Canadian (non-political) Events

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

With the current downturn, this was inevitable.

 

The long expected demise of the Future Shop banner was not surprising.  Competing with yourself is usually called 'pissing the the soup'.

[Sabretooth78 808]

I had read something a while back, I want to say it was late 2012 that said the Best Buy name wasn't going to survive the following year.  Obviously that didn't happen, but I still don't think their outlook is too great, either.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

I tend to agree.  I don't cross their threshold simply because any time I ever did I was immediately seized by a commissioned sales person.  I don't like high-pressure sales when what I want is an ink cartridge.  Funny that I found out that these can be got at my local hardware store.

 

Best Buy is going to go down the black hole of on-line purchases.  They are skittering around on the event horizon now.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Shopping in Nunavut.

 

A few price examples.  And remember these prices have about a 50% subsidy.  Seal meat is cheaper because you go out and spear it yourself.

[Sabretooth78 808]

I suppose I have no right to complain about it costing nearly $200 to fill up a small shopping cart at Le Gourmet Marche.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Toronto gun violence.

 

Because one of the victims was shot by a cop, the SIU has been called in to investigate the whole affair.  This is the police affairs watchdog, and is generally effective in sorting out these events.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Speaker of the Senate dies.

 

R.I.P.  Condolences all around.

 

Parliament is sitting so a deputy will fill in until the spot can be filled.  Don't know whether this merits an official state funeral or not.  If so, it will be up to the family.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Hockey is Canada's sport.

 

After a long drought we've finally finished rebuilding the team.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Were the truck doors locked?

 

Beware of the bears in that area, eh?

[Sabretooth78 808]

If it had eaten a salad instead of having drunk a coffee I would have thought my old boss was up visiting the great white north.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Another cop killing in Canada.

 

Seems it is open season on cops.  If we had the kind of gun legislation that exists south of the border, we might not be able to get people to apply to be police officers.

 

We've had all too many of these incidents in the last couple of decades.  The nutz don't seem to distinguish which uniform is being worn nor what service is involved.  In the last couple of years, three RCMP constables in New Brunswick, this city cop in Edmonton, and three service men (Canadian forces) by radicalized idiots with pretensions of jihad.

 

Canadian cops and service men are trained to be friendly but the way things are going, it is not going to last very long.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Castor Canadensis, up close and personal.

 

The symbolic animal of Canada walking along, minding his own business.  Typical Canadian.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Only in Canada, you say?  Pity.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

California isn't the only drought-stricken area on the continent.

Typical western farm example.  If there is little Canola oil, you can expect all sorts of dependent products to suffer shortages.  MacDonald's for example does all their frying in Canola oil.  Expect the price of fries to increase.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

The western hot dry spell is having more repercussions than those in the American south-west.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/saskatchewan-wildfires-force-nearly-8-000-people-out-of-homes-1.3138560

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/new-b-c-wildfires-spark-evacuation-orders-states-of-emergency-1.3138558

A province is generally much larger than any state in the U.S. with the exception, perhaps, of Alaska.  Emergencies in these areas mean operating north of 60 degrees.  Fighting fires over vast areas is something we try to cope with regularly, but this is worse than any in a long time.

UPDATE: http://www.cbc.ca/news/trending/smoky-skies-from-wildfires-snapped-by-residents-in-vancouver-1.3138949

  Edited July 5, 2015 by A Nonny Moose  
More information.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

C'mon baby, do the twister.

Climate is a global thing.  You wouldn't expect a warm current cuddling up to South America would have much effect this far north, but the atmosphere is an integrated system.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

If you like B.C. wines from the Okanagan Valley, you might want to put some in your cellar.

There have also been reports of wild fires near California's Napa Valley.  West coast wines may become things of the cherished past.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

There is an increasing number of stupid fools operating drones.

I really hope the Mounties catch this idiot.  It is against the rules to interfere with first responders and forest fires.  Seizure of his equipment and a nice juicy fine or jail time or both should happen.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Welcome to Canada.

Look around and choose what environment you want to spend your vacation in, we have just about everything from mountains to sea-like lakes to Arctic experiences, and three sea coasts to explore. 

We also have some of the oldest pre-Columbian sites on the continent.  Let's hear it for the Vikings!  And don't miss the wanderings of the pre-ice-age peoples across the Bering land bridge.  Some of these found their way into the U.S. Midwest.  Fun for archaeology buffs.

Then there is just the fun thing of being a tourist in a land that is foreign, friendly, close, and economic.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

This is too good not to share.

Enjoy.  These guys are the top predator in the Arctic, but may not be around much longer.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

The B.C. government takes fracking seriously with respect to public safety.

While there is currently no reason to believe fracking was the cause, the 4.6 magnitude quake was sufficient to shut down the operation.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Frak you!

So, oil exploration outfits around the world had better have better insurance if they plan to use this technique.  The damage from an earthquake could be laid at their door.

Do we really need petroleum that badly?

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Science in the Arctic.

Financed by an NGO.  The use of the most current power technologies makes this possible.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

VIA rail plot terrorists get life in jail.

Unless there is something special about the sentence, they will be eligible for parole in 10 years.

  Edited October 1, 2015 by A Nonny Moose  
Error fix.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Francophonie or Franco-phoney?

Quebec offers free French classes to immigrants, but does not offer the other official language of Canada (English) for them.  Anyone in the commercial world in a big city, where immigrants normally go, needs to be bilingual at least.  Non-English speakers are disqualified in many jobs.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Toronto Zoo welcomes four white lion cubs.

I don't know how these guys would do in the veldt, but they'd be OK in the Arctic winter.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

This is more innovative than political - Ontario to test self-driving cars.

The announcement was made at University of Waterloo, home of the WAVELAB.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

New Map of Nova Scotia official today.

The Original Canadians can tell us much about our land.  We should never miss a chance like this.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

A day of figure skating.

Halloween (Oct. 31, 2015).  I did something today I haven't for a long time.  I tuned into the coverage of Skate Canada, one of the Grand Prix events in amateur figure skating.

When my wife was alive, she was an avid follower, and both our kids were figure skaters when they were in school.  I stopped following this sport after her death some eight years ago.  No particular reason except perhaps that I was tired of it.  Marilyn was an avid skating mom and I accepted that just as she accepted that I was an avid sailor and boating safety instructor. 

Like most married couples we shared our interests.  I picked up a lot of stuff about skating, and she became a pretty good coastal pilot.  The kids left skating, one because she sustained an injury to her Achilles tendon and could no longer jump, and my son had a disagreement with his coach one day and just quit cold.  If you'd ever met him, you'd know what a stubborn cuss he can be, even at age 10.

Anyway, I wanted to simply note that after my long lay off from this sport, I was totally surprised by the depth of the current field and the generally improved excellence all around.  There is a new set of competitors from the last time I looked, and especially the men's singles free skate, which occurred during tonight's broadcast, was fascinating not only technically, but also artistically.  This sport has really advanced in the few years I have been away from it.

What caused me to look at this broadcast today, by the way, is that I caught the tail end of Skate America last week, and thought I should have a look to see what is going on in the sport.  If you know about the figure skating world, you know that Skate America is the first major competition in a new season which runs over the winter.  Skate Canada is the next one, and there are, I recall four others leading to a Grand Prix Final sometime around the time of the World Championship.  The interesting thing about the Grand Prix events is that the winners get cash prizes.  This never used to be allowed by the ISU, but skating is very expensive so some cash is a good thing.  Amateur skaters are also allowed to skate in professional shows, but I have no idea what happens to any money they may earn, because they have to remain eligible for the Olympics.  Possibly things have become more relaxed (corrupt) there.  There certainly have been enough scandals.

So, maybe I'll pick up following all this again as a winter entertainment along with hockey.  I find basketball irritatingly boring, as I'd much rather play than watch, and my playing days are definitely over.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

A man without a country.

The judge did the right thing.  From all reports, this man would last quick in Mogadishu.

On the other hand, what are we to do with this brain-damaged felon?  Possibly the only place he could survive would be a medium security correctional facility, but we probably have no legal means to put him there.  Not everyone can handle freedom, I guess.