msj

While true that Argentinians love their beef their pork industry is still worth something to Canadian pork producers. The CPI appears happy with this: http://www.meatbusiness.ca/IR_article_11_24_16_1.html $16 to $30 miilion in the first year is better than nothing. Not going to be worth as much as those Candu reactors though. As usual, lots of different business is being done before, during and after these meetings. The PM being there often just gets more attention to it and allows him to sign off on various treaties while building goodwill. Here are the stated goals of the trip: http://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2016/11/18/fact-sheet-strengthening-ties-between-canada-and-argentina-and-creating-new

Why did you stop reading fiction?

Well stated. Earlier in this thread I related a personal story about going through the motions with a tour group in Thailand for a Buddhist ceremony. I didn't participate partially because I'm not a Buddhist and partially because I do think it is insulting to go through the motions when you genuinely do not believe something. To be surrounded by people who sincerely believe in the ritual, while I think it is crap, is an insult to those people even if I am supposedly trying to "learn" about their culture or religion. I can learn about their culture/religion by watching them do it. No need to participate, no need to insult. It is a religious ceremony so it will contain metaphor and prayers and silences and burning of this and holy water that etc... if it was rocket science then, yes, I can understand the need to participate in doing calculations and doing some experiments in firing off some rockets etc... The other funny thing from earlier in this thread is that I linked to a wiki page about rituals and purification: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual_purification Prior to this case, I think any reasonable person looking at that page would agree, yes, those are religious rituals including a description of indigenous smudge sticks etc.... No one would have said anything about the use of the term "religious" on that page at all - we would all take for granted that ritual purification ceremonies are, inherently, religious. But no, as soon as the story in the OP crops up the story changes and it is not religious but cultural, yeah, that's the ticket, it's cultural. It is all so disappointing and disingenuous.

Most people don't even know themselves, nevermind trying to figure out what other people are based on what they say and claim to be. For example, Islamic terrorists like to talk up the Koran and Islam and yet we have a whole industry of people who deny links between Islamic beliefs and terrorist activity. So, if there are no real muslim terrorists (or terrorists who are into Islam) then there are no real pagan atheists. At least the person into paganism is likely to leave people alone and almost certainly will not bomb anyone unless they have missed the latest recall news for their Samsung phone because they were too busy at Samhain festival.

Um, no. It means that we do not believe in a god or gods. In particular, a personal god that supposedly favours us over someone else or something else. As for this material world: how do I know that my hand is my hand, and all that, etc. We could be "living" or "existing" in a simulation, etc etc. All possibilities with rational explanations that are much more reasonable than the god of the Bible/Koran.

It's like two bald men fighting over a comb....

What's amazing is that partisans on either side think that their side is fine and the other is the problem. As if it is somehow mutually exclusive. The rest of us know it doesn't matter whether they are called Lberals or Conservatives: either way politics and business will be greased. They just are not that different from each other. So, meh.

You must have incredible discipline to lurk for 6 whole years before finally joining the forum in 2007 to offer us your wisdom. Discipline and stamina!

On the drive home tonight finally finished Kurt Vonnegut's "Breakfast of Champions" read by John Malkovich: Awesome book. Story is weird so look here if you are interested: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast_of_Champions I tend to listen to these books at 1.5 speed but found that 1.25 was just right. Malkovich's voice is just right at that speed as he talks a bit on the slow side. The book has pictures throughout which came in a downloadable PDF. When a picture would show up Malkovich would read the section of the book and then say "and here is a picture of an astericks representing an asshole...." In context it is very funny and this book should be heard rather than read. I' m finding that Vonnegut is an excellent writer as I have enjoyed "Galapagos" a while ago and "2 B R 0 2 B" which can be found here for free: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/9812 The 0 in the title is to be read as "naught" as in to be or not to be. Nice short story about assisted suicide and the Federal Bureau of Termination.

To be fair, she's in Turkey so her great leader has not given her permission to read a link to Wikipedia about an apostate in Saudi Arabia.

Yep, Trudeau likes to travel the world for selfies, air miles, and to spend OPM* in foreign lands. Oh, and sell Candu reactors: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/argentina-snc-lavalin-candu-1.3865960?cmp=rss * other peoples money (i.e. taxpayers money, aka Canadian taxpayers money)

I agree with ?Impact: if it ends up being like the BC carbon tax then we are talking about a shift in taxes. Income taxes are reduced while taxes for consumption (of carbon) are increased. So, no, I do not expect the government to receive more revenue from this - they will just receive revenue from a different source and that additional cost to the price of fossil fuels will encourage people to use alternatives. Much ado about nothing.

Lets hope so. But in America they are only 4 or so Governorships away from amending the constituion so the white folks of Canada can also be scared into changing our Charter. It's a thin line between secularism and religionism.

So you are saying we do not have a blasphemy law on the books? I think we do.

.

Well, that deteriorated quickly.

One may have a dildo in their room becuase they like to provide vaginal sex to their female partner. Not all dildos are for pegging! #notalldildos

The law has not changed. It is still on the books waiting for the day some crazy fascist Christian, or Jew or Muslim gets into power. But, yeah, the enforcement has been relaxed to the point that people are surprised that Canada was once nearly a Christian theocractic state.

And make drawings of the silly pedophile prophet.

Right, Islam demands freedom of religion so long as you believe in Islam. But even mention atheism and 1000 lashes for you! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raif_Badawi

Ha, Canada is never going to be a second, third, or fourth mover so no fear there. At this rate we are being left way behind. As for natural gas - the point is that it is less carbon intensive than coal and oil and can be used for electricity which will then be used to power business, homes, and electric vehicles. But even then, more so as a backup. The carbon emission reduction will not matter in Canada but in sunnier parts of the world it will be yuge and will have the benefits of providing, China, for example, with breathable air. As for nuclear - I wonder if it is that green. Lots of carbon just in the mining. But I'm okay with some as a decent way to diversify our system. Better than coal and oil, probably no worse than natural gas.

It's not wishful thinking at all. It is happening in the here and now even without breakthroughs in storage. As for large scale storage? It's called natural gas. NG will be the backup for wind/solar/tidal. Not today, not next year, but two/three decades out. And, once again, Canada will be lagging because of vested interests lacking the vision to change their businesses to the new paradigm. Same as it always is. Let others invest in the R&D and let others reap the rewards, so says Canada's O&G industry.