Seventy Virgins Or A Cruise.

I wonder who else writes a Blog at 7 A.M?  And it is darn cold outside. -15C/5F. Windchill makes it -19C/-2 F.

And the Oscars are over. Oh darn! I missed it.

Another thing over is the Canada Games. I hardly noticed them. If I had not seem the section in the newspaper every day, I would not have known about them. Not a mention on TV, that I saw.

On Libya this morning, I saw a photo of open graves, and guys laying in them. It is supposed to show their willingess to die for their country. I wonder if they know that if you die, you actually do die. It's not like on TV. Maybe they are thinking about the seventy virgins. Don't they realize, after the first time, they are no longer virgins. Now they are wives. Cranky wives who have to share with seventy-nine other women.

Van Dyks's Blueberry Juice. There was an article yesterday and another article today. It appears there was an article in The New York Times and now the bottles are flying off the shelf. Seems everyone wants it now. My wife buys it and it cost $9.95. She thinks the price will probably go up now. The owner is eighty years old, so I suspect it will be bought out by some big company. Then they will screw up the recipe to make more profit. 

Saw an ad yestersay from LumberMart. If you buy all the stuff for a new kitchen, you get a free Caribbean Cruise. (I'm glad my computer can spell.) But the cruise is only for one person. So the thing is, you can enjoy the cruise, and your. wife can enjoy the new kitchen.

Remember The Alamo

Kind of cool out there. Temp is -13C/9F. That's not counting the windchill. Used my snow blower yesterday. Should be the last time. Did mine and five of the neighbours.

Saw an article where they found a new dinosaur. They seem to do that ever so often, which is kind of weird. Maybe they have parts of different dinosaurs and putting them together. Not too far fetched. I remember a few years ago, they took one apart and put him back together differently. Said it was wrong the first time. The whole thing seems to be a maybe. They don't really know what they look like. We haven't built a time machine yet.

It doesn't appear to be a time machine in our future. We have never seen anyone come back. Unless they are invisible when they return. Nothing for me to worry about. They wouldn't be coming back to see me.

"Remember The Alamo." I bet the Mexacins do. "Two of every three Texas children are now non-Anglo and the trend line will become even more pronounced in the future." That's what they say. I think they want Texas back, along with California. After all, it was stolen from them. The way the States is going, it's only a matter of time. I wonder if they will still make the movies in English? Oh well, That's not tomorrow.

The Scotia Prince was a ferry that ran from Yarmouth to Portland, Maine. Stopped service in 2004. I see it popped up in the newspaper today. It will be ferrying Indians ( not the ones with tomahawks, the other ones) from Libya to somewhere. It didn't say where the ferry now lives, must be India. Didn't say it changed its name either. You would think it would be called Raja of Banalai or the like. Doesn't matter, I won't be going on that ship either.

Gadhafi is now handing out guns to civilians. That sounds like a good plan. Better give them lots of bullets. They love shooting them in the air. These bullets must fall to earth sometime. I wonder if anyone has ever been killed with a round in the top of their head?

Union And Unions

I know you are familiar with an iPad. Well, here is a picture of myPad. Sad eh?

We had a rainstorm all day yesterday, which turned into a snowstorm. High winds and it replaced the snow we lost yesterday. I guess the only thing I can say about it, the snow is cleaner.

A piece of mail I received yesterday was about my house insurance. I bought a new oil tank a couple of weeks ago, so they reduced my insurance fee and sent me a cheque for $32.00. It also said my tank was good till 2035. Last tank for me I imagine. They no longer allow steel tanks in Nova Scotia. Has to be Fiber glass. My last tank was only ten years old. I'm sure it had another 5-10 years left. Anyway, I would have had to replace it sometime and it would still be my last tank.

The other piece of mail I received was from the hospital. They sent me a survey to fill out. Last week, I was in the hospital for them to put a scope up and look at the prostate. Now, that was interesting. I thought it would be painful, but not so. I could watch it on TV and it was like watching a Sci Fi movie. In outer space, going down a wormhole. I was waiting for an alien to come out and grab the camera.Too bad there was no music. Anyway, they were happy with their trip thru space.

In the newspaper today, there was a photo of a car accident, in which a woman was killed. A Hyundai had hit a Honda Civic in the side. The front of the Hyundai was damaged, but the Honda looked like it had been run over by a Mack truck. I guess the crash test dummies should do more testing on side crashes.

Th price of gas went up 3.5 cents yesterday, making it $121.3 cents a liter. For the other people, that's $4.58 a Gal. And we send them oil!

Read this headline. "Tyrants don't always make the best allies." Did you notice, they only say that afterwards. It seems to work fine till their people get fed up.

An old Russian saying says. "The past is unpredictable." Sure, they can always rewrite it. This reminds me of the last movie they made about the Alamo. It was rewritten closer to the truth and no one liked the movie. Sorry, Fess Parker. But I do have a bottle of your wine downstairs. Bought it while I was wine tasting at your winery. I didn't see you there, but I saw your daughter. Close enough.

Winconsin and Unions. That's just a start. Unions were a Godsend to my coal mining home town. My uncles worked in the mines when they were twelve yrs. old. A Union certainly saved them, but like anything else, greed takes over. The one thing I don't like about unions, is the hiring practices. Impossible to get the best people.

So the Toronto Stock Exchange and London are joining forces. Don't know if it is good or bad. If they keep telling me how good it is, it's definetely bad. Last Friday, the London Exchange was closed for hours because of bad software. As a point of interest, that is the same software Toronto will be switching to.

Bombardier will be buying a Polish railway. Now that's a surprise. They are famous for making railway cars and trains. They also make aircraft. Does that mean they will be buying an airline?

Saw this headline. "The wine is only the beginning." It was an ad for a weekend get away.I thought it would be a great catch phrase for Alcoholics Anonymous.

Euthenasia Again!

Temp is 0C/32F. Just looked at the weather map and there is a big storm coming. Rain for us, snow for everyone else. As far as I am concerned, winter can stop anytime now.

Today's newspaper is concerned with euthenasia. You know, letting your relatives do you in. It seems an elderly man confessed to killing his wife because she had cancer. She didn't know it was going to happen. He also said he did it by mixing the drugs she was already taking. He confessed because he felt guilty. Since she was already taking the drugs, it might be wishful thinking on his part. Maybe she just died of cancer.

The other article was about Latimer from Sask. who killed his twelve year old daughter because she had Cerebral Palsy. He ended up serving twelve years. Now he is the poster boy for euthenasia. My daughter is thirty-eight with C.P. and is worse off than his daughter was. If you preach that crap to me, you're talking to the wrong guy. I wonder if his daughter knew, sitting in the truck, that her father was murdering her?

Down in New Jersey, an airport security guy stole at least $30,000. from passengers during checks. I guess everyone was so concerned about their radar image, they forgot to keep an eye on their wallet.

The Canada Games are still going full bore. I like the speed skating. I find it amazing they can go so fast and hardly move their legs. I've skated and it is not as easy as they make it look. Everyone in Canada have skated, haven't they? Well, maybe not immigrants.

Oscars on TV Sunday. Hope there is something else on. Maybe the red carpet will have snow. San Francisco is getting snow on Saturday. They are all excited about it.

Charlie Sheen is ranting again. Not grateful for what he has. His show has also been cancelled, at least for the year. Doesn't bother me, never watched it anyway.

Spiders & Alligators

Saw this article about this woman in San Paulo, Brazil. After a flood, she found a four foot alligator in her living room, swept in by the water. Next to it was her three year old son, sitting and patting it on the head. They said it was lucky the alligator wasn't hungry. I can sure agree with that.

This headline said."Mounties want to silence false alarms." This involves automatic alarms that are triggered and the police go rushing to the house. Sometimes it is caused by creaky doors or spiders going over motion sensors. To tell you the truth, if spiders are big enough to turn on motion sensors, maybe the Mounties should come.

The way gas prices work here is that prices changes are given Thursday at midnight. In this way, when they hear on TV that oil prices are up, they can't go out and jack up the prices. Prices are regulated and the new price is what they paid for oil it two weeks ago. So tomorrow gas will be two cents higher. With oil prices still going up, it will be higher next week and the week after.

I see Sears profit is down 28%. Wonder if they are starting to fall apart? I just about never go there.

Yesterday, I said something about Tim Horton coffee. It appears they are going to increase their prices. Never had any this year, so far.

In the Obituary column, I noticed a friend of mine died. I used to work with him at the airport. A good guy, only 62. R.I.P. Mac.

Toaster On Fire? Chinese Junk!

Son of a gun, it's cold out. Temp is -10C/14F and windchill is -20C/-2F. Stuck my nose out to get the paper and that was enough. Saw neighbours rush out to get a Tim Hortons coffee. I must be missing something. I just make my own coffee. And if you have to have that coffee, you can buy it by the can and still brew it yourself. Okay, my neighbour has spent $4.00 for coffee and I still have my $4.00. It will be towards my next trip. Maybe Italy.

Big earthquake in New Zealand. It looks like a lot of buildings will have to come down. When I look at some of those buildings, I can't understand why more people wern't killed.

Watched Gadhafi on TV yesterday, well for a few minutes. I have to admit, I didn't have a clue what he was saying. I also didn't understand the transalator.

I see the Prime Minister has sent the Governor General on a goodwill tour of the middle east. That kind of boggles the mind. Do you think he may not like the Governor General? Then again, he did appoint him. Maybe he is trying to get on the good side of someone, before the protests start.

And the pirates killed the four Americans. What a shame. On the other side of the coin, they shouldn't be there in the first place. What I can't understand is why they don't just blow the hell out of those buggers as soon as they see them. Never mind bringing them back to the States and sending them to jail for thirty years. Free room and board and cable TV. They used to hang those guys and let the crows pick them dry.

On another note, a woman in the area is sueing places because her toaster caught on fire and damaged her house. That Chinese junk. You have to stay away from it if you can. I bought one of those new type light bulbs. GE but made in China. Junk. Turned it on one time and it blew the side out of the base. I try and buy U.S. made. Quality is the key word here. Darn those companies for sending all their factories to China. The CEO's should be strung up, or at least sent to Somalia. All the Americans lost their jobs and we end up with junk.

A lot on the news last night about cell phones increasing brain activity. Duh! You're talking on the phone, aren't you. What do you expect the brain to do?

The Dream of Freedom

Anyone for a trip to Libya? I guess not. I wouldn't have gone there in the best of times. Gadhafi's son gave a speech yesterday, telling all, they would fight to the bitter end. One would expect that. It will probably not the only country to go in that direction. While other states seemed to have caved in to protestor demands, it gives them time to round up the troublemakers and ringleaders.

I noticed Arab women on TV, telling us how they will have women's rights, freedom of information, Medicare, etc. You may get that, but you'll have to move to Canada first. The governments of these countries would probably be more like Iran. The crackdown in Iran is similar to Libya. So what did they achieve in Iran 30 years ago? Nothing.

I always wonder if these countries could handle a Democracy. They seem to need a heavy handed person to keep them in place, whether it is a single or a group Dictatorship. If some vote the opposite to others, they fly of the handle, and fists start to fly. Their discussion is throwing a brick. When they do vote a government in, it is so corrupt, they may as well have a Dictator. At least then they would know whose bank account the money is going to.

And with Wisconsin, the Americans have their own uprising. To tell you the truth, I can't believe one Governor would have the guts to up and do that. It sounds more like he drew the short straw.

"Lets Wisconsin try it first, they're a small state, and if it works there, we can all jump on board. If it doesn't work, no one the wiser."
Have to wait and see how that goes.

"We have to shut the government down, because we have no money."
 Probably the stupidest thing I have ever heard. An example of what happens, when you start a country, by throwing out all the laws and starting over. Self-interest groups make the laws and there is no going back. They make the laws in their favour from then on. The same thing will happen in the Arab countries. The biggest self-interest group will win out, most likely Islamic fundimentalists.

In Canada, politics are much more boring. We hire a Prime Minister to do a job. He has four years to do it right. If not, he's toast. We don't name holidays after him or let him go around thinking he is a rock star. Of course I'm not saying we don't get applications from idiots. We just hope that at election time, most of the population are not acting like idiots.

Here is a great video
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=Yfbchq0xQmQ&vq=medium#t=183

Attack On the Mini-bar

Ten minutes ago, it was spilling down raining, now it is snowing big time. Don't imagine the snow will last that long. It rained all day yesterday, but not much snow disappeared. I guess it is closer to ice than snow.

The front page today has a photo of a sandwich sigh with the words "Canada Games." It appears you can't do that. Trademarked name etc. Deep down, it just doesn't seem right. The name "Canada Games," belongs to all Canadians. I can see not wanting someone operating a factory making do-dads, but get a grip. Then again, greed will overcome common sense.

Our Lt.Governor, a black woman I should say, wants a holiday for Feb. And it should be for a female, black, civil rights activist. She did mention it definately had to be a woman. Reminds me of medical school.   
If you are male, white, anglo, you're screwed, unless your father or uncle is a doctor. Besides that, we don't need a holiday in Feb. Of course this comes from someone who is on holiday everyday.

Saw an ad for Mills. This is an upscale clothing store, where things are not cheap. The ad was for a prom dress, and even looking at it I can tell it is expensive. The point is, I think proms have gone way out of whack. Limos, tux, etc. And for what? To show the world you are qualified to get a job at McDonalds.
Speaking of McDonalds, I do get sick of the Mc this and Mc that.

The hotel mini-bar seems to be on the way out. People want the fridge, but not the small bottles of booze. Not that they have stopped drinking, they just want to put their own beer in there. And can you blame them. When I go to a motel, I don't even touch their bottles of water. I would probably go to the fridge and get one of my own beer.

This guy is pretty funny.And this clip is SOOOOOO true.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk

Obama Needs Our Money

Temp. now is -3C/27F Warming up later on and rain all day. That's good, we can get rid of some snow.

Not much news in the newspaper this morning. The big news of course, is the $5.00 fee for airline passangers to go to the U.S. They say it's a fee for pat downs. Silly excuse eh? Supposed to fight their debt. Not likely. It will end up in someone's pocket. That's the American system, just like the Mafia. Everyone gets their cut. It can't go on forever. They are going downhill faster and faster. Only a matter of time before the lower classes catch on, but they can take a lot of punishment before doing anything. The world looks different when you live there. Americans get very little outside news. Only told what the government wants them to hear.

Our P.M. was down with Obama a couple of weeks ago. Never a mention of this new fee. So I gather if Obama says,"You're my buddy" look out, you're about to get screwed. You know, there are 200,000 Canadians who live in the U.S. for the winter. Wonder how long it will take for them to get screwed?

Looking at the Canadian Tire flier this morning and noticed they had an APP. I guess that's like a flier. I hear there are about 60,000 APPs. None for me, since I don't have a cellphone. Hard to believe, I took my first computer repair course in 1963, and now I don't even have a cell phone. The bottom line is, no one calls me. That's not true, my doctor called last week, but I don't expect any more calls this year, except if someone dies. Of course, if I win the lottery, I will get all kinds of calls.

On the American news the other day, I saw this item about a guy who poisoned two trees of a rival football team. He poured poison in the ground in the ground. They didn't say anything about being charged. The announcer didn't know if it was against the law, which is a bad sign. No fact checking here. If he did that here, he would be paying forever. Nova Scotia is very,very enviromental.

Freedom of Speech

Looks like fairly good weather today. Calls for 5C/41F. That will melt some more snow.
Time to see what the newspaper says and what I think they are saying.

Half the front page and half the next page is about the meals for the athletes at the Canada Games. 1500 hungry mouths to feed. They are using the Convention Center for that. With Halifax having the largest navy base in eastern Canada, I would have looked into the navy galley for doing the job. They are used to large numbers.

I saw an ad from Kent Hardware for a vac to clean out ashes from the wood stove. It was $300. now on sale for $200. It looks exactly like a wet/dry shop vac. I wouldn't be buying a $300. vac, just to take the ashes from the stove. That goes on the list of fools and money. I take the ashes out with a small shovel, and suck the rest out with a $5.00 vac.

Speaking about the Americans and their freedom of speech, I wonder if it also covers Blogs.(I'm sure someone will tell me.) The reason I ask, because a teacher in Philadelphia got the boot for writing about her high school students. She called them lazy whiners, among other things. Can't say I don't agree with her. I love Philly, and not only the cheese. I've been there thirty times. Once I got lost and a policeman escorted me to a toy store.

This headline, I enjoyed the most. "Gadhafi tries to quell unrest by raising civil servents' salaries." What does it really mean? It means he gave a raise to all his relatives.

Retirement

The temp. this morning is -13C/9F and windchill is -20C/-2F. So that wind makes it really cold. When I see windchill, I'm reminded of weather forcasts that mention the coldest day in history at such and such a place. It makes me wonder what the temp. was with the windchill.

Well, the newspaper didn't have much today. The headline said, "Auditor General says he can go deeper into MLA's expenses." I guess he liked the cartoon yesterday.

Another item that caught my eye. The Government says it is spending too much on consultants. Well, yes! Imagine paying someone a $100,000. to come in and tell you you're doing this wrong. Most people in the office probably know what is wrong. I sometimes believe, consultant payments is a slush fund for relatives. "We need an opinion on what broom to buy. I can hire my cousin for $50,000 as a consultant. He works as a cleaner."

I see Billy Cryus is moaning up a storm. He is complaining his daughter's Hannah Montana gig was responsible for his marriage breakup and the reason his daughter is going all crazy. Don't recall much complaining when she started raking in the cash.

The Egyptians are still at it. Freedom? I think they are in for a nasty surprise. On top of that, they want freedom like Americans! I don't know if I would be wishing for that. They should be able to do better. Americans don't take care of their people, it's every man for himself.

I looked out the window at 7 am and saw a neighbour scraping the ice off his car window, so he could go to work. Glad I'm retired. Just found a great cartoon to add on. My pyjamis have long legs and I have slippers on.

Bed Bugs and Politicans

I had to laugh this morning, when I saw the political cartoon. It seems like the article is about bedbugs, but actually refers to four politicans, who got caught with their hand in the cookie jar. I'll have to scan and put it up.

As I look out the window, it is snowing like a bugger. I was not expecting that. We had two snow stormes last week. Two days in a row. Got to use my snow blower on my driveway and five others. Neighbours sick or working. Next time there will be one less. The house across the street now belongs to the bank. The wife thought the husband was paying off the morgage, but he wasn't.

Read this article about a guy in Ontario, on his computer, watching a webcam of ten guys working on building the new Bluenose. (That's a sailing ship. You have to look it up.) He called up the nearest Tim Hortons to them and sent over coffee and donuts.

In Halifax, we are busy with the Canada Games. So I guess the snow and cold is good for that.

I was at the hospital for something yesterday, and while I was there, I bought postage stamps. No tax on stamps, so it is like saving 13%. Usually you get ten stamps, and it costs six$ something. Bought two books, paid 12$ something. When I came home, I noticed the books had thirty stamps. So I will have to go back and pay the difference. It's run by little old ladies volunteers and I wouldn't want them to have to pay out of pocket. I'll phone them today and tell them to stop selling cheap stamps.