Evolution

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Funny Animals

WHERE YOUR LIFE STANDS HERE ON EARTH

WHERE YOUR LIFE STANDS HERE ON EARTH



(Translated from Chinese)



Because none of us have many years to live, and we can't take along anything when we go, so we don't have to be too thrifty.


Spend the money that should be spent, enjoy what should be enjoyed, donate what you are able to donate, but don't leave all to your children or grandchildren, for you don't want them to become parasites who are waiting for the day you will die!


Don't worry about what will happen after we are gone, because when we return to dust, we will feel nothing about praises or criticisms. The time to enjoy the worldly life and your hard earned wealth will be over!



Don't worry too much about your children, for children will have their own destiny and should find their own way. Don't be your children's slave. Care for them, love them, give them gifts but also enjoy your money while you can. Life should have more to it than working from the cradle to the grave!



Don't expect too much from your children. Caring children, though caring, would be too busy with their jobs and commitments to render much help.


Uncaring children may fight over your assets even when you are still alive, and wish for your early demise so they can inherit your properties and wealth.


Your children take for granted that they are rightful heirs to your wealth; but that you have no claims to their money.


50-year old like you, don't trade in your health for wealth by working yourself to an early grave anymore. Because your money may not be able to buy your health.


Out of thousand hectares of good farm land, you can consume only three quarts (of rice) daily; out of a thousand mansions, you only need eight square meters of space to rest at night.


So, as long as you have enough food and enough money to spend, that is good enough. You should live happily. Every family has its own problems.


Just do not compare with others for fame and social status and see whose children are doing better, etc., but challenge others for happiness, health, enjoyment, quality of life and longevity.


Don't worry about things that you can't change because it doesn't help and it may spoil your health.


You have to create your own well-being and find your own place of happiness. As long as you are in good mood and good health, think about happy things, do happy things daily and have fun in doing, then you will pass your time happily every day.


One day passes without happiness, you will lose one day.

One day passes with happiness, and then you gain one day.


In good spirit, sickness will cure; in a happy spirit, sickness will cure faster; in high and happy spirits; sickness will never come.


With good mood, suitable amount of exercise, always in the sun, variety of foods, reasonable amount of vitamin and mineral intake, hopefully you will live another 20 or 30 years of healthy life of pleasure.

Above all, learn to cherish the goodness around especially with faithful and loving FRIENDS. They all make you feel well and wanted for without them you are surely to feel lost!



Wishing you all the best for the coming year!

New Nunavut license plate

NEWS: Nunavut March 06, 2012 - 5:39 pm

GN launches new license plate

New design is "as distinct as Nunavut is itself"

Economic Development and Transport Minister Peter Taptuna launched the new design at the legislature March 6, calling it “as distinct as Nunavut is itself.” (PHOTO BY SARAH ROGERS)

Nunavummiut will have to say goodbye to the territory’s iconic polar bear license plate – but not to the polar bear itself.

The Government of Nunavut unveiled its new plate design March 6, featuring a busy and colourful night scene to replace the white, bear-shaped plate previously sported by Nunavut’s vehicles.

Economic Development and Transport Minister Peter Taptuna launched the new design at the legislature, calling it “as distinct as Nunavut is itself.”

“This license plate is like a window into Nunavut,” Taptuna said. “This will show the world that we are our own territory.”

The winning design features a polar bear and inuksuit under a night sky filled with three streams of northern lights — one for each of the territory’s three regions.

The plate also features 25 stars for each of Nunavut’s municipalities.

The new plate goes into circulation in July to replace the polar bear-shaped plate that Nunavut has used under license from the Northwest Territories since it become its own territory in 1999.

The NWT recently made changes to its plate and the design was longer available for license in Nunavut.

So the GN launched a territory-wide design contest last August, attracting 200 submissions from 123 Nunavummiut.

Taptuna said submissions touched on all kinds of Nunavut’s icons — owls, igloos, caribou and fish — and came from designers of all different ages, from school-aged artists to elders.

Cabinet members selected the winning design, submitted by Iqaluit resident Ron Froese, who received a $1,500 prize.

Taptuna handed out commemorative plates to members of Nunavut’s legislative assembly at the unveiling March 6.

But drivers won’t see the new plates across the territory until the first 10,000 enter circulation in the summer. Nunavummiut will be issued the new plate when they update their vehicle registration or purchase a new vehicle after July 2012.

 

I desided to post this because it was sort of a milestone for Nunavut and I just saw what I believe is the first non Government issued, "real person" plate On Nov 12 2012. So I took a picture.

This info came from:

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674gn_launches_new_license_plate/

Heres what the old plate looked like. Identical to NWT's plate.

Canada Posts Epost is a disapointment

Canada Post runs adds on TV etc. wanting people to start using their E-post service to get their mail. A few years back I had my pay check start going there to save a tree or two. After the last strike, I was considering changing all my bills but found half the companies aren't involved so I never bothered.

It's a good thing too. If your internet connection lags at all, like it does all the time in Nunavut, the session times out and you never actually get to see the posting.

If I was unable to pay my bills I'd be a little ticked off.

Anyway today I'm in Ontario. It's 930 in the morning and my high speed  is quite awesome, but none the less, when  trying to see an old pay stub I get:




What gives with you Government employees? Hire someone who doesn't suck to work on something as critical as my mail if you claim its so awesome.

Until then I guess my dog gets to yell at the lady who puts it right in my mail slot.

UGGG

Concert ticket scam - Ticket Master and Justin Bieber

I've never been a huge fan of concerts. I always said buying the album was cheaper and I'll have it forever.

However over the years my attitude has changed a tad. I don't mind spending money to see a live show once in a while or taking my wife or kids to a concert that they will likely remember long into their life.

Anyway A while back Selena Gomez was coming to Hamilton's cops Coliseum. My daughter wanted to go so I thought, why not.
The ticket sales opened at 10am on a certain day (I may have the time wrong) and I was on the ticketmaster site right on that time.   By 10 seconds after 10 I was starting to purchase tickets and by 4 minutes after 10 the site was telling me there were no cheap tickets left. By 10 after it was telling me there was no tickets at all. WTF. How can this be?!!!!

So not to disappoint, I go on a resale site and pay 3 times the cost. Since she cant go alone I buy 2 so it really costs me 6 times the cost of a cheap ticket. Oh well its a once in a life time thing I think.

Luckily (major sarcasm) for us, in December Justin Bieber is coming to Toronto. So here we are again June 1 2012 and tickets are on sale at noon. By 12:02 this site is telling me what I suspected it will. Sold out. Again, WFT.

I'm all for capitalism until something better comes along, but holey crap. Is this why some 18 year old pop star can be worth millions? Everybody involved in these things is sticking it to the average guy. You have no chance to buy tickets fairly for a big event and it costs you a ton of dough to get them off someone else after the fact.

To add insult to injury, after I'm told they are sold out, I can go to another section on the same Ticketmaster site and participate in a fricking auction to buy the same tickets that were just sold out. Look at the "time remaining". This was 5 minutes after the tickets went on sale to the general public.

All I can say is: Justin Bieber you should be ashamed. Likely 90% of your actual fans (young girls) cant even afford to see you live due to this sort of crap going on. You and your manager "Scooter" Braun  can stick that Fisker Karma luxury all-electric car, Ellen presented you with, valued at more than $100,000, where the sun don't shine.



But on top of that Ticketmaster, you suck.

Oh and so do you Rogers center for allowing this to happen.

Blah

Other sites about ticket master:
http://amplicate.com/hate/ticketmaster
http://trashcity.org/content/why-ticketmaster-sucks/
 

.

Cambridge Bay NU May 12th – 19th 2012

Cambridge Bay NU May 12th – 19^th 2012

Similar to Kugluktuk, I should start with an apology to the community for not getting to know it. This town was work, work, work.

As per previous posts, the plane trip to Cambridge Bay comes from yellow knife and through Kugluktuk, which was where I was. When the jet arrives (Ahh, the jet. lol) off my work partner and fellow NunaTech BK walks. So he meets the Kugluktuk technician I worked with while we wait for the Airplane to be prepared, and then on we get for the 1 hour flight.

We circle once before landing as the pilot tells us “they are still preparing the landing strip”. Even though it’s May and awesome in southern Ontario, in Cambridge Bay, its hovering around 0 degrees Celsius and they are still 8 foot piles of snow and the weather overcast and can be a tad windy. He gets the go ahead and in we come. 

To slow the plane, the back end of jet engines on the 737 open up and basically cover the back of the jet. I’m not 100% certain if this just shuts them off (in a sense) or reverses them, perhaps I should look it up.  Anyway, as this happens the air is filled with snow as if we just landed in a blizzard that started once we touched down. If been on a ton of flights since I’ve been doing this on and off for two years and have never seen that happen. Of course we landed, we are safe (First Air, Canadian North and Calm Air have never let me down ;-) ) and are in the airport when BK tells me that it was his side of the plane that came in close contact with a snow bank and the snow came up into the engine and actually damaged the metal end part that swings down to slow the plane. We are safe but unfortunately for the passengers moving on to their next destination the plane gets grounded for a few days until they can fly someone up to fix it. 

 

Inside the airport terminal

See articles at the end if you care further about the plane incident.

We are picked up by the Region IT manager. He’s organized our accommodation, and hands us keys and fobs that will help us get our job done.

He then give us a mini tour of things we need to know about like the stores and where we are working and takes us over to the “Green row”, where we will be staying. It’s a nice, fully equipped, 2 bedroom apartments. It even has a washer and dryer and soap and bounce sheets. Sorry “Dorset suites”, you’ve just been demoted.

I like suites because we can cook our own food and use our per diem to benefit the whole family, not just me. Sadly I guess for the local economy, I feel no need to leave my money in their communities. Selfish or not, it's reality. 

View from our apartment at 11:15 PM. (land of the midnight sun)

 

Now comes the part I apologized for at the beginning. We started working that day. We worked every day following until late evening. By the time we got back to the apartment I felt like veg’ing and not walking around town. In fact, while I was there, even BK only went for a walk once. And he loves walking.

We had no vehicle as the work sites where within minutes of walking from each other and the apartment. Of course this meant, no cruising around taking pictures either. Sad because I read an article on one of the plane rides about the Northwest Passage and a ship called the “Baymaud” which evidently sank in Cambridge Bay in1930. I was hoping to see if before the Norwegians take it back to Norway to put in a museum.

Also our NunaPM sent me a picture he found on the web about a golf course. Would have been fun to send him a picture I took of it. But noooo……

While we were there, a festival called “frolics” was going on. Much like Iqaluit’s Tunik time, it has a bunch of events that happen all over town. This included a Parade on Friday at 2pm. I set my BB calendar to remind me and off BK and I went to see the parade and get a few pics. Most of the “floats” where throwing candy out by the handfuls. I’m sure the kids enjoyed that part of the parade the best.

 

Anyway, again I have to give the nod to the people I worked with and the accommodations for making Cambridge Bay a good experience. The IT manager bought us and his team pizza on cut night and took us all out to breakfast on Friday as a “thanks for a good job”.  This is not a cheap thing in to do in Nunavut, so it was a welcome treat. He was very organized and great to work with. This was another unexpected Nunavut treat. I heard good things before I went but was pleasantly surprised anyway.

Ps great to do actual work and alongside BK. This is a man who knows how to work and gets it done. Also special thanks to AT. Though you weren’t supposed to ever find this blog to read it. lol  

Local Art. "Instead of stealing skidoos you can play hockey"

Nunatsiaqonline reported:


NEWS: Nunavut May 17, 2012 - 9:39 am

GN investigates Canadian North’s rough May 12 landing in CamBay

Canadian North was upset “for all the right reasons"

JANE GEORGE
(Canadian North plans to resume jet service to Cambridge Bay and Kugluktuk on May 17.

That’s after the airline stopped jet service to the two Kitikmeot communities May 12 after its 737 combi jet was damaged while landing in Cambridge Bay, forcing the company to bring in a Dash-8 to take over the route.

Before Flight 446 from Yellowknife to Cambridge Bay, with 27 passengers and four crew members aboard, readied to land May 12, pilots took a report from operators in Cambridge Bay that the runway was fine to land on, Steve Hankirk, vice-president of operations at Canadian North, told Nunatsiaq News.

“But when they touched down, they found themselves in a lot of slush which tugged the aircraft to the right,” he said.

The pilots managed to keep control, but in doing so the jet drifted off to the north, Hankirk said, and a piece called a reverse bucket made contact with a small snow drift, picking up a bunch of snow and gravel.

Mechanics made repairs and inspected the engine, and the aircraft flew out May 15.

The Government of Nunavut did investigate the incident, Hankirk said May 16, and concluded “the runway condition was not as reported.”

The GN has taken “very clear action that we’re happy with, and they understand what the failing was, and [that] the runway was not suitable for landing, as reported to be.”

Hankirk said the situation could have been “more serious than it was,” because the snow drift — called a wind row — that the aircraft reversal ran into was “actually on the runway inside the runway lights”

“We landed on a condition that we wouldn’t land on,” said Hankirk, who praised the crew for doing an “excellent job.”

Canadian North was upset “for all the right reasons, so we had to move pretty quickly here to regain their trust,” Shawn Maley, director of Nunavut airports, told Nunatsiaq News May 17.

“That’s not how we do business,” Maley said.

The GN’s investigation found that the airstrip had been maintained 90 minutes before Flight 446 arrived on May 12. But, given the weather that day, which included 30 kilometre/hour winds and soft snow, the airstrip’s condition — with a couple of inches of fresh slush — was “unacceptable.”

The “guys slipped up last weekend” and were “too early off the runway” said Maley, adding that runway surface condition reports need to be timely and accurate and maintainers need to get “equipment on the runway as close to flight time as possible.”

Since May 12, the GN has reviewed maintenance procedures at the Cambridge Bay airport. It’s flown in more experienced backup to provide airstrip condition reports to pilots as they come in and plans to put a technician on the ground to work with the maintainers at the airport.

“Normally Cambridge Bay is a very, very good site,” Maley said.

As for who will pick up the tab for the damages to the jet, that wasn’t discussed during meetings with Canadian North, he said.

http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/65674gn_investigates_canadian_norths_rough_may_12_landing_in_cambay/

The Aviation Harold reported:

Incident: Canadian North B732 at Cambridge Bay on May 12th 2012, thrust reverser contacted snow windrow on runway

By Simon Hradecky, created Wednesday, May 23rd 2012 22:17Z, last updated Wednesday, May 23rd 2012 22:17Z A Canadian North Boeing 737-200, registration C-GFPW performing flight 5T-446 from Kuglutuk Coppermine,NU to Cambridge Bay,NU (Canada) with 31 people on board, landed on Cambridge Bay's runway 13T with winds from 60 degrees at 25 knots gusting 30 knots. Following touchdown at 13:04L (19:04Z) the crew had difficulty to maintain the runway center line and drifted to the right prompting the crew to cancel reverse thrust believing the reverse thrust added to the control difficulties. The crew stopped the aircraft safely within the runway boundaries using brakes only and taxied to the apron. The Canadian TSB reported that a post flight examination revealed the right hand thrust reverser had received damage from contacting a snow windrow along the south side of the runway. The windrow was about 3 feet high and 15 feet inside the runway lights. The runway conditions were reported to the crew as covered with 1/4 inch of slush, braking coefficient 0.38, post landing examination however showed 1 or 2 or more inches of slush and a braking coefficient below 0.38 in the first third of the runway. http://avherald.com/h?article=45001d08