Outrage at British Columbia's handling of Robert Dziekanski's Death at the hands of 4 RCMP Officers at YVR October 14, 2007.
The four RCMP officers involved in the death of Robert Dziekanski at YVR on October 14, 2007 have never been charged with any crime. Rather, the RCMP have spent public funds to travel to Poland and interview Robert Dziekanski's friends in an apparent attempt to find some reason justifying the actions of the four RCMP officers.
Review the events of the day here and express your outrage by signing a petition asking for justise. Or does Poland, the EU and the world need to boycott the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
Le Creuset Dish Explodes in Oven
Our Le Creuset disk exploded in oven at 375 F about 20 minutes into cooking, breaking in two, spoliing dinner and making a greasy mess in oven. Le Creuset provided no evidence to support their claim that consumer somehow 'did something' to cause explosion. Moreover, new invitation to treat suggests there was never any intention to honor warranty terms.
March 2009 update: Better Business Bureau did contact Creuset, Creuset agreed to replace the dish, we accepted the offer but 6+ months have passed and still no replacement dish. Le Creuset's word appears to be about as good as their product. BROKEN!!
How to make collection agencies go away and STAY away:
The global financial crisis has produced a growing legion of aggressive, obnoxious and often incompetent agents, who rarely take the trouble to investigate the actual location of their alleged debtor. Despite repeatedly returned mail and letters advising that the person or business sought does not reside at this address/receive calls at this telephone number, some agents will actually redouble their misguided efforts. How long, one wonders, before the process server, sherriff and/or repo man arrive(s) at the door? Happily, in some jurisdictions, such harassment may be actionable at law, often for money damages. That's right! Hound dog pays you for each oppressive, erroneous communication!
Click here to learn how it works in BC.
Vancouver hatches plans for backyard chickens :
In March 2009, the City of Vancouver has moved one step closer to allowing urban chicken coops in residential backyards. Councillors voted unanimously to direct staff to study the issue and draft a bylaw amendment. City staff will take a few months to look at issues.
Click here to learn about what a city bylaw allowing backyard chickens would mean to your condo or co-op.
Telus telemarketing just won't take DO NOT CALL for an answer!!
In December 2007, we asked Telus to remove my number from all of their Telemarketing lists. I was told it would take 30 days. Now, in September 2008,
I have again started getting persistent telemarketing calls from Telus. And they tell me that they don't have any record of my December 2007 request.
But I do, and it is here.
Full blog here.
More on the soon to be in place
national do not call list here.
UNLEASH THE HOUNDS on CBC's Early Edition (May 2008)
It's OFFENSIVE! how much public money and air time CBC Early Edition staffers waste promoting their friends and bsuiness acquaintances in the dubious industry devoted to the maintenance of canine pet-slaves. I have just two words for these ad salesmen masquerading as journalists - zoonosis (illnesses transferred to humans from animals) and grafting (as in skin, a painful process often employed in conjunction with plastic surgery to treat dog bites).
Shuswap Marina and Future Building Group (April 2008)
How many LEAKY CONDOS has New Future Building Group given this province so far? ... Each time I search the 'Search Judgments' database, the result is worse. It's now just about impossible now to limit searches in any meaningful way... And the site warning regarding the no less than 300 hits only clouds the issue.
Two kinds of Canuck justice (April 2008)
We couldn't help noticing the two tiers of justice operating today in Canada when we compared the results of an injunction in Ontario against First Nations protesters with another against B.C.'s most celebrated and successful environmental activist, Betty Krawczyck, a 78-year-old great-grandmother who drew worldwide attention in 1993 to B.C.'s pristine wilderness in Clayoquot Sound. Here's how B.C. 'BILLIES rewarded Krawczyck's latest efforts on behalf of the magnificent Eagleridge Bluffs.
Country Life, no praise is too high for your excellent work (March 2008)
What ho excellent, tough but sensitive COUNTRY LIFE editor,
No praise is too high for your excellent work. Can't thank you enough for introducing me several issues back to brainiac Sir Howard Colvin, the maverick architectural historian who created the great dictionary of building. I was so impressed, we gave you a link at our gambling e-zine, the Roll & Shuffle, cross-linking it with another of our sites, this one on architecture and, more particularly, bad and in fact FAILED architecture - www.bccondos.ca.
Who hates PE classes and the outdated, whistle-wielding militia still barking orders in B.C.'s public school gyms? (March 2008)
Who hates PE classes and the outdated, whistle-wielding militia still barking orders in B.C.'s public school gyms? LOTS of us, apparently, and now some lucky Vancouver high school students and their parents will get a chance to say so and give reasons. View the letter one parent sent researchers at UBC's School of Human Kinetics, who are gathering student narrative to help them come up with a better way of promoting long-term fitness in PE class and beyond. Happily, the project is NOT motivated by the obesity hysteria currently played up in the media despite yawning gaps in scientific evidence. More about the obesity myth, project and why we hope it succeeds.
Read our letter campaign here.
What makes 'em B.C. 'BILLIES - Drugs or more easily solved mental illness? (February 2008)
BOTH, according to a terrifying report released February, 2008 by Vancouver Police which reveals that about a third of local police calls are made in response to incidents involving the mentally ill. More details here.
Early Edition Feb. 5/05 - Boating story gap analysis (February 2008)
And what a wonderful irony - oil company becomes a better advocate than (in theory, anyway) a public news show! How could you have missed this angle?!
Details here.
Letter to Editor at the Antigua Sun (Febuary, 2008)
Christmas must have been less than celebratory after what PokerPulse refers to as the Four-Flusher Fantasy, the bizarre, unprecedented strategy the WTO arbitration panel used to come up with the figure of $21 million as the measure of loss your island has suffered as a result of, shall we say selective, US gambling prohibitions.... Details here.
MOST EVIL 866-488-8484 Telus (January 2008)
While Canadians die of old age awaiting our DO NOT CALL Registry, and pursuant to CRTC telemarketing rules, I ask that you engage appropriate measures as cited by CRTC against... MOST EVIL 866-488-8484 Telus... Details here.
CRTC DO NOT CALL Registry (January 2008)
Sigh...Until the CRTC gets its DO NOT CALL Registry in place - heck, it's only been in the pipeline since 2004 - Canadians oppressed by telemarketers may register with the Canadian Marketing Association (CMA) and/or report telemarketers to telephone service providers, who have discretion though no obligation under telemarketing rules listed at CRTC (your link) to put a bit of stick about on behalf of otherwise bootless customers. Details here.
Sick to death of Vancouver's Early Edition (January 2008)
I'm sick to death of Vancouver's Early Edition a) using the station to promote their own dubious causes and interests (program director boosts all things dog, host flogs big business sports), ... Details here.
Avoid Antec Power Supplies (January 2008)
I have traced a hard system failure to an unexpected Antec power supplies failure. Digging a bit deeper, I learned that "we [Generic Computer on Broadway] are seeing a few more failures than expected a little bit sooner than we expected with Antec power supplies" Several apparently random system problems I have been having recently appear to be resolved by replacing suspect Antec power supplies. Details here.
Whistler Blackcomb Section Closed for Avalanche Danger - but not to B.C. 'BILLIES (January 2008)
... "I've said it over and over again - I don't know why people don't believe or understand why the signs aren't for them," Doug Forseth, Whistler Blackcomb's senior vice-president of operations, said. To get to the area, the men would have had to crawl under wire cables and passed at least four signs, ... Details here.
Don't Expect Antivenim for Exotic Snakebites (January 2008)
To: greenlane.pyr@ec.gc.ca ... Like many Vancouverites this Christmas, I was horrified to learn from the CBC News story on cobra owner Hansen that there may be quite a number of dubiously motivated collectors here of rare, exotic and extremely dangerous animals. I visited EC's website and was relieved to see both CTES and WAPPRITTA, but I'm unclear on the regulations regarding fauna on the Control List. Can it be - say NO!- that Hansen is quite within his rights to keep this poor creature? Please advise. Details here.
CBC Early Edition at Risk of Defamation Claims? (December 2007)
How free the local news team is with the public purse! How many tens of thousands of dollars must CBC waste in defamation judgments when reporters either fail to research news stories or allow themselves permission to be wilfully blind to the truth? Details here.
Protecting Canada's Pristine Pacific Northwest Coast - B.C. 'BILLY-style (December 2007)
In British Columbia, pristine inlets are being turned into the aquatic equivalent of industrial feedlots with thousands of fish crammed into tiny floating pens... and in true B.C. 'BILLY-style, the good Billies of the land, surf in their own raw sewage. Can you believe it? More here.
Stopping Telemarketing (December 2007)
US based telemarketers find relative safety in applying their trade from US bases into Canada. Is this the Caribbean pirate wars shifted 60 degrees north and time shifted 250 years forward? And on December 13th and 14th, as welcome as a fart in a tea shop, Telus 905-310-2255 telemarketing from Ontario wants a taste!! More here.
Telus Bill Address Error (December 2007)
Telus won't stop sending someone else's monthly billing statement to my address. After 8 months of trying to get Telus to correct their records, we have finally received, something close to an acknowledgement of the error, but Telus still won't correct the error. The bills keep coming to our address. Details here.
Telus ISP Billing Issues (November 2007)
Just when I though I understood my Telus ISP bill, my November bill arrived, which had surprises that caused me to call Telus billing yet again. The new information paints a very different picture of just what Telus is charge me for ISP services. Over the past 8 years I suspect I have paid Telus $100s if not $1000s for unused (and unwanted) single line item charges on my monthly bill. Details on how to avoid being a victim here.
Shaw vs Telus for your ISP business (November 2007)
Running my small computer network in the Vancouver area led me to discover some large differences in the quality service and the approach to service provided by Shaw Cable and Telus High Speed ADSL. Details here.
Buying a computer system (November 2007)
I've extracted a few tips from my recent experiences in purchasing home computer systems that you may find useful if you are looking for a new system. Details here.
If an off-leash dog appears on a public walkway or - GASP! - enters my yard, what's my legal recourse? (November 2007)
Trespass to land is a common law tort that is committed when an individual intentionally (or in Australia negligently) enters the land of another without lawful excuse. Trespass to land is actionable per se. Thus, the party whose land is entered may sue even if no actual harm is done. Details here.
Education BC 'BILLY-style (November 2007)
In the past two years, 140 private schools, colleges, institutes and academies have closed, and 140 have been temporarily suspended — more than half of the 500 private schools registered with the province. Else where in B.C. education, teachers get away with phone sex, tips to B.C. test questions. Still more on education BC 'BILLY-style here.
Taking care of the kids - B.C. 'BILLY-style (November 2007)
According to the report written by the B.C. Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition, one out of every five children lives in poverty. It said almost 21 per cent of children live below the poverty line. The national average was just under 17 per cent. It's the fourth year in a row B.C ranked last in the report. More here.
PartyPoker FEEL IT
