A lot of good stuff happened, all at once. Where to begin. First off, I didn't apply on Ottawa job. I figured it would just be a waste of time again. I really have a good job, no sense going to a place where policy changes as often as they change their underwear.
Wednesday I came home from work and there was a letter drop by TELUS. They were giving away free 40" Samsung TVs. Well not exactly free, you had to sign up to their cable for three years. I called them to figure out what it would cost, it was cheaper than what I was paying and you got a PVR and two other receivers, rent free.
I had to call my current provider, Shaw. They sent me to retentions and I negotiated with them. No free TV, but I got a better PVR for 1/3 off.
Today I came to the city, via Elk Island Park. I got lucky, the buffalo and caribou liked the warmer weather too. Pictures attached.
When I got to the city I went in to check on the bike. They have all the parts, I thought that it would be finished, it wasn't. I priced out the labour on the additional stuff I bought, it came to $350. They are charging me 25% less for labour than normal. Score.
I went to renew my registrations, car and bike. I was afraid this was going to cost more, due to a photo radar ticket I got in Sherwood Park last August, which I forgot to pay.
Sherwood Park dumped their photo radar last fall. They must have dumped my ticket with it too. Registries looked me up, no fines! Should I buy lottery tickets today?
I woke up thinking of some things this morning. Kind of serious. There was a big thing made about the cruise ship that lost all of its power and drifted for awhile. I guess the passengers were saying how awful it smelt as the washrooms didn't work. They had eventually closed them down. One story I read was how the person slept on the deck, well at least they could.
Imagine how the slaves felt, either going to Rome or from Africa to the 13 colonies. Well they probably had a bucket to go in. Maybe ships should have buckets, not sure why they don't, they are at the mercy of water. I wonder if Carnival Cruise lines (and all the others) learned from this and have a mechanism to fix whatever is wrong i.e. on call HVAC guys. All this has done is make the chances of my going on a cruise slimmer.
Way back when, a bunch of Cardinals got together in Nicea. I think they were cardinals, don't worry I am not going to wonder into the Pope controversy in this post. The pope is a symptom of a bigger problem.
The Council of Nicea compiled a Greatest Hits of Jesus Stories. They met for awhile and decided which stories to keep and which to toss. You'd think that there weren't that many people writing when Jesus was around. You'd be right, well if you looked at what the Council picked. They gravitated to stories written by guys with the same names as the apostles, but not alive when Jesus was.
There may have been stories written when Jesus was around, but they never made it to the book. A guy that never met Jesus was like the biggest star of the book. Anyway, they had a bunch of Cardinals around. They decided to pick a theme, as every good book needs a theme. They tossed all the books that didn't fit the theme.
They ended the book BIG. It was a drug induced story about Angels, Trumpets, Anti-Christs and the End of the World. Now this book was complied a long time after JC and a long time before you and I appeared.
Man has lived by this book for a long time, fear was the main reason to live by it. The churches that rely on this book make you want to stay obedient so that when that day comes, the one with the trumpets and angels standing in the sun, you'll be ready to ascend. The books says you will. One second there will be a whole pile of people standing there yelling 'Pick me!' and then the next second there will be a whole pile of lifeless bodies laying on the ground. The unlucky ones, the ones not picked would be left to pick up the mess. I am sure the chosen will have written rules as to how their lifeless bodies will be disposed of. Which would be dumb and no infrastructure could handle this mess.
So man has lived for centuries waiting for this day to come. It appears to be a finish line, one that everyone pines for. We have people standing on the corners of cities with prophecies. We have religious leaders selling cool-aid and matching track suits. We have drip dry souls, go out and be cruel to your fellow man during the week and wash up on Sunday or Saturday or Friday.
The stupid thing about this is that it was a one of the founding principles of capitalism. The whole book is about caring for your fellow man and examples of what not to do, but society and politicians and religious leaders seized on the whacky last book.
By doing so, they eliminated man's need to take care of his House. Adam Smith wrote a book which basically said that man should find a way to use ALL the Earth for his purposes. Look at the issues today, Alberta's Oil Sands, Fracking, China and really the rest of the third world too. Man is finding all kinds of ways to wreck the planet. When anyone says anything, they are nuts. Man uses religion to justify his actions. It says so in the bible....well God didn't write the bible, despite what religious people would have you believe, God's hand is not present there.
Looking back, this whole thing could be called Intelligent Design. If there was any intelligence in it. There have been conspiracy theories forever. But I really think that this was a continuation of the Roman Empire. The Romans had built a system. It was faulty, but it was a system that worked for a long time. Alexander was the previous incarnation of a big system, but his power was centralized. The Romans learned to spread it out.
The bible is old, it's stories do not apply anymore. People are starting to question it. This has lead to a rise of Atheism. The US holy rollers are screaming about this and throwing in the fear of anarchy too. There is almost an all or nothing attitude. There is no middle.
People that were not listened to at the Council of Nicea were agnostics. Religions tend to throw them in with atheists, because they are afraid of these guys. They have always been afraid of them.
Agnostic (noun) 1. a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably : broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence of God or a god. Websters - the definition is kind of messed up on the site :)
Basically, agnostics are searching and asking questions. The establishment doesn't like people searching and asking questions. The governments have this whole privacy game they are playing. It is funny to watch. In Canada the Harper Government is BIG on transparency, but when pushed, they throw the Privacy Act at everyone.
I had occasion to send an email with a question to Passport Canada. It was about the requirements for a person who lost their citizenship card. One department of the government thought you could use your old passport to apply for a new one, without the citizenship card. This didn't sound right to me as I have to send in my original birth certificate EVERYTIME. On the Passport Canada site it asked for my full name, address and phone number. These were mandatory fields. When I sent the email I asked the question 'Why do you need all my information?' - they said for privacy. I scratched my head. I asked a privacy expert and they said, that is not good enough. I have a right to know why they want it. When my passport expires the next time are they going to pull a Donald Trump? Ask to see my long form birth certificate. Because I asked a question for a friend? By the way this is public information, they have to give a person the requirements to apply for a passport whether the person gives their name or not.
I do not see it getting any better. Looking back on history it all fits in though. Government wants privacy to do what they want. The church wants privacy to elect a sexual predator as their shepherd and not to have the sheep question this (oops).
The new enemy is not the Islamists, the Communists etc. The new enemy is information. It is why Bradley Manning, Julian Assange, the Pope's butler and countless others are being persecuted. They represent the knowledge.....the word the Greek word for knowledge is 'gnostos'. Yeah the same route as agnostic - unknown, unknowable.
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