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Friday, June 28, 2019

Gas In Saskatoon, July 28, 2019.

I sometimes wonder if half a cent is worth reporting.  But this time I am.  Gas in Saskatoon is 119.4 cents a litre at most locations.

As If The Name Wasn't A Tell.

Political parties come and go in Canada.  The latest group trying to get party status from Elections Canada calls itself the Canadian Nationalist Party.  Seeing nationalist in a party name is generally a good sign their ideology will be crap.  And that seems to be the case here, as the would be party is facing an RCMP hate crime investigation.  Party founder Travis Patron claims he's not referring to Jews in a recently posted video, but anyone familiar with the language of the hard right knows that "globalists" is commonly used as a shorthand for the international Jewish conspiracy they believe in.  Patron also uses the term "parasitic tribe," which is pretty hard to interpret as anything but a reference to Jews.  The party is also opposed to immigration and LGBTQ rights.

If the CNP does get party status it will be able to issue tax receipts for contributions.  If they manage to get 2 percent of the vote nationally, or 5 percent of the vote in ridings they run in, they will also get 50 percent of their election expenses paid.  But that's really not much of an if.  The CNP will be like most fringe parties.  It will get a handful of votes, which probably won't make a difference in any riding.  Chances are it won't exist 10 years from now.

Wednesday, June 26, 2019

"Sunnies?" Ugh!

One thing I don't bother with is running an ad blocker.  I often find ads interesting, and occasionally will click on an ad to help a website I like. But I would save a bit of annoyance if I did.  I saw an ad a bit ago for glasses which used the term sunnies as shorthand for sun glasses.  I find it a grating concoction.  Hopefully it hasn't been catching on.

Friday, June 21, 2019

Gas In Saskatoon, June 21, 2019.

And a bit further down we go.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 119.9 cents a litre at most locations.

Thursday, June 20, 2019

Soak.

This April in Saskatchewan was probably the driest on record, with virtually no precipitation.  May wasn't that much better.  But we're finally getting significant rain here, at least in the Saskatoon region.  We're expecting showers or a chance of showers into Sunday.  How much this will help area farmers is another question.  I went for a drive to Humboldt with my parents on Sunday, and much of the farm land on the way looked dry.  Some of it wasn't even seeded.  At least area cattle farmers may see conditions improve in pasture land.

Monday, June 17, 2019

Glad I'm Not There.

Downtown Toronto is a giant blob of people due to the Raptors.  I'd hate to have to deal with that if I had any reason to be there.  Seriously, people, it's just a playoff victory, not the announcement of universal world peace or something really cool.

Friday, June 14, 2019

Gas In Saskatoon, June 14, 2019.

Another fairly long stretch of stability has ended.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 121.9 cents a litre at most locations.  But given growing tensions between the United States and Iran I suspect a price increase isn't far off.

Tuesday, June 11, 2019

That's The One.

If you remember the early '70s, and are a Canadian, you may remember this.  Canada AM, CTV's national morning show, debuted in 1972.  Its theme song was an instrumental version of the Moody Blues' 1968 single "Ride My See-Saw."  And now I've found the actual version used, which was by Ronnie Aldrich.


I'd never heard of Aldrich before, but it's a nice version.

This version was replaced at least once with another cover.  I'm not sure when they stopped using "Ride My See-Saw" as a theme, but it was the late '80s at least.  Canada AM was cancelled in June of 2016, after 44 years on the air.

Wednesday, June 05, 2019

"Fight!"

Wednesday is flyer day in Saskatoon, when the Star Phoenix sends out large flyer packages.  Today's "wraparound" flyer, which holds the other flyers together, was a bit of a surprise.  It's an advertisement for Friday's Modern Fighting Championship III, to be held in the Nutana Curling Club, and the local Modern Martial Arts Center.

One thing that stood out to me when I looked at the MFC III section is that none of the fighters have winning records.  That includes the headliners, Saskatoon's Jesse Boldt, and Lethbridge's Randy Mahon, who have records of 2-2 and 4-4 respectively.  4 of the fighters are making their pro debuts. (Yes, there is such a thing as amateur MMA.)  The guys with the most experience are Jose Rodriguez, at 7-7, Drayton Angus, at 7-8, and Justin Schmidt, at 4-9. 

One thing you can be sure of, none of these guys signed up for the money.  I have no idea what a tiny local promotion like this pays, but you can be sure it's not much.  Some these guys are doing it simply because they like it.  Others no doubt have the hope that this is a stepping stone to something bigger, even if they know it's a longshot.  But it's a long way from what is the equivalent of an A baseball team, and the big spotlight of the UFC and Bellator.

The promoters might not be making that much either.  There are a lot of expenses involved, including renting the Nutana Curling Club, paying for advertising, refs and other support staff, and whatever prize money and expenses the fighters might get.  For them it may be as much of a labour of love as it is for some of the fighters.  At least they have the advantage that several of the fighters are from Saskatoon, or within easy driving distance.  Tickets are 65 dollars for general admission, and 85 dollars for ringside seats.

Hopefully none of the fighters will be seriously injured Friday.




More Please.

Just before midnight a thunderstorm began to pass through the Saskatoon area.  I managed to see a couple of very clear, really neat looking streaks of lightning that were very close to us.  But of course the rain was the important thing.  But it wasn't that much, so we really could do with some more.  April saw us get only 2 percent of our normal precipitation.  May wasn't much better. And the little we got last night has pretty much dried out.   Hopefully the 30 percent chance of showers in the current forecast gets higher as the day goes on.