Vancouver's Stanley Theatre

Constructing the New Roof on BC Place

The Turmoil in Egypt

This video vividly reminds us in the West of how lucky we are to have been born when & where we have:



Who knows what one's to make of this turmoil. One thing's for sure though, riotous mobs don't tend to possess a great amount of collective wisdom.

I know people in Egypt and they would like nothing more than for their nation to evolve into a peaceful Western-like democracy. But there's legitimate fear that Egypt will devolve into an Iran-like theocracy/thugocracy.

I suspect what's going on in the background is that the CIA and Iran's equivalent are fighting things out, trying to position their chess pieces best for what happens next.

This is History, occurring right in front of our eyes.

Vancouver Today

An Alberta Roll, a Samba Roll, and a Drunken Monkey too!

Brilliant Business Idea!

A buddy in Seattle just sent me this photo, taken last year, of me giving his dog a good belly scratch:

While looking at it I suddenly had a brilliant business idea: A Canine Reiki Clinic! I know not a thing about Reiki but, being in Vancouver, I have little doubt that I could find an endless stream of mindless yuppies with more money than brains.  In no time flat they would pay for that Porsche I've always dreamed about!

A quick search just revealed that my expansion plans to Portland, Oregon may be limited.  :-(

Vancouver Today

Insightful Analysis of the Political Situation in Alberta

If you're interested in what's really happening in Alberta now, after Ed Stelmach's "resignation", I would strongly recommending reading this analysis by Gord Tulk.  I've never met this gentleman personally but he's one of the most eloquent callers to Dennis Miller's show.

Dick Morris: Teachers Unions are Directly to Blame for America's Failed Education System

Related: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie proposes forfeiting raises and losing tenure for the worst unionized teachers. My opinion: A good start but in the REAL world NO ONE should have tenure.

The Hypocrisy of Liberal Journalists

A Personal & Technical History of Vancouver's Olympic Rings

On 2011-01-21 I received an e-mail from a gentleman named John Dammeyer regarding this video which I shot on 2009-11-04 & published on YouTube. I had no idea who he was. Soon I would find out though.  Here's an abridged version of what John told me about the two sets of rings that shone brightly in Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics:

Eddy Butler was the Chief Engineer from PBA Engineering. He was the project leader, PBA was the liaison between the Government, VANOC, YVR (Airport Rings), and the company in Salmon Arm that built the rings structure. The work they did was phenomenal.

I designed the lights and control system electronics and software, while a company in Victoria, Coast Circuit Connections along with PBA employees, assembled a total of over 2400 lights.

The PC that ran the light shows had software that was written by Ian Mackay from Denman Software. Alas, he died in the Summer of 2009 so I had to first update the software for the double rings at Coal Harbour and then find another software guy that could take that and add the features like email control and other stuff that was all working in the background - the thankless job part.

Through the Premier's Office a graphics firm was hired to do the light shows for the Coal Harbour Dual rings. It was because of Ian Mackay's forethought that the system was universal enough to be able to read files that were created by the graphics firm. It was one of those shows that you filmed. I'd known Ian for over 35 years. It was a tragic loss where Cancer claimed yet another creative individual. Really sad that he couldn't see how beautiful they turned out.

We had a small bucket truck on the barge used for getting up to the rings for servicing the lights. They extended the bucket way out over the water to take the photo that I've attached for you. It was taken by Dave Nunuk who works for Tourism BC. If you check out Wikipedia with the Lions Gate Bridge as the search parameter you'll see a nice photo he took of the bridge at night. The LED lights were also designed by me and were built and assembled by Eddy Butler.

Example #52,349 of Why Intelligent People No Longer Trust "Statistics"

A new "study" by the "Centre for Addictions Research of B.C." at the University of Victoria claims that private liquor stores are directly responsible for increased deaths associated with alcohol. Here's the official press release on the "study" and here's the actual document (h/t & thanks to langmann).

The lead "researcher" on the "study", Tim Stockwell, was interviewed on CKNW this afternoon. You can listen to the interview here, beginning at 6:00.

I was most curious why he kept on interjecting "private" before "liquor stores" so I sent him this e-mail:

On your recent appearance on CKNW, you appeared to state unequivocally that the increase in deaths due to alcohol was directly related to the fact that the increase in liquor stores in the province were private, as opposed to public.

I am most curious to find out how you proved that the same number of deaths wouldn't have occurred if all of the private liquor stores had instead been public ones. Could you direct me to the section in your study that proves this?

Incidentally, a month ago Mr. Stockwell was advocating for higher booze prices for the general public but free alcohol for homeless drunks.

Update:

To my surprise, Tim Stockwell did write me back:

Hi Robert
Thanks for your enquiry. Please find attached a copy of our paper. We found in effect for the number of stores regardless of type but then when we controlled for that the percentage of private stores in an area was highly significant as a predictor of deaths - we found the same thing in an earlier paper in relation to sales. The private stores to seem to be better at selling the stuff.
Best wishes
Tim

Here's what I then wrote back to him:

Dear Tim,

But that's not what you said on Sean Leslie's show! Or, if you'd like me to talk in strictly legal language, "that is clearly not the impression any reasonable person would have had after listening to what you said".

I am a man of science and math and facts. From my point of observation, no other field of science has been so abused in recent years as that of statistics.

A person in your person has a professional & ethical responsibility to strive for accuracy in all areas of your work, especially when it comes to informing the public. It would be most interesting to see what conclusions a random sample of 1,000 people would draw from your appearance on Sean Leslie's show, then compare them with what you've said to me here, and see what correlations or lack thereof were found. I suspect I know the answer. :-(

Robert

Another Entry for my Dumb/Obvious Sign Collection

One can only assume that dead animals are perfectly fine then! :-)

Rex Murphy on "Iranium" & Free Speech

"It's becoming more and more the default position on free speech and public expression in Canada that if some group, small or large, mounts enough pressure or descends to ugly versions of protest, or simply shouts down the legitimate speaker, the authorities - government, bureaucracy, university, police - shut down the event, cancel the film or speech, and hand victory to the bullies and thugs or those who gin up some atmosphere of fear and menace."

Trader Joe's Chocolate Delight!

Very Cool Time-Lapse Video of Athens

Why the Left Hates Sarah Palin

Here are 3 insightful takes on the subject:

1. Victor Davis Hanson
   
2. Robin from Berkeley
   
3. Evan Sayet

To be clear, there's nothing wrong with not liking Palin or not supporting her running for POTUS one day, but what's occurring in the hearts & minds of many Leftists is MUCH more than mere dislike.  The second article above provides a very plausible theory:

People on the Left hate Palin for one simple reason: because she is everything they are not.  She is their polar opposite because her life journey has diverged from the prescribed liberal path. Palin was raised to be self-sufficient and independent since "idle hands are the devil's tools."  Little Sarah was up at the crack of dawn, hunting with her dad; in sharp contrast, liberal kids like me were still fast asleep. 

Nick DiPaolo on Dennis Miller's Show

David Berner TV

Facebook page

The Consequences of Biased Reporting on "Global Warming"

Hit & Run Leftists

Here's a very educational new article by Tim Blair. My favourite line was this: "That’s not to say that Palin isn’t capable of influencing thought. She clearly has great influence over Krugman and his kind."

This reminds me of a back & forth conversation I had with a mid-20's English bloke on YouTube about a year ago. He was smearing Palin ad nauseum with unfounded comments similar to this. I got him to focus in on a few specifics.

The first example he provided was his claim that Palin didn't know that Africa was a continent. It took me 20 seconds to find this. I carefully & politely pointed out to him that this rumour about Palin was circulated by ... wait for it ... A NONEXISTENT PERSON!!!

Did he step back and question the stupidity of his earlier assertion? Nope. Not for a second.

That, in a nutshell, is the Modern Left in action - hit & run, hit & run, hit & run!

Interesting Factoids about Social Media

Different Muslims, Different Views

Earlier today Roy Green held a round table discussion on his radio show about Muslims & Islam in North America. The four guests were:

• Dr. Zuhdi Jasser - American Islamic Forum for Democracy
• Tarek Fatah - Canadian Muslim Congress
• Naseem Mahdi - Amadiyyah Movement in Islam (U.S.)
• Ahmed Rehab - CAIR Chicago

You can listen to the entire segment here.

It seems very clear to me that there is great division within the Muslim community in North America and this discussion exemplified that. I've heard Zuhdi Jasser countless times on both Roy Green and Dennis Miller's programs. I think he's a rock solid conservative and is trying to reform Muslims in America, not altogether different than Bill Cosby has tried to do within the African American community. Tarek Fatah, though he seemed to be off his rocker (read "beyond illogical) about Sarah Palin this past week, was nevertheless very much echoing what Jasser was saying in this discussion.

I'm not very familiar with Naseem Mahdi but Ahmed Rehab sounded like a nasty piece of work, which is par for the course with any past interviews I've seen with CAIR representatives. Here's some background info on Rehab and here's an interview he had with Laura Ingraham about 6 months ago. He excels at first insulting anyone he disagrees with rather than discussing the points; in other words, a typical Leftist.

Anyhow, please do listen to the segment and share your thoughts!

Smart Car for Dummies

The photo is mine but not the posting title.  It was submitted as part of a mini-contest I launched here.

Splotches of Colour on a Gray Day

Dennis Prager Provides Some Clarity on the Tucson Tragedy

Reposted from his Facebook page:

In the wake of the Tucson massacre, we got a large dose of clarity. Listen: http://bit.ly/hXSZ8h

It was a first. The WP and the WSJ called out the establishment in print media. I am reposting Krauthammer and Taranto so that you will find them easy to share with the clip.

Krauthammer - Massacre, followed by libel: http://bit.ly/hTMcrc

Taranto - The Authoritarian Media: http://on.wsj.com/g0HUes

Teaching the Leftist Mind ... Through Cartoons

Michael Coren's Roundtable Discussion on the Tragedy in Tucson

Rex Murphy on the Arizona Shooting Rampage

Update: A common tactic of Leftist trolls like this one is to say something like "there are extremists on both sides but I've never seen or heard any major pundits on the Left say anything outrageous". How is it that this past week one could conveniently ignore Krugman, Moulitsas, Olbermann, Matthews, Dionne, Clinton, and the entire NY Times Editorial staff? This is the true "Climate of Hate" in our culture. But this tiny sampling of examples from this past week are but a mere drop in the bucket to what has happened in the past.

Mark Levin Has Had Enough!

A Tale of Two Sheriffs: What Do The Numbers Say?

I was intrigued to see this article in Time magazine about two prominent sheriffs in Arizona: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik.

As Time has long been a de facto PR mouthpiece for the Democrat Party, I understood from the get go that the article would be biased against [Republican] Arpaio and for [Democrat] Dupnik.  But the notion of comparing two nearby sheriffs with widely differing political views got me wondering how the crime statistics in their two counties compared.  After a little research and some compilationthe difference in their crime stats is rather startling:

Please click on the image above to see it full-size or you can download the original spreadsheet.  In the Time piece, there's not a word of Arpaio's success and Dupnik's relative failure to combat crime but as we've seen in the disgraceful, unprofessional "reporting" of the Tucson massacre, the mainstream media has clearly shown that they have no interest in facts that don't support how they wish to spin a news story.

Snowy Vancouver

Arizona: The Hypocrisy of the Far Left on Display

Here's a posting on the 24/7 hatefest known as the Daily Kos that the Left doesn't want you to know about:

Though it has since been pulled down, it provides a glimpse into the mind of a Far Left radical in Tucson, Arizona.

Now that a clear picture of the murderer, Loughner, is becoming clear, it is becoming more difficult to accept the canard that "conservative talk radio" or "Sarah Palin" made him do it.

The author of the above piece, did publish an apology of sorts the day after the shooting.  But read carefully through it and you'll see exactly the same deep-seated anger & hatred towards those he disagrees with as was illustrated in the earlier piece about Gabby Giffords.  In other words, he didn't learn a thing from this terrible tragedy.  :-(

Lee Doren Shares His Thoughts on the Tucson Shootings

Tarek Fatah Hates Conservatives

Breakfast in Vancouver

A Future Scenario :-(

Imagine this: at a future murder spree, when not a thing is known about the perpetrator, who would be blamed?  Sarah Palin, for the crazed murderer must "obviously" be a supporter of hers, urged on by her "right wing hate speech".

At a press conference 48 hours later the police reveal the following:

During the crime he was wearing a series of shirts over top of one another:

1. Bush Lied, People Died.
2. Kill Pigs.
3. 9/11 was an Inside Job.
4. Death to Israel.
5. Obama Nation Rules!
6. Communism is the Way.
7. Che Guevara Rocks!
8. One Dead Conservative is a Good Start.
9. Less Reagan, More Mao.
10. Stalin was just Misunderstood.

An examination of his wallet found him to be an active member of these organizations:

1. The Democrat Party of America.
2. Socialists International.
3. The Communist Party USA.

An examination of the browsing history of his computer revealed him to be a frequent visitor to the websites of MSNBC, the New York Times, and the Daily Kos.  At the latter site he was a prominent blogger regularly condemning the Tea Party and conservative talk radio.

After all of his "credentials" were revealed, who would be blamed?  Sarah Palin, for her "right wing rhetoric" pushed him over the edge and radicalized him to carry out the violence.


DOES ANYONE DOUBT THAT THIS IS PRECISELY WHAT WOULD OCCUR?!?

Caitie Parker Appears to Have Her Head in the Right Place

Wouldn't it be nice if the same could be said for all members of the mainstream media.

Homemade Pizza

I haven't bought a pizza in Vancouver in many years. The photos below show why!