Good timing, bad timing

It's interesting how the cascade effect of an event can affect so many other events that you don't even consider at the time. Being in a certain place or doing a certain thing at a certain time has completely different outcomes than had it happened moments sooner or later.

It's like the old adage of meant-to-be lovers that never quite cross paths or can never get together because their situations can't allow them the freedom to do so. Bad timing.

Or two people that accidentally run into each other and immediately know they are meant to be together. Good timing.

The Pigeon Lake road race on Sunday was fantastic. The temperature was hot, the wind was low and the pack was fast. There were several breakaways in the Cat 1/2 race, but they all eventually got pulled back into the peloton. The one that Cyrus was in was reeled back in with 8 or 9 km to go. However, at the 134km mark with 2km to go, several racers got tangled together and went down at 55kph. In the chaos, another three or four went down as well. Those at the front and along the sides of the pack managed to get around unscathed, and this undoubtedly affected the outcome of the final sprint and the placings in the race results. This was bad timing for those involved and those that were unnerved by the sounds and sight of frames, wheels and bodies becoming entangled and hitting the road. It was good timing for those of us who recovered our resolve and put the smackdown at the finish.

(As a side note, I'm still amazed at the relative low incident of horrible injury in bike crashes. Lots of rash, a few broken bones, but you rarely hear of anyone being so injured to require extended hospital stays and even fewer encountering something worse.)

CSIS and the Mounties had good timing in stopping the suspects in the terrorist plot on Toronto and Ottawa. They put the pieces together and figured out things early enough to prevent a catastrophe. This was bad timing for the terrorist suspects. I imagine they're going to be doing some well-deserved hard time because of the new anti-terrorism laws. Did you know one of the leaders had visions of beheading Prime Minister Harper (Harpoon) and taking other MPs hostage while blowing up the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings? Madness!

As well this was really bad timing for Jon. He was scheduled to cross the border heading towards Dallas on Monday, but I just got word today that he got turned back since he didn't have enough documents to satisfy the border guards. I suspect if he had been travelling across last week, things would have worked out differently. Here's hoping his next try is successful. Good timing is I just found out that he made it across today! Yay!

Bad timing: I had two flats last week at track racing, following close to a dozen late last season. I had to miss out on the last two races. This is also the reason cp squeaked by me in the final point standings last season to take first in the A Group.
Good timing: I got to the track to apply a final fix to my flatting Ellipse wheels. Hopefully that is the end to my problems. Although I doubt it.
Bad timing: I got a call from the AGLC last week and have to put together another receipt submission for our Annual Return report in the next couple of weeks. This coincides with racing this weekend in Edmonton and our team's hosted race next weekend, the Prairie Steamer.
Good timing: Because of scheduling, the Prairie Steamer is a road race this year as opposed to a Stage Race. This makes planning and coordination MUCH easier than previous years.

More good timing/bad timing:

Nations get 'wake-up' call about aging workers

Aging populations are set to make a mess of the world's public finances in the decades ahead, and could cause government debt to hit speculative grades everywhere except Denmark, Austria and Canada, Standard & Poor's says. The New York-based credit-rating agency ran some models about the state of the world in 2050, and the overall picture isn't pretty. The world's population is expected to swell to nine billion by the middle of the century from 6.5 billion now, and get a whole lot older. The median age of the world's population by then will reach 38 years, a decade older than today, according to United Nations estimates. The study looked at the impact of current trends in state pension and health care spending on creditworthiness of 32 industrialized nations. It found that, without changes in their fiscal stance or policies, most of the countries' ratings would sink to speculative grade by 2050. In short, they could be much more likely to face defaults. “For many countries, it's a wake-up call to the creeping effect of the demographic realities,” said Nikola Swann, credit analyst and author of the Canadian version of the report to be released today. “The basic demographic root of the problem is a shrinking labour force compared with the number of people who will be collecting age-related benefits.”

Canada emerged as one of only three nations above investment grade in 2050, with a double-A rating, according to the model. S&P currently rates Canadian public debt at triple-A, the highest investment grade. Other countries are in much worse shape, including the US, where net debt could rise from the mid-2020s to reach 29% and 350% of [gross domestic product], respectively, by 2050, according to the report. Canada has several factors in its favour that will allow it to weather the demographic shift, Swann explained. “Immigration is an area where Canada has more flexibility than most countries.” Canada can continue to attract working-age immigrants for three reasons, he added: a healthy economy, the fact that Canada's not a very crowded nation, plus “a political culture very accepting of new immigration, and that's less the case in many of the world's industrialized countries.” The two main other reasons that help Canada's standings are the country's strong starting fiscal position and reforms undertaken in the late 1990s to the Canada Pension Plan, the report said.
(Globe and Mail 060606)

Could this be good timing for the baby boomers, bad timing for the bust generations (X & Y - the ones that have to pick up the slack in a deteriorating economy)? Maybe it's bad timing for everyone. I'm not sure how resilient the world economy is going to be to such a radical shift in demographics. Maybe it's good timing for everyone, but only if you believe a miracle is going to come along that fundamentally changes the economic system in a world where the number of retired people eventually outnumbers the number that are still in the workforce (it will never get to this, but you get the point).

Energy hard to wean an economy hooked on oil

With crude oil trading at near-record highs and a litre of gasoline at $1 or more, alternative energy companies looking to replace the smog-spouting internal combustion engine should be on cloud nine. If the security and longevity of the world's oil supply is in jeopardy -- as many fear -- zero-emission technology could be the very thing to keep gas-guzzling SUVs on the road. Just ask US President Bush, who has outlined a vision of a hydrogen fuel economy to wean his country from its oil addiction. In Canada, it has led to a renewed push for other alternative energy supplies, says John Tak, president of industry group Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Canada. "Greenhouse gases, climate change, the security and reliability of our energy -- these are all drivers. It raises a lot of questions and gets people thinking about other options." Hybrid vehicles using a combination of gasoline and electricity are hot sellers in markets like California, while fuel cells are finding their way into forklifts and other machinery and lower corn prices have made ethanol a cost-effective fuel additive and substitute. Skyrocketing crude is a silver lining for many fuel cell makers and "green" energy companies.

Yet some Calgary firms say the pinch at the pump has not in itself translated into a spike in interest. "Even at US$70 a barrel, people just aren't dedicated enough or convinced to move away from oil dependence," says Robb Thompson, ceo of Dynetek Industries. "This is an oil-based economy. North Americans just aren't feeling the pain yet -- and without an environmental or economic push, there is an unwillingness to make any big changes." Dynetek, a maker of storage cylinders for compressed natural gas and hydrogen-based vehicles, is focusing its attention on South America and Europe, where efforts to improve air quality require cleaner, low-emission fuels to support them.
(National Post 060606)

Do you ever wish sometimes that you had been born in another time? Possibly when things were simpler, more oriented towards things that really matter - family, friends, community? I've moved away from the alarmists on the problems we are about to face with our cheap oil-dependent society, but the prognosis isn't a good one no matter what scenario plays out. The well-intended collective choices that brought us here were made so long ago (as well as the bad choices made clearly out of greed and power), how can you do anything but wonder what might have been had things worked out differently? This is definitely good timing/bad timing. Good times, bad times. These are the fundamentals of our existence.