
overthere
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"Newman, George, Elaine and others had jobs..." Of the four main characters- Jerry, Elaine, Kramer and George- only Elaine has a job. George only flirted with employment when he absolutely had to.... Newman did not have a job as much as a calling, since the Post Office was his Holy Grail...
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What was the last movie you watched?
overthere replied to Moonlight Graham's topic in Arts and Culture
Good points about Anderson movies, bleeding heart. They are not for everybody. Saw another decent one, The Railway Man with Colin Firth and Nicole Kidman. Based on actual events, it's a serious drama about a gent who was a POW in Burma in WWII and suffered greatly at the hands of the Japanese. The project is the same as that in Bridge Over the River Kwai, but the approach is very different. Both Firth and Kidman give very good, solid understated performances without glamour and always with a deep English reserve.. But the movie is kind of uneven, and the story that unfolds is predictable early. No surprises, but still watchable. I'd wait for it on cable or DVD, it won't be long before it shows up there. -
BC Teachers Getting Screwed...Again
overthere replied to socialist's topic in Provincial Politics in Canada
Actually, solutions are brewing in Alberta. Here is a little more balanced account than the teachers blog from socialist: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/Panel+calls+reviews+Alberta+teachers+competence/9807834/story.html Of course, the teachers union is in a complete flap about it all. A couple of the proposals - coming from a panel that had a cross section of stakeholders who held a six month consultative process: having teachers performance reviewed every five years. A key part of this is that the reviews would be done by somebody outside the same bargaining unit. At present, half assed joke annual reviews are supposedly done by principals, who are part of the same union as the teachers. The panel proposes that the principals be removed from the bargaining unit and be tasked with ther reviews. The union(Alberta Teachers Association) is alarmed by this for a couple of reasons. It makes teachers and principals accountable. And it takes dues away from them as prinicpals would have to form their own bargaining unit. Another point of dispute is the involvement of the union in competence reviews. At present the union - no, this is not an Orwell short story outline- is both prosecutor and defence when a member is accused of professional incompetence. The result is predictable. -
PM Harper At War With Supreme Court?
overthere replied to Big Guy's topic in Federal Politics in Canada
It's mildly curious that you failed to address the actual topic that matters: the alleged conduct of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Not surprising, and you have plenty of company here and in the media, but stil curious. If it is true, the Chief may have to consider resignation. -
Don't be so quick to dismiss India as primitive. They had a far more advanced society that Europe did a few thousand tears earlier. I guess you haven't travelled much..... there is shit on the ground everywhere except perhaps here and a few Western countries. Tyhe only reason Africa in general is not as filthy as India is that Africa is more poor and thus has less packaging. It's also less densely populated with much less industry than India. I've been to both India and Africa more than once for both and for extended periods. In terms oif culture, Africa overall is far more different from us than India. I hope to spend six months in India soon, most likely in the south. I think, from my personal experience, that it is easily one of the more interesting places in the world to visit. A friend compared it to something we have all seen: you are out in your car with your dog. The dog loves to hang its head out the window and let the wind blast all those smells,s ights, colours, sounds..... In india, I'm the dog. It's a sensory hurricane.
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Execution Botched By Heart Attack
overthere replied to Big Guy's topic in Federal Politics in the United States
The Chinese have made the execution process efficient and quick. Esecutions for economic crimes or drug trafficking are usually done by injection. They have execution vans set up to take care of busy seasons, overflow and groups. . Murderers get executed by firing squad or a single bullet to the back of the head. Nobody lingers long on death row, sentences happen soon after conviction. If the convicted is shot, his family gets a bill for the bullets. -
The inevitable result of this is that a whole bunch of manufactuirers in China will be looking- oh the irony- to move offshore with their operations, to reduce labour costs.. Might be a good time to buy infrastructure in Africa. Oh wait, there isn't any. There will be soon.
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What was the last movie you watched?
overthere replied to Moonlight Graham's topic in Arts and Culture
a couple more: 1) The Grand Budapest Hotel, You can stop here if you hate Wes Anderson movies. You should probably stop here if you don't know Wes Anderson. But if you know who he is, and can tolerate his movies, go see this one. It's smart and quirky and sly and gentle and funny, like nearly all the rest of them. The Lunchbox. This is a small and gentle Indian movie, a romance of sorts but with a plot twist that might be unlike any other. It is centred on a mistake made by the incredible Mumbai lunch delivery system that gets two unlikely people into the most tenuous of relations. I saw my first Bollywood movie a long time ago(and I saw it in India!). I've pretty much hated the generic song and dance schtick ever since. This movie has none of that, though it has authentic flavours and accents of India throughout. No sex, violence or swearing and it's mostly subtitled but a high quality effort just the same. Recommended. Oh, and the lead actress is Nimrat Kaur and she is an absolutely beautiful woman. -
Thanks for the headsup. I watch a lot of movies, almost all at theaters, and I can now give this one a wide berth.
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The State Dept has already conceded that there is no net effect on overall emissions with or without Keystone. The oil is getting to market. Obama has yet to address the overall impact on 'best interests' of the country, he had shuffled and deked and continues to do so. The stated reason for the latest delay is the court squabble in Nebraska over the validity fo the Neb governors powers under their state constitution. That has nothing to do 'best interest of the United Sattes', and is not something the Federal adminsiatration as represented by Obama has anything to do with. The feds have no dog in the Nebraska fight, but it is a conveneient deflection. It's political of course. Obama has less to gain over delaying Keystone XL than he has to lose over approving or not approving it. Oh well. How did that Kool-Aid taste?
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Personally, I hope bar owners can also provide a solution to poverty and enforce world peace. Otherwise, they are liable for both. Individuals are responsible for their actions. Getting into a vehicle while over .08- not totally hammered exclusively but anything over .08 is criminal negligence and should have severe penalties for that action, not the horror that may or may not follow. Sieze the vehicle. Every time. Jail the driver. Every time.
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Andrew Coyne was not impressed:http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/05/01/andrew-coyne-wynnes-budget-makes-bob-raes-ndp-look-like-flinty-eyed-fiscal-conservatives/
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Another sad reason to get rid of every pitbull.
overthere replied to PIK's topic in Provincial Politics in Canada
Easy to assign blame here: the mother of the child that was mauled terribly. The childs nose was bitten off. A 14 month old kid cannot provoke a dog into a murderous rage. The dog had a recent history of biting, specifically biting another child on the mouth. Kill the dog, try to find some responsible parents for the poor child. -
The Purity of Aboriginal Blood? Who cares?
overthere replied to Smallc's topic in Federal Politics in Canada
Let me know how more of the same old shit works out for you. -
Canada Has A Labour Skills Shortage – Maybe
overthere replied to Big Guy's topic in Federal Politics in Canada
It wasn't a wide variety of reasons, it was one: shortage of warm bodies. Those businesses- mostly owned by ordinary people- suffered greatly as they still had to pay rent/mortgages, taxes, utilities even when closed or cut back greatly in opening hours. It was far worse in Fort McMurray, which had the double whammy of zero vacancy and immense rents as well as no labour available. And no, you cannot just keep raising prices. If you pay a burger flipper $25/hour you'll get staff, but you'll have no customers because the burger now cost $13. Now you have greatly increased fixed costs, food rotting, and no customers. Bad management? So you support them now taking advanatge of foreign worker programs to ensure they have a labour supply since resident Canadians apparently won't take that sort of work? That's good management, right? -
Which Federal Party Does Quebec Blowout Help?
overthere replied to Big Guy's topic in Federal Politics in Canada
Yeah, I don't see that at all. The Bloc is pretty much a spent force now. Quebec rejected a separatist party in a large and unambiguous way in the election. They elected a party reviled for corruption not long ago. What exactly do they gain by marginalizing themselves by voting Bloc federally? I reckon Quebec voters are pragmatists, they want to be at the table again in Ottawa. They have been away for quite some time now. Which brings us to the NDP seats.... I think a bunch of them are going to go the Liberals, some will stay NDP and some will go to the PCs. That may well mean with the vote splitting Harper wins again. And unlikely they'll have a referendum with a Quebec Liberal govt.? That is a safe call. -
Canada Has A Labour Skills Shortage – Maybe
overthere replied to Big Guy's topic in Federal Politics in Canada
Perhaps the state could just kick the evil bastards out and nationalize all business. Property is theft after all.. Yes, all those foreign service workers at Timmy Hos look and act like they hate being there. -
Canada Has A Labour Skills Shortage – Maybe
overthere replied to Big Guy's topic in Federal Politics in Canada
Burger King: almost new restaurant, built at cost $3 million, closed doors permanently, now has Brick mattress shop after about 18 months vacant Crickets restaurant: closed completely for a couple months, came back with one shift only. Boston Pizza: big chain restaurant, closed 2 or 3 stores for awhile, came back with one shift only. They later hired a whole bunch of Sri Lankan cooks ahead of the recent wave of foreign workers and went back to regular shifts. KFC: closed all their sitdown service at large restaurant, went to one shift of takeout only staffed mostly by owner and family. A&W: cut shift, dinner service only. M&M meats: cut hours dramatically, in violation of both franchise agreement and tenancy at mall. Restored regular ops about 9 months later Zellers: cut hours, closed early for nearly a year(another tenancy violation, and an anchor tenant too) Dollarama: cut hours drastically, closed Sundays for a year or so, back to regular business now Domo gas station: cut the day shift , then closed the station for a couple of months, then came back and stayed on evening shift only for quite a while. There were many others. It passed eventually, but it happened and the labour situation is starting again. Help wanted signs everywhere. -
Cutting The Cord -- How to leave cable companies?
overthere replied to August1991's topic in Arts and Culture
I should have added something else- in addition to the sharp decline in fortunes imminent for network TV- to the comparison to the demise of the traditional music industry. Cable companies. They have a delivery system that is hard to get to many houses, and expensive. They charge increasingly high prices for content that is a) provided by networks that are in big trouble or will be soon increasingly available in wireless formats that don't need a coaxial connection or satellite link. Most of the bigger cable companies are trying to stave off the changes by going vertical and controlling the content as well as delivery, producing or owning all elements. Rogers owns channels, sports teams, venues. It won't matter. once a product gets on the Internet- bye bye control. or you just steal content, which much of a generation already does. Netflix Canada is missing big chunks of content. So far that is keeping Shaw and others alive. I expect an emerging trend will be intense competition for providing bandwidth. So far the big boys have had their way with us, but that may change now that it seems likely that a wireless digital world will require big pipes at low cost. To everybody, everywhere. Somebody somewhere in Canada will challenge the whole house of cards and shame the incestuous relationship of the big ISPs to CRTC and cable companies and phone companies to us, the consumer. I'm actually optimistic that in the near future the price of the commodity that matters- bandwidth- is going to get cheaper and perhaps dramatically cheaper. -
Canada Has A Labour Skills Shortage – Maybe
overthere replied to Big Guy's topic in Federal Politics in Canada
Yep, businesses trying to stay afloat. Imagine! Luckily for us, if they fail the owners cannot collect employment insurance! Serves them right for risking that money in the first place. -
The Purity of Aboriginal Blood? Who cares?
overthere replied to Smallc's topic in Federal Politics in Canada
No, that isn't the issue. Your interest in 'Fixing' the conditions in a place that is not yours to fix is part of the bigger problem. With respect, it is not your community and not yours to fix. How would you feel if those First Nations people from the reserve came to your town and got all paternalistic about the problems that appalled them?. "Integration" is viewed by many of those being "integrated" as being cultural genocide. Integration is not required at all by ANY Canadian citizen, old or new. There is no reason to apply a different standard to First Nations. -
Canada Has A Labour Skills Shortage – Maybe
overthere replied to Big Guy's topic in Federal Politics in Canada
Yes, they would. Don't assume that conditions where you live apply everywhere in Canada, that is just not true. The last time we had a labour shortage this bad (about 7 years ago) in my part of Alberta, numerous businesses either closed their doors, went to severely reduced hours or radically changed their practices to stay afloat. Those numerous businesses were right in my trading area. That was in spite of paying well over minimum wage, offering cash bonuses for working 500+ hours, and other incentives. One of the other problems they had, other than getting staff at all, was retaining them. The competition was fierce for all labour and that includes unskilled labour, so wages went up and up, nobody who paid minimum wage could get anybody to work. Those they did attract would be gone overnight for another $1/hour, not that I blame them at all. The same situation is starting to happen again here. But... some businesses have now hedged their bets with foreign workers. They still pay more than minimum wage, but their workers have a tougher time moving to other jobs.. -
Windows 8: Three Reasons to Hate
overthere replied to August1991's topic in Health, Science and Technology
It looks to me like Microsoft is heading in the same direction as Blackberry has gone until recently. They failed to keep up with the direction of personal computing, and are now vomiting out poorly conceived and executed projects in a downward corporrate spiral. Management has failed in their primary task: strategy. If I had shares, I'd sell them now.