$9.99 per Litre of Gas?

"Cleans As You Drive"

Cleans what, your pocket book?

Today, some of the gas stations in Sarnia, Ontario made some adjustments to their signs that announce the price of gasoline - they added an extra digit holder on the left side...this will now enable these thieves to run the price of gas right up to almost ten dollars per litre, before having to make bigger signs.

If you notice, people now are saying how low the gas is that it dropped below the eighty cent mark...my God.

I suppose, when the gas gougers upped the price to almost a buck-fifty last summer, this under eighty looks good to most.

Why did they drop the price? It is a wait and see about what is going to happen with the election.
If you notice, back when the gas prices were extreme, there was much talk about a concerted effort by these companies to play with the rates...then there was talk about a gas inquiry by the Federal Government. Now, we hear nothing, just watch the boys fix the signs and make room for one extra digit to clean out pocket books out.

My Tide is Now A Changin

"There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold"

"FREEDOM 55"

Nice ring to that eh? Catchy? You bet, but how many people actually realize this situation wherein a person can quit their day job and move on to something that is of an interest in their lives and not something that simply brings home the bread?

Today, I am fortuante to be in that position, one that may take me to a brand new career - something maybe adventurous - a "Brave New World" maybe?

Yes, after all these years of "moiling for gold" in the workplace, I have decided to hang up my hat and to "stop and smell the roses".

In today's world, people who have been working and paying into a company pension for the past 30 to 35 years now have two doors of opportunity facing them. Door number one is taking the company pension plan and settling into a life of retirement - a sometimes comfortable option. Door number two is similar, however this involves the individual to take out their "commuted value" monies from the pension plan and managing it without the company's hands in on the pie. In fact, with a company plan, if both you and your spouse die, so does that money...well not really, the money goes back into the company's pension pockets. Door number two allows for your hard earned bucks to be given to your estate plans, thus the money is kept with your family and not with the corporate pension fund.

In my fifties now, I have decided to move along with my life, discarding a life-long career and exchanging it for something anew...Some wise advice states that while making this new move you should avoid the "I wish I had or had not..." statements we sometimes catch ourselves making. This is a time to move on and determine what it is that you wish to do with your brand new life.

I must admit, at this stage of the game it is not about money any more - those days have hard passed me by, thank God. Today, is the first day of the rest of my life, or so it is said. Where this new venture takes me, I am looking for things that are fun, exciting, interesting and of course somewhat of a challenge to learn new things, and of course to "stop and smell the roses", carp diem!

Sex Sells Grey Cup

The "Old Grey Cup(s)"
Gets a Makeover

Who would ever think that Pamela Anderson would usurp the Tragically Hip and the Guess Who?

In an effort to attract new (male) viewers to the Canadian football shows, the media folk have hired the lovely and sexy Pamela Anderson as the Grey Cup Parade's official Marshall.

So, is it SEX, or is it the quality of the game, or a mix of both, that should promote this event. It is a shame that events such as these need an injected thrill. Why cannot they maintain audiences on their own merit?

I am sure we haven't seen the last of this act...it is only just beginning...a football reality show in the making?

Time will tell...and so will the media, tomorrow. No wonder millions have tuned out their TVs in the past several years...Yet, our students still cannot pass the literacy testing; that is left for another blog some other time.

One thing for certain, at the various bars and house parties, the side comments will be worth the price of admission...If you are into that act.

The War of Gangs and Guns

How many gun shots do we need to hear ring past our heads before a gun shot becomes one too many?


We hear gun shots killing school children on the streets of Toronto, we hear gun shots killing people on the steps of God's Churches, and we hear the constant shots from drive-by-killers, but do we hear how and when this dauntless crime will cease and desist? Maybe now we have a chance to round up these cowardly killers...

On Wednesday night, this week, a nurse was driving home along the QEW at Hwy 10 near Mississauga, with her 27 year old daughter, to celebrate her homecoming. Slowing to merge into the traffic they saw a man, bleeding from the stomach and with blood covering his jeans. The man was screaming for motorists to stop and help, but none did, except the nurse and her daughter. It appeared the man was shot in the left arm, the left leg, the left knee, and the left foot.

He also suffered injuries from his escape from a moving car on the highway. While the nurse was applying emergency aid to the gunshot victim, the police and ambulance people were at the scene. The police say that the nurse risked her and her daughter's lives, however the nurse said this was not the first time she had dealt with gunshot victims.

How much of this can the public put up with before demanding action by the Toronto Mayor? The time has come for Mayor David Miller to get out from behind his desk and act.

KILLERS BEWARE!!!

Taken from the depths of Hollywood's archives, Toronto has now hired Inspector David McLeod, (shown above) a veteran who has worked several elite positions with the Toronto Police, and now vows to rid the the streets of Toronto of guns and gang violence.

About time...

But this will only work if the red tape is cut, the politically correct sit back and turn the Simpsons back on and eat their pizzas in the safety of their living rooms and let this cop do the job of cleaning up Toronto. If not, well Mayor David Miller might as well call a special awards night for gang leaders and hand them over the keys to the city...and wait for the riots we see in France open up in Toronto.

Inspector David McLeod comes loaded with experience and know-how to round up these creeps. God let him do his job. Good luck out there Sir!

VOTE FOR A FATLESS SOCIETY?

...and just when we thought the FAT WARS were being won?

Would you join a gym and actually use the facility if you were given a tax incentive to do so? It appears our provincial Premier Dalton has outright rejected this suggestion from his own Ontario Health Promotion Minister who plans public hearings this January "on using tax breaks to encourage physical fitness" (Toronto Star 051122).

The Health Promotion Minister says he likes the idea of "using a carrot instead of a stick" to get people trimmed down to a proper size. The Health Minister says "that anything the government can do to encourage people to become fit, the better."

Great idea, but is it a reality? Will people actually go and workout, even with the "carrot" dangling, or will they simply chew up the carrot and head on over to Walmart's candy department instead, and still reap the taxi writeoff? Judging from the aisles in Walmart (where one cannot pass another due to the size of the Walmart patrons overall), we do sympathize with the Health Minister, but can also side with Dalton, who sees this as an exercise in futility.

Never mind the inconvenience in blocked Walmart aisles, how about the poor thin segment of the travelling public? Think about it...Been on a bus lately? The scene:

It is rush hour, the people are pushing and shoving, waiting as the express bus roars to a stop and everyone fights to get on board. But wait, the damn line is halted, nobody can figure out why. The line should be moving quickly, everyone wants to get home, don't they?

Sure they do, but wait a minute...look inside, there be the problem. There in the very middle of the bus is a fat lady stuck in the centre aisle who cannot fit into a seat, she stands stubbornly with a look that would kill, and nobody is challenging her to move to the back of the bus. All the damn seats are near empty as nobody can inch past this woman. It appears she is getting off at the very next stop and isn't risking getting jammed into the back and thus missing her stop.

"Ya right," you say? Well, obviously you have not travelled on a rush hour bus lately.

It appears these "fat" people have their own society in the USA now and attend many conventions wherein their complaints of having to pay for two airline seats are aired...but what about the damn bus? Shouldn't they have to pay for all those empty seats that are unoccupied, simply because you and I have no access to them due to the lady in the middle of the bus?

Don't believe me...check out the Fat Convention: http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=95000976
and see for yourself, the rights you may just lose out on, never mind their useless tax writeoff that you and I will end up paying for in the long run.

Never mind the incentives that will turn out to be just another fat joke, how about getting these people their own means of public transportation, a bus that will be politically and environmentally friendly for these humungous folk? An alternative method???????

Vote for faster, fatter, freer transports now!

City of $arnia in Trouble?

The City of Sarnia Motions
to
Rid One Firehall For Cash

Councillor Kelch has motioned to sell one of Sarnia's Firehalls in an attempt to get some desparately needed funding. As well, Sarnia Council discussed the aspect of selling off CN lands on the river for even more cash.

So, what is really going on in Sarnia?


To the non-political animal, the average bear in Sarnia would assume that the City has no money. How did we get in this jam? What will it cost the average homeowner to get us back on track? How many businesses would disappear if Sarnia raised taxes to a higher level?

These questions remain to be answered, and in the meantime we just hold our breaths...

Three cheers for the fire department management who are against selling a fire department...can you imagine, selling safety for moola...shame on you City Council.

Come on Mayor Mike Bradley, you can legislate a better one than this, we hope?

How about keeping the Palliative Care Unit, how about fixing a few roads in town, how about chasing the cops from Tim Hortons, how about unboarding the downtown core and bring the businesses back, how about an all-out-war against the terrible drivers in Sarnia, and how about bringing us back our jobs from those gas plants that came here, raped the benefits and took off? How about managing the City of Sarnia Mr. Mayor?

GOOD NEWS - Literally Speaking - "I'm Back"

The good news is that with the latest change in editors at the Sarnia Sun and Business Trends magazine, a home for my TECH TRENDS, a computer-related column. My column is going to continue being published each month in Business Trends magazine.

My thanks goes out to Gord Bowes, Managing Editor, Chatham and Sarnia Sun papers for contacting me and asking if I would be interested in continuing writing for the magazine...of course I said yes.

It is a great experience and pleasure to write for this organization. But the best part of all is knowing that somewhere, somehow, the column may just help someone learn a little bit more about the highly confusing world of technology.

So, the "GOOD NEWS" is that TECH TRENDS column will be published in the December issue of Business Trends - "WiFi - Millions Are Doing It, But Is It Safe?" A great topic, given the prospects of many people who are looking to buy that second computer system for Christmas and connect a home wireless network.

Any questions regarding this column, I can be reached at editor@scug.ca

Workers Slipped A Pernicious Package

Horrendous News
From Oshawa
MASSIVE CUTS

We see 3900 plus jobs are going, going, and very likely, to be resurected in a 3rd. world country?

GM announced a 30,000 worker, International Layoff. But when you really do the actual math, what this company proposes to do to North America is displace close to 210,000 workers - putting these people on the street without a family income.

The "Paul Harvey version" of the story is that for one auto worker job there are 7 spinoff jobs outside GM who will also face job losses.

But does the blame lie with GM's CEO Wagoner who masterminded these job cuts, or should we look to Buz Hargrove, the leader of the CAW who negoitiated the latest contract...shouldn't he have seen this coming? Certainly there were rumoured abound within the auto industry, now these rumours have surfaced as read facts, facts that are much more devasting that first believed.

Maria Kehagias, a GM worker said "Merry Christmas you know? It's very upsetting. This [Oshawa] will be a ghost town, it will be another Flint Michigan."

For those of us who sit back on our couches, watching this news unfold, we simply say, "Isn't that terrible." All the while we secretly are thankful it isn't happening to us.

The issue affects us all - we need to start complaining to our MPs and MPPs about the unfair trade agreement between the Eastern Europe countries and Canada...why does China allow 2/3 less Canadian made vehicles into their country than Canada allows of their products?

Questions such as this should necessitate answers from our politicians, postulated answers that are followed by existant action to stop this incredible injustice to the Canadian workforce.

Toronto Needs Angels - THE HELLS ANGELs

THE TIME HAS COME
TO HIRE THE BEST

With almost 70 different shootings in the city of Toronto, we are becoming the Wild Wild West of North Amercia. In fact the killers in this city have no shame, morals, or even self care; yesterday, at a church funeral service for a 17 year old shooting victim, mourners witnessed a friend of the victim shot in plain view, in public and on the door steps of the church...

The cops have surely lost the gun battle.

It is high time to bring in the experts to help clean up this town, it is vigilante time, it is revenge time, it is time for all citizens to have their city back and in one PEACE.

So, what should Mayor David Miller and Police Chief Bill Blair do? Simple, hire the pros - THE HELLS ANGELS MOTORCYCLE GANG...ones who are well versed in killing and rounding up people who have made prior offences a serious issue with the motorcycle club.

According the Vancouver Sun, the Hells Angels "maintain a fearsome reputation in the criminal underworld." Canada has more Hells Angels members per capita than any other country so why not ask for their help...they are involved in other crimes and they would love the opportunity to round up these "driveby" scumbags who cowardly drive up, shoot and then quickly disappear, vanish like a scared aninmal in the night.

Corporate Bullies: Looks Good On Them

The Corporate Tide has Ebbed Out

From coast to coast, workers are slowly getting back a sense of justice in the workplace. Companies are now in a huge jam and they have to change their tactics in order to retain or even have a chance of getting a worker.

From Railways to Home Depots in Canada, hundreds of companies now fear a severe worker shortage.

So, what exactly does this mean for you and I, the common worker or the unemployed worker or the layed off worker, or our children's futures?

Lets look at the job scene out there today. Headlines are glowing with loud reports such as Alberta's "non-stop expansion in the oilsands have oil and gas companies trying to determine whether they'll have enough staff to take advantage of the upcoming work...". And in northern Ontario we find that "Skilled trades people are scarce in Sudbury" and that they are already talking of either "begging" people to work there, or they are going to consider "outsourcing abroad" for workers to come to Sudbury and work. Already thousands of retail stores cannot get people to work (students cover the evening shifts) during the daytime hours.

One interesting concept is with Home Depot who support the Canadian Association of Retired Persons and claim that "We all know it's tough out there," said Susan Riduy, an assistant manager for Home Depot. "If we attract seniors we will. And we'll do whatever we have to retain them, because they are very valuable." No kidding Susan, since there are more than 33,000 seniors now working in Alberta and the numbers are expected to rocket.

In fact, housing projects and major construction work is looking at a stalemate in the construction sector with companies such as Deltera and Tridel Builder's Inc. who say "There are lots of red flags on the horizon." Building plans are being put on hold in fear of not being able to complete a job due to the lack of workers.

The ironic thing about all this is that these mega corporations have known for years there would be a shortage of workers once the 21st. century took off - the baby boomers are retiring in record numbers and the companies have failed to hire workers, bleeding the older workers for every ounce of their daily blood. In fact, CANAC warned the two major Canadian Railways, eight years ago, they would be facing an extreme worker-shortage.

Is this Payback time for some? Will the "double-dippers", the returning retired workers to the workforce return with a different attitude - You bet! Companies have their tails between their legs and are now forced to treat people like humans and in fact, they may even have to think about putting their proverbial "Straw Bosses" in the closet for the next decade or so...how about laying these meenies off and give them a taste of what it is like to devastate and ravage a family by removing a regular paychegue? Torchure them for a change, "an eye for an eye" you might wish...

But not all companies are or have been meenies. There is an old labour relations saying: "The only reason a company has a union is due to its own poor management". This is good food for thought.

A common goal must be to get everyone working, a highly set aim it is, but a great one whereas accomplishment can be, if everyone works in towards this goal in unity and fairness to all, including the meenies!

The Cordless Wars

802.11(a,b,g) vs: 2.4GHz
LET THE GAMES BEGIN...

Time To Cut The Cords?

With Xmas coming around the corner, people are contemplating "cutting the perverbial cord" and buying into wireless technology, be it, chordless phones or WiFi cordless computers, the ole advertising adage applies: BUYER BEWARE!!!.

Remember when: You and your "special one" used to fight over whose turn it was to watch either the Gilmore Girls or Monday Night Football? We all know who won, but that doesn't matter here. What matters is that the guy ended up running to Walmart and picking out another coloured TV for either the basement or the garage for his new viewing area. It was a radical approach to marital bliss.

Today, the bliss is stressed out once again...the misses gabs on the cordless phone and cuts off "his" wireless laptop. The problem: the two technologies, cordless phones and wireless routers operate on similar frequencies and of course the #$#% phone cuts off the computer. Hell, why didn't the inventors of this technology design it the other way around?

So, what to do?

Does the guy run out to Walmart and buy what? The simple solution here would be for the guy to adorn his Greb Workboots, leather palmed worked gloves, safety goggles and his local Cable Company uniform he had stolen off the Cable Guys Truck last summer while it was parked at the neighbours house so he could cut into the cable and get his wife free access to the Gilmore Girls...thus keeping he happy...and then, he goes into the garage, beside his Walmart TV, he picks up his trusty Canadian Tire wire cutters and now finds himself ready for this current mission to repair the problem of the war between the phone and the laptop.

Yes folks he does do it..."Just Do It" they say, so he did...he cut the proverbial chord and now has free and uninterupted access to his WiFi networks without cutting off the Godforsaken Gilmore Girls, however the phone never rang twice.

Where Are They Now?

Remember, just a few months ago, were you one of those who were constantly complaining about the heat?

You probably prayed for cooler weather!

Well you certainly had your prayers granted. This weather is vain-cutting stimuli.

For those of you who did complain about our lovely humidity, and are now finding you have nothing to complain about, try this:

"For a given combination of temperature and wind speed, the wind chill index corresponds roughly to the temperature that one would feel in a very light wind. For example, a temperature of -25C and a wind speed of 20 km/h give a wind chill index of -37. This means that, with a wind of 20 km/h and a temperature of -25C, one would feel as if it were -37C in a very light wind."

You know who you are, come on and come out of the weather closet and admit you were a weather whiner...shame on you. Hopefully, next summer, you will keep quiet and enjoy it whilst it lastith.

Come you humidity haters, get off the couch and go outside and enjoy this lovely cold, damp, crappy weather - you deserve it!

Vacations Are Becoming Dangerous Entities

After booking a vacation to the Dominican for 2006, we found out, by chance, from our family doctor that we need to have 3 injections - two before the trip and one upon arrival home.

I remember travelling to Africa and having to have a shot before we left, but now a shot for the Dominican? The last two times we travelled to the Dominican there was no need for a needle or pills. Why this time???

Apparently, over 50 million travellors head to third world countries on vacation each year and the risks of disease is rising. Nice thought eh?

So, I am off to the drug store to pickup my Twinrix needles today, and contemplate ingredients from a suggested vacation survival list:

• Sunblock (not necessary, I do tanning prior to - go directly from plane to ocean).
• Topical Disinfectants (sounds scary).
• Thermometer (I already know it will be damn hot!).
• Antifungal Foot Power (gross!!!).
• Hydrocorisone Cream For Rashes (my god!!!).
• Pepto - Bismol for the craps - (a must have haha).

Apparently, they claim the almost 50% of travel travelers get diarrhea and hundreds of Canadians get Hep A or B from these countries. Makes you wonder? But the report did specify Quebec people - maybe they should post the warnings in other languages and lower the rate of infections?

They did not include gas masks...I wonder why not? Especially considering all that spicy food! LOL

Down With "The All New Martha"

Anyone who has been tagged with a small bag of pot, caught driving with just one too many beers under their belt, or any other minor infraction may find themselves in a tight knot when trying to enter from Canada to the USA. The American Customs Agency has very strict rules and regulations for immigrants crossing the border into their country.

In fact, you probably won't get in, especially if you did small jail time for the aforementioned infractions. But what about lovely Martha Stewart? How come she comes up to Canada with our arms opened wide, the red carpet treatment and without a glitch?

Martha, the ex convict, told Fortune magazine what she learned in prison was that she "really could not be destroyed" from her cell in what has been dubbed as "Camp Cupcake", a federal prison where she was treated like royalty.

The question all Canadians should be asking is how "The All New Martha" managed to cross our border, as a known criminal, and why the humungous rant about Martha's visit to Novia Scotia? There should have been ravaging protests coast to coast demanding Martha stay home! But no, we welcomed her, more so, that the President of the United States. Canadians have lost it.

Hell, even Shania Twain was seen making poutine with ole Martha...and that is news? The real headlines should have read:

"MARTHA STEWART
TAKEN AWAY IN CHAINS
AT CANADIAN BORDER
AND SENT BACK HOME"

Christmas (are we still allowed to use that term for the 25th.?) shopping today in London, Ontario we walked into the Sears store, a great Canadian institution and guess what the very first thing we ran into was...yep, Martha. Well, not actually herself, but her great display of goods for sale...and there were people actually buying the goods. I wonder if any of those goods were smuggled?

May God bless Canada ... whoops, sorry, I remember now in Canada, to be "politically correct", we must not mention God and we must not demean "The All New Martha". I say, God should damn Martha forever and ever Amen, and while He is at it, give us back OUR Canada!

Road RAGE

In 1953 Arthur C. Clarke wrote: "Expedition to Earth", a novel wherein it is stated that "rules were made to be broken" and ever since we have been using this to commit "white crimes" or innocents that are not really harmful, and for the most part are sometimes funny. I wonder if Bill Clinton ever used this term? We "won't go there" will we haha.

I know I mention vehicle maladroitness (shitty drivers) all-too-often, but I must mention one more of my pet peeves about the soccer moms in vans, and any others who have an in-frangible opinion that they are "king of the road", in that the law does not apply to them when they are in a rush, which is 99% of their road time.

TAILGATING is a quite common occurrence these days.

Picture this: You are driving along, watching out that you do not go much over the posted speed limit, watching out for kids darting out from between parked cars, looking to the right and left while passing through intersections, and keeping an eye on the road before you, when all of a sudden you see an image in your rear view mirror..."MY GOD," you scream out, "ANOTHER VAN MOM."

Immediately I go into my insidious mode, to counteract this pernicious driver.

No, I do not give her the infamous finger, or mouth the "F-word" in the rear-view mirror; I do not even allow her to know that I know that she is right on my ass. I mean, one could not even put a match stick between the bumpers. Nope, I refuse to give out the satisfaction that she holds a place on this planet.

Alright, I know you ask, "What do you do?"

To keep matters simple hear, I use my unproblamatic approach to this all-too-common occurrence of aggressive driving...I go into my "senior citizen driver's mode."

I simply begin to slow down, slowly, looking from side to side, letting the Van Mom think I am paying no attention to the "rules of the road" whatsoever. In fact, the slower I go the faster she goes, well at least her pulse begins to bounce. Now my entertainment leads off with a fabulous picture of the Van Mom in my rear-view-mirror pounding her steering wheel, mouthing some very clear words that even a small child recognizes from any school yard.

The Van Mom, caught in this terrible dilemma of a quandary particlular to one being in a mad rush. She cuts fast to the right, attempting to pass this old man ahead of her, but the old man is slowly drifting across the lane, now straddling both lanes as he views the city workers patting down the hot tar on the other side. Keep in mind that one still cannot get a tissue paper between our two bumpers and I have yet to acknowlege the Van Mom. Her face has changed, screwed up and violet in colour, and I can even envision steam seeping from those two things on either side of her head.

My God, the Van Mom now sees that we are slowly approaching down on a green traffic light ahead...she ultimately fears the red, in that she will have to stop and chew her newly done nails, as she pounds the steering wheeling in anticipation of running that next light...she contemplates running up the curb and taking a chance with taking the sidewalk route to circumvent the ole man ahead...she comes to her senses as a group of seniors are stolling along the sidewalk, gently inching their walkers, enjoying the flowers on the side of the road...the Van Mom missed the flowers and fell back in behind the ole man who was now parked at the yellow light, pretending to caution on the side of safety and wait for the next green, fit-to-be-tied.

The light turns greeen, the Van Mom roars to the left, screeching with only two wheels, and the ole man wonders if the Van Mom will ever get to her destination, on time and alive.

ALPHA and OMEGA

"YOU ONLY LIVE ONCE"

Ever wonder who comes up with these sayings? So many of us use these dandies each and every day; for the most part, without thought, these blurbs come rumbling out in a sense of protesting our worldliness.

But how many of us really pay attention to these time-held-wonders of thought? Not too many...


Ever hear of a man named: Adam Marshall? Of course you haven't! Adam is the man who blurbed out the infamous saying about living for today, as tomorrow may not ever come about.

In fact, the exact saying he made is: "You only live once; but if you live it right, once is enough."

As I get ready for pension, over the next few months, I have been contemplating many things - the fact that I will be entering the world of "fixed incomes" and the fear of someday maybe having to go back to work. We all think of these issues sooner or later. Planning for retirement is a full time thought as one gets closer to the exit date.

This winter I planned not to take a vacation, not to use any vacation time, so I could exit sooner and have that much more money for retirement; given the contemplations of taking the grand kids to Disney this spring - the cost therein etc. and etc.

My sister called last week and notified us she is getting married in the Dominican Republic early next year and that if we were interested we were more than welcome to attend the do.

Mind whirling, I could not decide. Save for retirement or do as Adam says and live for today...

We leave early in the new year for Punta Cana to a Five Star resort to attend my little sister's wedding...to hell with tomorrow!

It is said that there is "A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted" (Ecclesiastes: 3.2). It is my time to live life to its' fullest...Reservations are a done deal!!!

You Are Not Really Still Using Internet Destroyer Are You?

Internet Destroyer (explorer) is now passe.

Why would anyone profess or confess to using this terrible program. It is slow, unsafe, and highly restrictive. In fact, earlier this year Homeland Security, in the USA, ordered all and any computers that are of a government nature to STOP using Internet Explorer as a browser.


So this begs the question: What else is there? This is a common question due to the mere fact that most people do not like change. You get a new computer and unfortunately it comes fully equipped with this product from Micoverysoft Inc.

You get used to these products and fear changing something that, not only you have become aquainted with, but have not ventured far from any Microsoft products. In the past, MS was ok and stood the test of its time, however now time has changed, the Internet has changed and with change comes a better, faster, and much safer browser: FIREFOX.

And believe it or not, now firefox comes with even faster speeds (the first version beat MS IE speed by far).

An add-on called Fasterfirefox has been around for a while, but now it is even faster.

If this speed is still not fast enough you can hack your own Firefox browser and jack up the download speeds to 40% faster.

How?

It takes only 3 minutes of your time...and it is really easy. Go here:
http://netforbeginners.about.com/od/understandyourbrowser/ht/firefox.htm

Have fun and come back and comment here about your faster speeds...bookmark this blog for more on Firefox...

Train Wrecks

Is this the coming norm in Canada?

Federal Transport Minister, Jean Lapierre seems worried about rail safety in Canada.

In fact, he states he is "concerned about CN's overall safety performance and [has] written to senior officials at CN to express those concerns."

The Transport Minister gave a "clear" mandate to CN officials that "if corrective actions aren't taken by the company I could call a public inquiry into CN's operations." (www.globeandmail.com).

A Transport Canada safety audit on railway operations is to be released possibly in December to the public.

The Canadian Government is concerned about rail safety of late, with the all-too-numerous train wrecks "and could order a public inquiry into its [CN Rail] operations." (routers.com).

The Federal Transport Minister also said "We are finding all sorts of problems and we hope they get corrected fast." (routers.com).

This will be an interesting watch for sure!

Fortunate One

"Who'll stop the rain?"

Whenever I hear those words I want to stand up and protest something, I want to scream for change, I want to lay down and simply stop the atrocities, the heinousnesses of the world. Of course, it is quite possible that kids today, listening to this ole song, really think only of a super weather man dressed up and able to leap tall storm clouds in a single bounce, but we who lived through the sixties know much better. We know agent oranges.

Almost forty years ago, John Fogerty, the main songwriter for Creedence Clearwater Revival, wrote the everlasting songs: "Proud Mary", "Who'll Stop The Rain", and of course "Fortunate Son". These songs have been the focus of years of legal battles wherein Fogerty was ripped off from his royalties by Fantasy Records.

Today, John is finally getting back at the record company and Fantasy Records is sold to Concord Music Group, a company who has invited Fogerty back with an upcoming live DVD and new studio songs. For Fogerty things are turning around, this new company is even extending some of his old rightful royalties back in his name.

However, I wonder if today's society is ready for a Fogerty return, or rather a return to hearing protest songs.

Today, we get to listen to rappers instructing our young kids on the street, how to kill cops and that rape is a good thing and that bucking societies rules and regulations is a good thing.

Today's society has become extremely passive, unlike back in the sixties where we protested with music and peaceful demonstrations against the Vietnam War and human rights. Oh yes, we hear soft declamations out there decrying human rights and stopping Bush and his great wars, but are we really immune to the devestations we see each day?

We watch the news and hear that 10,000 were killed in an earthquake in India, we actually see car bombings killing bus loads of civilians and then the station quickly turns to a tampex or viagara ad and we take another bite of our creamy chocolate dessert and sip our designer coffee - no feelings, only a brief discussion about how great the drug viagara is for those old folk, no mention or discussion about world crisis, especially ones a million miles away.

So who will stop the rain? You?