The Welcome Wagon is turned away at the gate….
And They’re Off…
Reader Tips
Tonight’s little Friday night oddity takes us back to a time when things like overpasses and railings were considered delightful, visually interesting expressions of the modern age – or at least, they were viewed that way in communist Poland. From 1969, here’s Polish vocal group the The Novi Singers performing a wordless, unidentified, erm, song.
The comments are open for your Reader Tips.
There Ought To Be A Law
A couple of years ago I wrote the following…
“When the sea of societal ills is so shallow that “phone calls I don’t like” is scraped from the bottom and added to the legislative agenda, when the public tolerance for disagreeable things has dropped so low that “I have to hold my breath” is a complaint worthy of the commiseration of 100,000 radio listeners, we have a problem.”
Well, with two years of said “no-call” legislation under the nation’s belt, it seems that it isn’t having the intended effect;
The 2006 legislation underpinning the do-not-call list appears to be a huckster’s dream. The process of investigating complaints and meting out penalties is dawdling along at such a leisurely pace that it’s hardly a deterrent to flouting the rules.
This is beautiful with a capital “B”. Unlike most nanny state regulations that afflict the unsuspecting and uncomplaining, this one is coming back to bite the very people who wanted it most.
So, I hope that list is sold to every third world call center on the planet, ’cause my number ain’t on it.
Via Chuck Adler.
“It’s for my son. I’d do anything for my son.”
Except parent him.
Dogs and soldiers, off the grass
We get e-mail:
I thought to write you this short note with less than 44 hours to go before kick-off at the BC Lions’ first home game of the 2010 CFL football season. As you are likely already aware, this season will be a unique one as the Lions’ return to Empire Field and will play all their home games outdoors while BC Place receives its new retractable roof.
Unfortunately, the Mayor of Vancouver, Gregor Robertson, has thrown a wrench into the opening ceremonies by not allowing an Air Force CF-18 fighter jet conduct a fly past at 500 feet AGL (Above Ground Level). Earlier today, the Mayor notified the BC Lions’ office that he had changed his mind and would no longer allow the fly past to take place. The President of the BC Lions, Mr. Dennis Skulsky, has tried to contact the Mayor directly to discuss the matter but Mayor Robertson has made himself unavailable.
So with that said, I’ve decided to contact all my friends, colleagues and business associates that are supporters of our men and women in uniform to advise them of this unfortunate development and to solicit your support to have Mayor Robertson honour his word and re-approve this fly past which I believe will allow the fans at Saturday’s game cheer for our troops.
Mayor Robertson’s telephone number is 604-873-7621 and e-mail is gregor.robertson@vancouver.ca should you wish to make your thoughts on this issue known…….the troops appreciate your support.
Because that nasty, loud jet-plane might disturb the heroin addicts, pollute the trees in Stanley Park, and drown out the foul-mouthed tirade of the street-person harrassing you for the change in your pocket, you know.
Update: SDA gets results!
Millions Of Americans Have Stopped Looking For Work
And why not?
I’ve been unemployed before, once for about 4 weeks. It wasn’t fun, but it was comfortable. I went to the unemployment office downtown, filled out some paperwork, and then checked my mailbox for a check every week.
I made a few efforts to find jobs that paid as much as the one I had lost. There were none.
Every two or three days I put on a suit and made the interview rounds, but The Cooking Channel beckoned. Blockbuster Video had tons of movies I’d not yet rented. Short trips to the lake were suddenly possible every day.
Various companies offered me jobs that were almost exactly the amount of my unemployment compensation. But why in the world would I want to take one of those and work for 40 hours a week when I could get the same amount by staying at home and learning how to cook Peking Duck and watching old episodes of Monty Python? Where were the incentives?
[Jackie Mroz, 22, of Oregon City] graduated in 2009 with degrees in international studies and sociology and a double minor in nonprofit administration and African Studies.”
What could possibly go wrong?
Both links via the Captain. More on “perpetual unemployment extensions” here.
Greene Jobs
Don’t go giving him ideas…
Another thing we can do for jobs is make toys of me, especially for the holidays. Little dolls. Me. Like maybe little action dolls. Me in an army uniform, air force uniform, and me in my suit. They can make toys of me and my vehicle, especially for the holidays and Christmas for the kids. That’s something that would create jobs. “
I Know What You’re Thinking
They still allow trampolines in Britain?
(Indeed – it does sound a lot like a Pride parade float.)
Reader Tips
The great thing about whining is that unlike, say, playing Rachmaninoff on the piano, or running a mile in four minutes, anyone can do it. Tonight’s musical selection, from light and lovely-voiced British songbirds Lois Wilkinson and Andrea Simpson – The Caravelles – tells us something that too many of us – even those who don’t watch the CBC’s victim-of-the-day stories or read the Toronto Star – already know: You Don’t Have To Be A Baby To Cry.
You are invited to victimize your fellow SDA readers with your tips.
Y2Kyoto: Easy Wash, Easy Go
After all, it’s only your money;
NORTH Vancouver’s hydrogen-powered car wash, part of the province’s touted Hydrogen Highway, has not been powered by hydrogen since the beginning of April.
The Easywash eco-friendly car wash at Main Street and Mountain Highway has been running on electricity from the public grid for the past 3* months, ever since government funding for the demonstration project expired.
Now witness as this massive real world fail undergoes transformation into “conceptual” success….
About 70 per cent of the fuel cell’s costs were covered by a grant from provincial and federal governments.
The car wash project was only intended to show the concept could work, which it did, said Armstrong.
Your takeaway Green Energy Lesson for Today – “Never underestimate the power in bullshit”.
h/t Helene
Oh, Sweet Saint Of San Andreas
He Should Have Started With The Easy Stuff
“The border’s too big. The hole in the Gulf is too deep. The recession is too stubborn. Maybe we should find the president a smaller, easier-to-manage country to govern.”
Illinois: Not Hopey Changey Enough!
Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
New York Times, July 2nd – [Illinois’s comptroller, Daniel W. Hynes] shakes his head. “This is not some esoteric budget issue; we are not paying bills for absolutely essential services…”
Big Government, July 7th – On July 1st this year, 40,000 or so AFSCME state employees happily collected a 7% percent “cost of living adjustment”. July 1st next year, they will get another 7%. In short, in 2 years, they will get a 14% raise.
h/t Rob Z.
Previous!
To The Good Citizens of Toronto Sweltering Through This Heat Wave
Just think of it as practice.
h/t andycanuck
Reader Tips
The key to keeping cool in hot weather is to wear light clothing, and, most importantly, to keep your dance moves small and subtle; you’re supposed to feel the heat, not make more of it. If you’re not sure what the proper technique is, simply follow the example of the extra-double lovely Martha Reeves, as she and the Vandellas perform Heatwave.
You are invited, as always, to provide your Reader Tips in the comments.
The Unfinished Symphony Of Horse Racing
Ruffian: April 17, 1972 – July 7, 1975
What Would We Do?
Besides offering an official apology? A website from The Canada-Israel Committee.
Reinventing The Zero
Now is the time at SDA when we juxtapose!
NASA head Charles Bolden, July 2010 –“[Obama] wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world […] to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering.”
Gateway Pundit, Jan. 2009 – Local Muslims want the monastery of Mor Gabriel to be appropriated and divided up among them. They say there used to be a mosque there and have a case with the Turkish Court. The monastery was founded in 397 AD. Islam, of course, was founded in the 7th century.