Musings of the Technical Bard » Uncategorized

On Work

Taliesyn — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 04:26:44 +0000

Here is a great video, now 3 years old, where Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs fame talks about work and the failure of western society to make work “attractive”, particularly those jobs that we really need: Here also is a link to Rowe’s action after his revelation about the need for more people to be …

Let the Greek people vote

Taliesyn — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 15:35:00 +0000

The markets in turmoil, and European leaders are crying foul over Papandreiou’s pledge to hold a referendum on the bailout package. Yet the right answer is to let the Greeks vote. Greece gave us democracy and we should honour their rights. All economic actors, whether individuals, corporations or nations, should be free to act in …

Rescind duties/taxes at the border

Taliesyn — Thu, 12 May 2011 18:31:01 +0000

Matt Gurney has a good column in the National Post. But he fails to point out the most obvious reason to rescind these duties/and taxes. It costs more to enforce and collect them than it is worth to the state. CBSA collects a small sum, estimated by some to be less than $200 million dollars …

Nice to see, but do they understand?

Taliesyn — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 21:22:12 +0000

It was nice to see thousands of people protesting tax increases in the streets of Quebec this weekend, but I am suspicious about what they really understand: Participants called for the government to clean up its own spending before imposing new taxes But, like the protestors in Greece a few weeks ago – do these …

More Global Warming Fraud

Taliesyn — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 16:20:37 +0000

The “uncertainty” behind global warming science that got its real start with the ClimateGate emails is getting legs as more and more “questionable” things start to pop up. Here is the latest: Glaciergate The IPCC and it’s chairman, Rajendra Pachauri, are starting to take real heat, particularly in India and the UK for promoting the …

Bury C-300

Taliesyn — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:27:17 +0000

Peter Foster provides a very good explanation of why private members bill C-300 should be killed post-haste. The most concise line indicating why it should die? Karl Marx couldn’t have said it better.

The Myth of Shovel-Ready Infrastructure Projects

Taliesyn — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 22:08:36 +0000

Recently, a number of politicians have talk about how stimulus money can be directed towards infrastructure projects that are “shovel-ready”, meaning that they are essentially read to start construction. The mayor of Calgary, Dave Bronconnier, defined this the other day as projects ready to start construction within 120 days. First off, 120 days is four …

Lorne Gunter writes the truth!

Taliesyn — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 02:58:36 +0000

Interesting: …it clearly shows that in the past four years — the period corresponding to reduced solar activity — all of the rise in global temperatures since 1979 has disappeared. It may be that more global warming doubters are surfacing because there just isn’t any global warming. Finally, nature puts the lie to the enviroterrorists …

The RESP Bill

Taliesyn — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 04:31:42 +0000

The Conservative government should whole-heartedly support Liberal MP Dan McTeague’s pricate member’s bill to make RESP contribution’s tax deductible. It is a “less government” idea! However, to protect the state from deficit financing, they should immediately propose cutting spending to some social program or the CBC to fund this tax cut. And then see if …

The Worst Airport in the World?

Taliesyn — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 21:31:00 +0000

OK, I have returned from a vacation overseas and I would like to comment on my experience at Pearson International Airport… I’ve travelled a fair bit, and can say that I was once again less that impressed by the quality of service provided by the GTAA. Considering their landing fees and other costs imposed on …