Holy Crap!

We, Canadians, thought the Americans were drowning in debt.  Looking down at them smugly from our lofty perch north of the border.

And especially sneering at California.  Because as probably most know, California is in dire straits financially.  Huge debt load, massive public service layoffs, with no relief in sight.

Well, I have good news and bad news.

Good news if you are California.  Bad news if you are Ontario.

Ontario has more debt than California!  What?!

On any basis.  Absolute amount, as a ratio of debt to GDP, and - the scariest measure - on a per captia basis.  Over four times as much as debt laden California.

But at least we're not Greece, you chortle.....

Not yet - but we're well on our way.

Greece, a country essentially bankrupt, with a fairly similar population, has only twice as much debt as we do.

Their economy is virtually in shambles, so the ratio to GDP is crippling.  But unless our economy starts to move, or we get our debt in order.....

Welcome to Ontario, Premier Wynne^[1] !

 [Note 1; brand new premier of Ontario.]

P.S.  None of this even includes the massive federal debt!!  This is strictly provincial.

Ack! My Pub's On Fire!

My pub caught on fire last night!

Or the building did, at least.

5am the fire engines came racing down the street.

Nothing new in this neighbourhood.  But usually they keep on going.

But not this time.

Oh oh......

Blocked off Yonge St all day - 12 hours so far.

Luckily it's not a major street in Toronto.

  Fire trucks, news vans, buses for residents to keep warm.

And lots of Hydro trucks.

Burst water lines flooded the basement causing the Hydro vaults to explode and catch on fire.

Kind of wondered why it was so empty in here.

Oh well......

Another One Bites The Dust

These two buckets were going at that building likes dogs on a bone.

Raise the bucket up and hammer it home.

I Guess After 60, It Just Don't Matter A Crap

Might as well go home and shoot yourself.  Ouff......

Getting old's not for sissies.

Now, if these guys had any brains.....

Okay, now I'm ready to pony up the big bucks.....

No political statement here.  Just a sobering reminder.....

Here is the link to 31 Days Later if you want a better view.


This graphic shows the number of people killed by guns each day since the Newtown school shooting on December 14^th.

Are things out of control?  Are movies too violent?

I think there are two causes at play;  media and social media.

Before a "loner" would have to go to school to get bullied.  Now he can be bullied as he sits brooding in his basement.

By way more people.

And thanks to the media broadcasting every incident of a loner going berserk, rather than just muttering to himself in the basement, he now goes "Hell yeah!  I can do that." 

Well, that wasn't supposed to be political.  And maybe it wasn't really.

Just a sign of the times we live in......

Happy. Really?

Much has been made of the ubiquitous Happy Hour, now present at many local pubs.

But is it really that "happy..."?

We came across one old fellow, trying his best to have a grand old time at his pub during Happy Hour.

"They'll all be here in a minute!", he said.

"Any minute now. It's Happy Hour..."

Even the bartender is warily keeping his distance.

Better luck next time, fellow.

"No really, they're just outside......having a smoke."

"Come back...."

Absolutely!

When did Idling get such a bad rep?

Thanks to a suggestion from a friend, I'm thinking about starting a new movement called "Idle All Day".

Of course starting a movement would entail actually doing something, so I wisely added the words "thinking about" to the above comment.

Oh yeah....you have to get up pretty early in the morning if you......ahhh, no you don't.

I Don't Care What You Call Them

I ain't eating them!

Now I know marketers are very clever when it comes to pushing the envelope.   But asking us to belive these are "Baby Yellow" carrots is a bit much. 

This is why engineers are not often found in the marketing business;  "$2.99 - old, mouldy carrots we found in the bottom of the bin.  Uhhh....We Love Food!"

"Uhhh..Jim, could we talk to you for aminute...?"

But I'm sure some Birkenstock & socks, tree hugger will snap them up and put them on their granola.

But not me!

And The Lesson Is.....

Although the Supreme Court overturned her acquital of trying to hire a hitman to kill her husand ("Duress no excuse"), our tough judical system turned her loose anyway.

At least one of the judges asked her if she learned anything from this experience.

She replied - or she might have replied - or not; "Yeah. I'm definitely going to be more careful with the next hitman I hire.  He won't be an undercover RCMP officeir.  Yup."

[This was a serious and tragic case, but shows how complicated and convoluted domestic abuse cases can be.]

Yeah. He's A Great Guy

And I notice that he's a very popular guy as I stroll down through the Gaybourhood.

From The "What Goes Around...." File

Once upon a time there was a lovely five storey condo, with floor to ceiling windows and beautiful views of downtown.

What lucky people to be living there.

Then one day along came a big, bad new condo.

Plunk!  A huge hulker right in front of those beautiful floor to ceiling jobbers.

Ha ha ha, they said.

Eat our grits.  Or kiss them.  Or at least do something unpleasant with them.

And they laughed and laughed.

Because they now had the beautiful views.

I bet the other condo board said, Gee maybe we should have bought that little sliver of land in front of us.

And the new condo also had a beautiful entrance and beautiful lobby.

But what is that by the red arrow?  Shoring for an excavation next door?

Ouchie!

Maybe they should have bought the property beside them?

Because the new condo is bigger and badder than they are.

And just to rub it in (with grits, I guessing) their advertising shows their 31 stories just nicely obscuring that suddenly old piece of crap.

Makes me feel a little better about the 37 slab going up outside my window.

What's that?  Oh, they've just delivered my grits.

Hey! We're Not Making Any Money

Better Than A Robin!

I just spotted the first real sign that Spring is on the way;

Canadian Tire is putting out their garden hoses!

All those annoying Christmas decorations - gone!

Whoo hoo!

And there's more!

Tropical plants!

Feel the heat.....

And then there's.......Wha....?

Ahh....I just needed a third picture.

And was pretty lazy about it.

But......uuhhhhh.....go cats, go!!

No Thanks

How'd you like to be the chump that buys that $1.9 million condo.

Probably on the second floor.  Overlooking the recycling bins.

"Oh, that's Arnott.  We don't talk to him."

"He parks our cars."

"Mommy.....he smells funny."

No thanks.

Incredible Deals!

Wow, I've never seen Yonka 15% off!

And who couldn't use a good Shellaking, even at full price?

Threading?   Meh.....

But if they could add gambling, you could get Black Jack Shellak.

[Ed. note: That was alright for a while, but too much.....]

Hey, The Bay Reads My Blog!

Following up on Friday's post about a great sale The Bay was having:

"Buy 16 Pairs of Socks, Get 8 Free!" (see Really....? for a refresher)

Looks like the tall foreheads at The Bay have reconsidered and pulled that sale, as I saw yesterday - while there still looking for socks!  

Same table, a day later.....

[Ed. note: Boy you retired guys really live large, huh?]

True Leafs Fan!

And a smoking fan, I guess.

And a drinking fan.

What a girl!

Really....?

Didn't get as many socks as I had hoped at Christmas so went looking for a sale.

And Bingo!  The Bay comes through.

Buy 2, Get 1 Free.  And I needed three pairs.

Except I noticed they were in packages of 8.

I asked the clerk, "To get this sale, does this mean I have to buy 24 pairs of socks?"

He looked at me and said, "Yes."

I said, "Really....?  24 pairs?"

He looked at me again and said, this time more emphatically, "...Yes."

I should have asked him, So how's that sale going?

How often do you look in your drawer and say, "Whoa!  I need 24 pairs of socks!"

Maybe if you've just gotten out of prison or you've come back from two years in the Galapagos Islands.  But other than that.....

Man, I could come up with ideas like these for half of what they're paying some ad firm.

So How's Them Solar Panels Workin' For Ya?

Out on a recent drive through south-eastern Ontario got an opportunity to see the deft hand of our Green Premier, Dalton Mcguilty, at work.

Thousands and thousands of solar panels.

All covered in snow.

For weeks now, according to locals.

Some were small installations.

Some were massive.

 But they were everywhere.  Tucked in all over.

And all paid for by me.  And you.

Even when they are snow covered.

And this was before the latest blizzard just after Christmas.

But you can understand why so many are "taking advantage" of this offer.

With conventional electricity generation costs at about 4 cents/kWh, these solar installations are being paid 40 cents/kWh.  Ten times higher the market rate!  Not 10%.  Ten times. And Ontario has guaranteed this rate for twenty years.

Small installations (residential rooftops) receive 80 cents/kWh.  Twenty times the going rate. For twenty years.

And who is paying for this?  Oh, I mentioned that already....

And one more thing, as you can see from the pictures - it's getting dark out.

Maybe it will get windy and Dalton's wind turbines will take over.

[Ed. note: And we thought Rob Ford had a conflict of interest. Hoo boy....]