Plastic Bag Taxes
Farce is too gentle. Call it a complete sham.
The $0.05 plastic bag “tax” implemented in the City of Toronto about 24 months ago earns retailers about $2.7 million a year in bonus, free cash. That is about 6 million dollars since it started. Of that amount, 0% is accountable in any way, meaning no one actually follows up to make sure even a penny of it went to environmental initiatives. The policy has reduced the amount of plastic bags going to landfill by 50% but as announced earlier today, the total savings in landfill costs to the city were a measly $100,000 over the time period. That’s it. That’s all.
Why were retailers ever forced to collect this extra money without any commitment that somewhere along the way it would end up benefiting the environment? If this isn’t the best modern example of short-sightedness I don’t know what is. Of course it wouldn’t have made sense to have the fees go into natural resource projects. Instead, the money may have went to bonuses.
100% of the revenues collected must be directed into a fund for environmental programs immediately. If this bag tax policy is going to persist then we must make the program make sense or people will never stop questioning it.
Jared.
Where RIM Goes Next
It is not entirely clear where Research in Motion goes in the next six months. The beta device running the QNX operating system received mixed reviews this week at the Blackberry World conference and no firm release date has been set for its entry into the market.
Investors seem to realize that the Playbook experience on a phone isn’t going to be enough to make any headway in the handset battle. The tablet continues to perform poorly so it’s tough to understand why anyone would have much hope for a port to the handset format.
I wouldn’t be surprised if RIM doesn’t get bought up by Microsoft. They are looking at their partnership with Nokia and may be thinking it is time to buy the Waterloo company just to get control of its capable hands on the hardware manufacturing side of the business.
This type of partnership or takeover makes a lot of sense from a number of different angles. It would represent a new chapter in the life of RIM and allow it to focus on a couple of its key strengths, reaching new levels of success.
Jared.
The End Of The Solar System
This well-written article over at Wired describes evidence that our solar system will suffer a horrible, scorching fate that will ultimately destroy it.
Sad to think about but a really good reason to live each day like it might be your last and to have a good time while you are here!
Jared.
The Future Of Flash
Flash isn’t going anywhere soon as it remains a key component of solution design across a variety of browsers and platforms. This article was a great read for some of the things to consider when making technology decisions for cross-platform projects.
Jared.
Google Drive Explained
Wondering what Google Drive is and how to take advantage? Rafe put together a great FAQ here.
Jared.
Watch Your Step!
I thought this was pretty amusing…until I realized this could probably happen in Toronto, too!
Jared.
LOM2 Contest
If you like LOM2 on Facebook before March 30, 2012 you will have a chance to have your own quest implemented in the next content update!
I will randomly select a winner and have final discretion on the details of the quest. We’ll work together to make it work and everyone will see your content in game.
Like LOM2 on Facebook now by visiting this link.
Good luck!
Jared.
