Washington now paying attention?

Reposted from Feb 16, 2007,  It took this long for the government to notice that these dangerous products are being marketed to children. Ignore the WWW Raw comment here and substitute the brutality of MMA as the prime advertising media for so called energy drinks. 

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Friday, February 16, 2007

Energy drinks - introduction to drugs?

Are the so called energy drinks an entry point into other 'high inducing' methods of synthetically elevating your physiology? Aside from the fact that they are giving you a potent spike of vigorous activity they might be an introduction into artificially enhanced sports performance. Do young people need that in this era of Mark McGuire, Barry Bonds and Ben Johnson?
During a recent boys soccer game in Langley, one 8 year old collapsed on the field after complaining about sharp chest pains, numbness in his arms and shortness of breath. He was rushed to hospital with a dangerous heart rate and elevated blood pressure. After an ECG the doctors said it was the Full Throttle energy drink he had consumed prior to his game. One can't imagine the parents actually allowing the boy to have this drink, we assume he did it on it's own.
But the fact that an 8 year old thought he needed such a boost is disturbing.
A Brown University study concluded that energy drinks should not be used while exercising as the combination of fluid loss from sweating and the diuretic quality of the caffeine can leave the user severely dehydrated. There are many websites with information on these drinks.

And check out a few of their products, especially Full Throttle from Coca Cola - The heading is "Let your man out" with an explosive can and a huge black ominous looking truck, with a black dressed trucker or biker dude looking as tough as he can. One thinks the demographic they are trying to reach are the same WWW Raw rasslin' fanatics mentality. They even have a page called 'badass downloads' with pictures of that drug dealer looking guy you see on the worst news at 11:00. That guy pictured here is actually on Coca Cola's website!
Some other drinks, many with subliminal sexual suggestions, are Red Bull, Monster, Boost, Rockstar, Hype, Rush, Atomic X, Socko, Fuze and the best of all, Pimp Juice! You can even download a song from their website called 'Doin' what a pimp do.'
Do children need performance in sports? Aren't they supposed to be having fun? Aren't these drinks selling something scary? Are they on the verge of promoting drug use as a way of life? Do we want children to emulate the kind of person who needs these drinks? Is the next step a little pill delivered to the 8 year old to make him run faster and kick harder?
I'm not saying they are marketting to children, but beware parents, a new threat is emerging.
As if you needed another.

Wikipedia info -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_drink

Health warning -
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/iyh-vsv/prod/energy-energie_e.html

Space shuttle launch - cameras onboard - awesome

Incredibly fascinating video and the sound is awesome too!





You are on the booster rocket, which then breaks away and tumbles back to Earth!

Who knew?

 

Who knew Hippos had teeny propellers on the bottom of their feet?

Hybrids and modified beings

Several years ago it was reported that genetic scientists had created ears of corn that actually had human EARS! Some thought it a kind of corny Frankensteinian joke. Others wondered WHY would anyone engineer such a thing. What would we say to corn husks if they did have ears? Would we whisper to them in a husky voice? Get a Q-tip and clean the corn silk out of their ears? Could they put legs on the corn too so they can just be called and they'll walk to the roadside corn stand themselves?

Well, the subject disappeared for years until the emergence of Dolly, the cloned sheep. And now many believe the genetic modification business has gone crazy. Recently it was suggested that lab scientists are creating part animal-part human, 'things' in labs around the world. Chimeras. Maybe on the Island of Doctor Moreau? 

They have, for instance, embedded genes for human milk proteins into animals and actually have herds of humanized-milk producing goats! Changes my opinion about feta cheese. One suspects humanized sheep will be next, and what then?  Dolly Parton Lipstick wearing sheep? Will they do a remake of Brokeback Mountain with only one cowboy? 
Doctors are busy building humanized animals! And you must remember that scientists who are involved in genetic engineering research are concerned with achieving targeted effects and may not investigate beyond the range of their own intentions! Have you suspected there is a reason for so many horror movies lately? You may be right that you are being indoctrinated to the grotesque.

Now what caught my eye was this one; researchers at the University of Michigan have a method for putting a human anal sphincter into a mouse as a means of finding better treatments for fecal incontinence. This is an important endeavor. Right? But it seems like the direction is backwards, to stop anal leakage or incontinence, shouldn't they try putting the mouse sphincter into the human? 
And what does the mouse think of this? The other mice are ostracizing him, saying he's just a big asshole now! What a sight! And how is he supposed to control the aperture? Everything he eats just whizzes through him. 
But going the other way would be the answer. If old Uncle George has incontinence. You do the anal engineering and voila, little harmless mouse turds! Even if they do drop out, you can just put them in a paper bag for pea shooter ammunition!

So you can see the progress they're making with genetic engineering. There's hope for anal incompetence yet. No, not a typo, incompetence was the word I wanted. Is anybody watching these scientists? Is there a Supervisor guy somewhere who goes into their lab and wants to see what they've accomplished? 
Does he peer into the cages full of human-assholed mouses and ask WTF? 

Should scientists be creating beings that are part human and part animal?  Well, it is happening all over the planet. Are we ready for a virtual reality Blade Runner scenario? I think we'll be okay, they're not trying to look like us, only like parts of us.
 
We now have glow-in-the-dark pussycats, creepy lil florescent felines that can't hide in the closet anymore.  
Frankenswine is a pig created with mouse DNA and E. Coli bacteria to make it environmentally friendly by decreasing it's phosphorous output. Care for an enviro pig ham sandwich that began with E. Coli?
They have also now grown poplar trees that can remove trichloroethylene — the most common groundwater contaminant from the soil from US Superfund Sites. Superfund even sounds like it is a good place, yes? Well they are polluted locations with hazardous material contamination. There are 1280 of them in the USA. No mention of how these wastes actually got into the ground water, someone would have to be blamed if they told us that, but the tests so far show that the plant absorbs this ground liquid contamination into it's roots, branches and leaves and then releases it into the air. What? Have they thought this through? Don't we breath air? Where's that Supervisor guy?


Cole slaw with your meal? Now we have venomous cabbage. Look what scientists have done, see, they put the gene that programs the poison in a scorpion's tail, into the cabbage so that when caterpillars bite it, they die. Really. Someone actually thought of this! And had it in for caterpiggles. Butterflies for petesakes! Were they sitting around playing canasta when one of them thought this one up and rushed back to his lab full of excitement and deadly ideas. Did his mom make him eat sauerkraut? Maybe it's the scientists themselves who are the result of genetic drift!
They have this huge Atlantic salmon coming soon too. Already called Frankenfish. Modified for growth by using a hormone from an eel-fish to make it grow and grow and grow like Topsy and doesn't know where it came from! Sort of into a tuna-sized salmon. Have you seen those grotesque hook-nosed spawning salmon in the rivers? What's it going to be like when they grow to 12 feet and start coming after us? You won't be fishing for these, they'll be fishing for you! They say the FDA will approve it for sale without labeling to tell (warn) you of the genetic modification. 
They made the Flavr Savr tomato years ago. They developed it by adding something called an antisense gene. Why does that somehow make sense? Didn't sell because they tasted like faded old blue jeans.

They are now tinkering with cows that produce less methane. You might know already that cows are hugely responsible for global warming and the melting of polar ice. The bovines have almost destroyed the ozone layer because their farts are methane carbon emissions. Won't your car run on methane? Why cant they divert that noxious gas to one of the udder teats and have it connect to your car? You could pull up to a farm, get a glass of milk, a round of cheese and a full gas tank! Of course a shuddering side effect might be that cows begin exploding.  
 
And beware of bananas. They have one now that can be vaccinated with a virus' genetic material that becomes a permanent part of the banana cells, thereby vaccinating YOU when you eat one. We might not even want to trust monkeys to test this one. Would the result be a super chimp who kicks Tarzan out of the tree fort and takes Jane for himself?
And they're playing with medicinal eggs too, by modifying the hens, putting miR24 in them. Take your eggs, Dear, they'll stop you from pissing yourself for 24 hours. Can they make chickens stop that infernal clucking while they're at it?
And here's one; a lab grown ovary that matures human eggs! You'll be able to conceive at the lab and just pick up your baby when it's ready! Maybe even at a Baby-Lab Drive-Thru window? I'll have Baby Jane347 and large fries.

Do we need all this genetic interference with nature?  The only genetic manipulation I want to be involved in is that in which I participate myself, like with the attractive widow next door.
Do we want to face it if there is a mistake? Can genetic engineering be retracted? Is someone creating Jabba the Hutt right now? Never mind the light saber, Luke, where's your salt shaker! How much messing around are they going to do before we are all mutated hideous transmogrified versions of ourselves?


Is a pissed off mighty mouse with a human sphincter going to change our world?  





Don't know about you, but I am expecting a Chupacabra any moment. 

Only one chair.

 

                                                       "I can't get up."

                                                             "Oh dear, you can't get up? Do you mind my hand on your knee?"

                                                                "Did you say he can't get up?"

                                               "Yes, he can't get up."

      "Can't get up, huh?"

                                                                  "Bummer. Let's just stare at him then."

"His name's probably Seth."

36 years later

Voyager 1, NASA's interplanetary spacecraft, is nearing the very edge of our solar system. 

Still going strong after 36 years and sending back info to scientists. (about 16 hours for a radio signal) They know Voyager is on the edge of the sun's heliosphere because the solar wind that has buffeted the craft for four decades has suddenly almost flat-lined.
The bubble-like boundary that divides the sun's influence from interstellar space is losing grip. Analysis of the cosmic ray and energetic particle data tells this time story of Voyager 1.
At the same time, levels of incoming galactic particles coming from outside our solar system have skyrocketed. The magnetic field will suddenly change soon, indicating Voyager is entering a new realm of the stars. 

The only other time Voyager sensed this confusion of data, was 34 years ago as it entered the magnetisphere of Jupitor and scientists thought the space-craft might have failed! Then it came alive again after passing the huge planet and many believed whatever was on Jupitor may have jammed the systems of Voyager so we Earthlings wouldn't learn what was happening inside those violent storms. 

Anyway, Voyager is now poised to actually make it's way into the Milky Way galaxy! Traveling at 38,000 miles per hour, scientists believe it could exit our solar neighborhood within the year. 

Voyager 1, weighing 1590 lbs, was launched by NASA on September 5, 1977. It is powered by a nuclear reactor and is estimated to work until about 2022. In 1990 scientists turned off the cameras to conserve energy and the heaters on the backup thrusters, the fuel lines will eventually freeze. These tactics have extended the life of our little space scout. In 2016, they might turn off the gyros that allow maneuvering the probe, leaving Voyager 1 alone and rudderless. And even if we seem to be ignoring our intrepid voyager because we can no longer send instructions, it's fail-safe mechanisms will automatically go into a set pattern of activities and will send things to us anyway. 

In 1990, at the request of astronomer Carl Sagan, Voyager's camera was turned toward Earth one last time, to take a goodbye picture from 3.7 billion miles away. Called Pale Blue Dot. 
Does the photo contrast how insignificant we humans seem to be, with how exceptional we can be?
  
After 36 years and 11 billion miles Voyager 1 is a proud achievement of human-kind, the first Earth instrument passing amid the stars. Let's hope the journey is serendipitous and that Voyager sends a friendly message someday to another intelligent entity as it crosses this threshold of space into eternity. 
And maybe we'll get one in return.

Perhaps one that our great grandchildren can excitedly read.

CONTACT! Thank you Voyager.




PS: Voyager 2, out there for 33 years, is apparently still healthy and working just fine.

Welcome Followers

Welcome to the NSA as a new follower of my blogs. As CIA Whistleblower Edward Snowden has recently revealed. 

Now I know someone will actually be reading my stuff. 

Please invite your brother agencies to share too; the RCMP, FBI, CSIS, CIA, CSEC, DEA, MI5, MI6, MI7? HAARP, DARPA, SPCA, NCIS (love Mark Harmon), Men in Black, DIA, US Secret Service, ASAP, Homeland Security, et al. 


The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, (CALEA) requires that all US telecommunications companies modify their equipment to allow easy wiretapping of telephone, VoIP, and broadband internet traffic.


The Washington Post reported in 2010 that there were 1,271 government organizations and 1,931 private companies in 10,000 locations in the United States that are working on counter-terrorism, homeland security, and intelligence, and that the intelligence community as a whole includes 854,000 people holding top-secret clearances. 
According to a 2008 study by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, (DNI) private contractors make up 29% of the workforce in the US intelligence community and cost the equivalent of 49% of their personnel budgets.


Wow, I have 854, 000 new followers! Exciting. And private contractor guys too. That means the Blackwater shadow army is following me too, or as they choose to be called now, Xe Services, oh wait, they changed their name yet again to Academi. Way less menacing. You almost expect their guys in knobby tweed brown sports jackets instead of black SWAT gear! Are the Minutemen on our side or theirs? There's also private corporations Booz, and SAIC joining in to watch/read/listen to us. (me)

So adding all these people up who are now interested in me, just because I said Obama bombed in his attempt to be humorous at the White House Correspondants' Dinner, (you see, the trigger is using the name Obama, in the same sentence as the word bombed.)  I expect now that I have easily passed the one million count in followers of my blog! 

I don't feel so lonely anymore, knowing that virtually ALL my posts are being read by these intelligent/intellectual/intelligence people inside their big obsidian building in Maryland.
I am probably the topic of coffee-break confabs, water-cooler chit-chat or water-closet whispers?

 
I'll try harder now, I promise. Now that I know you guys are all watching.



I think I'll email Putin and Xi, maybe get the Russian SVR and China's MSS following me too. Those kinds of numbers would put me into NSA spy-satellite attention.





Psst! I can see that guy with binoculars in my neighbor's tree peering into my bedroom, should I bring him a coffee? 
Hello? I know you can hear me. One lump or two?

wiki  - Mass Surveillance Internet
   

Hollywood Celebrity News

It's not gossip, it's gossamer!

Tori Spelling turns 40 in a bikini.  Go ahead and put your clothes on,  Tori,  there's no  pool!  The ones who did come to her party hid behind the cake.  Rumors say she will star in her very own Creature From the Black Lagoon show,  to be called Tori Creeps Us Out,  as soon as she gets her overbite fixed and buys Johnny Depp. It will be filmed entirely in the pond in her bedroom.

 Lady Gaga continues to deny the persistent rumors that she is a guy.  In spite of  Bette Midler saying she saw him/her standing at a urinal and those legs were not pretty at all and her aim was no good. The Divine Miss M said Gaga's shoes squished as she walked by.

Kim Kardashian denies that while attending a Hollywood party she sat on Mr. Bill.  She said there was no-one green on her chair.   Her ass,  which arrived later,  had no comment.  The Weight Watchers signing was put off when the company said they couldn't survive a Kirstie Alley Jenny Craig situation.  Kim said the talk that she is pregnant with triplets,  one in front,  two at back,  are cruel.

Gwyneth Paltrow, in order to quell the talk that she is the most hated star in Hollywood,  moved to Burbank.  She said those little people there really like her and she would soon open a booth to bless them on Thursdays.

Meanwhile Beyonce is furious because she is tired of being taken for Tyra Banks.  She said at least she is welcome on Rodeo Drive and went shopping at the Rodeo WalMart for a new leather thong.  Tyra responded that at least she could sing a full octave and sang the archipelago song,  Don't Worry, Be Happy  in 3 part harmony,  each part having 3 notes, do, ra and me.

The interchangeable dispute continues.

 

Michael Douglas says oral sex might have caused his throat cancer.  But he also said that cunnilingus was the best cure for it? Nevertheless his lust for life seems to have balanced out as he is cured.  When Catherine Zeta Jones was asked about the declaration, she only remarked, "Hold your tongue, Boy!"  
Gene Simmons was not available for comment.

That's all folks! 

Hollywood Celebrity News 2

Tone it down a bit

The Coast of Malabar, the Chieftains with Ry Cooder.

It`s not all bad, relax, be happy, pay attention to the real good things of life, family, friends and love.

Start Windows 8

Windows 8 is not selling.
I was considering buying a new computer myself until I read about the Start button in Windows 8.
It doesn't exist.

This kind of confirms my suspicions that Microsoft Windows just has too many employees! They are all sequestered in the basements somewhere in Redmond growing long beards playing Angry Birds and hoping Bill Gates never ventures underground to bomb them. All these guys are trying desperately to rationalize their jobs. One guy is probably working on the Inside the Eyelid Windows 23! They think they NEED to come up with innovations.

So that's what do they do. They conspire together to invent something new and fresh every couple of years, and then tell senile old Bill that Windows needs it. Windows 98 over 95 for example; Vista over XP; 8 over 7. Gates of course goes for it because it will sell everyone something they didn't want all over again. But hundreds of thousands of businesses and offices are still using old reliable Windows XP and if it ain't broke ...

So we go from simply one click on a Start button, to seeing pretty colored tiles on screen and touching them to get somewhere. Of course all the MS Undergrounders have smart phones and tablets with touch screens in the hairy palms of their hands! Wow, it works wonderfully. But I think I hear metallic squeals and steam pipes rattling. So I told a sales guy about this, and he said it was easy in Windows 8, you just had to know things, then he went to a huge touch screen PC, clicked something, moused something, and went to the side of the screen and swept his finger along to reveal a purple sidebar that looked something like the old one except it was purple, and there on a purple background was a sort of a start button! I didn't know.

What they sort of forgot is that in the PC market, people are using desktop computers and laptops, but those screens are NOT touch enabled, and it is simply too far away to pause whatever I am doing and reach out and touch something even if they were! Many people have their keyboards on their laps, are leaning way back in their chairs and the Windows screen is eight feet away! Gorillas maybe, but not humans.

Mouses slowed down computering when they first came out. Stopped people from using keyboard clicks which had to be 75% faster than moving one hand away from the keys to center a mouse cursor on your subject word and maybe miss the click and delete the whole line instead of highlighting.

So now, Microsoft is promising to fix Windows 8 with an 8.1 update (that they may CHARGE for) which will bring back the start button. There are several third party alternatives available right now if you are finding it impossible to use 8. Or haven't even been able to START it yet!

And those uncombed MS Undergrounders have escaped detection for too long. It is the computer media who are to blame too for having only done what Microsoft TOLD them to do: herald the new Windows 8 and overlook its faults. As they do with EVERY new thing Microsoft comes out with. Instead of actually objectively using the new product. Of course this all could have been avoided by simply having an OS for tablets and smart phones, and a slightly different one for computers.

So the result is that desktop and laptop computers are gathering dust on the shelves of retailers because the rumor is proving true - too confusing and who wants a learning curve just because the nether-world brains need to keep their jobs?

So I guess Microsoft will fix the problem, just as the new touchscreen computers arrive on the shelves, we won't need them by then but some will probably even come with a long pointer stick with a felt top to reach the Start button.


Good grief.

The Indy 500 race is this month, will we hear  - "Gentlemen, TOUCH your engines." ?


Third party start buttons  -  startisback.2.0
                                          pokki.com

Return of Gumby

 
I'm ba-a-ack! Now all we gotta do is find Mr. Bill.

 (It was never my fault.)

Do not accept imposters

 Gumby's Lament

I'm not Lisa, my name is Gumby

Lisa left you years ago
My eyes are not blue
But mine won't leave you
Til the sunlight shines through your face ... 

maybe from a magnifying glass!
Sheez, I'm not Lisa ... I'm GUMBY! 

(apologies to Jessi Colter)

gumbyworld

mrbill page

It is pure speculation that Mr. Bill was lured by someone GREEN onto a Verona opera stage where Pavarotti sat on him during a performance of Rigoletto and that he was never removed when Luciano died, these rumors are unconfirmed. The Italian Carabinieri are uncooperative, considering it a la Triviata issue.  However, the rotund Tenor's famous hanky casts a shadow of verdant suspicion.

Bucket List Item

Isle of Man Tourist Trophy Race


Before I die all tucked in bed
before my feeble heart gives in
before I die with addled head
before confessing all my sin.

Before I feel my soul set free
and go to meet that final plan,
take me out in the Irish Sea
to the TT race on the Isle of Man.

© Bob Westerholm





7 minutes of adrenalin - the camera is NOT speeded up! 

Courage or Insanity?      Focus or Freedom?      Addiction or Absolution?      Death or Life itself? 

Microsoft switched you to OUTLOOK?

Here's an exercise in frustration. 
Recently, Microsoft decided to end Hotmail as it's default email program. The reasons are becoming evident once you begin to stop trusting and explore your own email settings.

For those who like to be connected to everyone you know, and have them involved in seeing everything you do or think, and have a record of everyone you ever contacted on whatever social network you ever visited, you'll love Microsoft's new look. It is well on the way to being another facebook. Is Bill Gates extremely jealous of Mark Zuckerberg?

For me it started out by just searching for the forward button, which used to have its own position, but now it is hidden somewhere else adding a new search and click to your day.
And have you got advertising right in between your incoming emails? And a separate sidebar with more advertising? Of course if you use Bing as a search engine ...

But wait, I found an opt out option! Okay, good. Or not?
So you go to that TINY little AdChoices button WAY down at the bottom right of your email page and click.  Aha, an opt out page, exactly what I want. Or not?
This page is called Privacy in Advertising.  And you can click here to stop Microsoft Platform from sending you personalized advertising. Oh good. 
But wait, have you ever thought of HOW advertising sent to you could be personalized unless someone is reading your email and what you're interested in? Hmm.
So I clicked that one anyway.

Now right below, there's another choice = Industry Opt-out. So here you can stop participating companies that provide personalized advertising! One assumes that those participating companies pay Microsoft to insert items into your email. I understand. But I still don't want their advertising for the simple reason that they must read my communications to know what they should personalize! 

[Here's a little test you can do. Men - write some things about quilting and embroidery. Women - something about tanks and aircraft. Wait a while and watch the ads that appear on your media.]

So anyway, I clicked the button called Industry Opt-out to stop ads from appearing in my email account.  Wait, it opened a huge legal page called The Self-Regulatory Program For Online Behavioral Advertising. There are lots of things to do here, on the side bar there are the logo initials of many companies, one even has the word trust in its name!  Apparently we can opt out somewhere. Sort of like that controversial negative advertising some companies try to stick you with. Like if you don't want it you have to click or we bill you anyway!? 
So I found a link to opt out. I see there are 116 companies providing me with interest based ads. (of NO interest to me by the way) So I click Select All. And presto, I now have eliminated 75 of them! 116 - 75 = 41. I can only assume that 41 companies are paying way too much to Microsoft to be eliminated from sending you personalized advertising. Well it did say Self Regulatory, not client regulatory. 

But wait! I found another select all and clicked that too! Now it eliminated 40 more. Ah progress, then said it had one company left. Check the list again. Hmm, nothing there. One can only assume this time, that that single One is reserved for the CIA, or FBI, Homeland Security, or CSIS or maybe even the KGB! Who even knows who Big Brother is these days?

You can also assume these pages are designed for you to give up in frustration and just give them a blood sample and a DNA string. Here, genome me, take it all. But wait. I see another underlined word down there on another page, called Exercise Your Choice, which supposedly allows you into a beta version of a Consumer Opt Out page. [beta, in computerese basically means that probably nothing works there]  So this link goes right back to that last page you were on, where the secret One still resides/exists. (the old loop trick) And it refers to your browser. Which in Microsoft's case, is Internet Explorer.

And of course, you know that if you're using Firefox, Safari, Opera or Chrome. All bets are off. Fun huh?
And none of this solves my problem of viewing ALL my contracts when wanting to forward an email. Outlook only shows five.

Well there you have it, all those clicks later and where are you? Still facing the new, to you, Outlook instead of Hotmail. Simplicity in life is over. Trust drained away when it started to rain inside your house! Trust? Silly me. But wait! There's always a solution ... if I just post my financial situation these companies wouldn't bother trying to sell me anything at all!

I'm going to gmail. They have everyone I ever knew on my contact list. 

But wait, even that girl? Sheeez, I only knew her for forty-two minutes! 

Damn, you can't even send a thank you note anymore.

Solutions

The Port Mann bridge had horrendous problems last year with ice forming on the cables, and when it got too heavy, falling off and landing on cars below. Causing a lot of damage, because the cables go up to a center post and are over the traveled road instead of along the sides like a normal suspension bridge. (Hey, who am I to question those brainy engineers)
Of course this cable twist over the pavement created a huge nuisance. And the Bridge people are trying to solve it.

Yes I have a solution that would be win win for everyone. It's just a matter of keeping the ice off the cables. Sure they could use heavy equipment at high cost but mine is cheaper.

So if there is an elevator inside those huge posts, it helps a lot.    Or not.
You see, in mid winter we have many homeless people roaming in the Vancouver area. Those poor folk are doing all they can to survive. My idea would help them a lot. And they have nowhere to go anyway.

What we do, see, is hoist the homeless people up to the top of the cables. They are usually loaded with extra donated Sally Anne clothing that is often out of style anyway, like those old Russian Army type woolen overcoats etc. We strap them at the top, onto the cables, even using a handcuff if they were not going to be able to hold on for the slide down. And then let them go, clutching to the cable, yes? And while descending, they would sort of scrape the cable free of ice and snow. 

We would have to secure them to the cables because falling onto windshields below would cause breakage and the people driving home would get damned cold with no windshield. Not to mention having a frozen passenger clinging to the dashboard. If the homeless people do make it to the bottom, we could give them a blanket and maybe some red licorice twisters and a slider. A Happy Meal. Even a Treo sticker so they could walk across the Port Mann whenever they wanted. 

I believe this would be a practical way to keep the bridge cables free of ice in the winter. 
 
Well it's better than the one about having the traffic go 1 mile per hour so the exhaust fumes melt the ice. And besides, people would get home too late. If you're gonna pay 5 bucks to cross you don't want to spend $15 in gas.

Well maybe a LITTLE scary

Okay okay, I agree I haven't solved the 'looking up' problem of motorists yet.  
   "Hey, Martha look, there's one coming down now! Wow they go fast!  ...... Oooo   ................ bummer."
   "Oh my gawd, Bernie! Did he bounce into the river?"
   "It's okay, he's on his way to Vancouver."

But I'm working on it. I noticed the car junkyards have a lot of those old fifties windshield visors left over from 49 Pontiacs. We could have a machine clip a visor on at one end and take it off at the other. Or ... perhaps this could be yet another opportunity to help the poor? 

In the next segment we'll reveal how to attach those visors,
if we can solve the finger freeze problem. Homeless people only wear those fingerless gloves so they can pick up butts and nickels better. Unless they're some kind of a fashion statement.




So you see? There's always a solution. 

Educational TV shows

I seem to keep finding and watching TV shows that have historical drama. Not sure why. 
I think it is the adventure in them. Fantastic episodes. Funny part is that when they're over, I'm not always acquainted with whatever angle the historical plot had. 

Sinbad. Xena. Spartacus, all wonderful examples of historical dramas that entice me. Brave characters and courageous deeds, all in aid of helping out us mere Earthlings. 
Perhaps I am a student of history. Yes, that's it. The noble pursuit of knowledge. Of knowing how the world came about. Yes, I like that. 

Here are some of these wonderful historic characters who bring out the higher purpose of living here on Earth. I love history. 

magical Maeve from Sinbad

Xena the Warrior Princess 

Goddess Athena

faithful Danielle

                    what's her name from Spartacus

Fifties Mad history

Lucretia   from who cares?

future history

Calisto - ba-ad girl

Yes, nothing like learning about the past. Helps us know our place. And appreciate how we got here. I love learning about our ancient world.

Yes, I am a student of history. 

Really.

Fun for Millionaires - Canucks?

Now that the Canucks are going to play a game in the old Vancouver Millionaires' uniforms, why not make it a yearly tradition charity game? Something that might inspire the players, catch the public interest and do some good for charities?

Hugh Lehman

A yearly game where the players would give up perhaps most of a one game salary to charity? The idea being that those previous Canucks, the Vancouver Millionaires of 1919, probably didn't even earn ANY pay for their Stanley Cup winning game! They played for the love of hockey.


It could easily be a charity event and raise a ton of money for those less able. The Canuck players will find incentive in the fact that most of them today ARE millionaires with the good fortune to be healthy and able to seek a personal life goal. While those guys in 1919 DID win a Stanley Cup that our modern era players have not yet been able to duplicate. 

Ryan Kessler

And the Canuck fans could be asked to donate cash or goods on Millionaire Retro game night!
They might even dress up in 1919 wear themselves! Have the music of the era too, have 'A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody' lyrics on the scoreboard for a singalong after the first period!

It could catch on and be a lot of fun for players, fans, and a great cause.  
What do you think, Mike Gillis?