How the internet can help heat our homes

Scandianvia comes up with another environmental first: Finland is using waste heat from internet and data centres to heat entire towns.

The increasingly large and numerous data centres that dot our landscape to accommodate the burgeoning demand for internet, and particularly AI, services pump out a lot of waste heat. The Finnish town of Mäntsälä plans on utilizing that heat with a district heating system that captures the heat and using it to heat homes in the town.

What a neat solution, and how very Scandinatvian!

Should we be worried about trans women in sports?

The issue of transgender women in sports keeps raising its head from time to time. My wife's personal trainer has been banging on to her about it for years now. Right wingers like Donald Trump and Danielle Smith raise the issue whenever they remember. (I'm not totally sure why it's mainly a right-wing issue.) JK Rowling contunues to dismay her otherwise loyal following every now and then by bringing the matter up.

The latest blow-up occurred when Skate Canada, Canada's national skating body (and independent of the federal government), announced that it will stop holding major national and international events in the province of Alberta due to Alberta's recently-legislated ban on transgender women competing in women's sports in the province, as the ban contravenes Skate Canada's "national standards for safe and inclusive sports".

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who went to the lengths of using the notwithstanding clause to get her legislation passed (as it would otherwise have contravened the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms), of course shot back that she thought that Skate Canada's decision was "disgraceful" and that she expects "they will apologize and adjust their policies" once they realize the error of their ways. (As it happens, there are no upcoming national or international events scheduled to take place in Alberta for the foreseeable future.) 

Smith also said that the decision was "offside with the international community, including the International Olympic Committee, which is moving in the same direction as Alberta". This is disingenuous, shall we charitably say, as is so much that Danielle Smith says. In fact, the IOC is just in the process of reviewing its position on female sports, and has made no pronouncements either way. Currently, it leaves specific rules to to the various international federations for individual sports, although there are rumours that it may be moving towards some kind of ban later next year, although whether that will be a blanket ban or something based on testosterone counts is not clear. The International Paralympic Conmittee will probably come to very different conclusions.

So, is this a real issue? Or is it just a straw man/woman, one that the right wing loves to mobilize every now and then to placate its more militant members? How many people does it affect anyway? Well, San Francisco's Office of Transgender Initiatives has produced its own handy summary of the situation. And yes, I know they have their own axe to grind, or at least their own confirmed views, but at least they are attempting to create some perspective on a very divisive issue.

First off, an estimated 1% of the US population identify as transgendered (more than I would have thought), and I assume a similar proportion in Canada and western Europe. Very few of them, though, have any interest in sport: 0.002% of college athletes are trans, and less than 0.001% of Olympians. This is a vanishingly small percentage to have engendered such a maelstrom of political attention. 

It certainly seems to have attracted significantly more attention than much more worrying and prevalent problems like sexual abuse of women in sport. It has also led to some unfortunate incidents like schoolkids in Florida and several other states being subjected to genital inspections.

It's not a new issue, either. Renee Richards, a trans woman, was competing in tennis back in the 1970s (she never actually won anything). Veronica Ivy became track cycling champion in 2018, although only for an advanced age bracket. Laurel Hubbard competed in Olympic weightlifting in 2020, but, despite all the media attention, she didn't win anything either.

There is also some confusion about cisgender athletes being accused of being transgendered. This is often due to high testosterone levels, but is sometimes just based on their rather masculine appearance. Perhaps the most famous is Caster Semenya, the successful South African middle distance runner who has won several World Championships and a gold medal in the 2016 Olympics. She is not transgender, though, she just has very high natural levels of testosterone, as some women do. In 2019, World Athletics required her to take medications to suppress her natural testosterone in order to compete (she refused, and sued World Athletics for discrimination). 

There are others: Imane Khelif, a cisgender female boxer from Algeria, who was accused of being transgender and hounded out of the sport; Dutee Chand, an Indian athlete who was excluded from selection for her butch appearance, despite not being trans; and at least five other African runners who were all withdrawn from their events for their high natural testosterone levels and/or their masculine appearance.

So, what does the evidence from scientific studies show us? 

A 2021 study in the journal Sports Medicine concluded that there is no scientific evidence to support policymakers' attempts to ban transgender women in sports. A 2024 study, partly funded by the IOC and published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that trans women have little physical advantage, and may actually have several disadvantages, when competing with cisgender women:

• Trans women performed worse than cis women in tests measuring lower body strength.
• Trans women performed worse than cis women in tests measuring lung function.
• Trans women had a higher body fat mass and a weaker hand grip strength than cis men.
• Trans women's bone density (linked to muscle strength) was about the same as that of cis women, not better.
• Trans women's hemoglobin profile (also a factor in athletic performance) was also about the same as that of cis women, not better.

All this to say that the issue of trans women in sports is probably much more about politics than it is about sports.

Gen Z protests coupled with social media is becoming a powerful force for change

The Gen Z protests across the developing world are becoming 2025's Arab Spring.

In a bunch of countries, from Nepal to the Philippines to Peru, Indonesia, Madagascar, Bulgaria and Morocco, young people have been leveraging social media to foment what can only be described as revolution. And very successful they have been too.

In Nepal, in response to government corruption, wealth inequality, and a clampdown on social media, young people took to the streets, organizing through platforms like Discord, Reddit, TikTok and Instagram. The protests turned violent after some poor decisions by security forces, but ultimately the social media ban was overturned, the unpopular prime minister resigned, and the young people got to choose his replacement through a poll on Discord (a popular gaming platform). Extraordinary scenes, indeed.

Just a few days later, young people in Madagascar protested against chronic water and power shortages, high unemployment, and underfunded universities. Once again, the protests turned violent and several people were killed. But, in the end, the unpopular president fled, and the military took control of the country. This may not play out quite so well for the protestors, but the power of young voices amplified by social media is undeniable.

Elsewhere, Gen Zers have been galvanized against different local problems - parliamentary salaries, corruption and a police crackdown in Indonesia; pension plans, extortion and crime in Peru; public services, unemployment and government spending decisions in Morocco; flood control projects and corruption in the Philippines; corruption, taxes and social sevices contributions in Bulgaria. But many of the protest strategies are similar, and many of them have even taken to using a common symbol - a pirate with a toothy grin and straw hat, taken from a Japanese manga series. 

The protests are a weird mix of the playful and the deadly earnest, but they have been undeniably effective. However, whether these young people know what they want now (as opposed to what they don't want from before) is an open question.

An embarrassing criticism by Canadian linguistics boffins

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is having his very own "SpellingGate". A group of Canadian linguistics professors and the editor-in-chief of the Canadian English Dictionary, who operate under the moniker Editors Canada, have written an open letter to Carney, taking him to task for his too-English and not-Canadian-enough spelling habits. Like Carney doesn't have enough on his plate right now...

The group takes issue with Carney's tendency to use some English spellings like "catalyse" (instead of the more usual Canadian spelling "catalyze") and "globalisation" (instead of "globalization"). They say it's "a matter of our national history, identity snd pride", and that it "could lead to confusion about which spelling is Canadian". Carney spent seven years in the UK, working as the governor of the Bank of England, and "he obviously picked up some pretension while while was there".

"Pretensions"? Are they serious? Do these people have nothing better to do as the world goes to hell in a handbasket? 

They of all people should know that Canadian spelling is an illogical hybrid mishmash of British and American spelling, not some pure monolithic thing. We use some English spellings like "colour", and some American spellings like "analyze". It even varies across the country, with the East tending towards more English spellings and the West more American. 

And these esteemed professors are insisting that Carney - who, I'm pretty sure, is not the person who actually types out the budget document and PMO news releases - take the more American and less English route with words like "globalization" and "catalyze". How do they see that as "taking an 'elbows up' stance" in the face of American imperialism and trade disputes, as they claim?

The whole thing seems pretty poorly-conceived and badly-timed to me. They should be embarrassed.

Netanyahu tries to exploit Sydney massacre

The horrendous Hanukkah shooting in Sydney, Australia the other day deserves to be treated very carefully. Nerves are frayed and tensions are high. Yes, it seems to be a targeted act of terrorism by two Muslims on a Jewish group. They were driven by Islamic state ideology, but (like so many IS attacks) were essentially lone wolf actors. And yes, this is antisemitism; there seems little doubt of that.

But trust Benjamin Netayahu to stir the flames higher and to milk the situation for his own political ends. No-one does that better than he. The Israeli Prime Minister blamed the episode squarely on the shoulders of Australian Prime Minster Anthony Albanese for formally recognizing a Palestinian state. "Your call for a Palestinia state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire".

Exactly how this was supposed to have triggered such an atrocity was not explained. I have tried, and failed, to imagine his logic. But, of course, logic doesn't come into it. This is just Netanyahu doing his usual "everybody is antisemitic, but I can do no wrong" schtick. The man has no shame.

I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking that Netanyahu's own actions in his excessive and genocidal reaction to Hamas' terrorist attack is as likely as anything to have been the catalyst behind the cowardly Sydney massacre. But that is not the stuff of official public comments. (I don't count this blog, as next to no-one reads it.)

And can we also take a moment to register that the hero of the day, the man who singlehandedly disarmed the gunman and probably saved many lives, was Ahmed al-Ahmed, a 43-year old fruit shop owner and an Australian Muslim son of refugees from Syria. I'm not suggesting that his actions somehow cancel out the actions of the two Muslim gunmen, but credit where credit is due. Not all Muslims are crazy, violent extremists.

One story among many about immigrants in the USA

I'm sure everyone has read more than they want or need about the immigration clampdown in the USA. I've certainly written more than I wamt or need about it. But this particular story on the BBC News website was especially poignant, I thought.

A woman, originally from Iran, moved to the US a decade ago. She is currently living with her husband (a US citizen) in Oregon. She has gone through all the right channels, step by step, and passed all the various tests, approvals and security vetting for citizenship. She was two days away from her naturalization ceremony which would officially make her a US citizen.

That was the point where the Trump government, in its wisdom summarily cancelled the oath-taking ceremony with no explanation or apology. It turns out that the only reason for the cancellation is the woman's Iranian origins. America is cancelling the citizenship ceremonies of all immigrants hailing from any of the 19 (mainly Muslim) countries that are already subject to a travel ban in the USA.

The woman is, understamdably, distraught. Not only is she not a US citizen, but she is now in the position of considering moving back to Iran, a country she feels little or no connection with, despite being married to a US citizen, having spent a decade or so in the country, and having jumped through all the required hoops.

And hers is far from the only such story.

The world's coldest capital cities

We're going to be visiting Mongolia next summer - pleasure not business :) - and I thought I remember reading somewhere that the capital city, Ulaanbaatar (sometimes written as Ulan Bator), was the coldest capital city in the world. Knowing how cold Ottawa can be, I thought I would look it up, and it turns out the comparison is not even close.

Ulaanbaatar is indeed the coldest capital city in the world, followed by Astana (Kazakhstan), Moscow (Russia), Helsinki (Finland), Reykjavik (Iceland), and Tallin (Estonia). Ottawa (Canada) is only the seventh coldest capital, which is certainly food for thought.

Ulaanbaatar - which sits at 1,350m above sea level, so that's kind if cheating :) - has an average year-round temperate below zero (-1.5°C). Although temperatures during its short summer (when we will be there) are quite pleasant - in the 20s - winter temperatures in January are in the -36°C to -40°C range. Ouch!

I wonder if they mollify themselves by saying "it's a dry cold" like we do here?

Should Canadians be worried about travelling to the USA

Many Canadians are in a mild panic over the "new" border requirements when crossing to the USA. US Customs and Border Protection say that travellers from countries that don't need a visa - which (for now, at least) includes Canadians - may be required to show five years worth of social media information to border agents before they are allowed in to Fortress America. The (unstated) assumption is that, if anything scurrilous is discovered - say, God forbid, a less-than-copacetic reference to Donald Trump - the travellers may be denied entry.

Thing is, this is not really a new policy. People who do need a visa (e.g. Chinese/Indian/etc visitors) have been subject to that for years, when they apply in advance for their visas. Even those visa-free visitors, like Canadians, could have been subject to such an online search any time in the last 20 years or so. In practice, though, it is extremely rare that such a search would be triggered, and you would have to be very suspicious in a whole bunch of other ways before it was.

Well, even with the new edict, the same applies. According to immigration experts, most people should just swan through customs and passport control, just as usual, with only the normal disapproving stares and snide comments of the border agent to bear. Only if you are otherwise suspect in some way would you be yanked of into secondary screening and potentially subjected to social media assessment. Of course, that "suspect" description applies to many more people nowadays than it used to, but we are assured that the "new" rules are not in fact new, they are just more likely to be strictly applied.

And, in case you were thinking about it, don't try and wipe your social media accounts from your phone before travelling, or travel with a clean, disposable "burner" phone. If there's one thing that will make you look suspicious, and raise a glaring red flag, that is it.

As for me, I have no intentions of travelling to the US any time soon, despite having a sister-in-law in New York, who we regularly used to visit. Which is probably just as well, because I don't have any social media accounts. I haven't had Facebook, Instagram, Twitter/X, TikTok, or anything else of that ilk, for decades now, and certainly nothing really suspicious like BlueSky or Mastodon. Truth Social? Uh, no. I guess I do use WhatsApp to communicate with family, and there is probably some defamatory stuff on there. And if they were to find this blog - is this "social media"? - I would be well and truly sunk.