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Messages - JOE

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#3976
The Flea Trap / Re: health officer blames social media for Alberta's skyrocketing rate of gonorrhoea
May 02, 2016, 01:21:11 AM
...signs of a worsening economy perhaps?



When people don't have jobs, nothing else to do so they sleep around.



Prostitution flourishes in the absence of jobs.



Article says half of the cases are indigenous women, so it appears to affect the poorer groups the most, which are also hit with unemployment.
#3977
The Flea Trap / Re: What is Carbon Tax & Cap 'n Trade?
May 01, 2016, 06:48:28 PM
Quote from: "Herman"
Quote from: "RW"I don't think the purpose is truly to lower CO2 emissions by the tax itself but to amass money for more significant changes like paying for transit systems and other big ticket things.

Exactly, it's about raising revenue. Just like a consumption tax.


That's the trouble with a tax where the government doesn't explain where the money is going. They should put up a website to inform the public how much carbon tax is collected and what its being spent on, similar to a debt clock:



 http://www.debtclock.ca/">http://www.debtclock.ca/



I suppose if the taxpayer knew where their taxes were being spent, maybe they'd be more supportive of it. But of course, they're not. Plus we don't see any evidence of any massive spending on meaningful carbo reduction projects. They mayor of Vancouver says he wants to make the city the greenest on the planet. So he paints the crosswalks green. However, this doesn't do anything for the city. Where are the solar panel roofs? The highway from Whistler to LA with the hydrogen powered cars and fueling stations we were promised? Or did our carbon taxes go towards that taxpayer funded extravaganza in Paris?



Vancouver likes to call itself green, but many cities nations are already doing it. If vancouver is an indication where the city and country are at, then we're at least 20 years behind the Europeans in carbon reduction and energy consumption. So I hope the results of all this carbon taxing show up soon.
#3978
The Flea Trap / Re: What is Carbon Tax & Cap 'n Trade?
April 30, 2016, 01:43:05 PM
Well, you didn't answer the question in as detailed a way as I'd hoped but thanks for the attempt anyway.



Actually, I think the fundamental reason for the CO2 problem is too many people who've been introduced to the planet in such a short period of time.



The population has practically doubled in 1 to 2 generations. Of course somethings gotta give.



Its the equivalent of doubling the population of an apartment building overnight and still expecting the quality of life for its residents to remain the same.



At this rate, the planet is living on borrowed time. The human species has this voracious appetitie to reproduce, but has not found the common sense to slow down its population growth.



Anyways, the Club of Rome warned us 40 years ago when our current PM was a toddler of the population bomb, but nobody listened. So we're paying the price and trying to implelment bandaid solutions to cover up what is the real prblem.


Quote from: "seoulbro"
Quote from: "JOE"...I confess...I know nothing about them.

Thus, I haven't made up my mind to support or be against them.

I'm firmly undecided.



Why did the government introduce them?



What do they pay for?



Who benefits from.them?



Who doesn't?



Which countries have introduced them, and what are their results?



What is the difference between a carbon tax & cap 'n trade?



I know many of you don't like them, but at least try to be impartial explaining or defining them.



...Perhaps seoulbro can weigh in?

The idea behind both is to limit CO2 emissions. However, they have almost no impact on climate. As I said in another thread they are both political gestures.
#3979
The Flea Trap / What is Carbon Tax & Cap 'n Trade?
April 30, 2016, 01:12:28 PM
...I confess...I know nothing about them.

Thus, I haven't made up my mind to support or be against them.

I'm firmly undecided.



Why did the government introduce them?



What do they pay for?



Who benefits from.them?



Who doesn't?



Which countries have introduced them, and what are their results?



What is the difference between a carbon tax & cap 'n trade?



I know many of you don't like them, but at least try to be impartial explaining or defining them.



...Perhaps seoulbro can weigh in?
#3980
The Flea Trap / Re: the stork arrived
April 30, 2016, 12:35:10 PM
Congratulations, Shen.

All the best!
#3981
The Flea Trap / Re: our new carbon tax will have a negative impact on school boards
April 30, 2016, 06:10:31 AM
Anyways, what was so bad about Jim Prentice? I thought he was pretty decent. He seemed to pay the price for all the incompetent leaders the Tories had before him. Albertans threw out the wrong guy. His austerity budget was what Alberta needed at the time. He accurately foresaw the coming downturn, but nobody would listen. Nobody likes a doubter/the bearer of bad news  I guess. Actually, he's the kind of premier British Columbia could use right now. Straight talking, level headed, smart, competent, yet pragmatic and somewhat progressive. 'Liberal Light'. That's who I would've voted for if I lived there. NDP/Notley seem rather loony. Its hard to see how they'll get re-elected unless they drastically change their game plan now.
#3982
The Flea Trap / Re: our new carbon tax will have a negative impact on school boards
April 30, 2016, 05:58:53 AM
Quote from: "Fashionista"
Quote from: "iron horse jockey"I don't like carbon taxes either, but it is better than cap and trade.

It is such a bad time right now in Alberta to be taking more money away from the people.


During an economic downturn, its not a good time to tax people or companies, if the goal is to get Alberta moving again. NDP is making all the wrong choices at the wrong time. Notley will like go down in history as the 'Bob Rae of Alberta'. 1 term premier who leaves behind a huge fiscal mess.



Notley should take a page from Obama's playbook. Don't raise taxes at least until the economy has turned a corner.



Trouble is NDP are what Canadian PM Louis St. Laurent called 'Liberals in a hurry.' They don't take their time, they don't pace themselves. They want too much at once without a credible plan to make it work.



Socialism needs to find a way to make it pay for itself.
#3983
The Flea Trap / Re: Comic Con
April 19, 2016, 04:08:40 PM
Quote from: "Herman"
Quote from: "Annie"He could have at least given you the comics! I knew a neighbor when I was growing up who would make her son burn his comic books. I felt so bad for him  ac_crying And they weren't religious at all.

My dad would have cried if someone burnt one of his Playboys.


Maybe I snagged some of them at this garage sale.

Some women was selling of her husband's old Playboy Magazines for about $5 each. So I bought a bunch.



The ones from around 1960 to 1975 were their best issues, still worth reading, masterpieces in graphic design.



The ones from the 1950s are more valuable, but their content is somewhat stale.

The fifties were defintely a different era which reflected a different mindset which got swept away in the sixties.
#3984
The Flea Trap / Re: Comic Con
April 18, 2016, 01:24:36 AM
Quote from: "Annie"He could have at least given you the comics! I knew a neighbor when I was growing up who would make her son burn his comic books. I felt so bad for him  ac_crying And they weren't religious at all.


There was a time several decades ago when America went on this comic book burning craze. Some 'expert' convinced much of the United States that comic books were inherently evil, so thousands perhaps millions were trashed and then thrown into the bonfire:



http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ0eINvmlAH6J6YRFZIVBJJxyVr8BObWmJuDZ8oEpnzlz4a7Zrb">



https://community.ebay.com/ebay01/attachments/ebay01/g-300001290/49122/1/comic-burning_est-Dec1948.jpg">



Subsequently, this decreased the existing supply of what would become future antiques. So today, quite a number of these issues are extremely scarce where just a handful, perhaps just a half a dozen of some titles exist today. This has conferred the rarity status and hence increased their desireability and value.
#3985
The Guest Nest / What did the Fall of Hitler & the End of WWII represent?
April 16, 2016, 01:07:52 PM
...since this appears to be the only sub-forum some of the BF members can post in, maybe they could weigh in too - ie - SCOUSE & others.



I kinda see the end of WWII as also the true closing of the 19th Century and the TRUE beginning of the 20th - which in many respects, we are still living the latter half of.



'Seems WWII was a culmination of at least a century full of grudges in Europe, driven by centuries old values of upholding national and military honor. It would also be the last time in which the major European powers would clash on the battlefield. But the destruction of 'Old Europe', brought with it the rise of truly 20th century values which seem to have to fruition in the 1960s. ie - pop culture, racial integration and multiculturalism. Whether the world is any better off for them is a matter of debate. Certainly, there is a fair share of holdouts who think otherwise, resist and seem to long for the old order in which the Colonial Powers ruled.



Anyways, here's an episode from World at War which is worth watching - because it describes how the world changed dramatically and a New political and cultural order emerged practically overnight:



">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4x69cIeLX4
#3986
The Flea Trap / Re: Comic Con
April 15, 2016, 06:53:16 PM
Quote from: "keeper"When my older brother found God he burnt everything!!! , Records , Comics..... EVERYTHING!


...too bad.



Just out of idle curiousity, was it because of a girl/woman he knew in his Church?



And he wanted to please her by destroying everything he thought might turn her off?
#3987
The Flea Trap / Re: Comic Con
April 15, 2016, 04:27:11 PM
Quote from: "shin"I've always wanted to go to one of these Comic cons closer to home. I used to be an avid collector, but lost interest in the early 80s ended up selling my collection at a big loss, then I started collecting again when I saw what Jim Lee was doing with the X-men. They soon when to crap after the formation of Image and I stopped buying new books again, but I held onto what I was able to find this time around... about 500 books, mostly Marvel... nothing really worth more than Amazing Spider-man #300. The oldest would a fair copy of Uncanny X-men #94.



I often criticize the current state of the comic book industry online. They use retconning and alternate universe ideas way too often to work their ways out of unsolvable plots.


Yeah, many of the newer comic books have too much going on, too many characters, too many villains, too many sub-plots, too many 'behind-the-scenes' mind games to the point that it becomes a mish-mash and the whole thang becomes incoherent.



One of my favorite issues of all time, regardless of genre, brand or label, was Avengers #2 (1963):



http://www.coverbrowser.com/image/avengers/2-1.jpg">



It's about a phantom-like creature who comes from outer space, lands on earth, and scares the heebie-jeebies out of the earthling population by assuming their physical identities. It doesn't matter that the characters are dressed in superhero costumes. The plot is very similar to today's movies or recent TV episodes. A villain has the ability to transform itself into a human likeness such as in Terminator 2:



">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8h8d2XLWKY



...so in this regard, the writers of the Avengers #2 story were quite advanced, and their ideas foreshadowed stories which would later appear to have borrowed (stole?) from them.
#3988
Art, Hard Rock & Harmony / Re: Classical Music
April 15, 2016, 02:16:02 PM
Joseph Bodin de Boismortier - Concerto In D Major For Bassoon, String Orchestra, And Continuo



1st Allegro (I):

">




Largo (Slow Movement):

">




2nd Allegro (II):

">
#3989
The Flea Trap / I am grateful to Stephen Harper for 1 thing....
April 13, 2016, 09:22:39 AM
....he lowered my monthly phone bill.



He may have not been the most colorful guy and some things I strongly disagreed with him on, but thanks to his efforts to create some competition in the cellphone industry, my monthly bill is $32 a month...$32.48 after taxes to be exact. This includes unlimited calling, messaging and data/internet access. And its for life.



This compares with the big 3 who charge 3 times as much.



Many have criticized Harper, that he did not lower rates as he claimed, but I'm living testament that he did:



 http://thebluecashew.com/ucp.php?mode=login">http://thebluecashew.com/ucp.php?mode=login
#3990
The Flea Trap / Re: 'Lady-Driven' Stuff
April 13, 2016, 12:27:06 AM
Quote from: "Herman"I was not allowed to use the old man's 22's until I was ten. I had an air gun when I was eight. I was using the 12 gauge when I was twelve. Blew the badgers to bits.


The idea of killing small animals (or even big ones) bothers me.

But then again, I didn't grow up in the countryside or the wilderness.

However, it's a completely different world from the Big City.

And if one's survival or self-defense depends on it, then one begins to understand that mindset a lot better.



I suppose if I had grown up in the countryside, things would've been a lot different.

That lifestyle must make somebody a lot tougher.

Boys are taught to be men at an early age.



I found that Natives who lived outside the city were good hunters. They know how to shoot an animal and then skin it professionally, If an IQ could be assigned to many of them, many would be like Einsteins of the Wilderness. And if Einstein himself showed up there, he'd be a Special Ed student.
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