[Date: May 4, 2014 at 11:59:29 AM PDT]
PN:
The following short statement is a valuable reminder when trying to sort out a number of choices I have made (and continue to make) in my life –
Can’t write it off to curiosity. Nor is “scientific investigation” a plausible explanation. I’m not the brightest light in the firmament, but I do know when I’m traversing logic and heading for the almost known. It is more akin to a morbid preoccupation with the nature of personal reality – what is my mortality? What is my strength? What is my capability? Does any of it matter?
2014 is another wonderful opportunity to continue to do it anyway….
Rant on Change (Metric Version)
What greater curiosity is there in life than to look at an old photo from the past (say the ’70’s for us 60 year olds) and cringe at the styles of clothing / hair / technology? Or going further back in time when men and ladies wore hats and it seemed quaint, but right. What is obvious is the relatively meaningless aspects of living have a broad spectrum of “acceptable” solutions which are not overwhelming despite your choice. You can have long hair and or a beard, or not. You can tattoo and or pierce yourself, or not. You can wear bell bottom trousers or a mini skirt or both. Or not. These are not (usually) life threatening choices (in our culture). The realization is that what was a given, a “sure thing”, an acceptable norm was just a passing fad, a change for change sake in the “subjective” aspect of living. Then there are the real choices that have great impact on quality of life; choices that can literally mean life or death; for instance, banning DDT, pretending that HIV can happen to anyone despite their behavior, voting Liberal in Canada. The list is legion. There are some changes which seem benign or inconsequential. Only time reveals whether they are good, bad, or folly.
One of the true mysteries to me is why we “converted” to the metric system. Other than to make the price of a unit of gasoline not seem so ghastly. I do not (and never did) think of it as a rational objective decision. The advantages of the metric system are mostly found in the rarefied fields of science – chemistry, physics, engineering, micro and nano technologies. For day to day interpersonal and private calculations of reality in a life, the world of fractions and Imperial measure was just fine. From the “House of Eratosthenes”:
http://www.peekinthewell.net/blog/metric-system/
From the article comments, a book to add to my “must read” list – “Metric Madness: Over 150 Reasons for Not Converting to the Metric System”:
http://www.amazon.com/Metric-Madness-Reasons-Converting-System/dp/0815962193
Joe and I still use the Imperial system, almost exclusively. When driving we convert to miles because miles and minutes work out so nicely – one mile one minute = 60 mph = 88 ft/sec. (nice: adjective, nahys; “showing or indicating very small differences; minutely accurate, as instruments). Whereas 100 km/hr. doesn’t make nice with 60 seconds. Sure, 120 km/hr. is easy, but in most parts of B.C. that kind of speed is frowned upon even though the math is easy.
Mileage is a term used universally. Kilometreage doesn’t show up in the dictionary. Miles (or kilometres) per gallon makes sense. Litres per 100 km. leaves people shaking their head, although the figure will give a “real world” value just like the others.
A pound of butter is 16 ounces. You can use a knife to cut up a pound of butter into ounces without half trying – two longitudinal cuts on the brick (on adjacent sides), then divide one face into halves then quarters – voila ~ 16 little cubes of butter! A pound of butter is also 454 grams. One sixteenth of a metric butter brick is 28 7/8 grams. Say the recipe calls for 100 g. of butter. Cutting up the brick into 9 segments (three longitudinal cuts on one face then divide each by three) would get you close to 50 g. (50.66667 g.) per chunk (not a cube) X 2 = 101.22223 g. Not very nice. Close enough for cooking.
Joe and I think that the Trudeau government wasn’t thinking clearly about the best future interests of Canadians by bringing to life the “Metric Commission” (one of the very few government entities ever de-commissioned). Perhaps it was equal parts wanting to kiss the ass of Europe and thumbing their nose at the United States. Much more data here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metrication_in_Canada There was a slight difference between the U.S. Customary Measure and Imperial (e.g.32 oz. vs 40 oz. quart).
Some trivia – Canadian beer bottles are labelled “341 ml.” and beer cans are labelled “355 ml.” This is the difference between the Canadian (Imperial) measure of 12 ounces and the American (U.S.C.M.) 12 ounce volume. Always wondered, now I know.
Mind you, the standard sheet of plywood is still 4 feet by 8 feet, and a 2 X 4 comes in 8 foot, 10 foot, 12 foot, et cetera. The metric dimensions of this lumber are very busy with numbers in the thousands. Happy millimetreing to you!
I and especially Joe always thought the Imperial system was interesting and fun. The Metric maniacs are obsessed with “times 10”. It is easy to slip a decimal point when yer timesin’.
Time to snap the top on 355 ml. of High Test and enjoy 12 U.S. ounces of liquid sanity modifier. That would be 12.49011277 Canadian (Imperial) ounces. Yum yum no matter how you measure…….
The Cost of Living (la dolce vita)
Attached to this Sunday Rant is my annual operating cost spread sheet for 617 Decosmos Road in Vernon, B.C. I’ve attached it for anyone’s use.
Here is a screen shot of the last three years –
Because I moved here in January of 2005 the “year” is February to January next.
Much to my surprise I was able to reduce the monthly average by over $140 Cdn. in 2013 over 2012, and a significant amount over 2011. How (I asked)?
Damn near $70 Cdn. per month in TELUS expenses came off when I changed / bundled / trimmed / reduced / fine tuned the service. I have a “land line” telephone, optical TV, and the highest “high speed” Internet TELUS offers. Not much to be done with the land line and Internet services, but the TV is always a frustration. I don’t believe in “Canadian” content. I believe in content. If there are too many “struggling” artists in Canada, perhaps we have too many artists. I know we have too many lawyers…… The CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (1976), formerly Canadian Radio and Television Commission (1968)) has been around for many years “regulating” the airwaves of the true north strong and free. Before their time it was the “Board of Broadcast Governors”. A goodly portion of my television cost supports “Canadian content”. I, as a meek mild mannered Canadian Senior Citizen (got my first raise last week!), have no say whatsoever as to what is “Canadian” in the content department. As I’ve stated before, “Little Mosque On the Prairie” is a travesty of major proportion. If they want to do something to celebrate homesteaders like my Winniski foremothers (there was not a patron of worth in my mother’s upbringing) who came to Saskatchewan to escape the Eastern Europe of the late 19th early 20th century and suffered intense hardship in the early Saskatchewan wilderness, that I would watch. I’m not interested in Muslims of any ilk or stripe. They are not Canadians if they identify as Muslims. It is as straight as that. How about the black channel. I don’t give a damn about “black issues”. Nor Punjabi, Arabi, Cantonese, Mandarin, Indian (that would be our beloved “indigenous” or “first nations” folks); they are as significant to me as black issues. Why are my $$$ supporting this? Time for the free market (should have said “free market”) to determine which programming lives and dies. When I watch TV it is Discovery, History, National Geographic, Nature, TCM, Silver Screen, Fox News, Sun News, and occasional excursions to watch “Canadian News” via CBC, CTV, Global (until I am screaming at the TV screen). That’s it. No Muslims. No brown, black, yellow, red, (whatever color) issues. I literally have hundreds of channels to choose from and watch less than a dozen. In any case I can only watch one at a time…. With a bit of judicious pruning I managed that cost down (had to sacrifice some choices because of the clever “bundling” of channels by the commission / provider). The Internet will be a solution, but the cable and telecommunication giants will “not go gentle into that good night”. The “solution” will be fraught with law suits, lobbyists, politicians, brilliant people living on the edge, and creeps. Lots of time will pass.
Other reductions were in the hydro (electricity) and natural gas costs, which more or less held the line. I feel very sorry for cousin Delsie in Ontario, and anyone else in that province who are about to be anally penetrated (without Vaseline®) by a Socialist government that is completely out of it’s collective mind. Gas plant scandal, shutdown of coal plants before a viable replacement exists, the shameful waste on “green” energy that will never meet the demand, the back room deals with the green companies. Ontario is doomed.
Other savings are attributable to living alone, not watering the lawn, and time passing in the case of home insurance (my truck was stolen in 2011 and I claimed my tools). The first year of this record keeping was 2005. The average was $384.85 per month. Appears I have controlled / managed to keep the cost below inflation – $384.85 Cdn in 2005 is $444.95 in 2013 dollars. Inflation calculator here: http://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/related/inflation-calculator/
Hoot mon, aren’t I a thrifty bugger?
A perfect occasion to listen to bagpipes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSH0eRKq1lE
CANADA
Cotton Pickin’ Times
A short history of the Temporary Foreign Worker program in Canada:
According to the article, when the program was launched in 1973 (!!!) the intention and target was well defined, and implementation was successful. As with most “well meaning” government programs, it wasn’t too long after that the interests of specific groups were able to coerce (coerce may be too strong a word…. let’s say convince) expansion and re-definition of the program to the point it is today. Of course, once a government program gains approval and is staffed, all the Kings horses and all the Kings men can’t put the program out of it’s misery. After inception the prime mandate of ANY government sponsored endeavor is to grow it’s budget. With budget growth comes additional employees at the government teat.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Benghazi
Finally John Boehner got the boehner out of his ass about a House Select Committee to address the questions of the Benghazi debacle.
The crazy Muslim wackjobs are despicable.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are worse than despicable. They are treasonous. Impeach them both and strip them of their citizenship.
POLITICS, POLITICIANS, WACKJOBBERY, HUMOROUS, STUPID
THE CULTURE
Beards
Nicki Daniels has an opinion about beards: http://beardsy.com/archives/229
Quote:
:“YOU GUYS ARE RUINING MY BEARD FETISH. Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve loved a man with a beard. To me, they meant strength, power, MANLINESS. Someone who could protect me. Unfortunately, you guys have turned it into a fashion statement. The beard has turned into the padded bra of masculinity. Sure it looks sexy, but whatcha got under there? There’s a whole generation running around looking like lumberjacks, and most of you can’t change a fucking tire.”
Joe used to sport a beard (I was along for the ride). Wasn’t much thought behind it other than much easier than shaving. We agreed to give it up and shave because it was a “fidget” – we could feel something on our face. Like a broken tooth your tongue won’t stop visiting, having a beard meant frequent, even constant, touching and stroking. Very annoying. Sorry Miss Nicki, as much as we enjoyed reading your opinion piece, and however much we would love to be the focus of your amorous yearning, I and Joe will go with the “shave when it is annoying not to” procedure, and forgo making your heart throb. By the bye, both Joe and I can change a tire, fucking or not.
The “Soft” Revolution
Marxism with all it’s trappings old and new was married to Culture by the Frankfurt School brain trust about 100 years ago. Some say it is the death knell for Western society. Bill Whittle explains:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhugUzUuPkE
I and Joe are not dead white men yet……. Long live Western culture!
GUNS, GUNNERS, GUNNERY
Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. of Milwaukee County addresses the 2014 NRA Convention:
[youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=wEiDNyUsowQ#t=351]
Strong words strong meaning strong man. Bravo!
Judge Jeanine Perro’s address to the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum from 2013:
[youtube http://youtube.com/w/?v=FKhQU9f1bgw]
PHILOSOPHY, PHILOSOPHERS, SMART THINKING
The genius of capitalism:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6adVQrSUAc#t=89
THE RELIGION OF PEACE (ON US ALL)
The RoP® keeps giving and giving. This article is about school girls being abducted and sold (for $12 USD) to rebels:
Any speculation about what these young women endure at the hands of their “owners” is specious, obviously, because…….. just because. Isn’t Dancing With the Stars wonderful? My neck is not red on this issue. Joe says time to step in and snuff out the bad boys.
The glaring irony is these donkey dicks couldn’t manufacture any of the weapons or munitions or materiel they consume in their “holy war”. Ignorant savages. Evil doers. They really are motivated by hate.
As the Pope’s cleric Father Yoannis Lahzi Gaido maintains, “Islam is a culture of death”:
http://blazingcatfur.blogspot.ca/2014/04/the-popes-new-coptic-secretary-islam-is.html
How about closer to home? This ass wipe from Arizona says his “religion” gives him the “right” to kill his wife:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/04/arizona-muslim-claims-islamic-law-gives-him-right-to-kill-wife
Granted, there are crazy people of all stripes and spots walking this earth. I would love to know the IQ of these brilliant examples of the “religion of peace”. I really would not be surprised, I think.double digits, somewhere between 60 and 70 points. As the Bowery Boys lead banana Slip Mahoney said, “Maroons!”. Morons indeed……
SUNDAY SERMON
The pulpit is shared today with Peter Rollins and Lawrence Krauss. They discuss “New Religions vs New Atheism”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g5qsMW3bt8
WEATHER
Brother Dennis sent the following with a terse note – “Get me out of here!”
This picture arrived on Saturday. Snow in Calgary in May? What cruelty……..
Not much to say other than Vernon is wonderful this time of year. Spring brings growth. I couldn’t put off mowing the grass any longer. Some of it was over a foot tall. The following is not meant to abridge the argument for B.C., only to share –
Not as far along as the other “V” towns in B.C., but mighty fine for a 4 season playground.
Don’t be a hater. Please hold the hate mail.
Joe (Sunbaked) Mekanic
p.s. Ramirez is a fair weather beacon –
