The Squamidian Report – March 5 / 16
Issue #719
Including:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Squamish received a big shock to the tourism aspect of its economy this
past week. The Squamish Music Festival has been cancelled. Thats very
unfortunate. The festival pumped about 15 million dollars each year
into the local economy as well as helping to put the whole area in
general onto the map. Between the gondola and the festival, the world
was starting to know that not only did Squamish exist, but where it
existed. But now the festival is dead in the water. You might think
that old farts like me would be glad about that but thats not the case
at all. I obviously didn't like the music. Modern commercial music and
rap (not even music in my book) don't sit well with me. And traffic was
so heavy you couldn't go anywhere and if you could, the stores and
shops were so full of people you couldn't do anything. But see, that
was also a good thing, all those people were spending money locally.
It turns out the festival is a victim of our pathetically low Canadian
dollar. The performers were all 'headliners' and were always paid in US
dollars because thats where most of them were from. Well, if the
promoters must pay someone an extra 40% or so to meet the contract
value, it gets prohibitively expensive. A small or local business can't
survive that. It goes broke. And its that low dollar that gets under my
skin. We as a country have put up with governments, in bed with big
business, forcing the dollar low so said business can export our
resources cheaply, putting profit into a few elite hands while the rest
of us continue to subsidize said businesses through the extra we must
pay of any and every thing. We pay through the nose for everything we
need and use so that a few elites can devastate our forests, pump or
land dry of oil and water and extract our minerals, all of which is
sold off at such a low price that the actual workers must work for
peanuts. Then we must purchase back the finished products, while paying
extra to make up for that low dollar. The big companies continue to
rake it in. Thats how it works at that level. So its not just the
prices at the grocery stores that are reaching the unreachable, its US
entertainers who would have been hired to play the music festivals, its
the cost of everything we need or do. Time to rattle some cages.
*
And speaking of the dumbness in this world, the
transit authority in the Lower Mainland ranks right up there as a major
contender. Translink, as it calls itself, implemented a new fare system
several years ago. Thats the wrong word, they introduced a new system
and have been trying to implement it ever since. The system has run
several hundred million dollars over budget and still doesn't work
right. The latest embarrassment is the way they attempted to have
customers enter the transit stations. Cash is no longer accepted,
riders must purchase a 'compass card' that they then 'load' with money.
As they enter a transit station they tap the card on a sensor and the
gate opens for them. As if it weren't bad enough that this still only
works part of the time leaving riders unable to enter, it never dawned
on them that disabled people might not even be able to do the hand
maneuver necessary to tap their card. So, Translink went ahead and
closed all the old gates that people in wheelchairs etc had been able
to use in order to force those riders to use the compass card gates,
including taping their card. Suddenly, anyone unable to physically tap
a card on a reader was unable to access the transit system. This is a
fare collection system that was put in place for the benefit of 'the
system' with very little regard for the actual users. But thats nothing
new from these bureaucratic morons. It goes on and on, time to rattle
some cages.
*
On a better note, not brighter but a little bit
better, so far at least our pollen season around here has been fairly
mild, thanks to the almost endless rain we've been enduring. The alders
and other early pollinators have been doing their best to fill our air
with their heinous products but the rains keep washing it off the trees
and down to the ground where it stays and therefore can't get in my
eyes and nose. Don't get me wrong, I'd be very happy to see at least
some break in this dreary endless precipitation but there is at least a
slightly silvery side to the none stop deluges. Won't do any good to
rattle any cages over this one, perhaps I should rattle a few
meteorologists instead.
doug
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THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Well, March came in like a lion around here in southern Ontario at
least! I was expecting it might just stay mild right through March and
we’d have a real early spring. However, that isn’t the case but
according to our weather dept at CTV next week is supposed to be
riddled with double digit temperatures and some rain. The heat and the
rain combined will most likely get rid of the remaining piles of snow
except for those mountains left in the local parking lots! I’ve often
wondered if a metal detector might yield a bit of a cash haul if one
were to use it on the parking lot snow piles! Hmmmmm….? I’d venture to
say that those plows are so huge they’d likely not be scraping close
enough to the actual surface of the lot to pick up any loose change.
So, I might as well just get that thought out of my head and wait for
the warm sunny weather to break out the metal detector. I haven’t used
it in a year or two but the thought of striking some treasure still
lingers in my brain. I’m sure I’ll get my instrument out this spring
and summer and check out a few likely spots. I’ve tried the beaches of
Grand Bend and Port Dover but to no real avail. The best find I made
was at The Bend where I managed to find about .75c in coin and a nice
little shovel about 3’ in length with a red blade on it. It was of
course a kid’s shovel for playing in the sand but when nobody within
sight of me on the sand that day claimed ownership, I claimed it for my
doggie pooper-scooper. The dog is gone from this world now but the
shovel lives on! I go on line once in a while and check out the metal
detecting sites just to see what gold looks like when dug up by a
detectorist. I had a little gold ring find way back when we were in
Pensacola Florida a few years back but the “man’s” wedding ring only
turned out to be worth approximately $20.00! How frickin’ cheap can a
bride to be be? Who spends only $20.00 on a wedding ring for their
husband? That’s good advice for anyone planning on marrying, have the
groom’s ring weighed and appraised before saying “I do” so you know how
much to spend on future gifts and jewelry for your cheapo bride to be!
LOL! Might be wiser to just have the rings tattooed onto both bride and
groom so you get equal value in the beginning and go from there!
There have been some very large gold nuggets
found over the years by people with metal detectors and it is one of
those stories that keeps people interested in this hobby! It’s pretty
interesting just to go on line and watch the hoards of videos posted by
people in this hobby. They not only show some of the valuable finds
they’ve made but watching others and where and how they do their
detecting can give you a good idea as to where to detect when you do go
out for a day. Just to watch for places to detect that you yourself
have never thought of checking out before makes for an exciting ground
to cover. For instance, the local rivers are usually shallow enough to
wade through with your detector and you’d be surprised how much
treasure there is even in local waterways. If you’re a fisherperson
(political correctness) you may well add to your collection of lures by
searching in both the water and on shorelines. Many people lose lures
and fishing gear before they even cast a line in the water! There’s
also the possibility of loose change falling out of sportsmen’s pockets
when they don their waders on shore before entering the water. Even the
parking spots along the rivers are good sites. All this talk about
finding treasure is getting the inner pirate in me all stirred up
again. Guess I’ll just have to get myself a new set of batteries for
the detector and head out along the river once the snow is gone for
sure! I’ll give the riverbanks a try for sure this spring but once the
warm weather is here I’ll likely spend more time in my favourite places
to detect and that’s on the beaches of Ontario. It’s easier to dig in
the sand than in the dark earth along the rivers I’m sure and there’s a
higher possibility of finding lost gold rings or even ones with
diamonds in them on a beach and that’s the kind of treasure that yields
cash if you find a good one!
I‘ve had visions of finding a Rolex or even a gold doubloon in the
sands of Pensacola beach but not much chance of a doubloon discovery
here in Ontario. I’ll have to save that dream for the next time we get
near an ocean!
That’s enough daydreaming for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now … Greg
PS: Something To Think About>
Where is the world’s coldest place?
East Antarctic Plateau
On the high ridge of the East Antarctic Plateau, the temperature can drop to as low as -135.8 degrees F.
****
Have a good one..
the doug
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