Morons on wheels - Darwin's natural selection · Sunday January 28, 2007 by colin newell
We had a wonderful weekend at Point No Point
Beautiful weather. Brilliant Sunshine. Rest and relaxation.
Oh yea. And a…
High-speed motorcycle crashing head-on into a BMW.
West coast road between Sooke and Jordan River and Port Renfrew, however scenic, is an environment of vehicular lawlessness that the R.C.M.P cannot get a handle on.
Every weekend the Sun comes out, zippy hives of crotch rocket driving morons (guys in almost 100% of cases) zip down this winding ocean-side road at speeds over 100 miles per hour.
They endanger their lives.
And the lives of other motorists.
And they do this every time the sun comes out.
They are male. And they are ignorant and inconsiderate of others.
Anyhow. This weekend, one of these morons on wheels met head on with a brand new BMW. Judging by what was left of the bike, there was little left of the driver. The Beemer faired much better; some crumples on the hood. That was pretty much it.
Yep. This is Darwin at work. Natural selection.
And it works.
On a more personal note, I have had these 2-wheeled morons come screaming up behind my wife and I on the West Coast road… endangering us. I treat this kind of behavior as if it was agressive assault (like there is any other kind…)
And I tend to hit back.
So watch for me.
Thank you to the word-Nazi who corrected my terrible punctuation.
Slow down! [7]
Rankin Family live in Victoria - a short concert review · Wednesday January 17, 2007 by colin newell
Ok. I love the Rankin Family. From the moment I saw them on stage in Victoria in the mid-nineties, I knew that the Rankin Family were the real deal.
I bought all the albums. Still play them.
It was with much rejoicing that I had the chance to see them on the first leg of their reunion tour.
Apparently I was not the first in line to buy tickets. I think I waited a week.
As a result, our seats were up in the ceiling somewhere.
No problem. The Royal Theatre in Victoria is designed in such a way that there are no bad seats. It is true. There are none.
This concert was to be stop 3 for the Rankins – Nanaimo was the first. I think they had two gigs up there.
Because of the loss of a sister in Calgary, they attended the funeral and cancelled the first 2 of the concert dates.
Victoria B.C. was stop one for the Rankin’s 22-city tour.
Some details:
Tragedy struck their family a week ago when one of the Rankins died in Calgary. The Rankins are a large family – Raylene, John Morris, Jimmy, Cookie and Heather, began touring together professionally in 1989. But they are 4 of 12 kids. On September 17, 1999, the band officially broke up to pursue their separate careers and lives. One of the anchors of the band, John Morris Rankin, died in a car accident on January 16, 2000.
Anyway – back to the show.
With our luck (of 1500 seats in the Royal Theatre) we were seated directly in front of a row of young, ex-Pat Cape Breton trailer trash – they were pumped, half-drunk and ready to party.
Now, do not get me wrong. I like to party. Really. At concerts, I get crazy.
But correct me if I am wrong, but I think you have to sing and scream when the band is actually playing.
I did turn around and glare a couple of times at Trailer Park Boy behind me after he yelled: “I lav youa Jammmy!” one too many times. These are the worse kinds of concert goers.
Anyway. The Rankins kicked ass. After a slow start (they seemed road weary or grief weary and this was stop #1!) they wound the audience and themselves into a Celtic-Breton frenzy.
They played the new stuff. They played the old stuff. They trotted out some new Rankin talent; John Morris Rankins surviving teenage daughter – a crack step dance and fiddle player. She sang once. It was rough, but the Rankin magic is in her voice and blood. Ah. Just like old times.
Welcome back Rankins!
Comment [2]
Shop shop shop shop shop shop shop! · Wednesday December 20, 2006 by colin newell
Ok. Here is the good news. If you like to shop and spend money you don’t got (Apologies for the mis-use of the language…)
Then this is the time of the year for you.
In Victoria, we now have a selection of stores open 24 hours a day.
Now, this is great if you cannot sleep…
But seriously…
Why, on Earth, is Walmart open 24 hours a day?
Walmart. One of North Americas most reviled retailers.
It is bad enough that they are in your neighborhood. But to stay open 24 hours a day?
I read a statistic somewhere that the parking lots at Walmart are signficantly more dangerous than the average street in some of the tougher neighborhoods in the U.S.A.
That is right – your chances of physical or sexual assault are significantly higher in a Walmart parking lot than a back alley in Queens, New York… or East L.A.
Not really that surprising I guess.
It seems that Walmart attracts a criminal element. That is not a surprise.
They exploit and disenfranchise their workers, attract the poor with their promises of lower than low prices and so on.
Sigh.
Soon it will be Christmas where consumers will gorge themselves on consumables – and then line up after their Turkey dinners; at Future Shop, Toys R Us… and Walmart.
To buy more. And more. and more… more.
I will sleep thank you very much. And dream.
Of a World without Walmart. And all night shoppers. and Christmas gone bad. Rabid consumerist bull-shit that has taken over society.
So buy nothing.
Buy it! [1]
3 storms wallop Victoria B.C. Canada · Friday December 15, 2006 by colin newell
The winter weather has been insane.
One storm after another.
And it isn’t even Winter yet!
What is causing this you ask?
Well. Global warming.
And what causes that you ask?
I figured it out…
S.U.V. driving vegetarians.
No question.
Don’t even ask!
Figure it out for yourself.
