Time for a research park at UNBC, the one which has been talked about for a decade or so.

Could have been seeded with the WIDC building on the hill where it belongs.

Congrats! Sounds like a great opportunity.

Time for a research park at UNBC, the one which has been talked about for a decade or so.
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Hey Gus, I don’t think so … not with declining enrollments and decreased utilization rates …

2008 2,976 FTE’s at 91% utilization
2012 2,883 FTE’s at 83.5 utilization

Based on this trend, UNBC can use the empty rooms for “research park” space … and for the record, only in BC do we continue to think that elitist post-grad degree granting institutions should be isolated on mountaintops (SFU,UNBC) and peninsulas (UBC, UVic) … :-(

I hope Garth can bring some realism to the situation … best wishes!

Again, any relation even remotely to Lefty?

I think he is a perfect fit to this job. Congratulations to both Councillor Frizzell and UNBC for having the smarts to hire this guy.

Seems more like a **pretend** position to me.

Just what research does Industry in Prince George need. Or better still what industry are we talking about. Lumber mills????

Most of the basic research for the pulp mills etc; comes out of other Universities, a lot from the University of Waterloo, and there’s not much more to research in the pulp industry.

Its time for us to stop pretending that we are on the leading edge of research and development when in fact we are the recipients of this research from other facilities.

We need to stop duplicating what is already being done in BC, Canada, and the world, and come up with something new and innovative.

Studies have shown that the Universities in the US and other Countries are now more concerned with keeping the facilities going for job opportunities than for educational purposes.

In any event it will be interesting to see the results of this adventure. I am sure that we will get up dates on all the significant things that will be accomplished. Much like we do from the Tourist Bureau, IPG, and the local library. Inflated numbers, and statistical hogwash.

Wow, Palopu, you’re on a roll today! :-)

“We need to stop duplicating what is already being done in BC, Canada, and the world, and come up with something new and innovative”

Exactly and who the hell needs research for that, LMAO!!!!

Some where else he can procrastinate.

“Studies have shown that the Universities in the US and other Countries are now more concerned with keeping the facilities going for job opportunities than for educational purposes”

Were those studies done by researchers?

Research and Development in cutting down trees? Wasn’t that stuff completed in the 1800’s?

Something new and innovative would be a system of checks and balances that would impede the ability of civil servants, institutions, etc; from spending tax dollars without any responsibility attached. Perhaps we could give instruction to politicians on the pros and cons of being honest. In addition we could explain to them what the meaning of the words and phrases transparent and freedom of information.

Furthermore we could have politicians and civil servants rated on performance by an outside agency and if they do not meet the **standard** then they will be replaced.

We are so bogged down in this Country by Government intervention in all aspects of our lives, that we have lost our way, and have become a bunch of zombies.

Who is paying his wages? Increase in student fees? maybe he will relocated downtown – is that not a research center ?

“Something new and innovative would be a system of checks and balances that would impede the ability of civil servants, institutions, etc; from spending tax dollars without any responsibility attached”

That’s neither new or innovative. What you describe is actually internal control ( a concept that has been around forever and a day) and in a government environment it often manifests itself as the bureaucracy that you seem to despise so much.

“We are so bogged down in this Country by Government intervention in all aspects of our lives, that we have lost our way, and have become a bunch of zombies”

Well lets see. I drank some tap water this morning, ate some food that passed health regulations, drove home on a nice paved road and surfed the net on a network that was undoubtedly subsidized by the government at some point. Are these the types of interventions that you are talking about? Seems like pretty reasonable stuff to me, no?

As for being a zombie, how did you know what my Halloween costume was going to be?

Hey Palop, you wanna call yerself a zombie, then go ahead,the rest of us will keep truck’in.

Belling the Cat. (excerpt from Wikipedia)

The fable concerns a group of mice who debate plans to nullify the threat of a marauding cat. One of them proposes placing a bell around its neck, so that they are warned of its approach. The plan is applauded by the others, until one mouse asks who will volunteer to place the bell on the cat. All of them make excuses. The story is used to teach the wisdom of evaluating a plan not only on how desirable the outcome would be, but also on how it can be executed. It provides a moral lesson about the fundamental difference between ideas and their feasibility, and how this affects the value of a given plan.

Most plans lately, and especially in BC put forward by Government are not evaluated at any level, and are mainly used to get re-elected. This is pretty obvious to anyone who cares to pay attention to what is proposed, and what is delivered by our Governments.

Soooo. If we consider the Government to be the marauding cat,and we the people are the mice, I ask you. Who will bell the cat.

“It provides a moral lesson about the fundamental difference between ideas and their feasibility, and how this affects the value of a given plan.”

The moral lesson is that the mice are the general mouse population and have lost their independent and innovative thinking ability.

I suggest the mice find some catnip, put it on one of the mousetraps around the house and wait till the cat approaches the trap, springs it with its nose …. and it will stop the marauding ways quickly without even bothering with the bell.

Just one of many ideas. The moral lesson is to be smarter than the cat. The reality is, the mice are not smarter, just like everyone on this site and in this world has different levels of intellect and street smarts.

Fables are for children ….. fables are for simple people.

I agree with your analysis Gus, however you overlooked the part where the mice make excuses to get out of doing the difficult tasks. This is the problem with our Country today. Many many people with ideas, who do not have the intestinal fortitude to do anything about them.

We end up sitting on our hands, moaning and groaning, and letting the inept Government and all their inept employees continue to take us to the cleaners.

We need someone, somewhere, to stand up and be counted. Not likely to happen in my lifetime.

The best we came up with in the last election was Christy Clark in a hard hat, standing on a flat deck handing out hot dogs, and guess what. She got elected.

Fables may be for children, however the meaning of the fables are usually for adults, such as the one above.

Its easy to state that fables are for simple people, because as mentioned above this is nothing more than an excuse to do nothing. You are the epitome of the fable.

I’m going nominate both of you to “Bell the Cat” . Maybe one can be bait while the other puts on the Bell. I’ll let you guys decide who gets eaten first.

Move fast… and Good Luck !! :)

Won’t a bunch of lawyers pounce on the mouse before he gets close to the cat? Lawyers do that.

Glad to see Frizzell gain this position before the next municipal election. He will be more in his element.

“You are the epitome of the fable”

Palopu, you and a few others know some of the things I have done in this community.

I’ll match my record to yours any day.

People have to remember that when it comes to community efforts, one person does not cut it.

It is one thing to see which way people are going and get at the head of the line and declare “follow me”.

It is another to set a direction and try to get people to follow.

Dictators excel at the latter with their scheming ways.

Jaws wrote: “I’m going nominate both of you to “Bell the Cat”. Maybe one can be bait while the other puts on the Bell.”

Actually I will stay out of it and let Palopu do it alone since it is clear from his analogy that he suggests he is better than others at devising a process to accomplish the stated goal while others, especially in government, are inept at doing that.

He has clearly stepped to the front of the line. After all, we want to send the best person to do the job. ;-)

I’m kinda with Palupo on this, in that it is my belief that Mr. Frizzell has been handed a figurehead position by the friends network, a position which will have little influence on events. Kind of like third Chief assistant undersecretary to the Deputy Chief undersecretary. And to say that he will be leaving his apparently successful business in the hands of others, that sounds like bull$!!!.
One does not labour for years to build up a successful business only to hand over operations to others. He will still have to kep an eye on that, and not incidentally, also serve as councillor to the city. Sounds like a very full dance card.
metalman.