Raise the Hammer
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Ted Mitchell is a Hamilton resident, emergency physician and sometimes agitator who recently completed a BEng at McMaster University. He is fascinated by aspects of our culture that are harmful, but avoid serious public discussion.
Find Out if You Have a Radon Problem - Radon is responsible for 1,000 preventable deaths a year, even though the one-time cost of testing your house for radon is $30 or less. Published November 17, 2016 in Ideas
The Math of Taxes: Pricing and Cost of Services - The way we pay for municipal services and roads is a bizarre system of hidden subsidies which encourage waste. Published October 25, 2014 in Ideas
The Experimental Lakes Area: War on Science, or War on Canada? - Stephen Harper's this ideological war is part of a larger worldview, one that seeks to remove everything but economic interests from his version of reality. Published November 11, 2013 in Ideas
Saving Health Care: Increasing Transparency - If public figures knew their actions would be visible, only the most honest and competent would succeed. Published February 06, 2013 in Special Report: Health Care
Saving Health Care: Increasing System Capacity - A reasonable approach to health care involves targeted injections of resources. This is a complex problem, best solved with a combination of methods. Published January 16, 2013 in Special Report: Health Care
The Demotechnic Index: Human Energy Units - What if it was easy to compare energy from the food you eat, exercise you do, fossil fuels you burn and household electricity you use? Published April 11, 2011 in Ideas
In Which the Dreaded Leaf Blower Gets its Comeuppance - Ted Mitchell explains in painstaking detail exactly why you find leaf blowers so damned annoying. Published October 27, 2010 in Ideas
Chedoke Path Gets Fenced In - If City technocrats plug away in secret, harmful ideas like putting up a fence and cutting down trees make it into the final proposal. Nobody should be surprised when the community gets annoyed at this. Published April 07, 2010 in Special Report: Cycling
Dave Braden: Interview with the Guru of Efficient Home Design - Dave Braden's own house might be the most energy efficient in the whole country when it is fully completed, but there is nothing especially high tech or secret about this style of building. Published December 16, 2009 in Ideas
The HST Does Not Matter - Never mind the HST. We need to talk about an unsustainable fossil fueled economy, health care, poverty, transportation infrastructure, the role of cities, foreign policy, and the military. Published December 06, 2009 in Ideas
Bay Observer, Can You Do Better? - Local weekly misreports a rally protesting health care funding cuts as a protest against the creation of a pediatric emergency ward. Published March 30, 2009 in Media
Toxic Spin: Spec Skews Coverage of Health Rally - A recent article ostensibly covering a rally to protest cuts to local health care spending illustrates a pernicious bias in how the Spectator reports the news. Published March 13, 2009 in Media
Too Fast for Conditions - With some high school physics, we can roughly determine a safe vehicle speed given weather conditions for various tires on various surfaces and at various speeds. Published February 11, 2009 in Ideas
Home Renovation Tax Credit: Clever but Harmful - Any renovation program should put highest priority on retrofits of existing leaky buildings to make them more efficient, reduce pollution, contribute to urban renewal and enhance housing values. Published February 11, 2009 in Ideas
What's Up With Fluoride? - My take on water fluoridation, based on current scientific knowledge, is that the benefits outweigh the risks. Published November 26, 2008 in Ideas
Three Inconvenient Things - There are three nasty sources of air pollution very close to home that nobody seems to recognize as a problem. Published November 04, 2008 in Ideas
LHIN Hammers McMaster - The plan to convert McMaster to a pediatric ER and ICU is marred by narrow administrative agendas, the absence of meaningful public consultation, and missing mechanisms of accountability. Published October 02, 2008 in Ideas
Bring on the Gas Tax - Let's stop paying the high price of fossil fuels through the subsidized method of general taxation. Published September 11, 2008 in Ideas
HHS Proposal Defenders Dodge Questions - Providing quality health care is not about sacred packages of philosophy which must not be tainted! You need to listen to feedback from the public and community physicians. Published September 11, 2008 in Ideas
Not My Problem: Taking Responsibility for Air Quality - How long can we say "Not my problem"? Published June 05, 2008 in Ideas
Air Quality: Catching the Turkeys - Broad improvements produce underwhelming results, while replacing the really bad polluters is mandatory if we are serious about improving air quality. Published March 24, 2008 in Ideas
HHS Restructuring: Trading Medicine for Administration - Physicians need to deal with complex issues that encompass the whole of human experience, but business people live in a more narrowly defined world. Published February 14, 2008 in Ideas
Architecture of Isolation - Can social architecture find an optimal balance between privacy and community? Published January 18, 2008 in Ideas
A Shovel in Hand - Maybe the real battle is not to be found in this newsworthy stuff. Maybe real change comes from right there inside you. Published December 20, 2007 in Ideas
Measuring Progress on the Red Hill Parkway - Improvements in net economic development, municipal taxes, road congestion, and air quality helped sell this project and need to be verified or refuted. Published November 27, 2007 in Ideas
The Shock Doctrine, by Naomi Klein - Powerful elites leverage "shock" events to catch people off guard and then implement unpopular economic policies to their benefit and the detriment of local communities. Published November 08, 2007 in Reviews
Washout - Does the Radial Trail closing represent a legitimate threat or some CYA by the city? Published October 22, 2007 in Ideas
Bad Intensification Hurts Good Intensification - The Chedoke development proposal amounts to more residential development within a uniformly residential area. Published September 28, 2007 in Ideas
The West Hamilton Rail Trail - A journey through the Hamilton part of the Brantford - Hamilton rail trail, the one that follows the old TH&B line, but does not officially exist. Published June 27, 2007 in Photo Essay
Stay In Your Lane - On plucking the low-lying fruit of safe driving. Published June 27, 2007 in Ideas
Harm and Offense - Every contentious issue can be constructively approached only if the concept of harm is acknowledged and acted upon. Published May 18, 2007 in Ideas
Alternative Power: Making Sense of New Technologies - The internal combustion engine's days are numbered. What will take its place? Published April 10, 2007 in Ideas
Why Trucks Suck - Far too many people make irrational choices of vehicle, and manufacturers continue to use obsolete engineering in their trucks. Published February 26, 2007 in Ideas
The Trouble With Diversity - America is currently obsessed with promoting diversity at the expense of, and as a diversion to, the fact of massive and growing economic inequality. Published January 24, 2007 in Reviews
The Decision Matrix: Buying a Car - Use a decision matrix to compare criteria and identify the choice that best meets your neds. Published January 10, 2007 in Ideas
It's a MADD World - MADD Canada compromises its integrity by endorsing an automobile company focused on building unsafe SUVS. Published December 13, 2006 in Ideas
The No Feedback Culture - In this state of denial, you are not responsible for the consequences of your actions as long as no one exposes the real you. Published November 23, 2006 in Ideas
Science, We Need You Back - People have lost the ability to think now that they are firmly in the grip of the cult of technology. Published November 08, 2006 in Ideas
Straight Talk About Clean Air - The federal Conservatives want to change the environmental focus from a climate change strategy to a clean air strategy. I'm with Mr. Harper on this one, if he really means it. Published October 20, 2006 in Ideas
Crimes Against Vanity - Ted Mitchell is guilty as charged, and here's the evidence to prove it. Published July 05, 2006 in Ideas
Take a Walk on the Glenside - The single use fetish of city planners has all the maturity of children who freak out at dinner time when the potatoes touch the corn on the same plate. Published May 26, 2006 in Special Report: Cycling
GRIDS and Lost Opportunity - Outer greenfield development takes people and money out of the core. It is a zero sum game or worse, and the empirical proof is in your taxes. Published May 26, 2006 in Ideas
Wheel of Misfortune: Religion, Conflict, and Cooperation - Religions exist on a continuum from deep contemplation and thoughtfulness on one end to superficiality and vanity on the other. Published March 01, 2006 in Ideas
Dictating Democracy - Canadian voters are poised to offer up another minority government. That just might mean we are fed up with dictators. Published December 14, 2005 in Ideas
Diagnosing our Health Care Woes - Health care privatization misses the real cause of Canada's health care funding problem: Big Pharma. Published November 28, 2005 in Ideas
Reclaiming Reality - Every time you go for a walk and get more enjoyment from it than by buying into the latest fad, you vote against economics defining your life. Published November 10, 2005 in Ideas
The Death of Imagination and Debate - The real enemy of progress and democracy is not the "other guy", the one on the right or left, but decisions to stifle discussion, sling mud, and reduce argument to ad-hominem attacks. Published September 15, 2005 in Ideas
How to be a Scientist - Anyone can think like a scientist, and I urge you to try it because there is precious little good scientific thinking around. Published June 16, 2005 in Ideas
Truth, Lies and Marketing - Since we are generally lazy, we don't bother to go looking for the truth. Automobile marketers take full advantage. Published May 31, 2005 in Ideas
Giving Up Our Independence - Losing one's driver's licence is only devastating because we've become so completely dependent on our cars. Published May 16, 2005 in Ideas
True and False Freedoms - To most of us, true freedoms are exceedingly boring. That is, until you are held up at the border based on your surname or skin colour, or falsely accused of a crime. The stakes are suddenly very high. Published January 14, 2005 in Ideas
In Defence of Generalists - The science of organized complexity is interdisciplinary and best integrated by generalists, but its problems are often oversimplified by mistakenly - or deliberately - applying the wrong tools to understand those problems. Published December 14, 2004 in Ideas
Response to Racism is Encouraging but Economic Inequality is Bigger Issue, Published May 01, 2014 in Economy
Tragic Death of Police Constable an Occasion to Focus on Seatbelt Safety, Published December 12, 2013 in Transportation
Subways and Conservatives: Wait, What?, Published October 30, 2013 in Politics - Provincial
Thank You, Neighbours, Published April 19, 2013 in Air Pollution
Radon: Leona Aglukkaq Ignites Anxiety with Misinformation, Published December 08, 2010 in Health
Deluce: Right on Paper, Wrong in Substance, Published July 23, 2010 in People
Rez Tree-Cutting Plan Not Clearly Communicated, Published April 28, 2010 in Activism
Toyota's Troubles and Media Vultures, Published March 01, 2010 in Media
Hamilton's LeE HARVeY OsMOND on YouTube, Published May 01, 2009 in Arts
Why Special Treatment for Auto Industry?, Published December 31, 2008 in Economy
Citizen Input and Council Decisions, Published September 19, 2008 in Policy
Get Outside, Published January 24, 2008 in Health
Frontline Physicians' Concerns Absent in HHS Plan, Published January 21, 2008 in Policy
Proposed Trinity Development: Smallish Box Hell?, Published January 11, 2008 in Revitalization
Spec Letter: Parkway Study Needed, Published November 20, 2007 in Transportation
Fear Passes the Post, Published October 11, 2007 in Ontario Election 2007
Faith-Based Segregation, Published September 11, 2007 in Politics - Provincial
Health Care Strike-Outs, Published August 02, 2007 in Health
'Mob' Hit Piece, Published June 06, 2007 in Media
School Bus Defender Misses the Point, Published April 25, 2007 in Transportation
Traffic Calming is also Social Engineering, Published April 17, 2007 in Transportation
Fuel Tax/Rebate About Politics, Not Performance, Published March 29, 2007 in Energy
Waterdown: Quaint Small Town or Car-Dependent, Soul-Sucking Suburb?, Published March 20, 2007 in Transportation
Andrew Dreschel Doesn't Get It, Published February 23, 2007 in Revitalization
Dream Team Wake-Up Call, Published January 12, 2007 in Sprawl
The Road to Ruin, Published January 10, 2007 in Transportation
Vehicle Use Growing Faster than Population, Published November 29, 2006 in Transportation
Caledonia, Your Silence is Deafening, Published November 02, 2006 in Politics
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