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Showing posts from December, 2006

Grrrr...

What's my beef? I have two beefs: 1) BC Hydro. The storms that hit people in Victoria in the last month have knocked down power in the region. The real storm that created this suffering hit over six years ago. Enron screwed power suppliers like BC Hydro-- it left them holding the bag on millions of dollars in unpaid bills. BC Hydro had to keep its books in order. So, their budgets skewed in favour of black ink and the expense of preventitive maintenance Preventitive maintenance does mean replacing cables-- but in the tree-filled region, it largely means trimming trees that lie near power cables. Trimming keeps a safety margin between trees and cables. Trees grow slowly. You have several years grace before tree branches close in. In well trafficked areas like Victoria's Cook Street Village, the lines have a visible halo of tree-less-ness. In remote reaches like Metchosin and Langford, trimming stayed on the BC Hydro's to-do list. Add in three storms back-to-back and suddenly

Inter Municipality Competition Heats Up

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In one corner, you have the Downtown Business Victoria-- the champion of Victoria businesses in the downtown core. In the other corner: the "Lighen Up In Langford" campaign and its renaissance of strip malls and big box stores. It looks like the gloves are off in competing campaigns: vs . * courtesy Flickr

You'll Have To Look These Up

EUGERIA - I will start putting this in half of the birthday cards I fill out. EYESERVICE - Working from home-- it's hard to do this. IATROGENIC - What I get from the Doctor's office on most occasions. MEUPAREUNIA - Like I'd be so lucky to even get the better half of this one. NEANIMORPHIC - I will put this in the other half of the birthday cards. ONIOCHALASIA - We did this about three times a week until we ran out of floor space. PARNEL - Chews bubble gum and collects Hot Wheels. RESISTENTIALISM - Every computer comes standard with this feature. LIBBERWORT - This is all that the Golden Arches sells. CLISTER - A great insult ca. 1200. E.g. "You're a clister to humanity." SUPPEDANEUM - See: it's not all bad.