PN:
Just when you think you have control of the situation……
Cost of Living (Large)
Joe doesn’t care, but I keep a close eye on monthly expenses, the monies consumed by being a home owner (me and the bank) to operate and maintain a home, not including mortgage $$$. This is the latest data for the year 2014, with the 2013 results for comparison –
Cousin Delsie lives in Ontario. I expect my annual hydro (electric) bill is close to one month’s charge in Kathleen Wynne’s Socialist Paradise…..
We’ve been in this house for 10 years as of 23 January 2015. That first year (2005) the average monthly cost was $508.35 Cdn., lowest cost so far. The worst year so far $684.16 average per month in 2012. Overall, hydro has become a few cents more per kw/hr. over the years, but natural gas has become cheaper per gigajoule. Communication costs keep rising (it was the cause of the 2012 maximums). All in all, not a bad deal to run a 2300 sq. ft. home (up and down total) and a 720 sq. ft. shop. If only the mortgage was paid off…….
Reflection
The past two weeks have been a disruption of normal February around my property. Huge runoff volumes on frozen land overwhelmed the septic system. The clothes washer had the tenacity to calve in the middle of dealing with raging septic tank tides. Mud and water every which way. Joe and I had enough tools and enough money squirreled away to overcome this little bit of diversity. Although time consuming, it was not difficult nor overly expensive to make things right. Got us thinking about times gone by….. times as a very young child that I witnessed (long before Joe found his voice). For example, my grandmother Winniski’s farm had a wood stove in the kitchen and a fireplace in the living room to heat the house. No running water, an outdoor biffy, no electricity, no car, truck, tractor, or engine of any description. They had a milk cow, some chickens, ducks, and geese, and a pair of horses that did all the hardest work – hauling the stone boat, hay wagon, and soil tilling machinery. I say grandmother’s farm because grandfather I never met. He was a ne’r do well – no one ever mentioned him that I recollect. None of the 12 children wanted to farm as adults – they all left with a bitter memory of growing up on a Saskatchewan homestead in hard times before welfare, before social assistance, before minimum wage, before any of the “entitlements” of our generation. This is a picture of one of mom’s sisters in front of their two story farm house. See how small it is? Looks somewhat desolate to me (Joe too). Grandmother raised 12 children in that little house more or less by herself. –
Another memory of summer childhood at Star Lake in southern Ontario. Playing outdoors all day with little or no clothing on our tanned bodies. Riding to town Saturday morning with farmer Hector on his buckboard drawn by two horses. In town, Hector would buy a few things for his wife, visit friends in town, tend to the horses as required, and bring us (the Drover boy and Sullivan boy) home to a humble farm house sometime in the afternoon where his wife had warm home made bread with home made butter and home made preserves ready for us. This old couple lived as did my grandmother in Saskatchewan: no electricity, no motorized machinery, no indoor plumbing, yet they too were able to live long and healthy lives.
More memories of riding in the back of an early ’50’s Chev pick-up along sandy backroads while dad and Sully drank beer up front. Kids and dogs in the back. No one died.
Memories of the ’50’s in rural Canada……
Remembering how it was makes living today seem an over-cautious over regulated supervised walk in the park. Although today’s world is much more complex the amount of time an individual has to pursue their own desires has steadily increased. I spend a large amount of time on the Internet as a pastime. Today I stumbled over an early Ford production called “Henry Ford’s Mirror of America“, a brief look at life from 1915 to 1930 in America. Well worth watching to catch a glimpse of how it was in the early part of the 20th century. An amazing view of everyday activity way back when:
Should anyone forget for even a moment how wonderful life today is, Hans Rosling makes the case in his presentation of “The Magic Washing Machine”:
Of course, Hans is a left wing Euro-wienie (global warming?) but really gets the point across. Thank you indeed industrialization, thank you steel mill, thank you power station, and thank you chemical processing industry that gives us time to read books (or diddle our time away). Time to grow and prosper.
Requiem for an Idea
Sun TV News has gone “dark”. But, Lazarus lives…… or is it Ezarus? Lezara? Levantasaurusza? Aw, you know who I mean……
A short note about some of the survivors.
Brian Lilley and Ezra Levant have a YouTube channel they are calling “The Rebel“:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGy6uV7yqGWDeUWTZzT3ZEg
Ezra has a segment on why Sun News bit the dust worth watching on this channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okuA8b0QAG
Brian HAS NOT given up on exposing the people behind the High River Alberta RCMP shame / fiasco. He still calls his segments “The Byline”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbiKX0nAyBc
They have been joined by Melissa Semkiw, a former Sun News staffer / presenter. Ezra and she have a conversation here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-cyizzJ1Vo
Not much on their channel yet, but as Ezra says, the corporate structure / media is gone, but the ideas and people (human capital, intellectual capital) haven’t died. He hints at a new organization that cannot be destroyed by government whim (aka CRTC). The Rebel Media web site is here.
The demise of conventional television programming as it now exists is happening. Same thing with the movie and music business models. The Internet / wide-band network is the future. The old structures will fight for their lives, and I don’t think it will be “fair”. They will use every dirty trick in the book to keep the status quo. Human nature – I would fight to keep a gravy train running into my bank account too.
Another offering via Internet from the Sun News crew is from Faith Goldy. It is called the “True North Report“. At present you can enter your email address and receive her articles. I signed up this a.m. No response as yet. Sign up here:
http://truenorthreport.ca/
I expect the others will bob to the surface somewhere soon.
It was a sad day for “free speech” in Canada when Sun News shut down. It was a good day for people of free speech faith to rally around an idea – the idea that free speech is not free; it must be defended and defended at all costs.
Free speech is the cornerstone of freedom.
I will be composing a letter to send to the CRTC. When I have completed it, I will make it available on my web page for anyone who wishes to send a copy to the mighty CRTC.
Don’t you just love “the true north strong and FREE”?
Defeat Jihad Summit
The future of Western civilization has a number of enemies. Foremost as a movement is the Islamist Jihad. The tactics and objectives of this non-unilateral non-organized decentralized though effective movement are insidious – their ultimate goal is world wide Caliphate with Sharia as law. This is not acceptable. The U.S. president is having trouble identifying the enemy, describing the enemy, engaging the enemy, or defining the nature of victory. Can the western cultures withstand the Islamic onslaught? Can we define a battleground? Having defined a battleground, can we defeat the enemy? Have we the will and desire to defeat them? Troubling questions.
Some very good people recently took up the challenge of answering these questions (and many more) and proposing an itinerary of events that act as a blueprint for a way forward. Frank Gaffney of the Center for Security Policy called together a large group of speakers to address the growing problem from Islam in the Defeat Jihad Summit. The summit has some notable speakers. I present some excerpts of those who had the most impact with Joe and I.
First up, retired 4 Star Admiral James “Ace” Lyons. If the link below doesn’t work, copy and paste it into the address line of your browser. The Admiral takes no prisoners:
http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=51fe948515b4
Another noteworthy is Newt Gingrich:
The entire summit is recorded. All 6 + hours of it. I have watched it all. So YOU don’t have to…… If you want to here it is:
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The New York Slimes
What would you think if the “newspaper of record” suddenly recanted it’s position on the presence, or lack, of WMD’s during the Iraq occupation? That’s right, the New York Times has published information that validates, beyond a doubt, what some people knew all along. Read it here. So tell me, now that the “progressive” lefty kumbaya pant-wetters have acknowledged ONE OF THE ANCILLARY ASPECTS of the war (WMD’s were NOT the primary reason), will there be any apology? Don’t be holdin’ yer breath waiting for that stellar moment, Bunkie.
ISRAEL (AT THE U.N.)
Israeli ambassador Ron Poser addressing the United Nations says “Admit it, you’re against Israel”, accusing the Europeans and most members of the U.N. of not wanting to help the Palestinians find their way, but actually want the destruction of Israel. He speaks strongly, directly, and historically correctly in the English language. No reason to not understand him or his message. Joe and I are impressed:
POLITICS, POLITICIANS, WACKJOBBERY, HUMOROUS, STUPID
The Husband Store
A store that sells new husbands has opened in Manchester, just off Deansgate where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates:
So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband. On the first floor the sign on the door reads:
Floor 1 – These men Have Jobs
She is intrigued, but continues to the second floor, where the sign reads:
Floor 2 – These men Have Jobs and Love Kids.
“That’s nice,” she thinks, “but I want more.”
So she continues upward. The third floor sign reads:
Floor 3 – These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, and are Extremely Good Looking.
“Wow,” she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.
She goes to the fourth floor and the sign reads:
Floor 4 – These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Good Looking and Help With Housework…
“Oh, mercy me!” she exclaims, “I can hardly stand it!” Still, she goes to the fifth floor and the sign reads:
Floor 5 – These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Gorgeous, Help with Housework, and Have a Strong Romantic Streak.
She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor, where the sign reads:
Floor 6 – You are visitor 31,456,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor.. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store.
PLEASE NOTE:
To avoid gender bias charges, the store’s owner opened a “New Wives” store just across the street with the same rules.
The first floor has wives that love sex.
The second floor has wives that love sex and have money and like beer.
The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth floors have never been visited.
(copied from Diogenes’ Middle Finger)
This gif is particularly uber-gay. What a ponce, what a poseur –
Even “friends” are beginning to see the lack of light –
From Randy P., a first class funny –
THE CULTURE (THERE IS ONLY ONE)
Quite a few of these commercials are not of or before my time. Fascinating peek at our culture from days gone by:
<iframe width=”640″ height=”360″ src=”http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=51fe948515b4″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
PHILOSOPHY, PHILOSOPHERS, SMART TALK
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, SMART STUFF
Robotics have come a long way in a short half century. Autonomous dynamic robots have a legion of practical uses spanning a spectrum from war / harsh / dangerous environments to personal aides for people with handicaps. A short video of “Spot”, one of Boston Dynamics advanced “four legged” robots:
GUNS, GUNNERS, GUNNERY
Home made speed loader for a magazine –
THE RELIGION OF PEACE (ON ALL OF US)
SUNDAY SERMON
Hans Rosling talks to the subject of “Religions and Babies”. That is, how does religion affect the number of children a woman bears:
The answer is surprising, yet very understandable and believable. Bully for you, Hans. Great data crunching.
WEATHER (OR NOT)
This week was mild. The waters are receding. The sun actually came out on Saturday and Sunday. Enough to make a person weep with joy. No sign of the daffodildos yet. February is only 4 weeks but seems much longer every single year. February, Joe and I have decided, is very fickle, and we don’t like her much at all ever. We are holding our breath for another week to get through to March. March can be fierce, but can’t be fierce for long here in the Okanagan. March has the start of spring in it! It’d be funny if it wasn’t so funny……………. Hard on the nerves waiting out the weather. Joe would make a piss poor farmer.
Joe (Frazzled) Mekanic
p.s. Ramirez never fizzles or frazzles –
