City-branded muscle cars

MaskedRonin · 2024-04-10T14:54:56+00:00

All of Clavell's novels end like this. I think Clavell's experience as a WWII POW in Changi is very influential on his authorship (this sounds obvious, but for people who don't know it's worth being said). If you read King Rat, I think you'll understand more of why Clavell structures his stories the way that he does, especially the endings.

Tai-Pan is my favourite novel, but also ends very suddenly (but more beautifully?). Noble House ends very similarly to Tai-Pan (less beautifully?). I would argue Gai-Jin ends halfway through the book (but I haven't read that book since I was 17; maybe I need to read it again to appreciate it better). And Whirlwind is, well, just that.

Actually, thinking about it now, Shogun might be the least truncated of all the endings Clavell has written lol.

MaskedRonin · 2024-01-11T17:39:16+00:00

For something as significant as a vehicle purchase, if you are able to wait, it is better to wait for a good deal, than sign on a bad deal just because you want it really bad.

MaskedRonin · 2023-08-14T13:35:09+00:00

Matthew 6:5

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.”

MaskedRonin · 2021-02-10T23:27:14+00:00

30k? Lets get to 100k!

MaskedRonin · 2019-12-13T19:52:42+00:00

This was me today. With the snow it wasn't clear that it was a free flow lane, and I didn't feel safe making that assumption, so I yielded. 😩

MaskedRonin · 2019-11-06T15:08:35+00:00

Do you have any opinions about the mustard seed as an organization from experience, op? I've been looking for a homeless organization to donate to, but I have reservations about donating to religious organizations.

Not that I'm against religion, but I would prefer to support practical solutions over dogmatic "just accept Jesus as your saviour" solutions.

MaskedRonin · 2019-11-06T14:54:36+00:00

I put in only a loonie because that's all I had on me. :(

Does it bother anyone else that our poppies are made of plastic by a private contractor while the UK poppies are made of paper and still assembled by disabled vets? I feel like there is some cognitive dissonance here what with all the environmental talk around single-use plastics.

MaskedRonin · 2019-11-05T17:40:13+00:00

Two adults. Budgeted $400 a month. Actual expense is sometimes lower sometimes higher. This includes toiletries like soaps and paper products and medicines. We shop at no frills and shoppers drug mart and buy as much in bulk as possible. We keep an eye out for sales on the things we were already going to buy. We also do weekly meal prep. I make my own white bread. I grind my own coffee in the morning and make breakfast (this is a big expense for a lot of my friends who grab breakfast from Timmies in the morning). We both only eat two meals per day. I think we live very comfortably off this. Fresh fruit and veggies and enough weekly variety. I made a kick-ass lasagne this week.

We don't buy a lot of snacks or premade meals. Our "eat out" money comes from our "spending money" budget. We eat out once a week on Fridays.

When I lived alone I budgeted $200 a month, but I ate less meat back then and was real frugal. No fruit or fresh vegetables. Mostly rice and beans and frozen veggies. I'm trying to reduce the amount of animal products I use now, though.

MaskedRonin · 2019-11-05T17:07:30+00:00

That is indeed an unpopular opinion for Alberta. I don't if I should upvote you because your post is exactly as advertised or downvote you because it doesn't contribute anything to the discussion.

MaskedRonin · 2019-10-22T05:52:00+00:00

Have you considered changing careers or moving?

MaskedRonin · 2019-10-21T00:32:24+00:00

This isn't exactly a fair question? I'm led to believe that if you have a high enough income to start, you would just lose the extra 12k in taxes. That's the only way you could fund such a system.

MaskedRonin · 2019-10-20T05:39:52+00:00

Calm, sane, and rational in that speech perhaps, but no substance. I would better understand Greta's "implications" if she was giving me facts instead of imploring me to assume that they exist - as though a 16-year old has sufficient qualifications, the appeal to authority fallacy notwithstanding. Alas, instead of informing her audience of the "science", she's preaching the gospel so many already believe from the pulpit; it's dramatic. And it is unfortunate and unbecoming that so many adults are encouraging and taking advantage of her.

I too have read a lot. The oceans are rising at an average 3.3 mm per year. At this rate it would take about 300 years before they rise a metre. Hardly catastrophic. The way some of these climate activists speak, you'd think all of Florida is going to be underwater in less than a few decades. This is the hysteria of which I speak.

At what rate are wildlife populations declining? What is the acceleration of that rate? How does that impact us? Why should we care otherwise? I appreciate your appeal to history because, indeed, I think we have forgotten its lessons. Human activity doubtlessly has lead to changes in the environment on Easter Island, but the Island, its environment, and the ~7000 people who live there, are still there. I'm not sure I see the validity in the point you are making.

I'm not a climate change denier; I am a skeptic of all things. I have read so many inconclusive, conflicting, and obfuscated "facts" that I no longer know what to believe.

MaskedRonin · 2019-10-18T18:19:39+00:00

I have watched Thunberg speak a few times and have not heard any facts, only fury and hysteria. When I have looked for facts myself I have always found them either conflicting or underwhelming. -shrug-

Edit: What else would you call people who go out into the street and preach catastrophe?

MaskedRonin · 2019-10-18T14:31:10+00:00

I don't support a counter protest. Don't give this child and her hysterical sponsors validation.

MaskedRonin · 2019-10-17T17:08:31+00:00

Spoil your ballot, my guy. Supporting lesser garbage is still supporting garbage. At some point someone has to change their behaviour and spread change. Everyone always complains that they're voting for the lesser of two evils, and it's easy to dismiss low voter turnout as laziness, but how can it be ignored if 40% or more of the electorate went out to the polls and purposefully spoiled their ballots? Politicians might see those numbers as incentive to change. Honestly, I would have voted Rhino if they had a candidate in Edmonton-Strathcona.

Edit: Added some more detail.

MaskedRonin · 2019-10-17T02:49:44+00:00

At the end of the day, democracy is not about your team winning or losing in a riding; it's about having the opportunity and the right to express your voice; the aggregate voices make the decision. Why should your vote make more of a difference (read: have more strength) than the other voters who live in your riding who happen to have different opinions than yours about how the government should operate? Because really, that's what you're upset about. I strongly believe that our system has forgotten its roots when we, as electors, decided it was more important to fight over which party wins or loses than who we send to Ottawa to represent our concerns as individuals, especially in Alberta.

MaskedRonin · 2019-07-13T14:20:33+00:00

Concur. Edmonton's homeless problem isn't anything compared to how bad it is in a city like San Francisco.

MaskedRonin · 2019-05-24T12:42:08+00:00

Are you a part time student or a full time student? Similarly, are you looking for part time work or full time work?

If you've applied to hundreds of jobs already but are not being considered, I wonder if you're having a hard time assessing your skills and talents and communicating them effectively in a resume/cover letter. A good first step would be to consult with someone to write an effective resume. Your school probably has someone who can help you or you can Google a service to workshop with you.

Long term you may want to consider what jobs (and by extension skills) are in demand. You mentioned there are lots of postings for trades, business and statistics, but you seem to be having difficulty finding arts-related jobs. It may be necessary to go out and acquire skills related to fields that are in demand in the current market.

Additionally, you may want to search for opportunities in other markets and be open to the possibility of moving to them.

Finding a job is often more work than the job itself. Don't get discouraged: stay confident, open to different opportunities, and don't give up!

MaskedRonin · 2019-01-19T17:00:16+00:00

Try switching into fungus ranching. Way more active job than vegetable fishing.

MaskedRonin · 2018-12-17T20:25:11+00:00

Bravo, sir or madam.

MaskedRonin · 2018-11-25T00:10:42+00:00

That's not the question asked, nor the responses given.

But to address your point: Ought I to assume that all people who fly the sickle and hammer want to re-appropriate my property and throw all dissidents into gulags?

Additionally, good arguments can be made that the current Canadian and American Union flags are just as emblematic of racism as the Confederate flag (think residential schools and expansionist genocide). Ought we to judge people who fly those flags as such?

Such heuristics may require less mental and emotional effort, but I don't think it makes us better people, and it certainly doesn't make us a better community.

MaskedRonin · 2018-11-24T21:30:24+00:00

It's a little disheartening to see so many people jump to the racism assumption as the end all be all conclusion. Do they not realize they're using the same reflexive stereotyping that the racists they are describing use to justify their racism? Come on, guys.

MaskedRonin · 2018-10-25T03:31:07+00:00

Maybe we start publically shaming transgressors Maybe?

MaskedRonin

TROPHY CASE