Nominations for the top stupidity of men/women

[margrace]

My nomination would be the 401 and 400 higways north of Toronto.

[guyser]

My nomination would be the 401 and 400 higways north of Toronto.

Busiest highway in the world for the first one, and the second, whenever you have almost 700,000 people who want to get out of the city on a summer weekend, things happen.

Hwy#69 is far worse where it narrows.

I travel both all the time, daily on the 401 and every weekend on the 400. Nothing bad other than what happens on most highways.(Long weekends excluded)

[margrace]

16 lanes of traffic across the north of Toronto would support two sets of train tracks and leave a lot of land to grow food for instance.

[guyser]

16 lanes of traffic across the north of Toronto would support two sets of train tracks and leave a lot of land to grow food for instance.

Umm.I guess it would. But that would only make things worse. How would one get on the 400, 404, 407.

And that land is far too valuable to grow crops, unless it is a grow op.

[Mad_Michael]

My nomination would be the 401 and 400 higways north of Toronto.

How about 407? A toll highway built parallel to 401 - supposedly to 'relieve congestion'. Now we have two congested highways standing side by side. And someone thought this was a good idea.

401 was actually a pretty darn good highway when they built it. And yes, it is the busiest highway on the planet (so they say).

On an opposite note, kudos to the smart people who thought of lighting up the CN tower with neon bright coloured lights! The nightly lightshow is fantastic! Toronto is now home to the largest free-standing 'glowstick'!

[Mad_Michael]

And that land is far too valuable to grow crops, unless it is a grow op.

Yes, the 905 belt is where we grow our most important cash crop in Toronto...

No subsidies for the farmers either!

[guyser]

Yes, the 905 belt is where we grow our most important cash crop in Toronto...

No subsidies for the farmers either!

True no subsidies. Apparently quite profitable. If only the bums would leave some cash behind to fix the house after they are gone....but alas, criminals..............

[Mad_Michael]

Yes, the 905 belt is where we grow our most important cash crop in Toronto...

No subsidies for the farmers either!

True no subsidies. Apparently quite profitable. If only the bums would leave some cash behind to fix the house after they are gone....but alas, criminals..............

It is our laws that causes the problem by criminalising them. No illegality, then there is no reason to hide in residential houses and they could operate in industrial parks with proper safety equipment like every other high-tech manufacturer. But our laws prevent this.

Ergo, I don't hold the growers to blame for the toxic houses. The primary cause of toxic houses is the government laws that forcefully evicts the growers and then turns the house back to the residential market.

[guyser]

Ergo, I don't hold the growers to blame for the toxic houses. The primary cause of toxic houses is the government laws that forcefully evicts the growers and then turns the house back to the residential market.

Sorry I cannot agree.

Toxicity comes from the dampness and high heat generated in these homes.I have taken a course on this, and what happens when they leave is shocking.

I am all for the legalization but to suggest that it is govt 's fault for the toxic environment of grow op homes, no way.

When $2.5 M is generated in a house, $100, 000 left to fix tha damn place does not seem like a hardship. Wishful thinking I know, but....

[Mad_Michael]

Ergo, I don't hold the growers to blame for the toxic houses. The primary cause of toxic houses is the government laws that forcefully evicts the growers and then turns the house back to the residential market.

Sorry I cannot agree. I am all for the legalization but to suggest that it is govt 's fault for the toxic environment of grow op homes, no way.

If the government didn't seek to control behaviour by legislating anti-pot laws, then there is no reason to believe that any commercial pot-growing operation would ever be located in a residential area - it is too inefficient for proper production.

Commercial pot-growers have rationally chosen residential houses as the best solution. The government has determined that solution by eliminating other options.

Laws don't control behaviour - they only exact penalties for that behaviour. Ergo, the government law is at fault - it shuffles behaviour in a way that is unacceptable to the health of the citizenry.

When $2.5 M is generated in a house, $100, 000 left to fix tha damn place does not seem like a hardship. Wishful thinking I know, but....

Our police and our laws make this utterly and completely impossible. The law is at fault.

[cybercoma]

On an opposite note, kudos to the smart people who thought of lighting up the CN tower with neon bright coloured lights! The nightly lightshow is fantastic! Toronto is now home to the largest free-standing 'glowstick'!

perhaps the largest free-standing glow stick, but I bet Hong Kong would be upset by the kudos the Toronto lightshow is getting. The Hong Kong Symphony of Lights is phenomenal!

http://www.tourism.gov.hk/symphony/

[Mad_Michael]

On an opposite note, kudos to the smart people who thought of lighting up the CN tower with neon bright coloured lights! The nightly lightshow is fantastic! Toronto is now home to the largest free-standing 'glowstick'!

perhaps the largest free-standing glow stick, but I bet Hong Kong would be upset by the kudos the Toronto lightshow is getting. The Hong Kong Symphony of Lights is phenomenal!

http://www.tourism.gov.hk/symphony/

The pictures of Hong Kong are truly spectacular! That would be wonderful to see live.

The key to the CN Tower lighting is that it is totally dynamic - like a (tall and skinny) programmable neon billboard. It just started up a couple of days ago - apparently inspired by the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower being similarly lit up recently.

Given that I live in the heart of downtown Toronto, 29 floors up in the air and the CN tower is only about a mile away - I can watch the tower light show sitting here at my desk, or sitting on the couch in the living room (or out on the balcony) so this is big news for me personally since it dominates the view out my windows!

Anyway - I apolgise to the moderators for this minor thread-jacking of off-topic chatter.

In a vague attempt to return to the topic, I shall nominate G.W.Bush (and lots of his administration and supporters) for the invasion of Iraq. The plan of G.W.Bush to improve 'security' for the USA, has stirred up a hornet's nest of violence in the heart of the Middle East - as if that particular part of the world didn't have enough intractable problems or simmering cauldrons of violence already. This appears to me to be the very definition of stupid.

[bush_cheney2004]

In a vague attempt to return to the topic, I shall nominate G.W.Bush (and lots of his administration and supporters) for the invasion of Iraq. The plan of G.W.Bush to improve 'security' for the USA, has stirred up a hornet's nest of violence in the heart of the Middle East - as if that particular part of the world didn't have enough intractable problems or simmering cauldrons of violence already. This appears to me to be the very definition of stupid.

You have actually stumbled on the genius of the policy, which by your own admission, only exposed a "simmering cauldron", with pre-existing conditions for attacking American interests as demonstrated prior to President Bush ever being elected (stemming from UN actions in the past no less....LOL!)

Vice President Cheney put it best.....we can have terrorism with access to Mideast oil, or we can have terrorism without access to Mideast oil. That's a no-brainer.

[Mad_Michael]

Vice President Cheney put it best.....we can have terrorism with access to Mideast oil, or we can have terrorism without access to Mideast oil. That's a no-brainer.

True, that would be a 'no-brainer' as you say.

The real question is, why is Bush-Cheney working so hard on the 'access to oil with terrorism' option? Encouraging more terrorism can't be considered a good plan by any standard.

[bush_cheney2004]

The real question is, why is Bush-Cheney working so hard on the 'access to oil with terrorism' option? Encouraging more terrorism can't be considered a good plan by any standard.

It's very simple, and why PMs Blair and Howard drank the Flavor-Aid (it wasn't Kool-Aid at Jonestown). When handed millions of lemons, one should make lemonade. The "Neocons" logically exploited existing conditions for geopolitical advantage. There has always been "terrorism" from some quarter...let's just crunch the numbers, update the acturarial tables, and press on. Contrary to the stated goals of the Jihadists, the Mideast is now crawling with even more infidel armies (and their porn!)

[jbg]

My nomination would be the 401 and 400 higways north of Toronto.

Mine would be (the original conception of) the Sponsorship Program, or the Long Gun Registry.

[margrace]

An example of the gross stupidity is what happened on the 400 this past several days. On Saturday, two people racing, caused a collosal crash. No one killed, several hurt and one of the main highways in Ontario shut down for 17 hours both ways.

Was that a lesson for the idiots,no, Monday again more people racing another shut down in the same area, one person killed trying to avert more tragedy. He swung his truck into the ditch and was killed. Another shut down for 11 hours.

Complaints from the idiots, why shut the highway, we could still use one lane. No the police were protecting the people who have to clean up these messes but all people think of is themselves. Idiots still.

[M.Dancer]

16 lanes of traffic across the north of Toronto would support two sets of train tracks and leave a lot of land to grow food for instance.

But two sets of tracks would not handle the number of people who travel those routes, let alone the freight.

[margrace]

Interesting comments, the land is too expensive to grow food. Back in the 60's I could see that someday soon everyone would be drinking sewage water and pavement sandwiches. Much as people hate it we cannot live with out food.

Trains, either big or small, could handle a lot of travellers. People telling you otherwise work for the big car companies. They have spoiled Ontario's economy and will keep right on doing it.

[M.Dancer]

Today, Highway 401 also has the dubious honour of being the busiest freeway in North America, with traffic volumes surpassing the Santa Monica Freeway in California. At times traffic peaks around 400,000 vehicles a day between Keele Street and Islington Avenue in the west end of Toronto. And the 401 bridges over Hogg's Hollow (now being widened) carry more traffic each day than the George Washington Bridge over the Hudson.

http://www.roadscholar.on.ca/lateststory.html

Anyone who thinks that rail could replace the 401 is simply dreaming

[Mad_Michael]

Interesting comments, the land is too expensive to grow food. Back in the 60's I could see that someday soon everyone would be drinking sewage water and pavement sandwiches. Much as people hate it we cannot live with out food.

Trains, either big or small, could handle a lot of travellers. People telling you otherwise work for the big car companies. They have spoiled Ontario's economy and will keep right on doing it.

The big car companies ARE the Ontario economy and the principal engine of its wealth.

[ScottSA]

Interesting comments, the land is too expensive to grow food. Back in the 60's I could see that someday soon everyone would be drinking sewage water and pavement sandwiches. Much as people hate it we cannot live with out food.

Trains, either big or small, could handle a lot of travellers. People telling you otherwise work for the big car companies. They have spoiled Ontario's economy and will keep right on doing it.

And if trains were horizontal escalators or ran in endless procession, they could handle about the same number of people as a highway, but they don't and they can't.

[M.Dancer]

Interesting comments, the land is too expensive to grow food. Back in the 60's I could see that someday soon everyone would be drinking sewage water and pavement sandwiches. Much as people hate it we cannot live with out food.

Trains, either big or small, could handle a lot of travellers. People telling you otherwise work for the big car companies. They have spoiled Ontario's economy and will keep right on doing it.

And if trains were horizontal escalators or ran in endless procession, they could handle about the same number of people as a highway, but they don't and they can't.

You mean it wouldn't be possible to have 400 trains carrying 1000 passengers each and stopping every 1/2 mile?

[ScottSA]

Interesting comments, the land is too expensive to grow food. Back in the 60's I could see that someday soon everyone would be drinking sewage water and pavement sandwiches. Much as people hate it we cannot live with out food.

Trains, either big or small, could handle a lot of travellers. People telling you otherwise work for the big car companies. They have spoiled Ontario's economy and will keep right on doing it.

And if trains were horizontal escalators or ran in endless procession, they could handle about the same number of people as a highway, but they don't and they can't.

You mean it wouldn't be possible to have 400 trains carrying 1000 passengers each and stopping every 1/2 mile?

Don't be silly. What about when 10 people got off each train? Then there would only be 990 people on each train, falling completely outside the parameters of your utopic vision.