Wednesday's Ride - Absolutely Crazy Motorcycles You have NEVER Seen! - Part 2

Jamaica Bound

Brad Walls failure and Conservative ideology on privatization has cost taxpayers dearly

Earlier this month, the British construction company (and provider of outsourced public services) Carillion LPC went into liquidation.

A business which had been seen as reputable enough to be entrusted with the operation of hospitals, schools, prisons and other vital public services reached the point of shutting down due to unrealistic operating margins. And the result was to put those services (not to mention tens of thousands of jobs) in imminent danger before the UK’s government stepped in to resume providing them.

Theresa May’s Conservative government tried to deflect responsibility by saying it was only a customer of the corporation it chose to perform essential services — not a manager which held any direct power. But while that may explain how Carillion’s collapse came as an unpleasant surprise, it hardly represents an excuse for abandoning the government’s management role in the first place.

In other words, Carillion represents a stark real-world example of the myths behind the privatization of services.

On paper, Carillion agreed to reams of contracts which were trumpeted as transferring risk from the public sector to the private sector. But in reality, those deals resulted primarily in plenty of money being extracted by executives and shareholders while the going was good — while the British public was left to clean up the mess once Carillion’s house of cards collapsed.

The Saskatchewan connection to Carillion lies in the public-private partnership set up to build and operate North Battleford’s new hospital, which was relying on Carillion’s Canadian arm to provide maintenance for three decades after the hospital’s completion.

Needless to say, Carillion won’t be performing the maintenance work which was assigned to it. And once again, while the formal risk involved in finding a replacement falls on a one-off partnership formed to build the hospital, the reality is that the province can’t walk away from the need to maintain its major infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Wall’s more general preference for public-private partnerships and outsourcing has left Saskatchewan exposed to long-term contractual liabilities, as well as decades of dependence on other corporate service providers built on the same model as Carillion. Because of the Saskatchewan Party’s ideological choice to turn public services into generators of private profits, the arrangements made to maintain our schools, care facilities and highways will also be at risk due to corporate choices.

Fingas: Worrisome contracts with private sector part of Wall's legacy

We should expect that our future premiers will learn better than to turn a blind eye to the downside of privatization the way Brad Wall has.

Read more: http://thestarphoenix.com/opinion/columnists/worrisome-contracts-with-private-sector-part-of-walls-legacy/wcm/a9dda5de-5d8f-484e-8f5a-7af635f33e75

Histoire surprenante

Thanks Norman

GREAT day to be alive ! ! !

If you remember these appearing in newspapers you’ve been around for a “while”. !!!!

The most famous artist for this type of saucy postcards was Donald McGill.

He was nearly 80 years old when he was put on trial (1954) under the Obscene Publications Act,

found guilty and fined.

Today the postcards are worth a fortune.

Thanks Randy

Tuesday's Ride - 1938 International D2 Westchester Suburban Woodie Wagon Street Rod

Excellent response to a right wing attempt to mislead the public

Your Voice: Fuhr reacts to Daily Courier columnist

RE: Stephen Fuhr reacts to Daily Courier columnist

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Even if it’s a political one.

I take issue with a column that appeared in the Daily Courier on January 24th written by Brett Millard. The article was a hyper partisan political opinion piece and it had no place being on the front page of the business section, giving the impression it had credibility, which it did not deserve.

In short, Mr. Millard feels Canada is merely “along for the ride.”

In fact, Canada has the fastest growing economy in the G7, with the World Economic Forum reporting that Canada is considered to have the most positive global influence on world affairs.

On the trade front, Canada recently signed the new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) giving Canadian agricultural, advanced manufacturing, and forestry market access to the world’s fastest-growing region.

With tariffs set to fall, economists predict Canadians will realize an estimated $600 million in tax cuts as a result of the CPTPP.

In terms of NAFTA, Mr. Millard contends that negotiations are being handled by “inexperienced people”. But Canada has full confidence in Mr. Steven Verheul, Canada’s Chief Negotiator who has many years of experience working on trade negotiations including the first NAFTA negotiations, World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations, and the Canada-EU trade deal.

Read more: 

Tony Seba: Clean Disruption - Energy & Transportation

Stanford University futurist Tony Seba spent the last decades studying technological disruptions. He argues that the Electric Vehicle, battery storage, and solar power, along with autonomous vehicles, are a perfect example of a 10x exponential process which will wipe fossil fuels off the market in about a decade. TonySeba.com – RethinkX.com He is the author of several books, including most recently “Clean Disruption of Energy and Transportation: How Silicon Valley Will Make Oil, Nuclear, Natural Gas, Coal, Electric Utilities and Conventional Cars Obsolete by 2030”, and “Solar Trillions: 7 Market and Investment Opportunities in the Emerging Clean-Energy Economy” Tony Seba spoke in Boulder, Colorado, where he was awarded the 2017 Sunshine Award by Clean Energy Action (cleanenergyaction.org). Filmed and edited pro bono by Martin Voelker with the Colorado Renewable Energy Society (cres-energy.org)




Thanks Randy

Twit tweet control

Amazing OLD PHOTOS

https://soulfoodfriday.files.wordpress.com/2016/02/getting-some-historic-perspective1.pdf

Thanks Randy

Monday's Ride - 132140 1949 Buick Roadmaster Woody Wagon

FBI under attack by the GOP - shades of Fascism

Trump Continues to Pressure FBI

I

n its 82-year history, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken great pride in the fact that it operates independently of the political winds of the moment. President Trump in word and deed has challenged that independence more than any other president since Nixon, and perhaps more than even him.

In a new report, Axios discloses that FBI director Christopher Wray has felt such intense pressure from the administration that he threatened to resign after only six months on the job. Wray became director following Trump’s controversial firing of James Comey, which many interpreted as an effort to undermine the investigation of special counsel Robert Mueller into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Andrew McCabe, Wray’s deputy, has drawn the president’s ire both for his involvement in the Mueller investigation and for his handling of the FBI’s review of Hillary Clinton’s emails during the 2016 campaign, which ended in no charges filed. Republican members of Congress have also called for McCabe to resign; he is said to be planning to retire later this spring.

The pressure this time seems to have come from the Department of Justice. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, already in the hot seat with the president over his recusal from the Russia investigation, urged Wray to fire McCabe. When Wray rejected the directive and threatened to resign, Axios reports, Sessions spoke to White House counsel Don McGahn. McGahn reportedly recommended that Sessions back off, on the grounds that a second FBI Director departure would be more harmful than gratifying for the Trump White House.

Read more: https://www.newsandguts.com/trump-continues-pressure-fbi/

Good luck America.... Trump is killing your children with his policies

Ed Markey‏Verified account @SenMarkey

Trump’s EPA just ended a key policy under the Clean Air Act. Here are a few of the pollutants you will be breathing more of as a result: Asbestos Arsenic Benzene Chloroform Cyanide Formaldehyde Lead Mercury If you're panicking about this, try to not take a deep breath.

Watch Burger King explain net neutrality with Whoppers

Seals

Thanks Ivan

Scottish Golf Story

John, who lived in the north of England, decided to go golfing in Scotland with his buddy, Shawn. They loaded up John's minivan and headed north. After driving for a few hours, they got caught in a terrible blizzard. So they pulled into a nearby farm and asked the attractive lady who answered the door if they could spend the night. 
  
‘I realize it's terrible weather out there and I have this huge house all to myself, but I'm recently widowed,' she explained, 'and I'm afraid the neighbors will talk if I let you stay in my house.' 
  
'Don't worry,' John said. 'We'll be happy to sleep in the barn And if the weather breaks, we'll be gone at first light.' 

The lady agreed, and the two men found their way to the barn and settled in for the night. 
  
Come morning, the weather had cleared, and they got on their way. They enjoyed a great weekend of golf.  But about nine months later, John got an unexpected letter from an attorney. It took him a few minutes to figure it out, but he finally determined that it was from the attorney of that attractive widow he had met on the golf weekend. 
  
He dropped in on his friend Shawn and asked, "Shawn, do you remember that good-looking widow from the farm we stayed at on our golf holiday in Scotland about 9 months ago?” 
  
‘Yes, I do,' said Shawn.  'Did you, er, happen to get up in the middle of the night, go up to the house and pay her a visit?' 
  
'Well, um, yes!,' Shawn said, a little embarrassed about being found out, 'I have to admit that I did.' 
  
'And did you happen to give her my name instead of telling her your name?' 
  
Shawn's face turned beet red and he said, 'Yeah, look, I'm sorry, buddy I'm afraid I did.  Why do you ask?' 
  
‘She just died and left me everything.'

(And you thought the ending would be different, didn't you?...  You know you 

smiled… now keep that smile for the rest of the day!!!)

Thanks Randy

Sunday's Ride - 1962 Pontiac Catalina Safari 9 passenger VID 1

Read it and learn.... your Sunday lesson men

What do women want from men?

What do women want from men in the modern world? What deal must we make with each other at the start of a parlous century that is coming down the hill at us like a boulder?

We want men to be our allies, our good friends.

Young men and woman are doing good work in achieving this, but the latest anti-feminist backlash — this one over summer jobs of all things — is coming from a strange controlling group of men indeed.

A flurry of mostly male political columnists think anti-abortion and anti-gay religious groups should be able to get government grants on principle. I watch the men huffle and puffle, patting each other on the back. (There are very few female columnists in Ottawa.)

Read more: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2018/01/24/what-do-women-want-from-men.html

Leader of the Evangelical Right

Anne Marie Matte

The attached silk threat art came from my Grand Aunts home. Eva traveled for The Canadian Handicrafts Guild in the 30's and through to the 50's She also made crafts that sold through the guild and as a boy in the 50's I would go visit the guild with my grandmother who also did handicrafts for the guild.

The silk was done in 1937 and still has the paper slip that idetified the artist and the year.

Read more: http://lyleelderfolkart.com/artist-bios/anne-marie-matte/

The following concerns a question in a physics degree exam at the University of Copenhagen:

"Describe how to determine the height of a skyscraper using a barometer."

One student replied:

"You tie a long piece of string to the neck of the barometer, then lower the barometer from the roof of the skyscraper to the ground. The length of the string plus the length of the barometer will equal the

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height of the building."

This highly original answer so incensed the examiner that the student was failed. The student appealed on the grounds that his answer was indisputably correct, and the university appointed an independent

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arbiter to decide the case. The arbiter judged that the answer was indeed correct, but did not display any noticeable knowledge of physics. To resolve the problem it was decided to call the student in and allow him six minutes in which to provide a verbal answer which showed at least a minimal familiarity with the basic

​ ​

principles of physics.

For five minutes the student sat in silence, forehead creased in thought. The arbiter reminded him that time was running out, to which the student replied that he had several extremely relevant answers, but couldn’t make up his mind which to use.

On being advised to hurry up the student replied as follows:

"Firstly, you could take the barometer up to the roof of the skyscraper, drop it over the edge, and measure the time it takes to reach the ground. The height of the building can then be worked out from the formula H = 0.5g x t squared. But bad luck on the barometer."

"Or if the sun is shining you could measure the height of the barometer, then set it on end and measure the length of its shadow. Then you measure the length of the skyscraper’s shadow, and thereafter it is a simple matter of proportional arithmetic to work out the height of the skyscraper."

"But if you wanted to be highly scientific about it, you could tie a short piece of string to the barometer and swing it like a pendulum, first at ground level and then on the roof of the skyscraper. The height is worked out by the difference in the gravitational restoring force T = 2 pi sq root (l / g)."

"Or if the skyscraper has an outside emergency staircase, it would be easier to walk up it and mark off the height of the skyscraper in barometer lengths, then add them up."

"If you merely wanted to be boring and orthodox about it, of course, you could use the barometer to measure the air pressure on the roof of the skyscraper and on the ground, and convert the difference in millibars into feet to give the height of the building."

"But since we are constantly being exhorted to exercise independence of mind and apply scientific methods, undoubtedly the best way would be to knock on the janitor's door and say to him, 'If you would like a nice new barometer, I will give you this one if you tell me the height of this skyscraper'."

The student was Niels Bohr, the only person from Denmark to win the Nobel prize for Physics.

Thanks Randy 

Heart Warming Story!!!

Because of his stupidity and clumsiness, his teacher was always yelling at him, "You're driving me crazy, Tyrone! "One day, Tyrone's mother came to school to check on how he was doing.

The teacher told his mother honestly, that her son was simply a disaster, getting very low marks, and that she had never seen such a stupid boy in her entire teaching career.

The mother was so shocked at the feedback that she withdrew her son from school and moved out of London, and relocated to Birmingham ..

Twenty-five years later, the teacher was diagnosed with an almost incurable cardiac disease. All the doctors strongly advised her to have open heart surgery, but there was only one surgeon in Britain who could perform the operation and he was located at the Birmingham Clinic. Left with no other options, the teacher decided to have the operation, which was successful.

When she came round after surgery she saw a handsome young doctor smiling down at her. She wanted to thank him, but could not talk. Her face started to turn blue, she raised her hand, trying to tell him something but quickly died. The doctor was shocked, wondering what could possibly have gone wrong so suddenly..

Then he turned around and saw our friend Tyrone, a janitor in the Clinic, who had unplugged the life-support equipment in order to connect his vacuum cleaner.

If you thought for one moment that Tyrone had become a heart-surgeon, there is a high likelihood that you voted for Stephen Harper.

Thanks Ralph.... My blog,my punchline 

Bridges around the world

Pont Jacques Chaban-Delmas, France

 This sophisticated bridge in Bordeaux, France can boast the title of Europe’s longest vertical lift bridge with four traffic lanes and an outboard sidewalk and bicycle lane. The lift structure has four independent pylons towers supporting the span weight and can lift to a height of 50 meters (164 feet). 

 

 

2 Gateshead Millennium Bridge, UK

 Spanning the River Tyne, this bridge is nicknamed the Winking Eye Bridge because of its eye-shaped look when in motion. The bridge has a deck for pedestrians and cyclists and a supporting arch. The bridge rotates as a single structure with the arch lowering and the deck rising, counter-balancing each other, forming a pathway for water traffic. 

 

 

3 Vizcaya Bridge, Spain

 The Vizcaya Bridge in Biscay, Spain connects the two towns of Portugalete and Las Arenas over the Ibaizabal River. The locals refer to the bridge as Puente Colgante, meaning suspension bridge even though it is a transporter bridge with a different structure. This bridge also happens to be the world’s oldest transporter bridge as it was built in 1893.  Its gondola can transport six cars, as well as passengers and cyclists. 

 

 

4 Submersible Bridges, Corinth Canal , Greece

The Corinth Canal was built between 1881 and 1893 and was quite an achievement in its day. The canal went on to save ships a 700 km (435mile) journey because they no longer needed to go around the Peloponnesian peninsula.  It’s very narrow and can only accommodate one ship at a time. The submersible bridges were built in 1988 and their decks are lowered 8 meters (26ft) below the water, allowing for tall shipping vessels to use the canal. 

 

 

5 Puente de la Mujer, Argentina

 This footbridge in Hull, Yorkshire, is also known as the Scale Lane Bridge. An exciting feature of this bridge is that it rotates while pedestrians are still on it. The bridge takes two minutes to open or close for water traffic and offers pedestrians a unique experience of the city. At night, the bridge’s lights turn on and off while the bridge moves, making for a fascinating light show.

Thanks Ivan