Sunday 30 September 2012

Where are our tax dollars going?

Mr Harper September 2009, you promised to end tax breaks to big oil.

Since that point, you have given big oil more than $4 BILLION to big oil. Now, I appreciate supporting businesses that need a little help to keep them moving forward, that is part of being a socialist state. For the first quarter of 2011, Shell claimed a profit of $8 Billion. At that rate, for a year Shell would show a profit of $32B. Why are my tax dollars going to support a company that is obviously not in any financial distress?

 Over the 3 year period of the promise you have not honoured, $1.3B of our tax dollars could be going to do something helpful like, improving medical coverage or funding schools. Shell doesn't need my tax dollars, the over crowded school down the street does.

 Mr Harper, you made a promise to us, the people who elected you to office. When are you going to be a man and honour those promises?

 The counter that shows what we have given to big oil can be found here

Saturday 29 September 2012

How cool is this


If we all had religious leaders, political leaders or people we admire like this, I think we would all be a little bit better off

Blood Sport


With the NHL lockout, I thought this would be a good time to bring up my thoughts on what professional hockey looks like to me


"We who are about to die salute you" 
A long time ago in the coliseums of the Roman Empire, this call was heard. People stood up and cheered, howled for the kill and clapped when the next gladiator fell to the dirt with his life's blood spilling from a gash in his neck. This was family entertainment, that's right folks, bring your whole family to enjoy the sceptical: there will be lions and tigers and bears (okay, not too many bears), there will be dancers and jugglers and story telling, THERE WILL BE GLORY. And after the show, you can go back to your humdrum existence secure in the knowledge that the powers to be are providing for your every need.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the singing of the national anthem". 
People stand up and cheer, howl when the gloves come off and two men start swinging at each other and clap when another player gets knocked to the ice. This is family entertainment, that's right people, bring your whole family to enjoy the spectacle; we have panthers and sharks and penguins, watch this commercial and see a story wrapped around a juggling dancer. THERE WILL BE GLORY (yes, the Penguins won the Stanley Cup). And after the show, you can turn off your TV (today's blood sport comes to you, how convenient is that?) and go back to your humdrum existence, secure in the knowledge that the powers to be are providing for your every need. 

Okay, the parallels end right here. Anyone who is secure in the knowledge that the government is looking out for their best interest really need to take a good look at what happens in our nations capitol.

Now, I have heard that people say "Oh, this isn't about the fighting, this is about the sport". Yeah right, wake up and smell the blood on the ice. Here in our safe, comfortable, civilized world, hockey is about the fight. Proof? You want proof... Don Cherry, lets start with him and his "Rock em Sock em" hockey videos. Hours and hours of video footage devoted entirely to watching men slamming men into the boards, men punching each other, swinging sticks, poking ribs, and the resulting red flowing onto the ice.

Next up in the evidence locker - SLAP SHOT, a very cheezy, stupid and hilarious cult classic from the late 70's. Who can forget the Hansen brothers? Those lovable thugs. Heck, we don't have to forget them, today we have the likes of Todd Bertuzzi and Marty McSorley, and these are just two of the many in the NHL, we have such thugs on every time in every league and just about every age level.

And finally the old joke, "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out"
So, there you have it. In the words of the ABC laundry soap commercial "I can't see a difference, can you see a difference?" Do we want a sport where we can be proud of the accomplishments of the people playing? Or do we be honest with ourselves and just have the opening line of each game change to "We who are about to die, salute you."

Until everyone stands up and says "Stop the fight and let me watch the game" and actually do something like... Kick everyone off the ice the moment they pull their gloves off, or a decent fine like $100k every time they draw a penalty for high sticking, we might as well just sit back and enjoy the that which we have created

Anyone for a beer before the season begins?

Brother, where art thou?

I can see you read

But where is it you hail from

I still wish to know

Courtesy

It costs so little

And yet the results are huge

Say thank you today

Dogs in my Taxi


Every once in a while I have a call come in and say "They have a dog - you OK with that?"

Now, technically I can say No, for any number of reasons but generally I don't mind having a canine in my car. Frequently they are better behaved than the person who brought them on board. I have never ever had one woof his cookies in my car.

One night I went to pick up some folks and was told about the dog. Great. I was having a lousy night and I figured it couldn't really get any worse. So I pull up and these 3 not to clean folks stagger up the the car and get in, followed by their doberman pincher. This dog crawled between the the two front seats and sat down on the passenger seat, tall and proud and just sat there. He was calm, cool and collected and absolutely the soul of decency. I decided that if the dog would vouch for his people, I would let them into my car.

As it turned out, I ended up picking these same people up and bringing them home about 2 hours later. They weren't any cleaner, nor any more sober but the dog vouched for them so I let them in. They paid up and life was good.

More stories for the front seat to follow.

Cheers

Thursday 27 September 2012

Pay Up, or be Kicked out of our club

Well, this is an interesting thing. There is a branch of a very large multinational company that operates in Germany that insists that you pay your dues or you will be barred from using the services of that company. Okay, pay to play. I can see the need for that to happen,

Except when it is your faith that demands it.

I thought that the catholic church was out there to be there for the people, to guide them towards salvation, to save their immortal souls. All over the world it seems that this is the over riding mandate of the catholic church. You go, you be with others who believe the same way you do, you get guidance and hope for the future. The only difference is that in Germany, if you don't pay the tax, the catholic church will shut you out.***

I appreciate that in their holy book, it says something about giving 10% of your wages but in theory, they hold Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God. Every thing I have read in the bible, or seen depicted, or was preached to me by the catholic church, I do not recall the Jesus ever turned anyone away because they did not pay. In fact, I recall that Jesus frequently went to those who could not pay to give what comfort he could.

With all of the problems the catholic church is currently facing, adding this to the catholic population of Germany does not seem to be the best direction they could be taking

*** Taken from this source


Bill M-312

It appears that the Minister of  Status of Women Minister, Rona Ambrose, doesn't fully appreciate what she is supposed to be doing, or that she may have forgotten that she is a woman. Why else would she have proposed a bill that would effectively put the rights of every woman in Canada into the hands of a male dominated committee.

What is it with some people who want to open old wounds, or create new ones to play in. Is it not hard enough getting the respect you deserve without throwing this at every women in Canada.

The decision to have an abortion has got to be one of the hardest things any woman has got to go through, for what ever reason. The decision to do so or not must lie with her, not with some faceless committee in Ottawa, or Washington, or Rome. The woman must be able to access unbiased information, not whatever some special interest group deems proper to ram down her throat.

Mr Harper, the Minister of Status of Women is your responsibility. You voted against the bill, was it because you feel it was the right thing to do or were you using one of your colleagues to further your own agenda? What are you going to do about the problem that you created?

Republican women, please take note





Did you know this?
Do you want these people in power?

I am a man, and this shit is offensive to me, how can you still belong to this group? If not for you, think of  your daughters, your sisters daughters. Can you bring yourself to condemn them to the horror the the Republicans will create for women?

Think about it. Your body belongs to YOU

Murphys' Laws of Combat


An oldie but one worth repeating


Remember everyone, Murphy is an optimist

1. Incoming fire has right of way

2. Friendly fire, isn't

3. Never share a foxhole with someone braver than you

4. The easy way in is mined

5. If you are low on ammo, don't draw attention to yourself, they may be low on ammo too

6. A sucking chest wound is natures way of saying slow down

7. If the enemy can't get in, you can't get out

8. The enemy will attack on two occasions, when you are ready and when you aren't

9. The best combat plan will survive the first 30 seconds of combat

10. When in doubt, keep your head down

11. Those who make the plans are rarely, on the battlefield to see how bad they work

Censorship, let's be consistant



Censorship, one of the great evils in todays world. 
What is it "they" are so afraid of us to hear/see?
Hells Kitchen. In a one hour episode of that semi reality show you hear the censors hard at work, every other word out of Gordons mouth is "BEEP". Why is it so bad to hear the word fuck? Granted, listening to it being said as a stready stream of words is boring but what the hell is the big deal?

Movie time, lets see what is on the prime time movie... Commando, with Arnold "I'll be back" Schwarzenegger - a beautiful example of a body count flick. How many ways do the bad gugs get to die? Well lets see... apart from the basic multiple bullet holes through the chest there is...
  1. A thrown saw blade that slices off the top of some guys head.
  2. An axe swung up and into the groin - that one hurt just to watch
  3. Some guy catching a rocket with his teeth
  4. The final dead guy gets a hollow pipe rammed through his guts and into a steam pipe giving Arnie a great line "...let off some steam"
All of these deaths are complete with full sound effects and lots of bright red fluid everywhere. This is less harmfull to impressionable minds than hearing some lunitic brit screaming at a kitchen full of people who are paying to be berated in front of the whole world.

How about cartoons? Does anyone remember the original Bugs Bunny show? You know, when the anvil actually hit the coyote? Why is it that when you watch the very same show that the part with the anvil/coyote impact is edited out? What is with that? Especially when they can flip the channel and watch Homer choke out Bart, or Brian Griffin spanking Lois? 

These people who are running the CRTC really need to retract their craniums from their rectal cavity and start applying the same rules to everything or stop with the Mickey Mouse attempt to protect us from ourselves.



Stupid people


Today I am going to rant about my third favorite subject - Stupid People

Hands up everybody, who here has seen a stupid person today? Come on, surely you have seen at least one - they are everywhere,  you don't have to look very hard.

Exhibit One: At the corner of Main and First st. The nice, smartly dressed, cleanly shaved business man walking down the street, lunch in one hand and a cell phone mashed into his ear with his other hand. You watch as he wanders down the middle of the walk, totally unaware of the the little old lady who had to hobble out of his way to avoid being run over. Totally uncaring of the two people he elbowed as he turned his body to cross the street. Totally unaware of the moving car he just walked in front of (at least he will feel it when he gets slammed to the pavement)

Exhibit Two: behind the wheel of her car, on the way to nowhere. Fluffing her hair (gotta have good hair) with her brand new Blackberry buzzing away beside her. Oh, its from my best girl friend, gotta read it. LOL, that was the funniest thing I have every read (as her fingers push those really small buttons) See you in....(message ends as she looks up from her toy in time to see the concrete median ruin the paint job and shorten the length of the car)

I don't know who said it first but it really is the best that can be said
"Every once in a while, the gene pool needs a good shot of chlorine"

Be well, and if you really can't see the stupid people out there, take steps to ensure it isn't you that other people are seeing

Wednesday 26 September 2012

From the front seat

Greetings one and all

As I mentioned in a much earlier post, I drive taxi every now and again. I had oppertunity to drive a couple times last week and have a few observations from the drivers seat.

1. Please, if you are going to bath, don't do it in colone. If you are can be detected upwind by someone with a head cold, you are wearing too much. A little goes a long way.
2. Give your driver a moment to get himself reseated (that is if he got out of the car to open your door). Let him settle in and ask where to, cause if he is ready for the answer, he can process the fastest way to get there. For the most part, we want to get you to your destination as fast as we can, so we can get our next customer.
3. If you need to pay by Credit Card or something other than cash, please let us know soonest so we can get things ready while the car is stopped at a light.
4. If you need to dash into the store to get something, don't expect us to turn off the meter. Some of us will but this is our time you are useing, therefore, the meter stays on.
5. Say hello to us. A great many of us like the job just for the fact we get to talk to lots of people. I love telling stories about this that and the other thing.
6. If there is something you want to know about, ask us. There is a pretty good chance that we have been there, eaten there, or have had another customer tell us that place serves a great rack of lamb. 

Beyond that, sit back, enjoy the ride and have a happy day

Cheers

Big Bird

Friend and playmate

Unsure of the world at large

Hello Snuffy

Paintball


Under the tree

Oh gods I have been hit

Yellow paint smear

Mr Harper

Mr Harper

As one of your employers, I am deeply dissatisfied with your performance to date. Before you became Prime Minister, you had a couple of very strong opinions, one being that the senators should be elected and that you would not ever support appoint anyone to it.

What Stephen Harper said:

"Stephen Harper will cease patronage appointments to the Senate. Only candidates elected by the people will be named to the Upper House."
(Stephen Harper Leadership Website, January 15, 2004)
"… the Upper House remains a dumping ground for the favoured cronies of the Prime Minister."
(Stephen Harper Leadership Website, January 15, 2004)

What he did:

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is preparing to reward some of his longest-serving and most loyal political operatives with Senate appointments
(Canwest News, August 26, 2009)
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has named a Canadian Football League team owner who gave thousands to his 2004 leadership campaign as the latest Conservative senator.
(CBC News Canada, May 20, 2010)


What Stephen Harper said:

"I don't plan to appoint senators; that's not my intention."
(Stephen Harper, Cornwall Standard-Freeholder, January 14, 2006)

What he did:

Harper Appoints 18 Senators
(Canada.com, December 22, 2008)
Harper appoints 9 to Senate
(Toronto Star, August 27, 2009)
Ontario’s Runciman among 5 new senators
(Toronto Star, January 29, 2010)
Harper appoints BC Lions owner David Braley to senate
(680 News, May 20, 2010)
Harper a hypocrite for appointing senators, say most Canadians
(Angus Reid poll, July 24, 2010):
Harper takes control of Senate with 2 appointments
(Canada.com, December 20, 2010)


To date you have appointed more than 30 senators. Why have you lied to us?

The other big item you swore against as being undemocratic is Omnibus legislation


In the House of Commons Tuesday Hyer rose to quote a younger Harper: “Mr. Speaker, in 1994 the Member of Parliament for Calgary West spoke in this House regarding a Liberal omnibus budget implementation bill, one that was a lot smaller that this bill before the House today. He said, ‘In the interest of democracy, I ask: How can members represent their constituents on these various areas when they are forced to vote in a block on such legislation? How do we express our views and the views of our constituents when the matters are so diverse?’”
Hyer further quoted Harper: “The Member from Calgary went on to say, ‘I would also ask the government members, particularly those who have spoken on precisely this question in the previous Parliament with precisely the same concerns, to give serious consideration to this issue of democracy and the functionality of this Parliament now.’ Mr Speaker, that Member is now the Prime Minister, and it is time he heeded his own words” Hyer affirmed.

(taken from the Algoma News)

Were you lying about your thoughts then? Or are you following in the foot steps of those you used to criticize

You have been quoted as saying that people won't recognize Canada in a few years. In that, at least, you have held to your word

Spider Web


Gossimer silk strands

All energy created

Passed to the core

Chocolate Cake


Heaven on a plate

Soothes the soul of all worries

Taste buds explode

C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me!


Friendly to all

Terror in the cookie aisle

Holder of truth

Miss Piggy


Grace and beauty

Lost in a dream of greatness

Duck Kermit - HIGH YA!

Diamond

Black and coarse

Terrible heat and crushing weight

Sparkle in the sun

Cleared


Fine grit


Glides across the clouded lens

Vision restored

Blur

Harsh grit

Grinds across the polished lens

Vision clouded


Dying Days

Contract at an end

Desire to work has waned

Await the phoenix

The Letter

Envelope en route

Where is it, what is inside

Tension mounts

Perfectly safe to use


"Let me put it this way, Mr. Amor. The 9000 series is the most reliable computer ever made. No 9000 computer has ever made a mistake or distorted information. We are all, by any practical definition of the words, foolproof and incapable of error."

As it turned out by the middle of  "2010: The year we made contact", HAL9000 hadn't made an error. HAL had been told to do what he did in order to fulfil the desires of the company who built him. Everyone was told one thing but HAL was told something else. HAL was just following orders.

Who do you blame when we tell something to do a task and then are unhappy with the results? Does the error lie in the people who chose not to do the thinking? Machines and robots are fantastic tools, doing jobs that are either dangerous, boring or just plain unpleasant. Machines don't think, don't feel and they don't require coffee breaks. When we start giving machines the ability to make complicated decisions, taking human thought out of the decision loop, we are going to get into difficulties.

As a hypothetical scenario:

Mr Smith is lying in a hospital bed, hooked up to a blood pressure monitor. The monitor is set up so that if the reading falls below 100/60, an alarm will ring to summon a nurse. The nurse arrives and assesses the situation and makes the appropriate action to rectify the situation.
Now, Mr Smith is hooked up to a "Smart" blood pressure monitor that has extra features that allow the device to take corrective measures should the blood pressure get below 100/60. Someone had to program that device with a list of options to follow if the pressure dropped. The programmer has been told to make contingencies for x, y and z conditions. What happens to Mr Smith when something happens that doesn't fall into x, y and z? The device doesn't know what to do so it either does nothing or makes the wrong choice.

By removing the human element from the decision making loop, we have given up control of our lives to someone we don't know. That person may be good, may have the best intentions in mind, or maybe is just a little bit on the insane side.

Something to think about the next time you consider buying a car that will drive itself

Hostage to the Game

The hot hockey news of the day is that the owner of the Edmonton Oilers wants a new arena for his team. I can appreciate wanting brand new and shiny and I can appreciate wanting his team to look their best but what I can't appreciate is demanding that the taxpayers of Edmonton fund the operation of the new arena to the tune of $6million a year. Who is he to hold the taxpayers hostage? And what is worse, not all of those taxpayers actually give a damn about hockey.

How much profit does this man make in a year by owning this team of hockey players? And now he is holding the taxpayers hostage to pay for his income, all of this for a hockey team. Now, I understand that the players do work hard to do what they do. One and all, when they are on the ice they are working hard and when they are off the ice, they work just as hard to keep in shape but this is a GAME, something that most of us in Canada played as a kid. Why is it they are getting paid millions a year to play a game? Other than a lot of sweat, they don't produce anything. It is really cool watch them skate, and I do appreciate watching a well played game but is it really worth the millions a year that is paid to the players? Is it worth everyone being on the hook for $6million to keep one  persons profits up?

As a society, we are continually put on the hook for bigger and bigger sports venues, bigger and bigger salaries to the players, be them football or hockey or baseball, and having the sports becoming a bigger part of what is classified as news. The athletes are good at what they do, they work hard but what they are working hard at are GAMES. You want the price tag for a ticket to go down so you can enjoy a game? Until everyone stands up and says ENOUGH, it just won't happen.  We all will be told we must pay more just for the privilege to have a team in our city.

It is your wallet that is being drained, for a GAME.

Tuesday 25 September 2012

Delicate Grace

Silk wings flutter by 

 Floating to the next flower 

 Beauty on the wing

Waiting

Here I sit at work

The phone rings to pass the news

COOKIES HAVE ARRIVED

A picture

A simple pencil

Move it to mark the page

Draw it for your joy

Anticipation

Waiting for it all
Each moment builds more tension
When will it reveal

REBOOT

command RUN ENTER
command START HAIKU ENTER
command WRITE ENTER

Dust Bunnies

Gray fluff on the move
Attacking all they survey
Beware the vacuum

And God Said "LET THERE BE LIGHT"

And that is where it all began - the great Radio Frequency maelstrom that we swim through from the moment  we are conceived.

A long time ago when it was Ogg and Ugg living in a cave, the RF situation was pretty simple - the sun was the major producer, and most of what the sun produced was screened out by the earth's atmosphere. All Ogg and Ugg had to deal with was visible light and the occasional sunburn (sun screen hadn't been invented yet).

Time past and as it did, we became more and more aware of what was out there until the fateful day when Mr Marconi sent the first radio message across the Atlantic Ocean. Then things started to go crazy. Radio was born. Soon radio stations sprung up, giving news, entertainment and the occasional notice that your clothes would be much cleaner using TIDE. It wasn't long before every large city had 3 or more radio stations blasting the atmosphere with more RF radiation. Mankind quickly realized that the radio waves emit in all directions from the antenna so they had to moderate who could broadcast and at what frequency.

More time past and it was found that more and more data could be transmitted by radio waves and that this RF radiation had some very practical war time applications - radar was born, skip this forward 70 years and every ship and aircraft has at least one radar transmitter on board. More RF is being fed into the world we walk through.

Mankind looked to the stars and thought, "hmmmm, whats out there?" So we went out and looked. Now we have little radio stations orbiting the earth, broadcasting their messages 24/7 to over 90% of the earth's surface. The RF is now up to a storm. Every day, everyone, everywhere is being hit with more and more frequencies of RF radiation.

And then, we have the cell phone. The most invasive of communication technology we have invented so far. How many cell phones do you have? 1? 2? More? I know there are 4 active ones in my house and at least twice that inactive. Each one of these a little RF generator, a little microwave transmitter that people tuck right up to their skull.

Wires computer networks, cell phones, satellite TV, radar, speed traps....... The list goes on and on. Everyone today lives and moves through a maelstrom of RF radiation. It is getting so prevalent that in order to escape it you need to build a special cage. It is bad now, what will it be like 10 years from now?

Some times I think that Ogg and Ugg had it a bit better than we do - except we have sunscreen


Monday 24 September 2012

Opps

"B.C. Premier Christy Clark has dismissed her chief of staff, Ken Boessenkool, following an undisclosed incident, she announced Monday.
Clark said she learned of the incident about two weeks ago and made a decision to replace Boessenkool immediately after an investigation was completed."
<<taken from CBC website>>

Our premier is not having a good time of it. First she inherited the BC Liberal party from the likes of Gordon Campbell, that right there puts her well behind the eight ball. Then by being the premier of BC, she has to deal with the Enbridge crap. It did not help her by going back and forth saying "No", and then "Well maybe if the safety can be improved". Her party is a very distant second to the NDP, if there was an election today she would probably be unemployed tomorrow. Now she has to go and fire her number one man. Damn, sometimes it sucks being the one in charge when you have to give the impression you are playing by the rules.

While we are not ever going to be privy to what the transgression was, it is nice to know that even those in power occasionally get their pee pee slapped.







































For all of the things Mr Gates has done, this has got to be the best. How many people do you know who really really need to have this read to them?

1.  When you receive a letter from your God saying it will be fair, then it will.
      Unfortunately, Gods pencil is missing so don't hold your breath waiting for that letter

2. Getting out of bed without a hangover does not count as accomplishing something

3. Not unless you are really lucky

4. Teachers aren't allowed to fail you any more, the Boss can and will fire you for being a douche

5. Today it may be called just taking care of business, the business of supporting yourself

6. Take responsibility for yourself, no one else will and still respect you

7. When you step into your parents shoes, you will realise just how cool they really were

8. You get what you work for and winning the lottery will not make you a winner

10. "Reality TV" if you really think this is real, you really need to shut it off and go outside

11. You may not work for a nerd, but it will be a nerd who is going to fix your computer for you




Frustration

Finally it rings

Gotten through the phone maze

"Please hold, your call is...."

Going to sleep

Night is longer

Chill in the morning air

A  leaf  falls

Share the space

To begin, I get myself to work Monday to Friday, just like a great many of the people in Victoria. Some days I drive my car. Some days I ride my bike. Some days I walk. Every day I see more and more examples of people who don't have a clue of how to control their vehicle.

Motorist - that red dot in front of you, it means stop. It  doesn't mean slow down and creep into the intersection, it means put your foot on the brake and press until your car stops moving forward. While you are stopping, you will notice a thick white line crossing the lane in front of you. That line is to show you where you are supposed to stop, your entire car is to be behind the line.

Cyclist - You are small, quick and sometimes very hard to see. If you are on the road, act like a car. Give proper and signals. Stop at the Red light, see above re stopping. And above all, pay attention to where you are and where everyone else is. Remember, if you hit a car, it will hurt you. I guarantee that the car will not cry out in pain. Further to that, if you suddenly pull out in front of someone who doesn't know you are there, there is a good chance they will hit you. Even if you are legally in the right, it is going to hurt.
When you are on trails, like the Galloping Goose, there will be people walking there. They have all the rights to be there that you do. Yes, they are moving slower, that is a function of two wheels vs to feet. Give them room, pull over a bit. Give a little warning - ring a bell or call out "passing on left". Do your due diligence so that when you are passing they will  know you are there.

Pedestrians. Two feet, slowest users of the street, side walks and paths. You are also the most vulnerable. If a car or a bike hits you it will hurt, a lot. Be aware of where you are and where other things around you are. The cyclists and cars are out there, look for them. Keep to the right of the path so that cyclists can get around you, keep control of your dog, and for that matter your child. A small form that darts out suddenly may not be seen until after the pain has begun. A stop lights, the things that cars and bikes are supposed to stop for, they apply to you as well.

Our streets and side walks and paths are getting busier everyday and there is room for us all if  we all learn to share the space

Sunday 23 September 2012

Franken Food

Genetically Modified Organism, what a tasty sounding treat.
With Monsanto we can grow more, weed less and be a happier place. Today, if you look for it, you will find packages of food that state "Non GMO ingredients" Why is it so important that those words are on that package? Is it that this GMO stuff is bad for your health? Or is it just scare tactics from the looney bin fringe.

 Monsanto has become a food giant in the world of today and they have their fingers in a lot of different pies, so many pies that they have made it impossible for us to know what food products are made of GMO. They have spent a fortune making sure that we are kept in the dark, and I want to know why? What is so horrible about GMO that Monsanto doesn't want me to know when I am eating one? The government forces producers to label their products with everything that is in them but not GMO. What is it that Monsanto isn't telling us, or is it that Monsanto truly doesn't know what it is unleashing on humanity?

GMO have only been around for a short while, what will we discover in 10 years, or 20? GMO, I don't know whether they are a good thing or evil. All I want to know is if I am eating one.

The Great Pipe Debate

Actually, there is no real debate. Enbridge wants to run a pipeline across British Columbia and we who will suffer for it don't. Despite a very poor track record of safety, Enbridge is continuing to beat its chest and show just how safe this is going to be. Just recently they have posted this

Enbridge and the Northern Gateway project team have worked hard to ensure this unique project would be built and operated to the highest standards. The measures contained in the Reply Evidence go above and beyond anything that has ever been done before in the industry.

The extra measures include:

Increasing pipeline wall thickness of the oil pipeline
Additional pipeline wall thickness for water crossings such as major tributaries to the Fraser, Skeena and Kitimat Rivers
Increasing the number of remotely-operated isolation valves. This would increase the number of isolation valves in BC by 50%
Increasing frequency of in-line inspection surveys across entire pipeline system by a minimum 50% over and above current standards
Installing dual leak detection systems
Staff pump stations in remote locations on a 24/7 basis for on-site monitoring, heightened security, and rapid response to abnormal conditions
(the above was taken from here)

All of these additions sound really good. Extra monitoring, extra people on the ground to deal with abnormal conditions (that means a burst pipe). Go above and beyond anything that has ever been done in the industry - very impressive.

What Enbridge is not addressing is what happens at Kitimat, and to be honest, I don't blame them. 200 VLCC class tanker will be transiting a very long, narrow and twisted channel every year, and when you add the fact that those 200 need to go out, that will mean one of these ships transiting the passage at least every day, every sunny, windy, stormy, foggy day. Before you even look at the quality of the crew of those vessels, you need to know just how manoeuvrable they are.

They aren't.

By the sheer size of them alone, they can't manoeuvre at all. There is no appeal to the laws of physics.  500,000 tonnes of momentum takes a lot of energy to move. Give them a good stretch of open ocean, these ships are the way to go but don't send them through restricted waters. Enbridge knows all of this but they don't care because once the oil is on the tanker, it no longer is Enbridge at fault if it spills

Enbridge is trying to make pipeline history, good for them. All they need to do is get the stuff to Kitimat, from there, they don't care, nor do they need to.

For all of you fighting Enbridge on the ground, keep at it, my fight will be on the sea.



Saturday 22 September 2012

Today's rant is brought to you by

Extremist

Those wonderful people who take things way beyond anything that is reasonable.

The people I am taking about are those fine "Pro Life" people who have shot doctors and bombed medical facilities, those fine upstanding people at the Westboro Baptist Church who think it is a fine godly thing to push hate at people who have just lost a friend/brother/son, and those who proclaim that Islam is the faith of peace as they set off explosives in market places full of people.

Extremists are out there, in all walks of life, in all social classes, and all races. They are the ones who are destroying our world by drawing a line in the sand and dividing us into little groups of fighting individuals. They are not interested in making things better, or following the holy book of their choice, they want us all to fight amongst ourselves so that they can feel better about the power they are holding over us.

Personally, I don't care if you don't like gays, or if you think Allah is the one and true God, or whatever it is you think is the way it should be. You are entitled to your beliefs, just as I am mine, so kept them to yourself until I ask you for them and I promise to keep mine to myself. And if you want to stand up and rant and rave about it, be prepared to be laughed at because if your life is so focused that you can't see beyond the end of your nose, a little laughter will do you a world of good.

A little more laughter from us all will do the world a world of good


Return the sanity

War madness and hate

Spewed forth as you sit in fear

TV switch to off

Thursday 20 September 2012

The Story Before

Driving home after a brief stop at the Baby Booty Shop, he thought just how cute little Sarah was going to look in her new shoes. Only 1 year old and already so big.
He had agonized over which pair he should get, so many colours, so many styles. After what seemed to be an eternity, he finally chosen the pale green shoes with the red stripe down the side. Sarah would be a little darling with her red dress and new shoes.

The car turned around the corner, finally pointing toward home. He could almost see those shoes on her little feet and how happy she would be to see daddy again. As he pulled car up the driveway, he noticed the police cruiser parked in front of his house. Thinking nothing of it, he turned up the driveway, parked the car, picked up the box with the shoes and walked up to the front door of his house.

The door opened in front of him, a police officer standing behind the open door.
"Mr Smith, " the officer began, "I am sorry to say..."
The rest of the officers words were lost as he saw his wife sitting on the couch, her head buried in her hands.

She leaped up and jumped into his arms "OH FRANK," she wailed "SARAH, SHE'S...." her voice was drowned by a fresh storm of crying.


The next day, a classified add in the newspaper read

"For sale: baby shoes, never used."


This short story was inspired by the very short story Baby Shoes
written by Mr Ernest Hemingway.

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Bridge

As defined by Merriam-Webster online Dictionary:

a : structure carrying a pathway or roadway over a depression or obstacle
b : a time, place, or means of connection or transition

A very important structure, be it made of steel, wood, concrete or mutual respect. No matter what it is made of, a bridge can carry you over a river, across a chasm or to your next job. Building them takes a lot of planning, hard work and dedication. Burning them down can take a small word said at the wrong time.

When you leave a job, walk over that bridge with no hard feelings going in either direction. You never know when the person on the other side of that bridge will have something for you to look at. The best source of a new job is the person you just worked for.

Bridges, walk over them but don't burn them in your wake because you will never be able to go back.

Humanity at its finest

Taken from a Facebook Post

"John Gebhardt's wife, Mindy, said that this little girl's entire family was executed. The insurgents intended to execute the little girl also, and shot her in the head...but they failed to kill her. She was cared for in John's hospital and is healing up, but continues to cry and moan. The nurses said John is the only one who seems to calm her down, so John has spent the last four nights holding her while they both slept in that chair.. The girl is coming along with her healing."

Really, nothing more than the title of this post need be said.


Sick Animals

When we come upon an injured animal, say having a mutilated leg, we will put it down for compassionate reasons. Leaving an animal to suffer in pain is something we generally do not like. Likewise, if an animal is grossly sick with something that makes it violent towards others, like rabies, we will put it down to protect the safety of the community.

Why is it such a bad thing to suggest to do so for a human who is mentally diseased to the point of that person being a sever danger to society? We lock people who have lost their humanity into small cells to keep them separate from the rest of us. "Criminally Insane" they are called, those who rape and kill and torture with no feeling for what they are doing. We lock them up forever and continue to believe that it would be inhumane to kill them, locking them in a small room until they die seems to be far less cruel.

What is cruel? Locking someone away until they die isn't cruel? Making them repeat the same routine over and over and over by people who are being paid as little as can be gotten away with. And what about society? Is it not cruel to have make society pay to house, feed and care for this animal  for the entirety of its life, when those funds could be used elsewhere to help a single mother care for her child, or to keep a community centre open for people.

When a person loses his/her humanity and becomes a sick animal, we need to put it down, it really is the only  humane thing to do

Thursday 13 September 2012

Economic Impacts

Taken from the CBC news feed
"On Thursday, lawyer Elisabeth Graff was asking Northern Gateway president John Carruthers about the insurance for oil spill disasters when panel chair Sheila Leggett intervened. Leggett reminded Graff that the Edmonton hearings are to focus on the economic impacts of the project and that disaster preparedness is being dealt with at upcoming hearings in B.C"
.
So, the hearing was supposed to be about economic impacts. I wonder what Sheila Leggett thinks the impact would be when there is a spill or a ruptured pipe.
How much does it take to clean up a spill? Does anyone know? $100million, 200? And when the company says, "sorry, we don't have the resources to clean up that mess" what do we do then? How much of an economic impact is having a 1000 gallons of toxic sludge spewed into a river?

 Getting the insurance really is a red herring when you get right down to it. So what if you have a $100million dollar policy. The insurance people will fight tooth and nail not to have to pay any of it, and that will leave the mess sitting there, not even being looked at. Just ask the people who are still trying to get the Exxon Valdez mess cleaned. It has been more than 20 years and there is still sludge being pulled off of the beach. The impact of that pipeline will be negative, no matter how much insurance Enbridge has.

One spill, one tanker going aground, one pipe rupture - any benefit to BC is gone.

A Time to be Heard





So there it is, where Enbridge wants to put down its pipe. Have a good look at it and then have a seat. On October 22, come down to the legislative lawn and sit there. Tell Cristy Clark that we don't want the pipe cutting our province in half. It isn't about the money, it is about when the pipe will  rupture - not if but when. We don't want to watch it destroy the environment only to wait for the pipe to blow apart. You just can't clean up that mess, not that Enbridge would do any more than the half efforts they have put into any of the other clean up jobs they have had.

The 22nd. Be there, have a seat and be heard.

War of the Prophets

"Do you begin to see, then, what kind of world we are creating? It is the exact opposite of the stupid hedonistic Utopias that the old reformers imagined. A world of fear and treachery and torment, a world of trampling and being trampled upon, a world which will grow not less but more merciless as it refines itself. Progress in our world will be progress toward more pain."
George Orwell, 1984

Space: The final frontier
These are the voyages of the Starship, Enterprise
Its 5 year mission
To explore strange new worlds
To seek out new life and new civilizations
To boldly go where no man has gone before
Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek

Two very talented gentlemen, both who have left a legend behind. Both stories tell of a future for mankind, or are they just stories? Looking at what was written and what is happening, it can be said that both of those stories can be looked on as road maps for humanities journey - one speaks of hopeless terror, the other of enlightenment and progress. Which map are we following?

1984 - a time when Wilson Smith wanders a very small and controlled piece of the world. Big brother is always watching, your neighbour is always watching you and you are always watching them. Humanity lives in terror of the government, yet the government is there, making life better for all. The masses live a life of drudgery, devoid of hope but still believing that there is something better to aspire to.

Today, I stepped out of my home and walked to work. On the walk I pass by 3 closed circuit TV's, someone watched me as I walk along the street. Also on my walk, I pass 2 homeless people, sleeping under a tree. They look at me and think "man, he has got it easy", I walk by to ensure whatever has inflicted them does not get to me. I get to my office and look at the news - my government has done something else that makes me fear for my future. I look further into the news and am told that more services that were available to me have been cut, but look, we are here, looking after your best interests. More news shows how someone has made the richest person in the world list. $600 million - what the hell does he do with all the money? Boy would it be nice to have even a small chunk of it. One day my life will be lived on easy street, I just got to keep moving forward.

Star Date 1312.4.  The starship Enterprise, crewed by a mixed bag of colours, sexes and different races, wanders through outer space. While armed with an impressive array of weaponry, the Enterprise is out there to expand the knowledge base of humanity. Captain Kirk jumps in his shuttle craft and lands on an unexplored planet. He looks around and touches his chest and speaks out to the air and a voice answers back to him. After exploring this new chunk of space rock, he gets back to his ship, presses a button on the wall and his lunch appears. After his lunch he wanders down to the doctor, complaining of a stomach ache. The doctor puts him on a bed and, hits a button and a display unit shows an infection in the Captains stomach.Doctor presses a small device to the Captains neck, a small hiss is heard and the Captain feels much better.

Today, I stepped out of my home and walked to work. On the walk, I pulled a small box out of my pocket, pressed a button and started to talk to the air and was answered. I got to my office and spent a short time looking at the news from around the world. I explored the internet a bit more and learned how to repair my dishwasher. Other news told me of the small robot we sent to Mars, what it had experienced, and what is added to the knowledge base of humanity. After reading the news, I went pressed a button on a machine and was given something to eat. A friend of mine called up and said that he had just gotten back from the hospital. The MRI had just been given showed that the tumour he had been fighting was finally gone. I am glad that my friend is feeling better.


Two men with two diametrically opposed views of the future, and yet both views appear to be equally valid at this point in humanities path.

We have a choice to make - what path will you promote?

Heaven or Hell

Breath held waiting

Braided leather snapped forward

Explosion of........

Going the Distance for Sir Paul

Ring, Ring, phone answered

Hello caller nine ninety nine

Close, but no cigar

Wednesday 12 September 2012

Parking Fail

So really, I am not into measuring the distance you park your car from the line. Quite frankly I don't really care, as long as you are able to get into and out of your car without slamming your door into me.

However, this is just rude beyond all measures. There were no cars behind this vehicle, no car parked on the right and yet the person who was driving was still unable to manoeuvre this car into an appropriate parking spot.

I know people who need the extra space to park to allow for wheel chair access. The person who owns this PT Cruiser was either; lazy, stupid, or just plain ignorant. The owner of this car needs to be confined to a chair for a week and see just how painful it is to see someone do something like this.

When will Death come for you?

Today I heard of a private company in Ontario (where else in Canada would such stuff come from) where you can go and have them give you a percent chance that you will acquire condition X. Great, now you get to walk home having been told your chance of X is 60%. How is that going to make you feel? What good will come of it, will you change your life, will you even try?

We all have been told that smoking is bad for you, your chance of getting lung cancer increases hugely. You walk into that company in Ontario and they will tell you that your chance of getting lung cancer is 80%. George Burns, a wonderful man, great actor and comedian smoked three or four cigars a day, every day for decades. He had the knowledge available at the time but chose not listen to someone say  "Oh, you are smoking, your chance of getting lung cancer is 80%." Mr Burns lived the way he wanted, did the things he did until he was 100, then he said enough and went to be with Gracy. Would he have been any different? Would we have had to been without his wit and charm because he was afraid to live?

Life is a terminal condition, for everyone. We are born, we live, we will die. Live your life the best you can, eat the best you can, exercise, and above all remember to smile at yourself at least once a day.

All the rest of it, its just numbers and somebody else taking a guess.

When your life timer runs out of sand, Death will pay you a visit to take you where you wish to be. Don't spend your time watching the sand run out.


Tuesday 11 September 2012

Beyond Measure





Quiet peace

Backed by a steel will

My greatest treasure

For Shame


So here it is folks, one side Facebook finds offensive, the other is good enough for our children to view. I can appreciate the desire and need to show off what you consider your best features, most people like to be noticed once in a while but really - Why is the left side of this picture so offensive? What is so horrible about what she is doing? Her baby is doing what babies do best, eating, in a way that nature decreed was the way to do it. By the definition warm blooded, hairy and have mammary glands.

For those of you out there who believe that God made us in his own image, this is what He made us and this is how He said we should be feeding our babies.

For those of you who believe in evolution, this is how humans evolved, this is how the natural word operates. Mammals feed their young by having the young suckle on a teat. It works, it has worked for millions of years and it will continue to work as long as there are mammals on the earth.

How many people out there have had a pet that has given birth? AWWW, how cute, the puppies are feeding. UTube videos of nursing mammals abound and who objects to them? No one. Wild life/nature programs on TV show nursing mammals all the time and we all go, hmmm, interesting, and look at how adorable that baby lion, tiger, monkey, deer...... is.

Is it because of the "sexuality" displayed? Really, is there anyone out there who looks at the left and gets all excited? Okay, yes, I know that such people exist, so what. There are people who get the same excitement playing in a mud puddle.

Sex, we have all got to get over it. It happens and so what? I would much rather a child see two people having sex with each other that them see Batman and Bane going at it, or the evening news with Dan Rather.

Not up to community standards FaceBook? If you think that the left side isn't fit to print and the right side is, you need to remove your cranium from your rectal cavity and see what the real world is all about.

For shame Facebook, you have let us all down again.

The Man Hug

You know Cliffe, real men can and do hug, just like Scott Van Duzer, and not just at sporting events. It is unfortunately, there are those who look at this as a sign of weakness. Some people need to remove their craniums from their rectal cavities.
The only thing I can really think of about Mr Van Duzer is that he was seriously lucky the security detail around the president didn't put a few 45 calibre holes into him.





To a wonderful lady

Delicate fingers

Moulding the souls she touches

Departs on the breeze

Monday 10 September 2012

What is it all about?

There is only 1 great constant in the world.

No, it isn't taxes, nor is it Death. The only thing that you can always count on is change. It happens whether or not you wish it, or are ready for it. Change has happened, will happen and is happening. The weather changes, the value of the dollar changes, people change and it is this I will speak of now.

Not so long ago, for a man to look lustfully at another man was a sin (unless you were a priest. but that is a topic for another day). What is so wrong about that? If Steve really likes Earl, what harm are they going to do to you? How is their love going to ruin the love you have for your chosen one? Betty and Anne, they have been together for 15 years now. How is their life so wrong? Is it because the Bible says so? The same book that says you may beat your wife with a rod no larger than your thumb, the book that says you may sell your daughter as a slave, that touching a pigskin is wrong (say goodbye to football)

Why are so many people so scared of Steve and Earl and Betty and Anne? It has to be fear as there is no logic behind it, there is no physical reason for it, there is no rule from nature that says it is wrong so it has to be fear. Fear of something different, fear of things changing. Yes, things change, that is the way of nature, the way of life. Woman are now allowed to vote, it is no longer permissible to own slaves, we can live under the sea and on the moon. All of these things were unthinkable, frightening things but we changed.

For all of you out there who are scared of the future, grab your woobie and teddy bear and hang on because change happens. It is scary but it is a natural state of being. Do your best to be brave because Steve and Earl and Betty and Anne are just people, just like you and me. They don't want to hurt you and they don't want you to hurt them.

Be brave
Change happens
Enjoy life and let others do the same

Sunday 9 September 2012

So you don't work

Work is defined as moving a mass through a space. How often have you heard this conversation... "I stay at home to raise my children" "Oh, so you don't work."
How can people say that and not realise just how insulting those words are - you don't work. Just what did your mother do while you were growing up? Sit on the couch eating bon bons and watching a soap opera? I don't know about you, but my mother washed my clothes, did my laundry, cooked my meals, made sure I got to my doctors appointment, taught me my ABCs long before I got to "school", and, and, and.... The mother of my children did the same.

Women of today are being told that they are not to be valued every time the words "oh, so you don't work." More often than not, I hear those words from other women who "work".

Little Johnny and Jane are 2 years old. Mom is told in order to be of value, she has to go to work. What does Mom do with little Johnny and Jane? She sends them to the day care down the street where someone else feeds them, keeps them safe, teaches them their ABC. More often that not, this person at the daycare is a woman. Why is she valued and not the woman who stays at home to raise little Johnny and Jane?

Don't look at the woman who raises her own kids and say she isn't working. Remember, once your mother had you to raise.

At the end of the pipe

So far, most of the discussion I have heard has dealt with the pipeline that Enbridge wants us to believe will be good and safe. Just for a moment thou, let's not dwell on getting the gunk from Alberta to Kitimat. What happens to the stuff once it leaves Kitimat?



This is a photo of the crude oil supertanker AbQaiq.This is what carries the heavy black crude over to China. This ship is in the Very Large Crude Carrier class, approximately 1500 feet long, by 200 feet wide and draws around 60 feet of water.  It will require 200 of these every year to carry away the oil that will be deposited at Kitimat, each one the length of 5 football fields, and weighing in at 300,000 dead weight tons. These ships are huge and to get one to move, or stop, or change direction requires a huge amount of energy. Momentum is one of those laws of physics we have to live with.


How is Enbridge going to assure us that these huge boats are going to be safe traversing the narrow channels leading from the open sea to Kitimat? Ships that will to be moving back and forth at least every other day, in the sun shine, in the fog, in the hail, in the storms - lots of these up there, not so heavy wave action but the channels are really great at directing all that moving air into one direction.
The answer is really simple,
Enbridge doesn't care.
Why should they? All Enbridge needs to do is get the oil to Kitimat. The people who want to buy the stuff are responsible from there. Some of those people are the very same as those who were responsible for the Exxon Valdez. You remember that don't you? March 24, 1989 the Exxon Valdez went aground in Prince William Sound, spilling some 15million gallons of crude into the water.
From Wikipedia, there were numerous factors that created this disaster, the top three are listed below

Exxon Shipping Company failed to supervise the master and provide a rested and sufficient crew for Exxon Valdez. The NTSB found this was widespread throughout the industry, prompting a safety recommendation to Exxon and to the industry.

The third mate failed to properly maneuver the vessel, possibly due to fatigue or excessive workload.

Exxon Shipping Company failed to properly maintain the Raytheon Collision Avoidance System (RAYCAS)radar, which, if functional, would have indicated to the third mate an impending collision with the Bligh Reef by detecting the "radar reflector", placed on the next rock inland from Bligh Reef for the purpose of keeping boats on course via radar

These three things, and yes, the "Master" was down below, sleeping off a bender (naval term for drinking binge). Now, while I have met many Masters who are horrified to be associated with Captain Hazelwood, there still will be 200 of these vessels, every year and it will only take one to destroy life as it exists for generations. And yes, generations. 30 years later and the people of Prince William Sound are still finding pockets of gunk buried in the rocks. Enbridge doesn't care about what happens after Kitimat. All it has to do is get the crude there, then it is someone else's insurance.

Autumn

Damp chill settles

Summer comes to rest again

Fire touches  leaves

Friday 7 September 2012

It Sucks to have it written down

Well, I thought that I was finished with Enbridge, at least for the moment. Sometimes it pays to be wrong. At lunch today I heard a clip from the Joint Review Panel for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project. That link was just part one of the panel, held on Sept 4, in Edmonton. The complete transcripts for the three day panel can be found here. Of what I heard during the clip, there will be some very interesting and entertaining reading to be found here. I hope to be able to get the sound clips together so you can hear them as well.

The truth is out there, we only have to repeat it enough times until everyone understands what we are facing.


My thanks to Kirk Mason at 100.3 The Q for digging this up and putting it on the air.

Cheers and standby for some of the more entertaining points of the panel.


Tomorrows Child

What does it mean

Those people allowed this why?

The blue ball now dead

Tomorrows Legacy

Time passes each day

Black gunk found under the stones

Life poisoned anew


Thursday 6 September 2012

Clean Up


Wash, scrub, blast it clean

Days upon months of toil

Never ending task


Wednesday 5 September 2012

Aftermath

Sludge along the shore

Life hangs by the slimmest thread

Never to recover

Aground

Serene seascape

Tanker out of control

Death and despair 

Broken

Green grass abounds

Trees standing proud in the sun

Death spews from the hole

What has happened, will happen
















                                      

                         
Strong is the pipe  
Those building it will speak of
It will be safe

The sludge pushes through
Hot, toxic and corrosive
Wear on the strength 

One tiny flaw
Pushed beyond all design specs
Black rain spews


This land is our land

Do not let them in

Ruining all in their wake

It belongs to US

The first casualty

The lies have been said

Exposed to be revealed

Let the truth shine through

Keep us safe


Torn out of Terra

Black toxic sludge to be moved

Block the new route

The Storm

Blue sky

Gray fluff crashes together

The Gods war

I'm Not Dead Yet

Hi, my name is Chivalry.
I would like you all to know that despite the prevalent saying, I am not dead. Not yet anyway.

You can still see me around from time to time and I would like you to know, I am always happy to make an appearance. When someone stands up to let someone else have their seat on the bus, for whatever reason. I love allowing a lady with her arms full of bags and tired kids a chance to sit for a minute. And gentlemen, ladies love it when I show up to open a door for them. Really, they do.

It is never a sign of weakness to stand aside and let me through. It is a strong person who can allow someone else to go through that door first. If someone really really must get through, let them. If they are being rude and thinking they are so important, let them. It makes you the better person.

I love showing up, let me do so. You will make your world just a little bit better when you do.

Smile Power

My walk to work every morning has several very wonderful bits, the best of which would be Mrs Smile. I see her every morning, going the other way and every morning she has a very warm, gentle smile. The smile that shows the person is happy and they wish you the best for the day just because. No hidden agenda, no snide, no hostility, just the wish that my day goes well.
Every morning on my walk to work, the second highlight of my day, and it always works.

Give it a try, the person whose day you lighten will go on to lighten someone else. A little less hostility, a little less anger, who knows, maybe we can all have a good start to the day.

Women in "Sports"

Okay, the time for being coy is over. My morning walk to work gives me the opportunity to listen to The Islands Rock, 100.3 - The Q. Really a great way to start the day (Ed and Cliff, take a bow). Anyway, the first post of my day usually comes from listening to Cliffs Call and today is no exception (Cliff take another bow)

Women in "sports". Women make up about 50% of the population and yet they still have to fight to be recognized as being just as capable of doing everything that men do and sports is just one more place they have to fight. I know a dozen ladies who I would not arm wrestle with, or challange to a race, or try to out lift. There are hundreds of lady athletes out there who work out, sweat and toil to be the best that they can be and yet in order for them to be recognized, they have to show some skin - or a lot of it. Cliff was saying he got to watch a lingerie football last night. He mentioned how tough these ladies were, the drive that they had and how athletic they were and yet, the only reason that the majority of the male audience was tuned in was to see some skin. While the appreciation of a well tuned body is natural, to do the work and only be appreciated for the amount of skin you show I find insulting.

Women's volleyball at the Olympics, another fine example of what women are considered to be. Nice tight and very skimpy bikinis, every curve highly defined and with the instant replay and high definition photography, every movement is zoomed in on and presented to the male libido. One of the official broadcasters even made a short video of the most titillating movements of the women and set it to some very cheese music. I watched about 1/4 of it and all I could think of was a 80's soft porn movie. 

Ice dancing, syncro swimming are two other examples that immediately come to mind. Stop looking at the skin and see what these ladies are doing. See that they have to work as hard as their male counterparts to be able to do what they do and remember, it could be your daughter up there being drooled over.


Tuesday 4 September 2012

Mine!

"Have you ever noticed, your shit is stuff and his stuff is shit?"
Thank you Mr Carlin for that very exacting thought. When you get right down to it, really, it is all just stuff. How much stuff can you really have, or how much stuff do you really need? Here in North America, we seem to be driven to have more and more stuff. It really seems to be a status symbol and I am not refering to the mega rich who own 20 cars, 2 yachts and more houses than any one person could use. I am talking about Ma and Pa Kettle, the kind of people who do the work in todays world.

It starts out small. They meet, get married and have their first apartment - 1 bedroom, a living room, a dining room/kitchen. All this empty space, gotta get some stuff to put in it. So, a table and chair set for the dining room, couch and chair for living room, a bed and dresser for the bedroom. Soon every room has some stuff in it and life is good.

"GREAT, ONCE IN A LIFETIME SALE, COME ON DOWN AND SEE OUR STUFF!" gets blasted at these two people and they go to see this new stuff. They buy some of it and bring it home and figure out where they are going to put it. A little here, a little there and soon there is no more room for all of their stuff. What to do? They put some of the stuff in a storage locker, stuff they won't use very often. Now there is room in the apartment for more stuff. Soon the storage locker is full of stuff that hasn't been looked at in a year and the apartment is overful of  more stuff, what to do now? They go out and buy another storage locker. This happens again and again until they need another and another locker.

Think I am out to lunch with this? How many storage facilities can you name in your city? I can immediatly give you directions to 5 and Victoria is only 300,000 people. How many shows on TV are directly related to how much stuff people have, Storage Wars, Hoarders, Pickers.... We have been told that we must have this stuff, it is important to have it, to hold it near, never let it go.

Have a look at your own stuff, how much of it do you have? How much of it do you use? How much of it will you miss if it isn't there? I personally have 3 laptops that are sitting on a shelf, collecting dust, but they are mine and I want them.

Time to get some place else to store some of my stuff.


Job satisfaction

Warning Horn Sounded

Target Aquired Locked On

Paint Smear Across Skull


Hit me again bartender

My favourite 5 minutes of morning radio was very interesting this morning. The announcer mentioned that he had several children who were in the police force and that over the long weekend he took the oppertunity to ride with two of those police officers. A very hard job they do said Cliff, one that is both important and at times very difficult. Both of those attributes are very true. There is nothing so difficult as doing the job that no one wants to see you in person doing. The police are there when the little kid is lost and scared, the police are there when some moron thinks that his woman is a punching bag, the police are there at the road block doing their best keeping drunk drivers off the street. Every time I run into a road block my trip is extended in length by 5 or so minutes and I am very happy to spend those minutes. 

Those out there who get into their cars after have 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or..... have no business being on the road. Long gone are the days when it was funny to stumble out to your car and ram it into a fence post, or a tree, or the broadside of a bus full of kids. Those who drive after drinking think that they can handle it, they are good drivers, they are in control. Tell that to the kid who watched as her mother was mowed over by the person in comeing down the road from the bar, tell that to the person lieing in the hospital after being pulled out of the car that was t-boned by the kids driving away from the party.

The solution to drunk driving is no longer educating people, we have all heard it before, too many times to count, we have all seen the pictures of the mangled cars, the mangled survivors. The solution isn't bring these people to court, the court system is too back logged as it is, and there are too many lawers out there ready to twist any little detail out of context to get people let off. The solution isn't more fines or suspensions, thou I think losing your licence and having that posted publicly is a great start. I think the solution is the cars themselves - you get stopped with x amount of alcohol in your system, the car you are in is taken right then and there and you don't get it back. Every time you lose a car, another mark goes on your driving record. Soon every time you ask buddy to borrow his car, or you go to rent a car you get told no. Eventually you will get the message and one more drunk will be off the road permanently.

Until then, every time I have to spend 5 minutes at a road block, I will thank the officer stopping me because that officer is out there doing a dirty, nasty job and making the roads a bit safer for me to be on.