47 Replies to “Because I Can”

  3. That photo gave me a migraine just thinking about it! The tree huggers would think hubby and I were criminally non-green..Dodge truck..hemi of course,an SUV,Bronco homemade dump truck,an airplane,and a ’69 Charger.Boys and toy..and Momma loves that musclecar rumble!I’ll take that sound over a Prius anytime!

  4. I got a wave for the commute, a sierra for the haul, and one of the last 88fiero GTs to come of the line. One of these years I may ask Kate to decorate the 88. Or maybe not. It’s totally original and getting closer to that magical twenty-five years.

  5. Pathfinder 4×4 for the snow that never arrived here in Ontario.
    We dont get snow lately because the lieberals exhale and warm our climate with hot air.

  8. Mass transit only works when you have population sufficiently condensed and transit lines sufficiently networked to offer a real alternative to travel by car.
    In Canada, mass transit could only be considered in major cities. Even in Toronto, though, we have two GO transit lines running east-west along the shoreline and one running north-south, with buses plying the major highways. The secondary system to distribute the passengers off the mainlines are not great. If you don’t happen to live or work directly on a major transit line, then your commute can easily be twice that of driving by car.
    Therefore, mass transit is not a solution…it is a poor alternative.
    Trouble is…to keep the green eco-freaks quiet and to help those that really can’t afford private transportation, a politician is pretty much forced to support and expand mass transit. But it is a fools errand.

  9. 240 hp taurus for the hwy
    honda civic for around town
    110 hp 17 ft ski boat
    6.5 craftsman for my yuppy lawn…..which my ‘s$%^ don’t stink ‘ neighbours hate

  11. As someone who currently doesn’t own a car and is forced to use the inefficient, inadequate Central Florida bus system to get around, I can vouch for what Eeyore says. As far as I know the only city in the USA where it is more convenient to use mass transit than a car is New York City; for the rest of the country the bus is a slower, more time-consuming system of getting around. If I had a car I’d be at work in fifteen minutes. But I don’t, so it takes me an hour and a half and I have to take three buses. Cities here are just too spread out for mass transit to be efficient.

  12. i guess complex issues like urban gridlock are difficult to grasp for the small percentage of canadians who live in rural canada.
    to be honest, i don’t care how many vehicles you own as long as you’re willing to pay the true cost of filling them with gas.
    i doubt, somehow,that many of those who insist they need 8 cylinders to be whole will be very willing to pay 5 bucks a litre though. to you, i say, too f’ing bad. find other ways to fill your testosterone tanks.
    before any splits a gasket and cries,” what about the farmers?” they should be entitled to cheap gas. the rest of you can ride the bus or pay full market value. you’re all a bunch of free market champions anyhow. shouldn’t be to hard to get your
    heads around. peace, love and good public transit.

  13. Mass Transit isn’t bad in certain situations …
    In Calgary the C-Train is overcrowded (and inadequate because of that) but is a reasonably quick way to get downtown or to somewhere near the train lines; and a bus is fine as long as you start/stop on the same bus line. The problem in Calgary is we live in such a large city with a de-centralized population that to go most places requires you to transfer from a bus, to the train and back to a bus later on; this means that a 15-30 minute car ride becomes a 90-120 minute transit trip.
    In my opinion, a City the size of Calgary should have been building many more family sized condo’s a decade ago so the sprawl didn’t become as bad and we would have areas of this city where transit was adequate.

  14. Jeff are you aware of the difference in fuel mileage between a v-8 and a v-6?
    I drive chevy trucks, i recently went looking for a new one, and when i get around to buying, it will be a v-8. The difference in mileage is insignificant, but theres a huge difference in the power when your pulling the hills.

  15. I used to live in Toronto and I could get anywhere in the city by bicycle faster than by transit. I could also get almost anywhere faster by bike than by car. I don’t live in Toronto any more but I still commute almost 20 km each way to work, although I don’t do it in bad weather because with a no traffic drive and free parking the incentives to using the bike just aren’t there anymore.
    I don’t ride my bike because I’m an eco freak, its just the only way I can fit getting exercise into my day, and if I’m not in the car my wife who is at home with the kids can use it. I also have a shower, change room and company clothes to put on when I get there that makes it really easy. Most people who work in offices have to deal with this issue some other way. Also, now that I am not in Toronto, the roads are terrible and I have to pick my route to work based on not getting killed by cars and not getting killed by broken and falling apart asphalt. Bikes are great, they are certainly not the solution for everyone, but on a good day I can do by 20 km in about 45 min. Considering that I get a good workout and its only about 20 min longer than driving its a good deal. Although by bike did cost me more than most cars I’ve owned.
    mbaron

  16. As usual, Jeff, you’ve got it wrong…or at least not entirely right.
    I take it that, as an “artist” living in Toronto, you don’t commute to work, so it is easy for you to tell others how they are supposed to live their lives. You live in Toronto and likely close to transit, so your needs are adequately covered. Sorry, but the majority of the rest of the country actually works for a living and their life isn’t as easy as yours.
    As for the “true” cost of gasoline, what exactly would that be? More than half of the cost of gas is taxes and a good chunk of those taxes were applied with the strict intent of using it to maintain roads…instead, they have siphoned off those taxes and applied them to general revenue, leaving our roads in relatively poor condition.
    If you’re talking about the “true” cost of gasoline in terms of environmental damage, then you can’t just stop at gasoline. What is the “true” cost of paper when you consider the toxic waste that the pulp and paper mills dump into the water? What is the “true” cost of electricity? What is the “true” cost of the clothes you buy that are made by (essentially) slave labour in third world countries?
    There’s a big picture out there that I’m afraid that your myopic view can’t discern. As the bible says, you can see the speck in your neighbour’s eye, but can’t see the log sticking out of your own.

  17. That’s right Jeff,we “rural hicks”just don’t care about being green..NOT!It is a matter of necessity,that hubby and I have 4×4’s(the Charger is a special baby,and gets driven maybe 10kms a yr)If I didn’t have the option of 4wh.drive,there are many days I just couldn’t get to work,and I because of nature of my job..I HAVE to get to work!I do already pay dearly for fuel,but if I don’t get to work..I don’t get paid!Maybe I should sit at home,and collect welfare,as opposed to being a contributing member of society.The world does not revolve around you city folk,and to give you an example of how out of touch”citified”people are..I was once told by prov.gov’t rep.when I called to complain about fuel costs(ndp),to “take a bus to work”..I live almost 200kms.from nearest city bus route,and when I asked which bus I should take from small town A,to hamlet B,she hung up on me!That’s the reality of the disconnect between city/rural.

  18. By the way, regarding “gridlock”…I drive Toronto during the rush hour and still can make my commute in less than half the time it would take me to take transit. Some gridlock, eh? You speak of things you know nothing about.
    mbaron, bikes are wonderful for the relatively short haul and I applaud your solution. I would greatly like to see dedicated lanes / routes / streets for bikes only but keep them off the main roadways…much too dangerous. Given the extra time for commuting by bike, I see bikers ignore stop signs and red lights and blast through intersections with just the tiniest of glances so they don’t lose time or momentum.
    I live at a reasonable distance from my work (30 minutes of freeway speeds if no traffic), therefore a bike is not a solution for me. And many (almost all) places I’ve worked have NOT had showers, so I couldn’t reasonably entertain that possibility.

  20. All these complaints about wasting time on transit is bunkum in many situations. The wasting of time is driving your own vehicle where you can really do nothing more than drive, Transit, with a chauffeaur doing the driving allows you the time to read the morning newspaper, use your cell phone safely, do the crossword to keep your brain occupied and relax after a day at work.

  21. Lexus ES300 (if you get bored owning the same car for 15-20 years at no cost, don’t get one!).
    Yamaha FJR1300 motorpickle, 145 HPs.
    In my Vancouver garage, on battery tender. Can’t get out due to icy lane and icy streets in my hilly Point Grey redoubt.
    All because of the climate injustice caused by the ruthless ZiLLa’s “Pathfinder 4×4 for the snow that never arrived here in Ontario”

  22. Morning Kate; Tell us again how much CO2 comes out of that volcano you have the web-cam on. Maybe we could start stuffing “Jeffs” in until it stops belching GHG’s.

  23. I used to think that having 50 people on one bus instead of 50 people in 50 cars helped reduce gridlock, but now that I’ve seen this picture I know how wrong I was. Thank you for opening up my eyes to the truth SDA.

  24. Hmm… Kate, perhaps you should meet my brother. Smart guy, real conservative, commissioned officer in the CF, runs a military hospital in Alberta. Owns four vehicles…
    Thunderbird SC;
    Ford Explorer;
    Chevy Suburban;
    Honda motorcycle (dunno what kind; I’m a car guy)
    He ain’t married, either, honey…
    Myself, for the record: a ’06 Chevy Cobalt, folks:
    http://thumbsnap.com/v/qoaTFRVr.jpg
    It may have the base engine, but I’ve burned rubber twice… while already moving!

  25. “i guess complex issues like urban gridlock are difficult to grasp for the small percentage of canadians who live in rural canada.”
    Not so difficult at all. That’s why I moved from Edmonton to rural Alberta. You’ll never get me to live in a city ever again.

  26. “I have a pickup truck, a Dodge Caravan and a vintage 2-stroke street motorcycle.
    Posted by: Kate”
    Kate, I wonder why you’d use such a flawed argument like Captain C.’s to justify that, when you have legitimate arguments to base your ownership of 3 vehicles on (business, survival, employment, hobby, etc). I have 2 vehicles, a car and a bicycle, and I don’t feel I have to justify having more than one. At some point in my life it’s plausible I’ll have two motor vehicles, and I hope I wouldn’t use flawed traffic theory to justify it.
    Here’s my rebuttal: abandonedstuff com/2007/01/16/trafficdenier

  27. i doubt, somehow,that many of those who insist they need 8 cylinders to be whole will be very willing to pay 5 bucks a litre though. to you, i say, too f’ing bad. find other ways to fill your testosterone tanks.
    Feh. A few years ago I built a 408 stroker motor to replace the 289 in my ’66 mustang, made it a nice little 10 second car. It gets about 4, count ’em 4 miles per gallon when driving it conservatively (frequently when the weather is fit). Punch open the 4bbl and look in the rear view mirror to see an awesom black cloud of unburned hydrocarbons! I never batted an eye when paying $3.25 per gallon for premium last summer.

  28. The only justification I need in a free society is that I want one. Jeffy I’ll start paying full pop for gas when you start paying full pop for public transit.

  29. Boilermaker: ten sec to the 1/4?
    Gonna have a hard time convincing me your garage-tuned ‘stang is a second and a tenth faster to the 1/4 than the $1.5 million 1,000-hp/1,000 lb-ft Bugatti EB 16-4 Veyron. 🙂

  30. CS seeing as a normally aspirated 408 produces around 518HP and 525 ft/lbs of torque why not?

  31. BTW I surprised a 928S driver one july afternoon. His only comment was do you always drive that fast without a Radar detector.

  32. I should have added this Bugatti said in a press release somewhere that they overshot their target of 1550kg, so the complete car is more near 1600kg. That isn’t significantly above the F1. But when you have the power, weight isn’t that important. Weight is only a factor on lower speed hill climbs, and accelleration.1600 kg is a lot of weight. Also where did you get that quarter mile time? For a car that will hit 300kph in under fourteen seconds, an eleven second quarter seems a little slow 😉

  33. Here are some real life numbers from the GTA:
    I live in Richmond Hill (just north of Toronto), and work in Scarborough, about 25 km away on the most direct route. I have three choices: drive, GO train and TTC bus, or York Region bus and TTC bus. Alternately, I can carpool with a colleague who lives just a few blocks from me. Here’s how the alternatives work out (all costs are round trip per day without taking into account buying monthly passes, which, if you miss one day of travel, are less economic than buying on a day-by-day basis):
    York/TTC Bus: cost $2.25 YRT bus, $2.50 TTC each way, so daily total is $9.50. Time required (bus from Bayview/Elgin Mills to Finch Terminal, bus from Finch Terminal to my office): 1:30 each way best case, so daily total is 3:00 hours.
    GO Train/TTC Bus: cost $.50 York bus to GO terminal, $3.10 GO, $2.50 TTC in the morning; return trip is as above, as I can’t make the GO connection northbound. Total daily cost $10.85. Time: 1:30 each way, but significantly more comfortable in the morning, as GO train is faster and less crowded than buses.
    Drive: I have three different route choices. I can take Elgin Mills across to Markham Road, and go down Markham to Finch. 25 km distance, time about 1 hour. Since my clunker gets about 5 km/liter in the city, on a daily basis that’s about 10 liters, which at $0.80/l, is $8.00.
    I could also take the toll highway, the 407. If I had a transponder, each trip would cost me about $2.00 in toll. This trip is significantly faster – about 35 minutes each way. And, since a good chunk is highway instead of city, I use a little less gas, but it’s hard to compute the real difference. Still, my total commute time is only 70 minutes, which is less than my one-way time by bus only.
    Finally, I can carpool with my friend. Because there are two of us, we can use the High Occupancy Lane on the 404 South, to the 401, which we take in the uncrowded East direction. This is slightly longer in length – about 40 km each way – but doesn’t involve the toll charge. It also takes slightly longer, about 40-45 minutes each way. But the majority of the trip is highway, so gas consumption isn’t so bad, and of course we split it. For 9 liters of fuel at $0.80/l, that’s $3.60 per person.
    Let me try to summarize in a table:
    YR/TTC Bus: Cost $9.50 Time 3 hours
    GO train/TTC: Cost $10.85 Time 3 hours
    Drive/no toll Cost $8.00 Time 2 hours
    Drive/toll Cost $12.00 Time 1.2 hours
    Drive/carpool Cost $3.60 Time 1.5 hours
    So even if I drive by myself, I save both time and money over the public transit options. (I realize this assumes that I’m not considering the costs of owning a car such as maintenance, insurance, etc., but I would own a car anyway without needing it to commute so I consider those as sunk costs.) And to me, the biggest issue is “What is my time worth?”. That extra 45 minutes in the morning lets me sleep to 7:00 am, instead of getting up at 6:15, and living with a constant sleep gap. In the evening, that means I get to see my daughters at 6:00 pm, instead of 6:45. Who can put a price on those hours?
    But even if you ignore that, and compare the cost of the YR/TTC bus option with the drive/toll option, the extra $2.50 a day buys me an extra hour and a half. So the question is “Do I value my time at more than $1.66 per hour?”, and the answer is “I do”.
    I lived in downtown Toronto for years at Bloor and St. George, steps from the subway. I never needed to go to the burbs, and transit was a great solution for me. But once I got married, moved out of the city, and into the suburbs – forget it. There are few transit solutions that work out to be cheaper, faster, or less convenient than cars. (Note: I didn’t say not all; I worked for a few months at the Royal Bank Centre at Bay and King – I happily took the GO train every day. It was reliable, comfortable, gave me a chance to read the paper and enjoy a coffee, and I didn’t have to worry about traffic or parking. It’s not that transit is futile; it needs better planning, and better ways to emulate the automobile experience.)

  34. A few years back (6 or 7) there was transit strike in Calgary. Downtown traffic never moved so well. Taking the buses off the road sped things up even though there were alot more cars in the core.
    Right now parking in Calgary is the big expense, and when I work downtown I happily forego the driving experience to save the parking costs. However, if you don’t work downtown, public transit in Calgary is a disaster. Bus – train – bus just isn’t worth it … 90-120 minutes v. 20 minutes makes a huge difference to my daily life.

  35. “In my opinion, a City the size of Calgary should have been building many more family sized condo’s a decade ago so the sprawl didn’t become as bad and we would have areas of this city where transit was adequate.”
    Calgary isn’t so much a city in the conventional sense but a giant suburb. You need a car. Most North American cities are built around the automobile so it’s always going to be the fastest option for most people in them.

  36. Jeff, Jeff, Jeff. I avg about 10mpg in my Chev truck and I just love letting it idle. Even when gas is over a buck a liter. My favourite is letting it run while I’m filling up with gas. It makes me feel like I’m helping to turn Canada into a tropical paradise.
    The only part that pisses me off is knowing that all those taxes from my gas aren’t going to roads like they are supposed to but are instead going to fund some lazy ass opera singer in Montreal, or some “artist” that hangs dead rabbits from trees, or…well…you get the picture. If it wasn’t for all us folks burning all this petroleum the Cdn gov’t would have to cut back on your beloved social programs so that you can “survive”.
    Damn I hate commies!
    Now I’m gonna go and let my truck idle outside for awhile.

  37. Right on Johnboy!Ditto..only mine’s an suv..put 50 bucks worth of gas in today,to drive 300 kms.The comfort/security of my ride are worth every penny!
    Do ya smoke too,while filling up??? I hear real men do that!
    Hey Jeff,are you cringing yet??

  38. Sammy, No I don’t smoke, but I do like to overfill my tank and dump some gas on the ground. I love watching that stuff run down the side of my truck. There’s something so damn luxurious about wasting gasoline.
    Oh yeah…I cut a tree down today too.

  39. Beat ya on the tree thing…I burnt a tree and a half in the woodstove,have 1 in shop,1 in house..all that awful woodsmoke in the air,but hey,I’m toasty warm,love the smell of a fire!Hydro goes out,can cook on it too.Great to be self sufficient out here in the boonies!

  40. Jeff. My “testosterone tank” is already full. That is why I have moved on to my gas tank. Everyone knows that you can’t fill your gas tank until you’re testosterone tank is full.
    Don’t worry though. Not everyone matures at the same rate. You’ll get there little fella. Just remember to eat your vegetables and ALL of your meat.

  42. Actually, I have worked in the oil sands and the picture you have sent is a picture of a part of a mine in “action”. Once the oil is removed from the bitumen the “sand” sans oil is returned from whence it came (ie: back to the “hole”). Then…the surface soils are returned and the whole area is seeded with grasses etc. The mine actually leaves it better than new.
    Typical untruths coming from moronic left wing granola crunching tree huggers that DO NOT have a clue.
    Guess I better get going to work. My truck should be warmed up after idling for 45 minutes.

  43. johnboy, you have assumed too much. There is a “mine in action” in the picture. I do not see any claim there as to what the mine leaves behind. Your reply is a typical ad hominem attack.

  44. the pic from china is misleading. the sudden increase in # of private vehicles due to economic growth has outstripped the road system.
    validity of the point depends on the # of occupants in the bus, thus a calculation of avg area on the roadway required by each occupant of a given vehicle. I suspect busses come out on the better side of the equation.
    alas, righties, lefties, moderates eta al, spin spin spin !!! the only thing NOT spinning are the wheels of the vehicles.
    regarding #s of vehicles, I was impressed with me brudder the plumber in BC:
    – a toyota jeep for hunting excursions
    – a cadillac for long trips to visit the kids
    – the company truck and
    – a station wagon for whatever it was.
    you can only drive one at a time and he cut a deal with the insurance company.
    thus, he chooses which vehicle is the most appropriate and efficient for the task at hand.

  45. I want all the bus riders to pay the FULL price of there ride, so instead of the 2.50 or so they should be paying the 8.50 or so.
    Im sick of subsidizing you fools.

  46. _lc the reason you do not see is because you are lazy and do not look.
    From Syncrudes web site:
    Top awards for wood bison project
    Through the Beaver Creek Wood Bison Ranch, Syncrude and the Fort McKay First Nation co-manage the country’s largest conservation herd of wood bison outside of the national parks. This project contributes to our ongoing reclamation research. Work continues to register the herd of some 300, which may aid in species conservation efforts by confirming the animals are indeed pure wood bison. The health of the herd remains excellent. In fact, awards were won by each of the eight animals entered into the annual Wild Rose Classic Show and Sale, including the top prize of Reserve Grand Champion.
    Tailings
    During the year, work to reclaim Syncrude’s former East mine continued, using composite tailings as the foundation for the future landform. Already, some 35 million cubic metres of tailings have been deposited in this area, which will see full-scale reclamation and planting around 2010. As work progresses, increased consultation is planned to inform stakeholders of key milestones and the long-term vision for this area.
    The composite tailings process is more fully discussed on page 60 of Syncrude’s 2003 Sustainability Report: http://www.syncrude.com
    “Tailings technology development continues to be a high priority for Syncrude’s research teams; they are focused on minimizing the impact of our operations, improving our reclamation capabilities, earning the support of our stakeholders and reducing costs.”
    Since 2001 Syncrude has planted 1.8 million seedlings. This is ongoing with set targets for each year.
    BTW I worked at the Iron Ore Company of Canada when we were taking 30 million tons of rock out each and every year, also at Wabush mines where 8 million tons of product were produced each year, Cyprus Anvil Mining in Faro YT, 3 million tons per year. Northwest Territories Colomac mine as well. That picture is a mine in action. I have seen the worst of the worst. The water turned red from the tailings produced by Quebec Cartier Mining, a thousand kilos a day of sodium cyanide, plus copper sulfate, xanthate, soda ash, etc. dumped into the river valleys with no regard for the enviroment. You think the Oil sands are bad? Buddy you ain’t seen nothing.
    Further more I don’t see you complaining about the widespread destruction that occurred with the daming of James Bay, nor the upcoming destruction of 400 square kilometers of pristine wilderness for a powerplant in Quebec!
    And another thing:It would not matter if I owned a hundred vehicles, I can only drive one at a time. The ninety-nine that I would leave parked would produce ZERO emmissions. If you have something against consumption I would suggest that you move into a cave, wear a grass skirt, a hair shirt and use a wooden hoe to till the soil and a stone axe/spear to hunt. I am sure that you will get used to your diet of bugs and berries.

  47. So Kate, whatever happened to your motorcycle adventures? They were a pretty good read. Had me scanning the bargain finder for an old bike.

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