Home Sweet Home

Wow it's been over 2 weeks and I haven't posted in 2007 yet. So for my very first post of 2007 I thought I'd post some pics of my house in the Village of Hussar.

Here she is. It's a manufactured home, which means no basement. I'm slowly getting used to no basement. It's pretty solid too. It can get frickin' windy out here. It's also warmer then I thought it would be. The windows must be good quality.
Here's my backyard. It's pretty much bald ass prairie except for on the horizon, there are some hills. Which is the beginning of the foothills area. Also, just behind those red things in the photo is a farmers field. I can remember around Oct.-Nov. hearing this great jesus noise coming from outside. So I walked around back and there's this combine going through the farmers field, 200 metres from my house. Now that was a little shock, coming from a city kid. Not that I haven't seen a combine before. But I've never been so close to one, as to actually here it working. Living out here away from the hustle and bustle of high priced Calgary. I'm liking it more and more as each day passes. Although I don't know if I'll live in Hussar forever. But I'm really liking Drumheller and the area. I could definately see myself living in Drumheller. But who knows anythings possible. There's not much to do in Hussar. They've got 1 lounge/bar. But it's mostly just farmers and the regular town folk. The store closes at 5 pm everyday, except Sunday for when it's not open at all. The only thing that Hussar is missing, is high-speed internet. Which means no xbox live, yet. The best I can do is high-speed satellite. It's not as fast as cable or DSL, but it's way better then dial-up. I would like to get a job closer to home if I could. But I'm making such good money working in Calgary and commutting in. That I'm not quite ready to stop. Although I'm not going to work nights forever. One bonus of living out here is the stars and night sky is beautiful. You can see so many more stars then you could living in the city. In the fall it was a nightly occurance to see the Aurora Borealis. Which was beautiful and cool everytime. One of the other little quirky things about here is that it gets pretty foggy from time to time. It's probably because were close to the badlands. She can get pretty thick.

Anyways, stay tuned. You never know what's going to show up.

Peace.

Goofball Of The Month: Myriam Bedard

This month's goofball is Myriam Bedard; for allegedly violating a child custody agreement with her ex-husband, the child's biological father.

Canada swore out an arrest warrant against Bedard on Dec. 8 after her former husband alleged she had taken their daughter away from Quebec City without his permission, violating a joint custody agreement. Police have so far refused to divulge any details of their investigation, which started in October after an initial complaint from Paquet (ex-husband).
Bedard, a native of Loretteville, near Quebec City, is no stranger to controversy despite winning the hearts of Canadians with her gold-medal wins in the biathlon at the Lillehammer, Norway, Winter Olympics in 1994, and a bronze medal at the 1992 games in Albertville, France.
She sued, and settled out of court, when Wrigley Canada Inc. ran an ad featuring an altered photo of her that she said made her look masculine. Bedard tussled with Biathlon Canada over training and endorsements. But she started really raising eyebrows with charges during the federal sponsorship scandal. Bedard said she was forced from her Via Rail job because of questions she raised about inflated payments to Quebec ad firms.

Now everyone's presumed innocent until proven guilty. But that doesn't mean you're not a goofball.

Congratulations Myriam Bedard you're the Goofball of the Month for December 2006.




P.S. I don't know if the goofball of the month will continue in 2007. I have other things in mind. So stay tuned. Peace.

Alberta's new Premier

I guess they call him honest Ed Stelmach. He's the new Alberta Premier. He replaces Ralph Klein's length reign. I'm actually pretty happy it was Ed Stelmach who beat out front runners Jim Dinning and Ted Morton. Jim Dinning I didn't like it how he would switch from working in the public to working in the private sectors. Always moving in and out when it would serve his purpose. I feared Ted Morton would get power. First he's American born, secondly he a hardcore reform party type.
In related news, I'm actually pleased Stephane Dion won the federal Liberal Party race. He was my first choice. If one of those guys was going to be Prime Minister, I'm glad it's him.

The political scene is going to be very interesting in 2007. As two parties who have had power for eons, have new leaders.

Goofball Of The Month: City of Calgary Government

The Goofball Of The Month for November is not just one person but the entire City Council for Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Including Mayor Dave Bronconnier, aka Bronco, and most notably Alderman Craig Burrows. For his motion and council's almost unanimous support for the "Bad Behavior Bylaw". Which gives city bylaw officers the right to ticket/fine people in the city, for certain actions which violate this bylaw.
Here we go.

Defacating and/or urinating in public. $300 fine.
-I can understand the shitting in public. That's gross. But I don't have a problem with taking a pee in a bush or on a tree. Because when you gotta go; you gotta go. Not to mention this gives the city free reign on the homeless. but also gives calls for public facilities.

Fighting. $250 fine.
-If a group of people are brawlin' no problem. But if 2 guys wish to settle their differences one on one with some fisti' cuffs. No need to step in here.

Spitting. $100 fine.
- Exsqueeze me, I beg your powder. What do you mean I can't spit on the sidewalk? Sorry buddy, but if I cough up a lougy. I'm spitting it out right there and now. Sorry. But it's part of being a 'free' society. I won't run from the cops. But I would definately think about splitting from a bylaw officer if he was coming at me for that.

Loitering and Obstructing. $250 fine.
- Again, pushing the homeless around. If one Alderman, Madeleine King, had her way she'd bus all the homeless outta town. Put them in some type of homeless camp. I don't like her, never have.

Standing or putting your feet on a table/bench/planter/sculpture. $50 fine.
- So if I put my foot on a bench to tie my shoelace. I could potentially get fined for that. Or if I kick back in a public place and put my "dry" feet, on the coffee table... yeah, right. Gimme' a break. That's garbage.

Carry a visible knife in public. $50 fine.
- Does my pen knife on my key chain count. It can be a visible knife when opened and used in a dangerous manner if need be.


Now the chance of this happening is low. But it will still happen to people. Some guy's going to get busted for spitting and the homeless. Look out. There's lots of working homeless in Calgary. They're now going to have to work extra to pay off all these fines. I think this is an absolute joke. There's already a law for most of this shit, it's called mischief. People get charged with it all the time.


Take a bow City Council. You're the Goofballs Of The Month for November 2006.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrr

Here's an update on the forecast for the next week in Calgary, Alberta. Today's high of -18 degrees Celsius; Tomorrow high of -20 Celsius. Sunday high of -24. Monday high of -25. Tuesday high of -26. You can see how this is going. And they say there's global warming.
Well right now I have to call bullshit.
It's too late.
Called it.


Also, under the column of "useless facts about Dr.Clawmonkey's blog", is my previous post about Rona Ambrose was post number 69 for my blog. Oh YEAH!

Peace

Goofball Of The Month: Rona Ambrose

This month's goofball is Rona Ambrose, the Minister of the Environment for Canada. Although she is pretty cute.

She earns this achievement because of the latest Clean Air Act from the federal tories and from her weak presence as the Minister of the Environment. This so called "clean air act" was suppose to be her baby. Yet the PM,Stephen Harper, was the one who actually unveiled it. All Rona did was stand in the back and keep her mouth shut. She's a good soldier Stevie would tell you. Stevie runs a tight ship. Stevie doesn't like to share. You got to do it Stevie's way. My personal favourite; Stevie's gettin' upset!..... where was I ....

Anyways, this clean air act seems a little too slow. There's no short term targets. We'll really start to see change by 2050. That's a long time to wait. If cleaner air will help reduce global warming. And Canada is a major contributor. Then shouldn't the targets be sooner. So we could start to see noticeable changes by 2020, or even 2030. I could live with that. But 2050, seems to me the tories are starting to read from the liberal red book.

I read an interesting article in the financial post by Ross McKitrick about this Clean Air Act. I'm gonna paste and copy it. So if you are so interested continue reading. But before I go.

Congratulations Rona Ambrose you're the Goofball of the Month for October 2006


Targets in the air: The Clean Air Act
It is unclear why the federal Conservative government is introducing new air pollution regulations at all


Ross McKitrick, Financial PostPublished: Friday, October 27, 2006

At last, Canada has a Clean Air Act. Or, at least, another Clean Air Act: a law with the same name was enacted back in 1971. But at last we have a government willing to introduce clean air standards.
Except, that is, for all the provincial governments that have had air pollution standards on the books for decades. Ontario Regulation 419/05, for instance, lists 344 substance-specific standards based on the so-called point of impingement criterion. This means that if you emit a substance to the air, once it leaves your property and impinges on your neighbour the concentration has to be sufficiently low as not to be damaging.
OK, but at last we have a government willing to put fixed emission caps on large final emitters. Well, except for the fixed emission caps already imposed by provincial governments. In Ontario, for example, Regulation 194/05 lists the large final emitters of sulphur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) and their specific emission limits. The Imperial Oil refinery at Sarnia, to pick one, must reduce its SO2 emissions from 23,938 tonnes this year to 9,200 tonnes by 2009.
But at least a federal government inspection staff will investigate emission infractions. Although, what with all the provincial inspectors, compliance officers and environmental consultants currently doing the same job, they may need to drive around the block a few times waiting for a parking spot at the factory. Just last summer, for example, the Ontario Ministry of the Environment did an inspection sweep of the Sarnia petrochemical sector. So it is unclear why the federal Conservative government plans to fund a new investigative branch to do the same thing.
In fact it is unclear why the federal Conservative government is introducing new air pollution regulations at all. Their notice of intent (NOI) to regulate certainly doesn't clear things up. Their explanation is that "Canada has historically relied on a variety of non-compulsory measures to reduce air emissions. However, these have not proved sufficient to reduce the health and environmental risks across the country." The idea that Canada's current pollution laws are non-compulsory would probably come as a surprise to the many firms and individuals who have been prosecuted under them. And air quality has improved substantially since the 1970s, as shown in the government's own data.
z Monthly average SO2 levels were never very high out west, and in the east they have fallen dramatically since the 1970s. Prior to 1970, they averaged over 100 parts per billion (ppb) in Toronto. By the late 1970s, SO2 levels in eastern cities averaged 20 or 30 ppb and today they typically average five to 10 ppb.
z Monthly average total suspended particulate (TSP) levels in Canadian cities were, on average, well over 120 micrograms per cubic metre (mg/m3) in the 1970s. Since then they have fallen in many places to near or below 60 mg/m3. Vancouver has typical levels of 10-30 mg/m3; Toronto and Montreal are slightly higher, usually coming in at 30-60. Halifax has always (back to 1974) had TSP readings below 50, and currently they are below 30.
z In all Canadian cities, monthly average carbon monoxide (CO) levels have been steady in recent decades at about one part per million (ppm). The eight-hour Environment Canada desirable standard is eight ppm.
z The Environment Canada annual average desirable standard for NOx is 32 ppb. Most Canadian cities exceeded this standard for some months of the year up to the late 1980s, but since the mid-1990s they have had average levels between 20 and 30 ppb per month. Edmonton has a slight tendency to exceed the 32 ppb level, but otherwise Canadian cities are below 30 ppb.
z Canadian cities exhibit seasonal ozone patterns with monthly averages varying between 10 and 40 parts per billion. The Canada-wide desirable annual average standard is 65 ppb. There was little or no trend in ozone levels from 1970-1990, but there is an upward trend after 1990 in some cities. Ozone mainly becomes a concern during short episodes of intense summer sun and atmospheric inversions. Since the process of ozone formation is highly complex, it is not entirely clear what types of emission controls would reduce these temporary spikes, but to the extent NOx and volatile organic compounds are at fault, they are already subject to regulation.
As for the health and environmental risks, the NOI makes far stronger claims than the underlying science assessments warrant. The 1999 Health Canada science assessment of then-proposed national ambient air quality objectives for particulate matter noted that while epidemiological studies have generated a range of small and uncertain correlations between air pollution and health indicators (such as mortality and hospital admissions), controlled human and animal exposure trials do not back up the claim that current air pollution levels are a health risk. They concluded: "Despite the fact that the ranges of particle concentrations [in laboratory experiments] usually exceed those experienced by the general population, little evidence for a dose-response relationship has been documented in the clinical toxicological literature.... Overall, the clinical data does not lend much support to the observations seen in the epidemiology studies, particularly to the observations that high ambient particulate concentrations are associated with mortality within hours or a few days at most." The evidence since 1999 has continued to be ambiguous.
The federal Conservative government rightly emphasizes "measurable" results. Yet it is conspicuously indifferent to the relevant measurements on air pollution trends and impacts already available. Even a Sierra Club spokesman admitted to me, on a Vancouver radio show the day the new Act was announced, that air pollution is not an urgent issue in Canada.
The Clean Air Act tidies up some loose ends in federal air quality regulation but nothing that needed eight months of hype to motivate. So people naturally speculate about what the federal government's real motives are. Perhaps the over-hyped air pollution provisions are a cover for what many (though not me) see as a disappointing lack of greenhouse gas emission controls.
The Conservatives, like the Liberals before them, find it much easier to say what they don't want to do than what they want to do. They don't want to do Kyoto, they don't want to impose costly emission caps and they want to wait a decade before imposing anything on specific industries. These are rational positions to take, but the relentless drumbeat of hype and alarm about global warming makes rational choices sound controversial. So they deflected criticism by wrapping them up in some irrational air pollution initiatives. It might just work.
Perhaps what they really want is for the dilemma to go away. If so, 10 years is about right. In another decade people will not be debating global warming. All the lurid threats about an imminent 'tipping point' leading to freakish climate chaos will have been proven right or discredited, and discussion can begin to take place amidst less hyperbole. If, as I expect, winter 2016 is roughly as long and cold as winter 2006, it may be possible to talk about a reasonable course of action without the alarmist noise in the background.
Of course, maybe I'm wrong and Al Gore is right. Maybe the Arctic is heating up and winter will soon cease to exist around Hudson Bay, as they warned on the CBC a few years ago. So here's a proposal: Schedule the talks on greenhouse gas emission targets at an outdoor location in Churchill, Man., for, say, February 2017. If the day comes and the meeting has to be cancelled because the participants will freeze to death, then we will have a strong hint that the targets were not really needed after all.
Ross McKitrick is associate professor and director of graduate studies at University of Guelph's department of economics.

More Change in 2006

As of today at 1:30pm (MST), I am no longer working for Sears Canada Inc. Instead, I'll be working for Unisource Canada Inc. in their warehouse in Calgary. The reason I decided to leave Sears is because I felt there's better opportunity for me, in Calgary and the surrounding area. Not that Sears was a bad place. They were mostly loyal and it took alot to get fired. But they're greedy bastards. Esspecially since Sears Holdings in the States is looking to take over Sears Canada and make it a private company. they got rid of the proft sharing and immediately the favourite word was"cutbacks".
So I was kind of at the end of the line for my Sears chapter. Plus, approximately 13 months ago I had a disturbing chat with my manager and at that point I new,myself, my days at Sears were numbered. As I had had it, with the management. (insert rant here)
Anyways...
I'm excited about my new job as Unisource. My official position is a Warehouse Specialist. Whatever that is. It's on the nightshift. But,It's roughly $6,000 more per year then what I'm making now. And that's just to start. Plus, it's a union job. I've never worked for a union before. Geez, Layton might get my vote by default. This is only the fourth different company I've ever worked for.


I'm planning to do a post about my house. But I'm having trouble with the pictures. Damn boonies internet. So stay tuned!

CYA