Living with the Health Mullahs of British Columbia - Part two · Sunday May 18, 2008 by colin newell
Ever see something in passing (in your daily travels) that makes you totally scratch your head?
You know – stuff that does not make sense. Like kick-boxing… or child beauty pageants… or golf.
Or A stupid law or practice that defies logic?
If you have… Well…
Please, please comment on this.
Like, it cannot be just me can it?
Examples? Drive-through Coffee houses… or Fast food emporiums.
We have a No Idling policy in our city… and it is pretty darn strict.
And yet we have drive through cafes, bank machines and doughnut houses.
I have sat at the B.C. Ferry terminal while some Eco-Pig idles his SUV while he waits the 20 minutes to get on the boat – and everywhere signs… stating no idling.
The craziest thing of all? We now have a law that forbids cigarette shops or stores that sell tobacco products… from actually displaying the products.
No one profits more from the sale of Tobacco products than our Federal and Provincial government – and yet the stores are forced to cover up.
The example photo above is from Good-fellas cigar shop.
I have never been a smoker but I am starting to sympathize with smokers more and more every day.
Another crazy thing is the new perimeter law for smokers – no smoking within 3 meters of any doors or windows of any business down town… which would put a smoker squarely in the middle of most busy roads.
It is retarded… and it is your B.C. Liberal Government at work.
Comment [1]
The Conversation series - Part two - Food on the table · Sunday May 18, 2008 by colin newell
We spoke with Mark Engels of Bubby Roses Bakery photo below about how the price of flour, oil and corn have effected his work environment – here is his report:
Talking food culture with Mark Engels of Bubby Roses Bakery
Thing is, we are in the middle of double digit inflation action. Why?
Truth is, there is no oil crisis. There is nothing wrong with the Oil supply. Our
Canadian reserves are in as good a shape as they have ever been in the history of fuel and oil exports in Canada.
Some economist in the U.S. speculated (predicted) that oil would be $200 a barrel before 200X. He did not give any reason why – he just said it.
He was making a prediction about the futures value of a barrel of oil.
So oil goes up. And we flirt with alternative fuels like Ethanol and Bio-diesel.
We take corn out of the mouths of the hungry to make fuel for our cars…
Because some econo-twit said that the price of a barrel of oil would top $200 one day.
He was probably running around in circles, waving his hands and wetting himself at the same time.
Not a pretty picture?
Neither is hunger.
Comment [2]
Life as a duck · Friday May 16, 2008 by colin newell
To Government House British Columbia – camera in hand (Canon EOS-30D) with one of their many fine lenses.
Click on the link for the B.C. Government House (if you would be so kind…) and then come back to this page.
If this were an episode of Star Trek, B.C. Government House would be that floating city on a cloud – where all is joyous and peaceful… and the Earth below is one of misery and despair. Think Earthquakes, typhoons, global warming (or not) and a spiraling consumer price index.
Click on the photo above (when prompted below) to reveal the true nature of this peaceful creature.
And yet yesterday, on one of Victoria B.C.‘s hottest days of the year, walking through this Provincial Government residence (little more than one KM from home)… it was as if nothing else really mattered. Or that everything mattered. And we were both acutely aware of the cataclysmic events unfurling around the globe – a planet experiencing its own paroxysm of physical rage – with heart-breaking consequences leveled against tens of thousands of fellow humans… ostensibly and ironically less than a heartbeat away; 12 hours by jet and a microsecond at the speed of light.
We do what we can. One one hand we give freely to the Red Cross and know that thousands of Canadians are doing the same thing – and this benefits the Chinese recovery and many other worthy campaigns.
But what of Myanmar (Burma)? A stubborn military dictatorship is standing between the World (and its desire to help) and the victims. A million people could die in the next couple of weeks.
And yet – here we walk – amidst hundreds of native plants (and some not so native) with dozens of wild birds and ducks… families of Mallard Ducks and air thick with every imaginable fragrance. The Government House also has a herb and vegetable garden… open to the general public. And if you are stuck for chives, parsley, mustard, basil or one of dozens of herbs – in the preparation of your salad or pasta… well, help yourself courtesy of the Provincial Government of British Columbia!
Back to the duck (above) for a moment. If you can take in every bad (or good) thing that has happened to the Planet Earth in the last week or so… (do it now…)
Now take a good long luck at the Duck (click for the blow-up) and see if you can guess what it is thinking about our plight. See it? Yea.
Exactly.
Life in the Canadian Air Age #1 · Wednesday May 14, 2008 by colin newell
Tickets, check. Passports, check. Luggage, check. Baby…
Someone forget the baby?
A family boarded a flight on Monday in Vancouver, and forgot their child at the Vancouver airport. Oops.
The 23-month-old boy’s family had just arrived in Canada from the Philippines, but they had to re-pack their overweight bags before catching the connecting flight to Winnipeg. So they were running late.
In their Olympic sprint to the gate, the family became separated. Been there, done that.
The boy’s father Jun, thought his son was with his wife.
The boy’s grandparents, who ran ahead thought the boy was with his dad.
On the plane, the family members were seated separately and so did not immediately realize they had left the child behind. An honest mistake.
Eventually, a security guard found the boy, who speaks no English, wandering near the departure gate, and Air Canada officials tracked down his shocked parents on the flight. Thank heavens the RCMP didn’t find the kid first… Tazer-tot anyone?
Because of the boys tender age, he was not issued a boarding pass.
And would have sat on a parent’s lap during the flight…
…so airline personnel did not notice a passenger was missing.
Airport security found a Tagalog-speaking Air Canada agent who looked after the child while his father flew 2,300 kilometers (1,400 miles) back to Vancouver to pick him up. What a wonderful and full first day in Canada!
