Tax harmonization might lead to good thing

I have never been for this tax harmonization taking affect in Ontario on Canada Day next year but in reading an article on it today, there might be some good that comes out of it after all, even if it is done to fool us, the consumer.

According to this article on thestar.com, "Some Liberals are urging the premier to embed the HST...in prices". Now even though this would be done to hide the taxes to reduce the outcry from the consumers, I think this is a great idea. In fact, I think this should have been done a long time ago when the GST came to be (and seat sales on flights but that is another situation all together). The reason this wasn't done before though was because it would be seen as the government being deceptive and trying to hide the taxes, the exact thing being proposed now. Interesting how government opinions change to suit their needs, isn't it?

Taxes are unavoidable in this economic system, we know that, or at least we should, so we don't need to be reminded of it every time we purchase something. My main concern when I buy that new pair of shoes or food for dinner is the total amount leaving my wallet not how much of it goes to the various levels of government. Can we opt out of paying any tax if we think the amount is too high? No, so there is no reason the tax cannot be hidden in the posted amount. The receipt will still give everyone the ammunition they need to complain about taxes. While they are at it, they should force prices to end in either a 5 or 0 so the penny can be retired too.

It's a bad day when...

...photocopying is the most exciting part of it.

Justice on the tracks

Some douchebag was caught crossing tracks at Union Station this morning. Not sure how the special constable actually caught him since they are generally not really paying any attention to anything but he did. As I passed them the guy was pleading his case. I really wanted to stay and hear what his lame excuse was but thought it best that I keep moving. He should have listened to the customer service ambassador's (I couldn't make that one up if I tried, that is really the person's title) announcement stating "crossing tracks at platform level are prohibited and illegal". Just watching the guy trying to explain his idiocy brought a smile to my face.

Liquid sludge

I can't remember whose slogan was 'good to the last drop', be it Nabob's or Maxwell House's or possibly even Nescafe's, but I put that to practice today. On a rare occurrence I ventured to the dungeons here at work and bought a french vanilla cappuccino, jumbo size of course. For those who don't drink coffee or the sweet cappuccino drinks, they are mixed from very sugary flavoured powder and if one does not constantly keep the drink swishing around, the powder doesn't completely dissolve and settles to the bottom of the cup. Well, with a jumbo cappuccino there is more powder to flavour the water with and when not vigilantly stirred, there is more powder to settle at the bottom.

That is exactly what happened to me today. I was working while drinking the cappuccino so my attention wasn't solely on ensuring my drink was mixed properly. The end result was a large amount of liquid sludge waiting at the bottom of my cup. Of course I couldn't let all that sugar go to waste so I drank it. Well, I tried to drink it but near the end I had to use my finger to help shovel the remnants into my mouth. It was good at the time but I am now starting to regret my decision. Ugh!

Location, location, location!

The old addage about making money in business being about location, location, location, can be extended to several things in life besides locating a successful business. House buying comes to mind quickly as does finding a job, and more recently, even protesting.

That's right even protests in the wrong place will be failures. Case in point, the series of protests by the Tamil community in Toronto. As they continue their protests on the streets of Toronto and in front of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, they claim more elaborate traffic stopping protests may be on the way since their message is not getting across to government. Perhaps there is a reason their message is not being heard: they are protesting to the wrong government.

Any military action or international support/aid directives come from the federal government, not the Ontario government. The Federal Government of Canada is located in Ottawa, not Toronto and therefore, much to the displeasure of many Torontonians, the power to do anything internationally or even nationally resides in Ottawa, not Toronto. Given this fact, any protest that deals with national or international situations would be better served by being held in the nation's capital, not Toronto.

Maybe, since the protests in Toronto are doing nothing more than angering a large population, it may be time to move these protests to Ottawa where the power to take international action resides. Just a thought.

To Dreamland and back

On the seemingly endless train ride home I generally try to sleep but very rarely do I ever achieve my goal. Thursday was an exception though. I had fallen into dreamland but it was far from peaceful. In my slumber I had totally lost track of time and had the scare of my life: I thought I missed my stop. That somehow I had slept through my stop (which includes 15 minutes of sitting idle) and was heading back into the City. While still mostly asleep I realized the noise on the train was too loud for me to have missed my stop. That conclusion only lead to an even worse thought: my work day was just beginning and had not just ended. In a panic I jerked awake to get my bearings and put my mind at ease. Unfortunately, once I realized where I was and which direction I was heading, I was unable to fall back to sleep.

After that incident maybe it is best that I don’t fall asleep on the train. It would be a lot easier on my heart anyhow.

May the 4th be with you!

Shortly after I got to work this morning and plugged in my iPod to my iLive player a song from Star Wars came on. Like most other times when music sans words comes on I skipped it. But then I decided listening to the music from Star Wars would be fun for the day. So totally oblivious to anything other than getting the work day finished, I began my listening with A New Hope.

Perhaps there was some cosmic reason why I chose today of all days to listen to Star Wars music. Did the force have anything to do with it? As it turns out, today is Star Wars day. Who knew such a day existed. I surely didn't but I am not overly surprised at the same time. The timing of my music choice is just a little curious though.

April 2009 Quotes

This World is bullshit.
- Fiona Apple

…an uninformed public tends to confuse scholarship with magicianry, and love life seems to be that factor which requires the largest quantity of magical tinkering.
- Isaac Asimov (Foundation and Empire)

So, you fucked this up again
- Our Lady Peace (Shaking)

Just because you're winnin'
Don't mean you’re the lucky ones
- Guns N' Roses (Breakdown)

Sometimes we're so far off the beaten track
We'll get taken for a ride
- Guns N' Roses (Breakdown)

But if someone really cared
Well they'd take the time to spare
A moment to try and understand
Another one's despair
- Guns N' Roses (Breakdown)

Remember in this game we call life
That no one said it's fair
- Guns N' Roses (Breakdown)

If I see the morning hours
I'll have one more yesterday
- Megadeth (99 Ways to Die)

But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regime of their barbarous ancestors.
- Thomas Jefferson

The great monopoly in this country is the money monopoly. So long as that exists our old variety and freedom and individual energy of development are out of the question….The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men...who necessarily, by very reason of their own limitations, chill and check and destroy genuine economic freedom.
- Woodrow Wilson

…it takes time to learn many new things and that if they are not learned right, there is a danger a man may lose his self confidence…
- Queen's Printer (Canada One Hundred 1867-1967)

…despite the supreme goodness of God, the nature of man, in so far as he is composed of mind and body, cannot escape being sometimes faulty and deceptive.
- Rene Descartes (Meditations on First Philosophy)

…humans have the elements of control within their grasp, but are too frightened to use them.
- Queen's Printer (Canada One Hundred 1867-1967)

…we should be careful not to lose our freedom in too vigorous attempts to save it.
- Louis St. Laurent

Canada keeps her word and always will.
- Charles Lynch

And if the time ever comes when such newspapers dictate or control the thinking of Canadians on national issues, then freedom ends.
- John Diefenbaker

…the chief evil was that fewer than one thousand persons made the basic decisions in our society.
- J Murray Beck (Pendulum of Power: Canada's Federal Elections)

…the only limitations on how far a student should be allowed to go in pursuit of his education should be the brains in his head and not the money in his father's pocketbook.
- the NDP party (noted in J. Murray Beck's Pendulum of Power: Canada's Federal Elections)

…when old beliefs weaken and dim the people become "charisma-hungry" and want a reassuring leader-symbol.
- Erick Ericson

The human mind resents control.
- Isaac Asimov (Second Foundation)

Every human being lived behind an impenetrable wall of choking mist within which no other but he existed.
- Isaac Asimov (Second Foundation)

…the spell of power never quite releases its hold.
- Isaac Asimov (Second Foundation)

…all life is a series of accidents, to be met with by improvisations.
- Isaac Asimov (Second Foundation)

If it's something you can't help, why hurt yourself over it?
- Isaac Asimov (Second Foundation)

A private point of view means nothing; an official expression of opinion carries weight and can be dangerous.
- Isaac Asimov (Foundation's Edge)

A person who expects the completely sophisticated and who guards against it is quite apt never to think of the primitive.
- Isaac Asimov (Foundation's Edge)

…zeroing in tightly on a particular problem is self-defeating. Why not relax and talk about something else, and your unconscious mind-not laboring under the weight of concentrated thought-may solve the problem for you.
- Isaac Asimov (Foundation's Edge)

I hate this feeling of forever talking to myself.
- Isaac Asimov (Foundation's Edge)

If I ask, it matters that I be answered…
- Isaac Asimov (Foundation's Edge)

I don't trust my cowardice not to sieze me by the throat and shame me for the rest of my life.
- Isaac Asimov (Foundation's Edge)