How in the world can people who drive vehicles with these loud boom boxes ever hear an emergency vehicle?
Yes, they may see them, when the emergency vehicle is on their bumper...

I wonder what they plan on making that big dirt mound in front of Wal-mart into... its starting to grow its on eco-system on it now... what will the environmentalists say when they come to take it all down?

Also I wonder if the professor from the university should be investigating to see if we have a time dilation pocket seperated from the time continuum or something of that nature in the location of highway 16 west... either that or someone should check the record books for time it takes to build a sidewalk... I think were going on five years that sidewalk has been 'under construction'... and what about the Sandman across the street lol they must have one man building that thing alone... I wonder if it will be open by 2012?

Just seems kind of strange is all... conspiracy or coincidence... I'm not sure?

I agree, but not much different than these new luxury sedans with so much sound barrier the drivers can't hear the goings on around the vehicle. Or Harleys with "Screaming Eagle" pipes. Or logging trucks or ...

BCRailgate just keeps chugging along. So much for an open , transparent and accountable government! If an ordinary citizen destroyed evidence he would be tasered!

Here's a tip for the City of PG on how to save money.... change the shower tap system at the Four Seasons Leisure Pool to a time limited push-button system like they have at the Aquatic Centre.

For the past year, I have been a regular user of both the pool facilities. Every single time I go to the FSLP, two or more of the showers are spraying away with nobody in the shower area. When l leave, and pass by the showers, there they are again, flowing freely with nobody using them.

For the life of me, I cannot understand why people just leave the hot water running. It drives me wild with all that waste and the energy needed to keep the water warm. Somebody tell me... does this happen in the women's change room as well?

When the FSLP goes into it's annual down time for maintenance, I highly recommend changing the shower taps to a time limited push button system like the Aquatic Centre has. The cost of installation would be more than paid for with energy savings.

I forgot to add.... I do shut them off when I walk by.

Idol Michael Jackson dies. Love or hate him he was prefect magic. The world just hadn't seen anyone like him. The kid had it. In many ways he was bigger then any of them. All that talent in one person. Strange indeed but we will never see this again and I am lucky to have experienced this. Jackson forever

If we could show as much greif for the thousands of chidren that die every day of starvation around the world as we do a middle age pop singer. I do love music and think MJ was a genius but......

His father is who made MJ and and deserves zilch thoughts from me.

From the link below

"From a young age Jackson was physically and emotionally abused by his father, enduring incessant rehearsals, whippings and name-calling. Jackson's abuse as a child affected him throughout his grown life. In one altercation — later recalled by Marlon Jackson — Joseph held Michael upside down by one leg and "pummeled him over and over again with his hand, hitting him on his back and buttocks". Joseph would often trip up, or push the male children into walls.

One night while Jackson was asleep, Joseph climbed into his room through the bedroom window. Wearing a fright mask, he entered the room screaming and shouting. Joseph said he wanted to teach his children not to leave the window open when they went to sleep. For years afterwards, Jackson suffered nightmares about being kidnapped from his bedroom.

"Jackson first spoke openly about his childhood abuse in a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey. He said that during his childhood he often cried from loneliness and would sometimes get sick or start to vomit upon seeing his father.

In Jackson's other high profile interview, Living with Michael Jackson (2003), the singer covered his face with his hand and began crying when talking about his childhood abuse. Jackson recalled that Joseph sat in a chair with a belt in his hand as he and his siblings rehearsed and that "if you didn't do it the right way, he would tear you up, really get you."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson

to much lmfao

As one wise person wrote some time back much of this is not about grief for the famous people who are gone, as it is about the realization that an era the observer went through is gone and the observer will not be able to bring those life experiences back again.

All of us, no matter what generation we are part of, recollect, especially when we attend a public concert. We clap as soon as we start to hear the first few notes of a known and much beloved song that takes us each back into our own memories of where we were when we heard those songs .. an old girl or boyfriend … a favourite summer at a cottage .. whatever …. The clapping is more for us than for the performers.

The same with a famous person passing on. A big part of what is going on is that we lament the passing of an era that WE went through and the realization that it will not come back.

For me it is certainly not Farah Fawcett. I was never into the type of productions she was in. So no big memories for me there.

I think MJ was the consummate world class artist, including his eccentric lifestyle. With the kind of money he had, he could afford it.

Given the child abuse he underwent in his youth, it would be interesting to discuss whether his creation of Neverland was an attempt to counteract his father’s mistreatment of him as well as his lost childhhood. The media thinks so http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/06/26/2009-06-26_neverland_was_his_oz_jackson_designed_ranch_to_reclaim_lost_childhood_flee_outsi.html

He was my son’s and daughter’s generation more than mine, so there is little that I can attach to there. John Lennon, Janis Joplin, even John Denver and Johnny Carson, and many others are the ones with whom I associate much more and whose passing I lamented much more.

"How in the world can people who drive vehicles with these loud boom boxes ever hear an emergency vehicle"

I'd be more worried about the noise drowning high frequency squeal of country music emminating from a pickup with a crappy stock stereo, than the low frequency boom of an after market sub, at least when it comes to concealing other outside noises. The frequency plays a big role in the ears ability to detect other noises and since low frequencies carry such long distances, the "boom" you hear may actually be quieter (on an absolute volume basis) than the annoying chatter of a diesel engine being floored from a red light.

The following is from an article titled "Canadian Taxpayers Federation calls for property-tax cap to contain municipal and regional pay hikes"

The B.C. director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says there should be a property-tax cap to control spending by local governments.
Maureen Bader claimed that this is necessary to stop the type of pay hikes that Straight.com reported earlier today at Metro Vancouver.

According to a report going to the Metro Vancouver board tomorrow (June 26), 248 regional district employees received remuneration in excess of $100,000 last year. That’s almost double the 129 Metro Vancouver employees who were paid in excess of $100,000 in 2007.

Metro Vancouver chief administrative officer Johnny Carline collected $291,755 in 2008. That’s a $31,620 boost over what he received in 2007.

“This is the same story probably all over British Columbia—but certainly all over the Lower Mainland—where we’ve got municipal staff and municipal governments giving themselves giving themselves pay increases and who are at salary levels far in excess of the people who are stuck paying the bills,” Bader said

“What we need from the provincial government is a cap on property taxes, which would force municipal councils to make difficult decisions, like for instance keeping salary levels under control,” Bader said.

“What we need to do is to get more competition in the provision of municipal services, which would then allow for these salary levels to be moderated and probably fall.”

http://www.straight.com/article-237305/bc-taxpayers-federation-calls-propertytax-cap-contain-municipal-and-regional-pay-increases

Another plea, or rant; Please, please fix the potholes and roughly patched former holes.
Give us a month or two of smooth motoring before we once again have to endure the kidney pulping streets of PG in the winter.
Hey, even with all the delays, it sure is nice to see some serious roadwork going on, the new bridges and widened roads will make life easier for drivers.
Have a luvverly week end all.
metalman.

"Metro Vancouver chief administrative officer Johnny Carline collected $291,755 in 2008. That’s a $31,620 boost over what he received in 2007."

What did he receive in 2006?

"248 regional district employees received remuneration in excess of $100,000 last year. That’s almost double the 129 Metro Vancouver employees who were paid in excess of $100,000 in 2007."

I guess that means that those 119 that hit the >$100,000 mark must have earned around say $95,000 to $100,000 in 2007 and got a raise of say between 2% and 5.5% to get them over the $100,000 hump.

Like really, who dreams up these figures and does not provide hard facts rather than causing people to reach thier own conclusion on inadequate information.

You are really good at that Charles. Do some more research please and give us some information we can sink our teeth into once in a while.

Jeez, Glen Clark missed the boat on destroying evidence. All he had to do was burn down his deck, and end of problems!

MJ a Mormon when he died?

I hate the railing they have in front of the garden recycling bin at the Vanway Transfer Station. It sucks. If they don't want people falling in the bins, why not put up a chain link fence and the folks can just push their garden waste through the little holes?

The article I posted earlier came from the web site Fair Pensions For All.

The caption on the home page of this blog says "Pensions have become a major issue for our society. A crisis has been building for several years. Now due to the economic meltdown the level of the crisis has risen dramatically. This Blog is an attempt to stay on top of the current issues and to provide relevant information about the issues."

The following is the link to this blog:

http://fairpensionsforall.blogspot.com/

I suspect the topic of private and public sector pension plans will be thoroughly discussed as (to borrow a phrase from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer) the economy "goes through an unprecedented reset"

" Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said in Chicago on Thursday that the economy “is going through an unprecedented reset” and contrasted that with a recession.

Rather than a recession—which ends after a while—Ballmer sees a lasting economic change, or what he and others are calling “a new normal.”

The “reset” involves an economy that no longer is driven by debt, productivity and innovation. Rather, debt will no longer be plentiful. So productivity and innovation will be the drivers."

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/marksjarvis_on_money/2009/06/ballmer-sees-an-economy-deprived-of-debt.html

Thanks for the comments about the mufflers (or lack thereof) in P.G. I'm so tired of having my day to day life assaulted by these loud pipes. Doesn't this city have anti-noise bylaws?
The people that have these vehicles don't seem to realize that they won't be able to hear their own children talk to them, much less their precious grandchildren. Hearing damage is gradual and permanent. To all of us, not just the idiots that seem to think these pipes are cool.
Do we start calling City Hall or the RCMP?

I am sorry, but I am going to admit in public that Ballmer's rhetoric is all jargon to me.

"debt will no longer be plentiful" and the economy is no longer driven by debt.

Sounds good to me. So it will be driven by grants. The government will no longer print bonds creating government debt. Instead, it will print money directly and give grants which do not have to be paid back. Smart move.

Next.