overthere
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Posts posted by overthere
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Sorry if I offended any creationists here by sugesting that prehistoric man actually existed.
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I guess what I'm asking is why are we debating whether or not religion existed since pre-history? What conclusion is this the premises for? It seems silly to argue whether this was the case or not (it's impossible to argue that it was not the case anyway). There's all kind of evidence for prehistorical superstitions, which could amount to religious beliefs (depending on how you define religion). I'm just not sure what the point is of debating whether or not it's true. I assume you guys are trying to support some broader point.
I reckon that one of conditions of sentience is the ability to wonder about the meaning of life, about the origins of our environment, and all the other deep questions that have vexed us for... ever. Isn't it a bit of modern arrogance to think that early man did not have at least some wonder about this? And if they asked the questions, they no doubt came up with some answers that worked for them.
Are those answers religion or superstition?
Is there any difference between the two?
Are our beliefs in a Great Father in the Sky or reinacarnation or whatever any more valid than whatever prehistoric man came up with to explain his harsh, short life?
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I acknowledge that the government of the day, including Chretien, have the right and responsibility to define spending priorities and national defenceThe military was a complete disaster before harper came along and he is doing his best to build it back up with breaking the bank. At least he cares, because the liberals certainly did not have any respect for the military. So agin this brings me to ask what the hell did chretien do for 13 yrs, because harper seems to be stuck with problems that we had during chretiens reign of darkness. Loopk at what the forces had when they 1st went to afghanistan compared to what they had when it was over.
Chretien and the Liberals hacked military budgets as part of their deficit cutting actions in the 90s. Fair enough.
But what is absolutely unforgiveable is that the govt continued to commit our troops to missions where their lives were endangered by the lack of equipment, such as in the Balkans. That is callous and negligent in the extreme. The inability of Canada to fulfill its NATO treaty obligations did not go unnoticed by our allies either. Only recently do they have any confidence that Canada can do what we promosed to do in support of our friends.
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I've never worked anywhere in my life where all employees could speak for or about the company publicly.
Big corps and government departments all have communications people to handle 'the message'.
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I think he has had a somewhat typical career, but only in the sense that the quality of his stuff has been erratic. If you look at the filmography of most directors and actors with long careers they all pretty much have hits and misses.Sometimes I wonder unhappily if Martin Scosese's star isn't just slightly on the wane. He's good...but he used to be truly great.
He has had some good ones in the last couple of years: Boardwalk Empire, Hugo and the excellent George Harrison documentary. But what is astonishing about Scorcese(aside from some classic movies) is the sheer volume, the guy must work 24/7.
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He is using Turkey, Malysia etc as examples of Muslim countries that are not shitholes.What about them?
It raises a question though.... Turkey is not a shithole, it is an interesting and vibrant place that is not an Islamic republic. The stated religion of Turks is overwhelmingly Muslim, but constitutionally is a secular nation.
So do you have to be an Islamic republic such as Iran to be a 'Muslim country' and therefore a shithole, or does having a lot of Muslims enough for you Shady? If the latter, we'll have to add the UK to your generic list of shitholes, perhaps France too.
Oh, and I'd add Indonesia to the list of countries that are overwhemingly Muslim but are not shitholes. They have many challenges for sure, but still an interesting place with the potential for a good future.
Can we do a list of Christian shitholes next?
We could start with Venezuela.
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"Stability and security is absolutely necessary for development,"
I agree, but you related that to "our systems", meaning our political systems.
That is simply not true, examples provided.
Saudi Arabia would be another example: autocracy, safe, secure, wealthy.
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The housing industry is always slowed down when mortgage rates rise, since fewer people qualify for mortgages and those that do qualify can get less money. But.... five year fixed mortgaes can be gotten today for around 3.5%, variable rates for about 2.6%. That is still cheap money, and modest increases to both won't make a huge difference.
What might make a difference is the decline of the $CDN, now at or near a three year low around $.93US.
That is good news for Canadian exporters and manufacturers, if there are any left in Ontario.
So to answer your question 'will it hurt': overall, it's a wash.
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It is not a crime, but in a public and potentially hostile venue there is no way should anybody not vetted and examined by PM security should get close enough to kill the PM with a handheld rock.So standing near the Prime Minister is suddenly a crime? Listen to yourselves. The RCMP isn't even pressing charges.
If I was an angry lunatic intent on getting my name in the news, I'd be paying close attention to how easy it was for this pair.
No surprise that the RCMP would not press charges, they'd love this utter and epic failure at their jobs to just go away.
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I have no evidence of ancient humanity having organized religion, but it would make sense.
We are social and tribal animals, and pretty much all religions are strongly tribal.
Why wouldn't our forefathers use religion as well as blood realtionships to bind themselves to mutual advantage?
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Forgot to mention that the presence of these two protesters so close to the PM is a horrific breach of security.
Heads should roll.
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"How do we support those privileges? Politically with our systems, and economically with our development which is based on fossil fuel consumption. We are saying the same thing.
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Not really. Our nominally democratic political system is not necessary to support development, nor is the cheap availaibility of fossil fuels. China is in the midst of an unprecendeted tsunami of devlopment and they have neither a democratic political system or access to cheap oil. Vietnam is another example.
I was just in Panama, they are doing pretty well economically or at least a lot better than their neighbours in Central America. They don't have much to do with fossil fuel extraction or consumption, and only recently had any actual experience with democracy.
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"What poor countries want to do is develop. If you tell them no to fossil fuels, they cannot. "
That's about half right, maybe 3/4 right.
What people in less developed countries want is exactly what we have: 1) personal safety, joint security, and the rule of law 2) a reasonable shot at earning a living. It's why they come to countries like Canada, even with our horrible climate and constant whining despite immense privilege of birth.
If getting there involves fossil fuels, fine. They generally don't give a shit what gets them to the two universal objectives.
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Do you have any data at all that would validate your claim that CBC has the blessing of a huge majority of Canadians?That's right, it's state sponsored, and if I may say so with the blessing of a huge majority of the Canadian people. It is not state controlled. There is a difference.
You'd think a few of them would actually watch CBC TV if that was true.
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Don't forget that a contributing factor to Canada having the cash to fund universal access to health care comes from the reality that we have long lived under the umbrella of US defence expenditures.Yes we are getting screwed in many ways up here, I have a relative who makes cars for Toyota in Ontario and those cars shipped to the US sell for less than they do here. And I know of what you speak about cheese products. We need to fix that but I agree and prefer that we buy health care, not to mention education, rather than guns and fancy uniforms with our tax dollars Keeps us healthier and smarter..
Yes, there is a free lunch there and we have gotten fat from it.
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cheaper gas is due to lower taxes in US, no other reason. It also accounts for nearly all the disparity in gas prices in Canada. The rest of the disparity is freight.Cheaper gas, sure, volume. cigarettes, I don't smoke, cheese and milk, again, volume. Lower taxes, nope. Weather, yep in certain lattitudes. Jobs-tourists don't go to get jobs. Lower prices? on some things like houses after the Bush banking disaster. I'll fly to Florida once in a while in the winter. Keep the rest.
cigarettes: heavily influenced by taxes too, much higher in Canuckistan
Cheese and milk: very little to do with 'volume'. The absurd prices in Canada are mostly due to the supply control in Canada, with milk and cheese producers protected from competetition by law. It's not 'volume', it's 'politics'.
Lower taxes: yep, pretty much though what it paid for by federal taxes. US buys a lot of guns for cops and soldiers, Canada buys more medical care for citizens.
Jobs? the work isnUSA is in general paid far less and jobs are far scarcer than where I live in Canada.
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Everly Bros. was a bit before my time, but their music was generally terrific.
I was at a concert this summer that was almost all Everly Bros music, performed by Bonnie Prince Billy(Will Oldham and Dawn McCarthy).
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I'm excited to find out which cities get demolished the most in 2014!
I'm guessing Toronto.
The oppressed and humiliated residents will rise in revolt over the evil empire of Clan Ford and demolish the city center. They'll wait until it warms up a bit though, and the carnage will likely coincide with the Leafs annual collapse.
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The criminal code states the same thing as a precondition to stopping and searching someone, and stop and search includes asking for i.d.
Cops just make shit up to get around this precondition.
"the car was weaving"
""a tail light was burned out"
"i saw the accused light a joint"
"the accused had something in his hand that looked like a weapon/burglary tool .... whatever".
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I see David Black is asking for federal money to try and get his proposed Kitimat refinery going, so it seems industry is only partially convinced shipping refined product to Asia is viable.
Refined products are not shipped by supertanker.
Refinery output- if it goes anywhere by sea- is usually shipped in smaller product tankers. Small ships going to Asia or anywhere far away would not make economic sense.
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The Hobbit: the second installment, which adds nearly 3 hours of film in extending a short book for children into something close to nine hours of high tech story. Purists will oath the Hobbit trilogy as Peter Jackson has added characters and storylines not found in the original. Other than that, the franchise thrives, the movie has plenty of action and the cinemantography is somewhat surreal. If you've invested the time in Lord of The Rings and the first film of the Hobbit, no reason not to see this one.
American Hustler: strong cast (with one exception) with Christian Bale, Amy McAdams, Bradley cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. It's a gritty tale based on Abscam, complete with leisure suits, big hair and disco soundtrack. Three of the four above are excellent in their roles as smalltime grifters, Cooper is again out of his depth. Good movie, won a bunch of awards already and will win some more come Oscars. Recommended.
Saving Mr Banks: this is a gentel Disney movie about... partially... Walt Disney. Strong performances by Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks. It is centred on the making of the book Mary Poppins into a movie in the early 60s, with a recurring theme of the life of the author- a testy Brit that Disney has to cajole and charm into the process. There's no swearing, sex or violence so it will have brioad appeal to people who don't like movies much.
It's the kind of film I don't usually like, but it is pretty well done in the end despite a heavy dose of sentimentality.
Inside Llewyn Davis. This is a tough one...... I love the Coen Brothers, they have made several great movies and many good ones, only a couple of duds. I'd rate this as one of the good ones, but not great. It's a study of a player in the New York folk music scene in the early 60s. Every detail rings true and the music (T Bone Burnett) is good. But it is slow and lacks a strong plot. If you like the Coens, go see it. If not.........
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The risks are not greater in Vancouver Harbour
Of course the risk of an accident and the consequences of a major spill wouldf be far worse in Vancouver: Fraser Estuary at serious risk. Far, far more shipping traffic vastly increases the risk of all those tankers leaving the Burnaby refinery. Doesn't that worry you?
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Ticket sales for the regular season and 35% of gate receipts from playoff games.
That is not what it says in the collective agreement from January 2013.
NHL commits to Revenue Sharing Pool of 6.055 percent of HRR (as defined for purposes of
calculating Players’ Share) in each year, provided that in no year shall the total Revenue Sharing
Pool exceed the amount necessary to fund recipient Clubs “up to the Midpoint” (i.e., the total amount
necessary to fund all Clubs with Available Team Player Compensation amounts below the Adjusted
Midpoint up to the Adjusted Midpoint (or from the Minimum Team Player
6% of gross revenue is set aside for possible dispersal to the bottom feeders to enable them to have revenue equal to the midpoint between the bottom floor and top floor of that eyars salary cap.
50% of that 6% comes from the top ten grossing clubs, the other clubs provide the balance.
There is no way teams like the Leafs would cough up all their profit to support Nashville and Florida and Tampa etc. The reason they are such a valuable franchise is not just gross revenue, it is retained revenue.
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The environmental risks are simply not worth the benefits to BC.
The risks in Vancouver Harbour are much greater. Would you agree that all tanker traffic there and in the Straits of Juan de Fuca should be forcibly terminated immediately?
What was the last movie you watched?
in Arts and Culture
Posted
I don't think Scorcese has had the sharp decline in quality that a director like Woody Allen has had....
Allen now makes romantic fluff and homages to pretty Euro cities. Shocking really. Way too many shitty efforts, I don't bother with him any more.
Scorcese has made several classic movies, films that will be seen for decades. The Departed is one of them even though it is a remake itself.
I haven't seen Wolf of Wall St yet, but will get to it. Friends complain that it is much too long. Maybe having final cut -directors of his stature get it- is not such a good thing sometimes.
Do check out the Harrison doco- Living in the Material World. It is a sympathetic portrait, Scorcese was his friend- but very watchable.