Fatten up your Piggy Bank for this "Tear Down" house

This is not a bad joke. This crumbling house is up for sale for around $2.4.-Mind you it's only money- if you have it. You really have to read the article to understand circumstances surrounding the issue of housing in the Vancouver area.

Actually, Even if somebody would be willing to pay the asking price what could they do with the postage size lot?

Click on and read:

Even if somebody would be stupid enough to pay the asking price what on earth are they going to do with a postage sized piece of land. It defies logic.

Even if somebody would be stupid enough to pay the asking price what on earth are they going to do with a postage sized piece of land. It defies logic.

Even if somebody would be stupid enough to pay the asking price what on earth are they going to do with a postage sized piece of land. It defies logic.

Even if somebody would be stupid enough to pay the asking price what on earth are they going to do with a postage sized piece of land. It defies logic.Click on and read:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/1930s-knockdown-listed-for-24-million-typical-in-vancouvers-pricey-housing-market/article28470218/

About some TV commercials-Again

Lately more and more people beefing about hoo- huhs involving customer service, especially on the telephone while reporting problems with some services and products.

Is it possible that the problem is us? The customer trying to explain a problem to a customer rep, often located on the other side of the Pacific Ocean and we just don't have the patience or lacking the ability to catch the smile in the voice on the other end of the phone?

Let me explain before you think I got high on catnip or just concluded a phone call to an offshore customer center and I am still in THAT euphoric state.

My conjecture is based on many of the TV commercials I can see, even if I mute the sound. - I love the angelic smiles directed mostly at senior-citizens by charming ladies, with a head-phone while they go on to tell them that they have nothing to worry about if they happen to die if they buy the insurance they are selling - with a beaming face.

You are free to assume that the insurance they buy will take care of the funeral expenses and their grieving heirs will not have to worry about a reduced inheritance.

Which is good as they will have more cash for that third large screen TV and for the purchase of that advertised pick up truck that is able to jump off asteroid size rocks without breaking a spring.

If you happen to be older, and don't want to be overtly influenced by the "feel good" commercials, shuffling around all day with an incised smile on your face, pay attention to other commercials.

Like the one where a somber voice advise you that the last ten years of life of the average person is spent in misery due to illnesses. Therefore he or she should donate to this or that fund. - While that should not wipe off the smile anyone's mug, is often enough to reach for the remote control.

Be Prepared To Pay If You Want To Take The Family To The Movies

Rising costs of movie tickets and sugary drinks at concession stands have more and more people staying at home. An evening at the movies  just became too expensive. 

If you have a couple of kids, more often than not you can't afford taking the family to the movies.

And what about the movies reportedly grossing hundred of millions? The first week following opening night, the money is coming in and the concession stands are busy peddling the over priced pop-pop corn calorie rich soft drinks. You are warned that you must toe the line and can not bring in your own pop corn and soft drinks, because that's bad for business.

Now you go to one of these movie spectaculars, approximately seven- eight days after the premier on a week day and often you are able to count your fellow movie goers only to find there is no more than about fifty people watching the movie.

That means that the movie is running while about 80% of the seats is empty. Day after day.

One is curious about the business plan of the gurus in the movie industry: If the price of a ticket would be cheaper more people would go and see the film. In addition, more people would enjoy the movie for the second time. Further, quite often one must decide to only spend the money on a movie that in the judgment of the customer is not a borderline for his budget. Meaning, if the movie is not the first choice, the money was not wasted because the ticket did not cost so much.

By and large with some variation consumers have to consider the following:The average price for a movie ticket is $8.12 US dollars Popcorn costs about $6, and a drink, about $4 USD. Thus, the average expense at a theatre is nearly $20 USD. For a family of four, that is close to $80 USD for two hours of entertainment. And that's a lot moolah for many people.

The studios need a modern business plan based on mass attendance at affordable prices. Otherwise, alternates such as Netflix, DVD's and other form of entertainment will be the choice for a growing number of movie goers.

Caste system in the world's largest democracy, India

According to many Indians and others, the caste system is one of the greatest social evils plaguing India in this supposedly enlightened twenty-first century. More alarming is that the caste system is being introduced in the United States by Hindus who have emigrated to North America in the last forty years.

According to allegations, many from the upper classes within the caste system who own businesses in the U.S. use their contacts  in India to bring over servants and employees, many who work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, often under the table.

Historically, castes are placed in a stepladder of ascending superiority and descending inferiority. People who are born into these castes ordained to follow the professions assigned for the  caste  and marry only within their caste through arranged marriages.

The beneficiaries of this system were the various Brahman castes who by virtue of their birth were free to follow intellectual avocations at the advent of British colonial education making them modern India's intellectual, scientific, and bureaucratic class.

Taking the history of  societies into consideration, one should know that in the nineteenth century even in Europe many people were serfs working for a landlord in perpetual slavery. But that was in the past. Not in the 21 st century.

Knowing that the caste system developed and is prevalent since antediluvian times and remains in these "modern" times as a great irritant. The visitor from the outside of India, mostly from the West can not understand it's place in the world of today. 

The caste system in India is entrenched as every political party is strongly supported by a caste.

Many experts claim that the  caste system encourages child marriage and oppose remarriage. Women are treated only as sex machine and cheap labour.

To eradicate caste system  in India is practically impossible.

Yet, when a help desk answers the phone somewhere in India to resolve a technical problem originating from a North American customer, is the responding technician aware that the customer in North America hardly knows anything about the misery and humiliation imposed by the caste system? - He probably does not, and probably could not care less.

Dreaming of an economical ride in the world of Uber Mania?

Angry taxi drivers moaning all over the world of the technology firm named Uber that is snatching up potential passengers from the advertised welcoming embrace of the always helpful and wonderful fleet of clean taxis and professionally behaving taxi drivers. -Maybe so, maybe not.

Still, many people complain of dirty taxis, ill-mannered drivers taking passengers for unsolicited sightseeing tours, taking the longest route to run up a decent amount on the taxi meter.

No matter what, some people forever find something to beef about. Most of my taxi rides were satisfactory.

But then Uber popped up offering clean vehicles, mostly polite and clean cut drivers. Most of all, the fare is considerably less than a similar ride in a taxi.

Opponents of the mushrooming Uber initiatives are asking, how can any government in any country allow an unregulated multinational company to operate in a country when they have regulated the same industry for decades and have put licensing burdens and costs on the legitimate operators. In this case taxis.

The arguments will continue and the issue will not be settled in the near future.

Most of us are looking for a deal, the least expensive solution. Why would be different in the case of getting a ride in a city in relative comfort?

According to experts, Uber, like anything new and until able to control the market will be cheaper. Once established the price structure usually will change. In plain English the item or service will cost more.

Remember Netflix in the beginning? Or the self-serve service stations years ago? You paid 2-3 cents less for a litre of gas if you pumped your on gasoline. Today? You pump our own gasoline and pay a uniform price.

Some people are concerned that where we may end up if the World of Uber branches out into other areas: Uber dentist without proper accreditation pulling your molar? Uber mechanics working on your car, installing a new furnace, -- and in the end an Uber pilot in his own, in garage built airplane flying you to that unlicensed Uber vacation haven policed by the local Uberized Police Force.

In the end society will decide the level of safety and satisfaction the general public will accept.

In conclusion, good luck to the Taxi industry and to the Uber initiatives. May be the best approach be the winner.

However, the user of any new service should remember, in the end when the dust settled, no matter which service they use, things will not be cheaper. Just think of the so-called "Surge" charge by Uber taxis in busy times.

Comment on article in the Ottawa Citizen,"Trudeau takes on DiCaprio over oil and gas sector"

 In Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, DiCaprio the actor used a major speech on climate change to fulminate against what he described as the “corporate greed” of the energy sector and called for an end to fossil-fuel use.

Mr. DiCaprio is the actor whose ship in the world of acting came in with his part in the  movie about the  sinking of the of the supposedly unsinkable ship, the Titanic.

Mr. DiCaprio is privileged to attend the conference at Davos where the elite of the world, the shakers and movers rub shoulders with politicians to discuss the state of the world, problems and the directions to take to improve our situation in the future.

Unfortunately, Mr.Dicaprio's passioned comments were causing more harm than good. Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau politely but effectively explained to Mr.DiCaprio that Canada is doing everything possible not to harm the environment.

With due respect to Mr.DiCaprio, just exactly, who is he to lecture the world at Davos?  And just who cares? Perhaps there are groupies who follow his every announcement, but most people could not care less.

The actor is successful because the "little" people, like the ones working in the oil industry, many who lost their job watching his movies and ensured success for some of his movies at the box office.

Apart from this, he is no different from millions of other people who are concerned about the environment, without having the opportunity for hobnobbing with the rich and famous at Davos.

The article:

http://ottawacitizen.com/business/energy/trudeau-takes-on-dicaprio-over-oil-and-gas-sector

Unwanted Scam Programs And Spoofed Call IDs

 The Internet is saturated with offers of free programs and tools. Making promises they unable to deliver. Worse, once the software is installed it may perform undesirable, indeed, even harmful transactions on your device.

Perhaps you are unaware or this did not happened to you: You are downloading software from an apparently redoubtable maker or distributor of software. You follow the installation instructions and  you start using the newly set up software.

In one case, the downloaded browser is a well known and quite popular software. After a while the user had noticed that each time she opened the browser, another two or three windows opened and started pushing games and other crap in an aggressive manner.

She tried to uninstall the unwanted programs, but they simply just popped up again.  Finally, after plenty of agony and using various antimalware programs. Seemed that the crummy programs disappeared. But only for a while. Soon, the unwanted pages opened again. In the end she got rid of the otherwise useful browser, cleaned the computer and now seem to be free of unwanted programs.

This is just a very basic, routine case of installed unwanted programs that many people experienced. - In many cases people have learned they must be very careful when installing a program, especially if it is a free software.

Does the perpetrator actually makes money by forcing undesirable programs on unsuspecting users? Do people actually give up and purchase the unsolicited crap for good money?

Of course, the purveyor of such software must have the same mentality as the scammer, who spoofs your own telephone number to show on your call i.d. - Hoping you are dumb enough to enter into a dialogue with the scammer and buy something from such entity. They doing it, so it must work.

 Are there statistics on these activities? Is there promotion in the future for the geek who managed to convince the "Boss" that this and that PUP program will bring in tons of money?

In the developed world the word gets around fast and people discover the scam more often and catch on quicker, therefore reducing the flow of easy money for the "Brain" behind this kind of scam.

One is not too sure about the situation in the developing countries where many people just now are getting on the Internet and many are just at the beginning of a learning curve in the world of scams and forced advertising of often useless products. 

There are many people out there who are vulnerable to the scam involving with PUP programs.

Unfortunately, the scams will continue, and most people will learn only from experience. Like most of us.

The Advent Of The Alpha Women

Sparkling among the newsworthy items is the phenomenon of the new highly educated female elite that came about in the last few decades.

This took place primarily in North America but is catching on in Europe and slowly in other parts of the world.

According to those in the know, at the present time Alpha Women make up about 15-20 percent of women in the so-called First World.

The significant persona of these women is having the competence to make things happen they way they wish by utilizing their economical, intellectual and political power.

These women are not overtly concerned about husbands and having children, especially at an early age. Rather, they are focused on breaking through  the "glass-ceilings" in the corporate world. - A barrier that is hard to overcome in the structure of the corporate hierarchy for able and ambitious women, according to people familiar with the situation.

Detractors arrogate that Alpha Women don't like to marry-down.  Actually, they are chic as being married to a dummy is no picnic and such unions usually don't last.

Another accusation against these able and go-getter women is that once they have made it, they care very little about the fate and daily struggle of their sisters around them and about the millions of women toiling  all over the world.

Perhaps we are seeing the formation of a new class system with permanence and a desire to make a positive difference in the coming decades.  Good Luck and Best Wishes.

Bulletin: Tips about handling the subject of Climate Change in the World of Political Correctness

 Do not argue about contradictory aspects of the ongoing climate change. Be on the side of caution and consider the points of the following guide to discussing weather for climate change advocates. 

You can't be wrong:

1. If it is too hot: Global Warming.
 
2. If it is too cold: Global Warming.
 
3. If it is too windy: Global Warming
 
4. If it is too muggy: Global Warming
 
5. Too snowy: Global Warming
 
6. Too rainy: Global Warming
 
7. Not rainy enough? Global warming
 
8. If the weather is just right: Enjoy it now, because Global Warming is just around the corner.
                                                      

Tall Order? - Stop Donald Trump From Coming To The U.K.

Looks like in the U.K. there are no real problems, hence providing an opportunity for some eager politicians to pool their talents and circulate a petition to ban Donald Trump from visiting the U.K. So far the petition has attracted over 570,00 signatures.

The reason for the proposed ban is Mr.Trump's remarks suggesting that for the time being, stop the immigration of Muslims into the U.S.

The government of the U.K. has the power to exclude people who would "do harm" to the country.

I leave politics to the politicians. However, common sense may question the wisdom and practicality of such ban on Mr. Trump.

At the present time Mr. Trumps investments in the U.K provide employment for many people. - One has the feeling that Mr. Trump may pull out his investments if he is not welcome.

Then, nobody is certain that Mr. Trump will be elected. - If he is elected, he may not have that warm-feeling for a country that on the insistence of a few self-serving politicians banned him from the country.

And last but not least, Mr. Trump may change his view on the question of immigration.

Of course, the politicians running around to collect the signatures to ban Mr. Trump from the U.K. must have a plan "B" in case they succeed; What to tell people who lost their jobs, because Mr. Trump shut down his operations in the U.K.

You may read, the article on the subject, published by the BBC:

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-35345279