenon noted by George Orwell in his famous essay, “Politics and the English Language.”

AND

The Harper government is well practiced at word-stretching. The titles of its legislative bills are often euphemistic pile-ups such as the Marketing Freedom For Grain Farmers Act (which eliminated the Canadian Wheat Board) or the Protecting Children From Internet Predators Act (which expanded the government’s ability to track Canadians’ activities online). Such titles anticipate negative reaction and seek to neutralize it with language that is unassailable. 

AND

“Economic Action Plan” in response to the 2008-09 recession. A more accurate title might have been the “Borrowing Billions to Bail Out Automakers, Build Infrastructure and Buy Votes Plan”

From reading this article I almost get the feeling that Joshua is admiring The FORMER Harper Government's ability to, coin George Orwell, use DOUBLE SPEAK. 

So now Joshua wants Conservatives to *Reclaim Science*, I have to wonder if Joshua will be using the well tested method's that Ezra Levant uses.  Believe me people, this is going to be hoot.  As for Joshua's Rebel Media article "It’s time for conservatives to start reclaiming science" is only an intro and I assume the series will continue, where Joshua is going to try be all sciency.  As for an intro article he spends most of his time constructing silly strawmen.  BTW, he doesn't slay the strawmen, he just seems to assume that you will think he did, jesus talk about lazy.

Like I said before, this is going to be fun and hilarious and I hope Joshua as more to come.

C2C: When newspeak is written by the mob

Sunday, April 12, 2015 - 16:30

Prime Minister Stephen Harper usually gets the best of Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in Question Period, and their recent exchange over the niqab and citizenship ceremonies seemed no exception. After Trudeau accused the government of “going after minorities in an irresponsible way”, Harper pounced. He said the niqab is “rooted in a culture that is anti-women”, and asked why Trudeau didn’t understand that “almost all Canadians” oppose it. The implication was clear: Trudeau, the supposed progressive, was defending anti-women practices. In the moment, it looked like another win for Harper.
But the moment didn’t last. On Twitter, a new hashtag – #dresscodepm – was born, and within 24 hours it was trending nationwide. The PM was roundly mocked for his own fashion choices, for slandering Islam, and for presuming to suggest how women should dress. Suddenly, Harper was the one who looked out of touch.
The incident illustrates how difficult it is for governments to exert “message control” in the age of social media. Political actors have always competed for public attention and 1influence, of course. The successful ones dominate the medium and the message. But as Machiavelli observed, it is much harder for a ruler to hold a territory where the inhabitants speak a different language than it is to conquer the territory in the first place. He recommended establishing colonies within conquered territory, believing that colonized people will adapt the language of the colonizers, making them easier to control.
To gain and hold voter-rich territory in social media, then, it becomes all the more important for governments to control the language spoken there. Since the Harper government, and conservatives generally, are usually out-gunned in this environment, they try to protect themselves by using language that stretches the meaning of neutral words and phrases to suit their objectives, a phenomenon noted by George Orwell in his famous essay, “Politics and the English Language.”
The Harper government is well practiced at word-stretching. The titles of its legislative bills are often euphemistic pile-ups such as the Marketing Freedom For Grain Farmers Act (which eliminated the Canadian Wheat Board) or the Protecting Children From Internet Predators Act (which expanded the government’s ability to track Canadians’ activities online). Such titles anticipate negative reaction and seek to neutralize it with language that is unassailable.
The opposition MP (or Tweeter) who wants to criticize such laws is at a disadvantage before they even begin. Not only do they risk landing on the wrong side of Protecting Children or Marketing Freedom, but they inadvertently advance the government’s objectives every time they talk about it.
Perhaps the most effective – and certainly most ubiquitous – branding effort of the Conservative government was its “Economic Action Plan” in response to the 2008-09 recession. A more accurate title might have been the “Borrowing Billions to Bail Out Automakers, Build Infrastructure and Buy Votes Plan”, but obviously it would not have won the government the strong polling on economic competence it came to enjoy. The branding was so successful it still headlines the government’s economic messaging today, five years after the recession ended.
But as the niqab incident shows, government wordsmiths can’t hit home runs every time. While Harper’s “Get out of Ukraine” shot at Vladimir Putin was at least a triple, his attempt to link Trudeau to “anti-women culture” landed foul.
Another challenge facing governments is keeping up the evolution of the meanings of words. In the 500 million-tweets-a-day universe, yesterday’s term of endearment can quickly become today’s patronizing insult. Or a once-reliable insult can become a target for opprobrium. And entirely new words spring up overnight to advance political or social agendas, as occurred when advocates for the transgendered invented “ze” as an alternative to the third person singular pronouns he or she.
Certainly there is something empowering and maybe even democratizing about thousands of citizen-Tweeters picking apart a Prime Minister’s talking point, but there is also a great danger, one Machiavelli and Orwell could not have foreseen. The question is: Why should we trust these hashtag activists, these crafters of the new Newspeak, to speak truth any more than their word-twisting counterparts in government? Put another way: Harper may not speak for all women, but it’s just as unlikely that the #dresscodepm Tweeters do.
~
Joshua Lieblein is a Toronto pharmacist, blogger and political activist. He is currently serves as Research Director for the Toronto Taxpayers Coalition and the York Region Taxpayers Coalition.

Topic: 

Arts & Culture

Note: This content was paid for by the **Manning Foundation for Democratic Education**, a registered charity that falls under the Manning Centre trademark.

Screen Capture of Google Web Cache. Nov, 10, 2015

 

Day Two of the The Rebel Media E-FLAP

Well, The Rebel Media doesn't disappoint.  It is now my second day of E-FLAP, Ezra Fabrication, Lies and Propaganda (E-FLAP) and we already have two more additions to the catalog. 

First we have a Rebel Blogger Sid Camus and his hit piece on marijuana, it has AUTHORITATIVE STUDIES (you can see where I am going with this one)

Then we have the Chief Propaganda Minister, Ezra on why Shell canceled one of the Alberta Tarsands projects.  SPOILER ALERT: It's all the Alberta NDP's fault.

So stay tuned people, the articles are coming as soon as I can write them, which you know, requires actual fact checking and a degree of actual journalistic integrity, unlike The Rebel.

And I Am Back

It has been years since I blogged, I have been generally been using FaceBook and the twitters, but I have been finding that these are limited and I need a more organized approached to keep things,... well organized. So I talked to Scott at the Progressive Bloggers about rejoining again and he was "Hey no problem". I was hoping that I would have a WordPress blog set up, but money is really tight at the moment and I can't afford to upgrade my domain AGrumpyHobbit.ca to a WordPress account, so that will have to wait.

Anyways, what will this blog be about? Simple;

• Toronto Politics, follow me on #TOPoli @agrumpyhobbit
• Canadian Federal Politics, follow me on #CDNPoli @agrumpyhobbit
• EPIC OLD MAN RANTS - I rant, you listen
• Life With Dog - Silly observation about my life with my dog, Newton the Border Collie
• Science Type Stuff - Talking about Science and debunk bad science and promoting good science. Topics will be all over the place Evolution, GMOs and related, Global Warming, Global Climate Change, Anthropomorphic Global Climate Change and what ever science tickles my fancy.
• Right Wing Nut Jobs and Religious RWNJs, this will main concern things in the USA
• and maybe some cooking and other random stuff, maybe some computer games

Anyhoo, time to post this and then send the RSS feed and link address of to Scott.  I'll work on making this blog look nicer and all the bells and whistles later and when money comes available, I'll migrate over to WordPress.  So ya, I'm back, let the pigeons loose.


A Grumpy Hobbit