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Minimus Maximus

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Everything posted by Minimus Maximus

  1. August, I disagree with this statement. Looking at this from a western perspective where our elderly simply fade into the background it would make sense to only allow spouse and kids under 18, but in many immigrant populations the elderly are very important to family life. What I'm trying to say is that in immigrant populations the elderly create stability at home so that the young can go out and work. I think restricting immigration in such a way would be to the detriment of immigrants and ultimately the detriment of Canadian society as a whole. Growing up in a part of Calgary with a large Sikh population I noticed early on that the grandparents played a much more prominent role in family than we are used to seeing in western society. Without the elderly we would see more Sikh children in need of daycare and more Sikh families in need of social programs.
  2. Mr. Dog, this is simply not true my friend. Many, many Calgarians have been cheering for the Oilers since our team lost. Its always been this way and always will. You seem to find any opportunity to slam Calgary and Calgarians so I will just file this under "has nothing to do with hockey" and leave it at that! GO OILERS!!!!!!
  3. injusticebuster, I think newbie's got it right. Volunteering can be much more rewarding than simply being another cog in the daily grind. I had never done any volunteer work until I met my wife and now find that I look forward to retirement as I plan to spend about 5 years working with Habit For Humanity. Remember that we work to live, not live to work. I sometimes have to remind myself that my most important jobs are father, husband, son, brother and friend.
  4. My best friend from childhood is an alcoholic, I've taken him to A.A. meetings and fed and sheltered his family due to his addiction so I do understand what it is to be an alcoholic. My mother's ex-husband was addicted to VLT's, it wasn't a substance but the effect was the same. He lost everything due to this addiction so he should also be eligable for disability...after all he couldn't control himself. I agree with treatment although some people will never give up their addictions so I don't see how pandering to them in the form of disability pay would help in the least.
  5. So what about people addicted to pornography? or people addicted to big block chevy engines? If they can't keep a job because they spend all of their time trolling the internet for pornographic images and aluminum heads for a 327ci should we also support them? I happen to be an audiophile, I'm addicted to high quality sound equipment. If I had lost my job due to the fact that I just had to keep an eye on various E-Bay auctions to appease my addiction would I be eligable for long term disability?
  6. Michael, correct me if I am wrong but I don't think an employer can bring in outside labor unless the jobs in question cannot be manned by Canadian workers. I know that the situation in Alberta was not about a company trying to increase profit margins but rather to bring in workers to fill vacant jobs so I don't see this as a negative aspect of globalization. I did have a line of reasoning here but seem to have lost it. I would like to say that I tend to agree with Renegade's position on this as I understood it to be an issue of taxation on wages rather than an attempt to take resource revenues directly. I'm a little confused on my fellow Albertan's cries of "get your hands off our oil" as it doesn't seem to be a cash grab by the feds in the same way that the NEP was. Another point I would like to address is that royalties on combined conventional and tar sands oil was around 3 billion last year where royalties from natural gas were around 7 billion, so whats all this talk about oil.
  7. Michael, this is already happening. I don't know what kind of wages are being paid, but I do know that there has been at least one project where Chinese workers were brought into Alberta due to a shortage of tradespeople. What are your feelings on this?
  8. While I fully agree that there are many Palastinian parents who love their children too much to allow them to take part in agressive activities against fully armed Israeli soldiers, I think that there are also many on both sides of this conflict that live vicariously through the violent acts of their children. http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=980 I can't find any justification for taking either side in this dipute as each of them are equally responsible for violent acts perpetrated on the other. Muslim and Jewish parents are to blame for teaching children to hate with the kind of venom that results in a child growing up to become a soldier who fires a round in to a childs head or a suicide bomber who stands in the middle of crowded market and goes boom...literally.
  9. Then the FEMA report WOULD HAVE SAID THAT. Sure... machines, ships, tubes, pipes, coils... NOT IN INERT STEEL COLUMNS. How did WTC7 collapse? It wasn't hit by planes.http://commieware.myftp.org/pfm/wtc-7-small.gif Why should the FEMA report state the obvious? Sulfur is a naturally occuring component of all steels including the steel grades used in the construction of the WTC. Btw, I meant to say jet fuel, not diesel. I blurred your post with a report I was taking a break from writing when I responded. Concerning your question of how WTC 7 fell, my understanding is that it was damaged by debris which ultimately resulted in collapse. This seems to be a sticking point for conspiracy theorists such as yourself, but without more information I really can't say exactly how this particular building fell and neither can you.
  10. Iron oxide+sulfur (and many other elements)=steel Sulfur found in grain boundries=naturally occuring phenomenon Clear explanation for source of sulfur=natural ocurring impurity which is often added to steel to increase machinability. http://mdmetric.com/tech/chempropi.htm This man is correct. Sulphur is part of the process and make up of steel. Now what he should have done was some kind of comparison to sulpher in a normal peice of steel compared to a fire damaged one, and one damanged from explosives. This is very basic metallurgy Gosthacked, I'm amazed at the willingness of people to accept false information and then basturdize it fit their beliefs. I should also add that the burning contents of the building, diesel fuel in particular, would result in an increase in the sulfur content found in test samples taken from the area at and below the impact site.
  11. Iron oxide+sulfur (and many other elements)=steel Sulfur found in grain boundries=naturally occuring phenomenon Clear explanation for source of sulfur=natural ocurring impurity which is often added to steel to increase machinability. http://mdmetric.com/tech/chempropi.htm
  12. Michael Hardner, I didn't say that oil had nothing to do with Alberta's success. Given a different political climate, Saskachewan's for example, Alberta's economy may have been quite different. I was one of those that needed help when times were tough. Like a lot of other Albertan's, I got through it and the lessons learned during that part of my life still help guide me today. The $400.00 cheques I could have lived without. As a family of four our $1600.00 went to a neice in university so I tend to agree with you that this money could have been better spent. I personally have not voted for Ralph for the past two provincial elections, I have tried to use my vote to strengthen the opposition as I do feel that too much power tends to lead to corruption, not always but sometimes.
  13. Sideshow (can I call you Bob?), while I don't think that Alberta is the "Mecca of Happiness" it is a place where hard work and desire for a better life pay off in the long run. I started in the oil and gas industry on the end of a broom and now own a profitable small business, and I'm not alone. Many of the young people that I worked along side of during the initial years of my apprenticeship in this industry are also very successful today. To answer your question about why Canadian's are not snapping up these jobs I would reply that some are, and some are not. Some work a few weeks out of the year and spend the rest of time on unemployment, its a sense of entitlement which keeps them from actively searching for a way to support themselves without government hand outs. Too many Canadian's feel that they have no obligation to go to the work, but that the work should come to them, their entitled to stay right where they are regardless of the economic climate of that given region.
  14. Oil=Money is entirely too simplistic to explain Alberta's success. Saskachewan has natural resources out the wazoo yet has no where near the financial success as Alberta. The simple fact of the matter is that natural resources don't jump out of the ground on command, infrastructure must be built in order for the resources to be translated into wealth. This is Ralph's true legacy to Albertan's, he created the economic climate which allowed Albertan's to take advantage of the natural resources inherent to this province. If Lorne Calvert had been premier of Alberta instead of Ralph then I seriously doubt this thread would even exist as Alberta would not be what it is today, with or without oil. Build it and they will come, tax the hell out of it and they will go elsewhere.
  15. Not all guest workers come to Canada to fill low wage jobs. In Alberta there is a shortage of skilled trades which has resulted in many employers looking overseas to fill positions that pay around $25-$35/hr. From what I understand, these people can only work for the employer which holds the permit and can be sent back when their services are no longer needed or if they fail to meet the expectations of the employer that brought them into Canada. Tha sad part about this is that these are not low paying jobs and given the unemployment stats for various regions there is no reason that existing Canadians could not fill these positions.
  16. Its an admirable thing to search for the truth GostHacked. Be as critical of the conspiracy theory as you are the topic of investigation otherwise you could find yourself far from the path that will lead to anything resembling the truth. If there is a university with an engineering program near you drop in and see if you could talk to a prof or 3rd/4th year student about the issues which you find suspicious. Go into your local fire hall and talk to a fireman/woman about fire, or e-mail ASTM (American Society of Technical Materials) and see what happens. Don't read conspiracy theory website after conspiracy theory website and expect to find the truth. There are many exellent sites which explain the inconsistancies in the conspiracy as well (the one theloniousfleabag posted from popular mechanics is very informative). A little advice would be to stay away from blanket statements like this as well. You could back yourself into a corner and lose sight of the truth for good. Let me know what you find in the 9-11 commision book. If its credible, I'll accept it. If not I'll let you know. Not really backing myself into a corner there. For one there would be resistance on each floor if the 'pancaking' did actually take place. Both towers fell at near freefall speed. 10 seconds for each tower to fall. With 110 stories, this would have taken alot longer. Even if there was a 1/4 second delay in each floor falling, that would make it about 25 seconds, twice as long as what really happened. Floor falls, pause, crack break, fall pause, crack break. But everything came down in a thunder and fast. Compare demo'd buildings fall speed and the WTC fall speed. I am trying to be a thourough as possible with what I have. So yeah I am not trying to back myself in corners. I do look at some conspiracy sights, alof of them are cracked, but there are some consistancies with each conspiracy theory, and this is what I am paying attention to. My next book to buy will be the 9/11 Commission report. The only way I could reach the conclusion that the structure fell "too quickly" would be to assume that as one floor collapsed it exerted no force on the one below until complete collapse had been achieved. Construction drawings and design calculations would shed some light on this. Problem is that this information has not been made public. Maybe the conspiracy you seek does not involve what happened on 9/11 but instead occured way back when the WTC was engineered, fabricated and constructed. You can compare the "fall speeds" of demo'd buildings to the WTC collapse all you want but relating the relevance of such information still requires more knowledge of this event which has not been made available to the public.
  17. Its an admirable thing to search for the truth GostHacked. Be as critical of the conspiracy theory as you are the topic of investigation otherwise you could find yourself far from the path that will lead to anything resembling the truth. If there is a university with an engineering program near you drop in and see if you could talk to a prof or 3rd/4th year student about the issues which you find suspicious. Go into your local fire hall and talk to a fireman/woman about fire, or e-mail ASTM (American Society of Technical Materials) and see what happens. Don't read conspiracy theory website after conspiracy theory website and expect to find the truth. There are many exellent sites which explain the inconsistancies in the conspiracy as well (the one theloniousfleabag posted from popular mechanics is very informative). A little advice would be to stay away from blanket statements like this as well. You could back yourself into a corner and lose sight of the truth for good. Let me know what you find in the 9-11 commision book. If its credible, I'll accept it. If not I'll let you know.
  18. Hollus, the first thing you should understand is that structural engineers are not fracture mechanic scientists. A structural engineer can tell you how to build the high rise, but it will take someone schooled in frature mechanics to tell you why it came down. The article you posted by James H. Fetzer is full of holes. It assumes that the only way fire would have been a factor is if it was hot enough to melt steel. This is small picture thinking Hollus. The big picture would take into consideration the damage done to the structure upon impact. Remember the nicks caused by the planes impact? The damage done on impact alone could have led to catastrophic failure (in the complete absence of fire). The sharp gouges which would have been present from the impact are what we in the industry call "stress risers". Stress risers in the presence of high compression and shear stresses will propagate into cracks, cracks will lead to failure. James Fetzer is not a structural eng. nor an expert in fracture mechanics. This becomes very obvious when reading his interpretation of the facts. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKfetzer.htm (he's a prof. of philosophy Hollus) If you are interested in the truth try reading this, http://www.civil.usyd.edu.au/wtc.shtml, it should help. If not then I notice that theloniousfleabag posted a great link which puts things in laymans terms. http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/de...html?page=4&c=y Back to the fire, I had lunch with a fellow inspector on Friday who also happens to be chief of a fire hall here in Calgary and mentioned this conspiracy to him. While rehashing the issue of temperature he raised a few interesting points. First would be the usefullness of using thermal imaging to predict the temp. of the fire. As I stated before the instrument used will be affected by particulates in the air. Second would be the fact that the temp. of the outside walls does not tell you the temp. of the fire burning inside the building. So, where were these readings taken? This theory also seems dependant on the temperature of burning jet fuel. What about the contents of the building? When I read statements like, "The highest temperatures in the south tower that were measured were about 1300'F, but still way to low for what was required.", I just have to shake my head. At aprox. 1150F the microstructure of mild carbon steel changes. This is all dependant on the carbon content of the steel, as I've stated before. If the sprinklers came on steel which has been heated will cool too quickly and the microstructure will become martinsitic (lowering ductility). This will greatly reduce the yield point at which elastic limits are exeeded and perminent set begins (this is the point at which the steel no longer has the ability to return to its former shape). After perminent set is achieved the UTS (ultimate tensile strength) is also greatly reduced (the steel can no longer be said to exihbit the same properties before it was heated and/or cooled). This is just laughable. Any structural eng. who says this requires medication. I don't have the construction drawings of the WTC in front of me, but would expect to see bolted and/or welded connections throughout the structure. I would be very surprised to find out that the location of breaks were not uniform and predictable. Locations at which one beam is bolted to another would be regular and uniform. At welded connections the HAZ (heat affected zone) would play a huge role in explaining why the pillars were broken at 30' intervals. The assumption that expolsions could be the only possible explanation for this is ludicrous. I'm not tring to be ignorant Hollus, its just that you are way out of your element in tring to argue the validity of the information you bring forth. Articles by a prof. of philosophy prove nothing. I have worked with structural eng. for the last 20 odd years and none would back up any of the claims in your argument. I have no agenda save the truth Hollus. Couldn't care less about GWB or the republican party (in fact the only Bush I love is my wifes!). If you are so content on proving a conspiracy took place you should know that your barking up the wrong tree. Not only does that doggy not hunt, it don't even breathe.
  19. Hollus, to dubunk more of your beloved conspiracy theory I would ask, did you see any of the clean up footage of the aftermath of 9-11? I saw big ass chunks of concrete being removed from the site during the rescue effort on CNN. Clean up crews claim that only small pieces were left? Bull shite. The massive volume of concrete falling into such a small area would no doubt create a great deal of dust and small debris, and big chunks. One question I have about the alleged missile attack at the point of impact would be, why? Thats like beating a dead horse. Whats the point of firing a missle into a building which is in the process of being rammed by a passenger jet full of fuel? The footage showing the planes supposedly firing missiles bothers me as well. At the point of the alleged missle launch the quality of the image is such that it is difficult to tell if the plane has already impacted the building. This could be some sort of blow back from the extreme friction caused by the initial impact itself. The pentagon attack footage is another questionable piece of work. At times the focus on the building is shifted from the impact site to a location about 20-30 meters away. The repetitive facade of the buildings architecture allows the conspiracy theorists to get away with this. Also, at one point they show some paper which has not been burned by the intense fire which occured after impact. The claim is that fire did not ensue, yet in other footage a raging inferno is clearly visable. More bull shite. Hollus, have you bought your copy of the DVD yet? If not I will make my own claiming it was an alien attack and sell it to you half price.
  20. Are these the same structural engineers that say steel heated to near melting point retains its structural integrity? As far as claiming that thermal imaging showing that the fires were not hot enough to melt steel, who cares. At about 1150F structural steels start to change in microstructure. Cooling rates at this point become very critical, did the sprinklers come on. Do you realize that thermal imaging is affected by dust and particulates in the air? Are these experts being honest with you, or do you want to believe it so badly that you just don't care. Have you ever seen a documentary on house fires? At flash point the fires are hot enough to melt steel (mild carbon structural steel becomes molten at about 2800F). The governments position is a hell of alot closer to the truth than the so called experts in these clips. Is the US government lying? Perhaps. Are these experts that you rely on for truth lying? Absolutely. If a man is offered a fact which goes against his instincts, he will scrutinize it closely, and unless the evidence is overwhelming, he will refuse to believe it. If, on the other hand, he is offered something which affords a reason for acting in accordance to his instincts, he will accept it even on the slightest evidence. Bertrand Russell
  21. Maybe none have collapsed from fire (I honestly don't know), maybe some have collapsed from defects in the structural steels caused by a chain of events starting with fire, or an explosion and subsequent fire. I've seen booms from 500 ton conventional cranes that failed from a nick less than 1" long and 1/32" deep. A passenger jet striking a building would make alot of nicks. If the sprinklers came on there's even more to worry about. Quenching of structural steels causes changes to the microstructure leaving it in a brittle state (carbon content also plays a role here, control of carbon content in structural steels has improved drastically since the building of the WTC btw). Very bad if other defects are present (like nicks from passenger jets). Steel under extreme compression and shear stresses? No, not even a piece of steel stuck in the gound with no forces acting upon it. The change in tensile strength of a structural steel heated to near melting would be huge, catastrophic in the case of a high rise with a big hole in it. Hollus, while I find some of the information regarding 9-11 intriguing, I have a serious problem with these statements. I may not be an expert in the fields of metallurgy or fracture mechanics, but I do have a working knowledge of them and if anybody claiming to be an expert in these disciplines ever repeated these statements to me I would laugh at him/her, slap him/her, pick him/her back up, rinse and repeat. This is the problem with conspiracy theories, it sometimes requires a good deal of knowledge to understand the minutia of the theory itself. Then along comes an expert with an agenda and poof... a theory is born. I've watched these 9-11 clips before and find as many questions about the conspiracy theorists interpretations as I do from what they claim to uncover. This leads me to believe that the only real truth about conspiracy theories is that they are a marketable commodity (you can by the DVD version for around 20-30 USD).
  22. For the immigrant ones, I couldn't agree more, ship them out. But what do we do with the Canadian born ones? I voted to deport after the first offence (first generation immigrants). If you can't respect the laws of our country...get the f@*k out. I think that this is indicative of the failings of our justice system. Many of these gang bangers have been known to the authorities long before they commit murder. Many have gun related charges on their records, yet still prowl the streets. If 5 year minimums were given for gun related offences some of these recent shootings never would have occured. Whether they are foreign or Canadian born the justice system has the same obligation to protect the lawful citizens of this country.
  23. I'm down by Chapperal as well, and I'm not too impressed with the road conditions down here especially. I'm not concerned about driving in snow or ice, I'm fine with it. I'm concerned about the other people on the road that can't drive under these conditions. Blowing snow and ice late at night on a 3 lane highway and people still have to tailgate you when your doing just under the speed limit, still probably too fast for the road conditions. Clearing the roads more often and sooner after snowstorms would reduce the costs of collisions and collision related accidents. Maybe the insurance bureau will take a note from their cloud seeding in summer and start plowing roads in winter? I honestly havn't found Chapperal all that bad this year. Side streets are always slick in winter and drivers should adjust their speed and habits to match. Plowing 1" or 2" of snow won't teach people the basics of driving safely in winter. If the insurance bureau wanted to reduce accidents in winter they would work towards ensuring all licenced drivers can drive in winter conditions.
  24. You can't be serious? What do you consider a major road? Macleod trail at my end hasn't been cleared, just sanded. They wait till the cars clear the snow, then sand the remaining ice. Thats plowing in Calgary. Maybe its just the years spent navigating the goat trails of northern Ab, BC and Sask. talking but I find the road conditions in Calgary quite acceptable. I live in the NW, my bro lives in Chapperal and most of my work is in the foothills ind. area so I travel most of the city every day 7 days a week. What I find is lots of stupid drivers, but no real problems with driving conditions. People who can't take the time to properly clean the snow off of their cars before driving but can manage to leave the house without a coffee in one hand and a cell phone in the other. I would have to concur on the fact that not all streets are plowed but I would have to argue the neccesity of it. We live in a winter climate and drivers should be trained to deal with that fact. My own opinion is that we should have separate summer and winter drivers licences.
  25. I've asked a couple of Sikhs about this issue and have been ensured that children are taught that improper usage of the kirpan would be sacreligious and would not be tolerated. Sikh children are taught that the kirpan is a symbol and as such has no other actual use. The day I see a Sikh child peeling an apple with a kirpan I will start to worry for my childrens safety.
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