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Derf

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Posts posted by Derf

  3. Thank God SB6900 died - POLITICAL

    in The Lodge

    Posted

    Derf, americans don't like tolls because they cost money and they also think that any type of taxation is a attempt at infiltration by communists (literally if you listen to a couple people on this forum). So, they don't like tolls but they don't like taxes. hmmmm

    just means they don't want to pay for anything and they'll use any flawed logic to justify it. Usually it's the basis for rationalizing "tough love" policy that really hurts everyone in the long run for the sake of your taxes being a little cheaper A example of that is the NH public school system. The problem is that, generally, the less money being pumped into the state MORE the individual has to spend on services because despite the free markets rederic governments usually do things allot cheaper than the private sector.

    Examples, schools, school lunch, HEALTH CARE to list just a few.

    That's pretty much it. To add to the flamewar, going off topic in the off topic forum, I listened to Sicko this weekend (including all extras) and I really liked it, even with its exaggerations.:biggthump

  4. Thank God SB6900 died - POLITICAL

    in The Lodge

    Posted

    Bridges, interesting!

    I live in Montréal. For those that don't know, Montréal is on an island (occupying most of it) and it is the most populous city in the province of Québec and probably the second most in Canada (depends if you count the suburbs), so bridges are a big question here.

    We have 15 bridges to get ina and out of the island. There was (or is) a debate about a 16th. You guessed it: I'm against it. It is supposed to be built in a partnership with the state and some privates firms and because of that, there is going to be a toll. Tolls were abolished here several years ago. Some people, including the municipal party that I am a member of, say that there should be a toll on all bridges on the island to reduce traffic (thus giving a better quality of life for the residents of the island and reducing pollution). There are alternatives, like public transit, but it needs to be more developed.

    Why should a toll be a bad idea for you bridge or my bridge(s)?

    Flame on!:flamethro

  5. warning: TD2 std vs. Head boots incompatibility

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    This is what we call in French a "storm in a glass of water". Snowboarding is a dangerous sport and **** happens. Maybe the bindings were improperly adjusted, maybe they were damaged. No need to speak about flaming, political correctness and such. terekhov thinks the issue is with the compatibility, Fin says no with pictures, terekhov says he'll be back with his own pics, problem will be sorted out.

    Come on, relax guys!

  6. Soft Boot Carving

    in Carving Central

    Posted

    man can get to the moon but he can't change sticks without changing boot\binding systems, I don't get it:confused:

    He can get to the moon with almost unlimited funds, but he doesn't sped unlimited funds on making boots that would permit it.

  11. Thank God SB6900 died - POLITICAL

    in The Lodge

    Posted

    We had a meeting today: What can we do to reduce the number of automobiles that pass through our neighborhood? Some of the solutions were:

    • more efficient public transit
    • less available parking at the destination
    • pay to enter downtown with a car
    • lots of others...

    Safe bicycle parking was mentioned.

  12. Thank God SB6900 died - POLITICAL

    in The Lodge

    Posted

    Not a single law or even group of laws but the overall availability of firearms, particularly handguns, and the culture and misuse that goes with it. I'm sure there are laws in place that are supposed to keep the guns safe but clearly they don't work.

    Let's not start a gun debate. Please.

    Please, PLEASE, no gun debate. There's a thread on it, it was beaten to death, let it sleep.

  13. Thank God SB6900 died - POLITICAL

    in The Lodge

    Posted

    As for me, I act like I speak: I try to have a small environment footprint, I have a car, but drive it less than 8000km per year, I bike 3000+km per year, I live in the city. I just got a job out of town, but I hope to be transfered downtown some day.

    I forgot to say that I am involved in my local traffic reduction group and I am a member of the local municipal political party against cars and for public transit.

  14. Thank God SB6900 died - POLITICAL

    in The Lodge

    Posted

    This thread has prompted me to write a letter to my senator asking that we attack Canada. Expect to see the tanks by morning.

    Do your tanks have snow tires? They are now mandatory during the Winter here in Québec. Tell them not forget their passport, they need it to cross the border (both ways). They can call the tourism office for places to see or the immigration department if they like it so much here that they want to move here.:flamethro

  15. Thank God SB6900 died - POLITICAL

    in The Lodge

    Posted

    Her father asked her, 'Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your Grade Point Average and give it to your friend Audrey, who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 Grade Point Average and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of Grade Point Averages.

    'The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, 'That's a crazy idea. How would that be fair? I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work. Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!'

    I think her father missed the point. Maybe if she gave some of her time to Audrey to help her study and explain to her the consequences of partying (and show her the example), Audrey could get a 3.0 GPA and since the girl gave some of her time away, her GPA fell to 3.0. That would be the smart thing to do. It would be a good exercise to show the girl the benefit of sharing and doing some volunteer work since she can afford it.

  16. Thank God SB6900 died - POLITICAL

    in The Lodge

    Posted

    Discussion is wonderful - we see things different which is also wonderful.

    You are in Canada which is a great country and thanks for being our neighbor. If I remember correctly Canadians have a population 1/10th of the USA, if you were to take the amount of gas used in your country and multiply it by 10 I think you find you guys not too far behind us in Gasoline consumption.

    Yes, we are not holier than thou. I think Canadians even consume more electricity than the Americans because of the price and availability. We generate more light pollution per city than you do because of the cheap electricity.

    But within Canada, opinions vary a lot between BC, central provinces, Ontario, Québec and the eastern provinces. I can speak for Québec: people here are more pro-environment in opinions than the central provinces, but sometimes are not as good in actions than in words.

    As for me, I act like I speak: I try to have a small environment footprint, I have a car, but drive it less than 8000km per year, I bike 3000+km per year, I live in the city. I just got a job out of town, but I hope to be transfered downtown some day.

  17. Thank God SB6900 died - POLITICAL

    in The Lodge

    Posted

    I guess that is the price the world pays for us to be a #1 superpower, a world police force, most industrialized country, the highest mix of free religion, the largest mix of nationalities and race, highest and first rate opportunities for all rich or poor, and the most freedom of all other counties.. So maybe being #1 has a price we are willing to pay and keep paying. :AR15firin:AR15firin

    You don't get all the above you mentioned for "nutin honey"

    You forgot #1 biggest ego.

    World police force: police for who? For your own good or for the good of others/oppressed?

    Most industrialized country: at what price to the environment we ALL live in?

    Highest mix of free religion: yet, religious fanatics drive evolution out of schools for creationism/intelligent design

    You forgot some other #1s (or close seconds):

    Biggest span between richest and poorest

    Near to the biggest percentage of the population in jail (after Russia)

    One of the last industrialized country to still have the death penalty

    And many others I didn't research because I have other things to do with my time.

    What's the deal with being #1 anyway? Do you have anything to prove to anyone? Life is not a competition to be #1.

  18. Thank God SB6900 died - POLITICAL

    in The Lodge

    Posted

    +1 - also they do not get the wonderful mileage what Toyota says they get, a friend just bought a Highlander SUV hybrid, he gets 22 mpg which is worse than my Corvette.

    I'd be curious to see how he drives it? But still, an SUV is an SUV: a big square steel box on wheels. People underestimate the effect of a good Cx on fuel economy.

  20. Thank God SB6900 died - POLITICAL

    in The Lodge

    Posted

    here we go again :AR15firin

    listen to you big city coastal dwellers rant about big vehicles. In the majority of the country we WORK for a living and that work generally involves power. when you come up with an electric motor that will pull a loaded stock trailer and a body that can take multiple hits from deer, elk, moose, idiot californian trying to drive his midget mobile in a blizzard, etc. I will jump on your bandwagon. until then ride a bike if you want to. hell I don't care if you drive a metro just stay out of my business.

    I do work for a living, I wonder where that argument comes from? You pull a trailer for work, good then. Do you need a truck when not working? A midget mobile with good snow tires is good enough for the blizzards we get up here in Canada (i.e. 1 foot of snow overnight). You are quite misinformed about electric motors. Electric motors are so powerful that if you had one in your truck, you would say "OMFG there is so much torque in there!" Electric motors are so powerful they are used in applications where a gas or diesel engine will not do the work, like in trains. The problem is storing electricity to power the motor for a while.

    Side note: the data on hybrids is startling. seems that they use more resources building them than they offset by fuel economy and on top of that they cost 25% more.

    I read that study (not just the results) and I found it quite biased. They made several false assumptions. The winners of the study is still compact and intermediate cars with big production like... the Mazda Protegé, which I drive.

    We have more small vehicles here now that you can get a decent allwheel drive in a smaller car. I drive a SMALLER vehicle here and its an F150 with the small V8. I would love better MPG but you can't function in the Red states without a truck. there is a lot of world out there past the city limits guys.

    I never drove an AWD car and never had issues with front wheel drive only. I can tell you one thing though: all cars have AWB: All Wheel Brakes and brakes are as important, if not more, than traction. I agree that not everyone lives in the city, but don't argue like everyone needs a truck to get around; people who chose to live in the city (or near it) don't need one.

  23. Thank God SB6900 died - POLITICAL

    in The Lodge

    Posted

    Interesting thread, the kind I like!:flamethro:eplus2:

    The death of this bill proves that that people don't understand the issue, or simply don't care. Everybody knows the effects of cars on air pollution and global warming, so I won't go into arguments on that.

    Big cars are another issue, safety wise. People always speak about how bigger cars are safer and so on, but safer for who? Would you want everyone to drive bigger cars? Then you would all be back to the beginning: all cars being the same size, some would like bigger (and allegedly) safer cars, so if would still escalate, but until when? When everyone drives SUVs made on the frame of a tractor trailer? What about the sight: everybody says "you see better when you're higher", but they're blocking the view of smaller vehicles and the blind spot on those things is huge! The "bigger car is safer" argument is nonsense when you think about other people and you realize that you live in a society with other people. And I didn't even talk about the safety of pedestrians and cyclists, because there are actually other means of getting around than with a car.

    An interesting safety anecdote: 2 years ago, two of my cousins had a head on accident with a tractor trailer in a early 90s Civic. Both walked out fine from the accident. Imagine the safety of a modern compact car with a better safety cage and more airbags.

    People don't need big cars to get around. I drive a Mazda Protegé with a 1,8L engine and it gets where I want fast enough, and it's the same with 3 other people and their luggage. It is a compact car, but it is big by the standards of some other developed countries.

    Really, what does a big fast car prove? That you can buy one and go fast by simply pressing on the gas pedal? Wow, what an achievement... For the fun and excitement of driving? Not really justifiable in my opinion.

    I'm always surprised that people never say anything about how deadly cars are yet get upset when a couple of people die in a gun shooting.

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