Happy frosty Friday everyone, let’s keep it safe and enjoy the week end.
metalman.

Another pedestrian hit (in lower mainland) while crossing a street on a marked crosswalk.
Why not a counter-attack-style campaign to focus on different crosswalks in the city?

i live on alward and to those idiot dog owners whos dogs bark from morning till night ! you will be getting a visit from the city! love all animals but these people dont give a crap about anyone !!i hope they take them away

From Thursday’s the National Post front page:

“As PM prepares for Israel trip, speculation abounds: Will he resign after he returns?”

“One person said that Stephen Harper’s first ever trip to Israel was originally scheduled for March and was brought forward. Big decisions are being put off, the Conservative said, and there is open speculation that Mr. Harper will return from the Middle East in triumph and announce he plans to resign as Prime Minister before Parliament returns for the spring session.”

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2013/12/04/john-ivison-as-pm-prepares-for-israel-trip-speculation-abounds-will-he-resign-after-he-returns

Have not seen any talk about this anywhere else. Some interesting articles about who should be electing the leader of the party given that if the party forms government, that individual becomes PM.

More important is the question of whether the elected Caucus should have a say in that choice as well as the ability to replace the leader should he/she not perform as expected.

And then we have Ford of Toronto fame. Who should evaluate him and kick him out of office if there is non-performance to a even a minimum accepted standard?

Dear Santa: all I want for Christmas is snow. Please let it snow. Oh yeah, and -8 to -10 is good.

Not much to ask for. Please!

There Was A Time When Governments Use To Look After The Best Interests of it’s Citizens… kind of like this:

February 20, 2013

The Honorable Andrew M. Cuomo
Governor of New York State
NYS State Capitol Building
Albany, NY 12224

Dear Governor Cuomo:

Physicians, Scientists and Engineers for Healthy Energy (PSE) applauds your move to delay your
decision on lifting the moratorium on shale gas development in New York until the science is
complete. We thank you for remaining true to your word that the science should be definitive to the
decision making process.

We commend you for making this decision especially because it runs counter to some actions taken
by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and governors in other states with
shale oil and gas such as Governor Corbett of Pennsylvania, Governor Kasich of Ohio, and Governor
Hickenlooper of Colorado who have failed to allow the science to guide their decisionmaking.
After lobbying by former Governor Ed Rendell, the EPA prematurely dropped its legal action against
Range Resources in a groundwater contamination case in Texas with no scientific basis, ignoring
reports by an independent scientist that the contamination may have been caused by shale gas
drilling.

In Pennsylvania, Governor Corbett continued Marcellus shale gas drilling without any scientific
oversight and passed Act 13 in the absence of rigorous medical and scientific information.
Governor Cuomo, you have signaled with your action to delay your decision on lifting the
moratorium on shale gas production that it is imperative that science, not politics drive your decision.
This is especially important since emerging science has increasingly found shale gas production to be
fraught with risks to the environment, to climate, and to human health.
Sincerely yours,

Anthony Ingraffea, PhD, PE
President

Seth B. Shonkoff, PhD, MPH
Executive Director
– See more at: http://www.psehealthyenergy.org/events/view/160#sthash.TJ2nxiQR.pvdH0QL5.dpuf

So the question to be asked is… are our governments looking after the priority best interests of us, or the Big Oil and Gas Industry?

I think we are seeing a State which has developed into goods and services people based resources rather than the “natural” resources which each State might or might not have.

It is easy for a state like that to take the position its government has decided to take.

Many other states have not been able to achieve what NY has achieved and so will continue to rely on natural resources for as long as they can.

If they cannot manage to work smarter into the future, they will eventually be hit hard just as the BC forestry industry has been hit with the MB infestation.

Found it somewhat shocking that the former Chair of City Councils Finance committee was “surprised” to find that there was almost 3 million dollars sitting in the our gas tax surplus fund. I thought the chair of the finance committee may be aware of accounts laying around with a few million dollars hanging around in them. Just sayin”.

I just need to address the “ACT” of parenting…

I was in the Bulk Barn this week. Love this store and the concept of it.

There was a mother, dressed in pjs and a stupid elf hat, with a brood of 7 children all under the age of 10. Dirty hands, dirty clothes and the mother is out looking for her next fix while her children touch everything in the bins, cough and sneeze in the bins, and rudely interupt the shoppers while at the bins. I complain and now the staff have to “shave the bins” and ask where else did they touch. Honey dripping down to the floor as well as mollasses.

I only bought wrapped candy that day, but the language and attitude I had from these “children”, lead me to believe that the mother whom is odviously on SA should probably shop elsewhere, or the rest of the decent paying, shopping, clean customer “will” shop elsewhere.

What;s with Costco raising their prices up to 1.17 now?? They said they weren’t going to play the other station’s game when everyone raised their prices before.. Peer pressure??? OR greed ??? Maybe the public needs to show Costco we patronize them due to their low price and not being afraid of the other big companies.. Jacking up their price after everyone else raised their’s to 1.23 or higher is most certainly not being independent, but rather collusion.

What;s with Costco raising their prices up to 1.17 now?? They said they weren’t going to play the other station’s game when everyone raised their prices before.. Peer pressure??? OR greed ???”

=============================

Or their supply cost went up?????????

The newness as worn off….back to regular (high)gas prices in a few short weeks!just wait and see.

Just want to welcome anyone to come and enjoy candy cane lane but please. Please. Remember that not everyone travelling on the road is looking at the lights. If you want to stop and enjoy please pull over. If you see someone trying to go down the middle. Please pull over. You do it once. I do it everyday all month. I just would like to get home after work. Thanks everyone. Merry Christmas.

This issue reared it’s head in discussion this week and I thought I’d pass it along here. It’s in regard to opting out of Smart Meters from BC Hydro.

If you’re in a rental suite and the landlord opted out from Smart Meters, who pays the new $35 monthly fee?

The renter is the one using the hydro and getting the bill but they have no say whether the meter is changed or not.

They could bill the landlord but are they not simply going to pass that long as a rental increase?

The other side of that sword Pylot is if your land lord wants the smart meters in his building you have no choice on opting out either or initially stopping the new meters from being installed…….

Here is a novel idea for a city who is broke and it’s council thinks the only way to raise money is by taxing the crap out of it’s tax payers; instead of starting new unneeded projects… TAKE CARE OF OUR CURRENT INFRASTRUCTURE!

“…her children touch everything in the bins, cough and sneeze in the bins, and rudely interupt the shoppers while at the bins.”
Yep. I won’t buy bulk. Ever. Because this. It’s a good concept, except people suck.
Have a great weekend, 250ers. Stay warm.

@jetstream
I agree there should be a counter attack on cross walks! They should fine the stupid morons who think that just because there is a line on the road they don’t have to STOP AND LOOK to see if anyone is coming! I see it over and over again, people just walk right out on to the street because they think they are entitled to. Sorry folks, people are supposed to stop for you when your in the cross walk or waiting to enter if they SEE you. If you don’t stop and look you will lose.

I went to bulk barn once to have a look and asked the staff how they deal with the snotnosed little christers mauling everything in sight. They assured me that they do clean off the top of every bin .Right….For that lame assurance I’m out .

Went to the dump earlier in the week and asked the attendant this question, “If I’m over the 100kg threshold can you just swipe my card twice instead of charging me the extra 6 bucks?” (Driving to the dump every 2 weeks instead of my usual 4 weeks is expensive and time consuming so this seemed like a logical solution to me.)

He said, “No” but offered the following solution. If I was worried about being over the 100 kg mark I should take a bunch of the garbage out of my vehicle, pile it outside the compound, drop off one load, exit the dump, pick up the pile and repeat until my truck is empty. My card would be swiped for every trip and I would avoid the extra fee.

Is this really what problem solving has turned in to in this day and age? I’m still shaking my head in disbelief.

On Halloween morning there was an accident in Sintich and Wonza. My husband was coming home from work and hit a patch of black ice. I want to put out a heartfelt thank you to the first responders (The cab driver my husband avoided hitting and called 911, 2 school bus drivers and a gentleman on his way to work) They stayed with my husband while the ambulance came. His head was being crushed somehow under the car and he tore his ear off to get out. He is short an ear but healing very well. He did not lose his hearing. We both and our sons really wanted to thank you so very much for restoring our faith in humanity. If you know those first responders please let them know you read this and let them know it meant every thing to us when we needed it the most it was strangers that helped him up. Thank You

Are deisel prices legit (145.9) or are oil companies gouging us for the reduced gas prices?

no, and yes

I don’t know about diesel kendoo, but I have heard that for every cent the gas companies raise the price of gas it means a nice tidy one million dollars a day clear profit for them.

Price of gas over the last week or so has gone up a minimum of 10 cents… a couple have gone up 15 cents… so 10 to 15 million clear profit each day…

and they claim there is no collusion, conspriring, or consultation on the increases.. but it is amazing that all stations raise their prices to the exact same amount within days of each other…

yeah right, I believe them….. NOT

I refused to let Hydro on my property to change the meter. Our friends own a farm as well and since they put the stealing meter on, their hydro bill has skyrocketed. They went back and looked at other bills from October. Their bill went up 30% with no more usage. They are dreading the winter. My bill has not increased except for the $35 they are going to steal from me if I pay it. So I would like to know for all you who have the smart meter did Hydro take $35 off your bill because they are not sending someone to read your meter? That’s their lame reason for tacking another $35 on. Their excuse that we pay the 3rd lowest rates is a bunch of crap we should be the lowest and keep it that way.

We just have a regular old house and got out smart meter last spring. Our bill hasn’t changed at all.

bcracer

and they claim there is no collusion, conspriring, or consultation on the increases.. but it is amazing that all stations raise their prices to the exact same amount within days of each other…

Costco is still 5 cents less than anyone

else so that leads me to believe that all the others are doing the gouging.

onefingertyper I wan’t pointing a finger aat Costco..
I am guessing that the price of gas might have gone up the 4 cents Costco raised their cost by…maybe…or maybe they undercut themselves and needed to add the 4 cents to break even or make a few cents…

even thought the gas companies are sticking it to us we are still better off than we were prior to Costo gas pumps being installed….
FOR NOW

Noway, drivers who have to be educated regarding crosswalks. A family member was hit in a crosswalk, only entered the crosswalk after making eye contact with the drivers. Another car came around the corner and almost kill her, then it sped away.

I have stopped for people in crosswalks only to have cars in the other lane speed past or nearly rear end me and then lean on their horn because I stopped for the person in the crosswalk even though I did not slam on my brakes.

willyj, really? These are your actual opinions and judgements?

stillsmokin: “What;s with Costco raising their prices up to 1.17 now?? They said they weren’t going to play the other station’s game when everyone raised their prices before.. “

They said no such thing. Better keep on smokin’. The honeymoon is over.

In other news…

I see that WestJet has recently stopped flying the 737 out of PG. They are now flying the Turboprop Q400’s that Air Canada is flying via its ‘WestJet Encore’ service. Looks like we didn’t have the passenger loads to justify the expense of flying the 737 in and out.

Speaking of which, I predict the direct service to Calgary that CMA is currently running will end in 2014.

bentely: “I refused to let Hydro on my property to change the meter. Our friends own a farm as well and since they put the stealing meter on, their hydro bill has skyrocketed.”

Well, you can pay extra for an analog meter and the cost to read it. Hydro has given you that choice. Or… you can call them and disconnect your service.

My bills went down about 10% after I got my smart meter.

Costco in Kamloops 114.9, gasbuddy.com

Make the Price of Gas much lower then everyone else (re Costco) get many to buy a Membership, raise the Price of Gas again, great Move by Costco!

You don’t have to let Hydro or Telus on to your Property , but you won’t have any Service, are you happy now ?
I don’t like Smartmeters for only 1 Reason, we spent a Billion on it and now we have to pay for it.

Did mattyc change his name to PGCRIVESMECRAZY?

taxednmaxed, I’m glad your husband is okay. Crazy how fast life can change.

While I will become annoyed at the amount of media coverage Nelson Mandela’s passing will bring, the world lost a good one yesterday. Wish there were more like him.

taxednmaxed, nice post. Sorry to hear about the accident and happy to read that things are looking up. Your husband can have his ear transplanted off the back of a mouse.

I know it sounds a little freakydeaky, but what the heck… Its an amazing time we live in so why not reap the benefits!

Both drivers and pedestrians need to be more careful at crosswalks, but there’s another issue. Some crosswalks are very hard for a driver to see, especially in winter, when snow and ice obscure the lines on the pavement. When a crosswalk is marked only by lines on the pavement and perhaps a little sign by the side of the road, a driver may not notice it until he is quite close, at which point it can be a problem to stop. Overhead signs may be expensive an a bit of an eyesore, but in some cases better marking really is needed.

gus states; “I think we are seeing a State which has developed into goods and services people based resources rather than the “natural” resources which each State might or might not have.”

Hmm… not all of the US states, cities, countries and provinces listed as having banned tracking are in the position of NYC either, yet they have still banned tracking.

Question: Maybe it’s because tracking could have negative effects on water quality, environmental safety and human health? No, that couldn’t be the reason right? It must be something else…

http://thegoodhuman.com/2013/06/17/where-has-fracking-been-banned/

Time to move away from fossil fuels and towards clean green energy folks!

‘tracking’?

People#1: “Time to move away from fossil fuels and towards clean green energy folks!”

So easy to say isn’t it? What have _you_ done to meet that goal, People#1?

Why do so many people hate smart meters?

Once the digital network is up and running your power consumption will be accurately tracked up to the minute and can be viewed online after you have set up your myhydro account.

Contrary to now when Hydro only reads the meters once every 2 months and estimates the in between months…

So people have you left fossil fuels behind yet?

Here is an interesting read on our trending global cooling.

Have cold weather extremes been on the rise in recent years? A quick survey of weather extremes since the millennium seems to suggest this may be the ‘new’ reality of climate change. The northern hemisphere has witnessed four severe winters (2002/03, 2005/06, 2007/08, 2009/10) since 2000, with the European continent bearing the brunt of the cold weather. The severity of winter 2002/03 was felt all the way to south Asia, where hundreds of people in Vietnam and Bangladesh were reported to have died due to exposure to colder weather (due to lack of adequate heating in residential houses).

The winter of 2011/12 was quite severe, especially the month of February 2012 when minimum temperatures in parts of eastern Europe plunged to -40C in some locales, leading to several hundred deaths. The winter of 2012/13 was also colder than normal, with March 2013 setting record-breaking low temperatures in the UK, Berlin and parts of eastern Germany. Over North America, the winters of 2002/03, 2007/08 and 2009/10 were
significantly colder and snowier than normal and were linked to an extreme negative phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation, a slow-varying large-scale atmospheric flow pattern (Seager et al. 2010). Winter severity has also increased in northern India in recent years, where several hundred deaths (mostly of elderly people living in houses with no heat or insulation) have been reported in the last five years.

Several papers published in the last three years (Benestad 2010; Cattiaux et al. 2010; Lockwood et al. 2010) have linked the cold European winters of the last ten years to low solar activity (see NIPCC post on ‘Extreme cold winters over Europe’, dated 12 February 2012). Many solar scientists now suggest that winters in Europe could become even colder, as the sun enters a grand minimum in the next few years.

Besides Europe and North America, the entire continent of South America has seen colder winters over the last five years. The winters of 2007 (July in particular) and 2010 (June to July) were significantly colder than normal and several dozen deaths were reported in Argentina and Chile. Some locales in Argentina recorded low temperatures of −25C, and in July 2007 Buenos Aires recorded its first snowfall since 1918. The most recent winter (July 2013) saw snowfall at several dozen locales in Argentina, Chile and parts of southern Brazil (see Khandekar 2010, for a list of additional cold weather extremes).

It is of interest to note here the lack of news items on cold weather extremes in the media.

Most of the media seem to be obsessed with extremes of heat, completely ignoring cold weather extremes, despite these apparently being on the rise and despite the IPCC’s science failing to offer an explanation for them. In fact, the IPCC extreme weather events table projects ‘fewer cold days and frost in future’. It is also of interest to note here that most climate scientists and advocates of the global warming hypothesis have ignored the
‘cold’ reality of present climate change. The IPCC (2007) has discussed in some detail the European heatwave of summer 2003, but made no mention of the severely cold winter of 2002/03 and the deaths it caused in south Asia. The latest IPCC SPM AR5 released in Stockholm in September 2013 once again fails to mention increasing cold weather extremes of recent years.

Se support for the northern hemisphere winters cooling since 1995 here.

Also see the 17 year winter trends are negative for all 9 climate regions and the contiguous US.

“Time to move away from fossil fuels and towards clean green energy folks!”

Does such a beast exist? I’m not convinced that there is such a thing.

seamut all the cold is melting the ice.

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/shocking-before-and-after-photos-show-the-effects-of-cl-1476315647/@barrett

Ewitt the glaciers expanded during the little ice age. Since the end of the LIA about 1850, temperatures have been recovering and consequently some not all glaciers have been receding. In Greenland for example some receding glaciers are uncovering Viking farms. How did they get covered in the first place?

Oh for your information the earth has been in a continues ice age for the last 2 million years with very brief interglacial of which we are nearing the end of this interglacial.

Temperatures globally have shown a downward trend for about the last 2000 thousand years.

Did you know that the Medieval and Roman warm periods where warmer than today?

Do you want warm or cold?

People#1 how much do you donate to big green?

ewitt, south pole ice mass is increasing

Quite correct axeman, all forms of energy creation have an environmental footprint.

Obama has given wind farms a 30 year license to kill birds with no repercussions. Bald and golden eagles have taken a beating. It’s estimated that 600,000 birds are killed annually in the US. The number of wind turbines to supply even 25% of power needs would cover many additional thousands of acres. Think of the impact on bird populations.

500 Ducks in a tailings bond gets massive fines. Go figure.

This is the inconvenient truth of the green economy people,

Wow, thanks for the link ewitt… a picture(s) is worth a thousand words! I cannot believe some people, and particularly our own government, does not believe in climate change / global warming.

I guess when the industry (Big Oil & Gas) responsible for climate change / global warming flashes enough money in front of their faces, it must blind our government to the truth!!!

I will continue to hope and believe that we as Canadians, as a collective people, are smarter than this! Stop electing a government that chooses to back and believe an industry that is slowly killing our planet.

Elect a government that will gradually move us away from fossil fuel dependance and towards clean free energy, there is quire literally; “No Future” in fossil fuels!!!

slinky wrote: “…… all forms of energy creation ……”

Stupid me, I could have sworn that in grade 9 physics I learned that energy can be neither created nor destroyed. Maybe it was grade 10 physics ….

Yup …. I was right, first law of thermodynamics ….. the conservation of energy ….. ;-)

Why did all the comments on Nelson Mandela’s death get deleted and closed?

Why do some of my words change when I post? I proof read them before I post yet when I post they change! Lets try that last sentence again!

Elect a government that will gradually move us away from fossil fuel dependance and towards clean GREEN energy, there is QUITE literally; “No Future” in fossil fuels!!!

Peaple in the past 30 years there has only warming for 5.

Just in case you need a refresher gus as it has been a while since grade 10;)

Kahn Academy is an excellent website for everyone from highschool on. Never too old to learn something new.

https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/thermodynamics/v/first-law-of-thermodynamics–internal-energy

jetstream; Most likely because of me. I guess I don’t know that yer not suppose to speak ill of the dead.

seamuttttttt,

I have driven to Alberta via the icefields at least once a year for many yearsto visit in Calgary or skiing at Lake Louise or Sunshine and Columbia glacier has been noticably receeding for a lot longer than 5 years. Before long they will have to put in a refuelling station so the big buggies can make it to the ice and back to the Chalet

Harbinger: weird, because even on CBC today they were talking about Mandela’s criminal and violent past and that he never renounced the use of violence … ever.

If the liberal-minded folks at CBC can handle the truth, what on earth is the problem with this “news”(?) outlet?

It’s Ben’s sandbox so if he doesn’t like what you say you get censored. Simple as that jetstream.

Global warming, global cooling it really doesn’t matter. Mother Earth will correct herself with or without us. Does that mean stop trying to go green? No! But what has going so called green cost the environment already?

Earlier today on the Christmas Counterattack Impaired Driving Campaign i stated that in my opinion texting and driving, which i see every day, is just as dangerous as impaired driving. Am I alone on this?

onefingertyper. Impaired driving, which would be over .08% Blood Alcohol Content, is responsible for about 1/3 of all traffic fatalities.

So the other 2/3’s of fatalities are caused by distracted drivers, dangerous drivers, speeding, etc; etc; etc;.

The common assumption is that people who drive impaired should know better, and if they do drive then they are committing a crime.

We haven’t yet got to the point where we can make the same argument for the other causes of fatalities.

Impaired driving is a criminal offence, so should texting and driving be a criminal offence. Talking on a cell phone is taking your mind off the road probably not your eyes. Not
nearly as dangerous as drinking or texting while driving. imo

Having a bee or wasp fly in your car window while you are driving should be illegal too. I know when this happens, I freak and I am all over the road… LOL

I try to be some sort of shade of “green” when it comes to my personal carbon footprint. Unfortunately, I’m so darn cold tonight that I’m turning blue with cold.

Even though some people keep telling me that our snow and ice will be melting, with water running in the streets in the next week or so, the long term weather forecast still shows freezing temperatures for the rest of December!

Guess I’ll have to go grab another blanket AND turn the furnace up a notch!

lonesome sparrow any warming over the last 30 years only amounts to about 5 years. But there has been over all warming since the little ice age when temperature’s took a dive. The LIA ended about 1850. Over all the earth has not warmed up to were it was before the LIA.

Please read my earlier comments.

Follow the money there is hundreds of billions already paid out with a potential of trillions to follow if the UN gets it way, your pocket on a science that has no empirical proof that man has any effect on climate. So called climate change only exists in computer models, not real world data.

Follow the money.

“I will continue to hope and believe that we as Canadians, as a collective people, are smarter than this! Stop electing a government that chooses to back and believe an industry that is slowly killing our planet.”

Elect a government with ‘green energy’ fantasies instead? Doesn’t sound like much of a choice to me.