Gas In Saskatoon, October 11, 2019.

Another drop to report.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 108.4 cents a litre at most stations.  Nice to see it not go up before a holiday weekend.

Google Will Get You For That.

Recently one of the candidates for the People's Party of Canada put up some campaign signs in a local park.  This morning I took at look at them.  They're for Guto Penteado.  The Guto on the signs is presented in a font similar to one Google has occasionally used, and the letters are in several colours, again reminiscent of Google.  Seems to me that crossing paths with Google like that is not a good idea.  It's unlikely Google will have a chance to take action before the campaign ends, but why take the risk?

As for the PPC it will interesting to see if they're around this time next year.  To date they've remained under the 5 percent range in the polls.

Gas In Saskatoon, October 4, 2019.

We're down a bit again.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 112.9 cents a litre at most locations.  With Canadian Thanksgiving a week away it will be interesting to see if more change is in store.

The White Stuff.

Snow is back  in Saskatoon.  Not a huge amount yet, and a lot of it is actually water at this point because it's around freezing and there's still ground heat.  But it's a sign of things to come.  So take it a bit easy this morning as you drive.

Gas In Saskatoon, Septemberr 27, 2019.

I doubt anyone is surprised there's a price jump to report.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 114.9 cents a litre at most locations.  What did surprise me is that the price didn't go up almost immediately after the Saudi oil facilities were attacked.  Perhaps the fact the summer driving season had ended had something to do with it.

A Little More Paper.

Today was the day to redeem my beverage containers for the deposit money at SARCAN.  When I took my tally sheet to the payout window I got a surprise.  The clerk gave me a paper five dollar bill.  I haven't seen a paper bill in probably a year or more.  And this one is still very crisp.  I guess it must have sat in a safe someplace for some years.

Breakaway, 20th Anniversary.

Wow, September 13, 1999 is 20 years ago.   Space: 1999 debuted 44 years ago.  Time sure has gone by.  As always at this time of year we wish you an unhappy Breakaway Day. 

Despite this being an old fandom with virtually no chance of a revival someone thinks it's still worth putting out product.  Shout! Factory has released the complete series on DVD and Blu-Ray this year for the North American market.  I would imagine this is probably the last commercial release we'll see for the series, as I doubt there are too many under 40 members of the fandom.  This being the 20th anniversary I really should give the whole series a view again. 

40 Days.

The limited suspense Canadians had been feeling is over.  We now know the federal election will be held October 21st.  As I said, the suspense was limited, since there had to be an election in October, and the parties had all been unofficially campaigning for a while now.  Hopefully the turnout will be better than yesterday's Manitoba provincial election, which saw a dismal 53 percent of eligible voters turn out to vote.

Gas In Saskatoon, August 30, 2019.

As summer comes to an end we have a bit of a price drop.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 106.9 cents a litre at most stations.

Mocking The Clickbait 18: You Need Better Scientists.

New Evidence Tells Scientists What Really Happened On Noah's Ark.

There's no new evidence to be had that will change the fact that there was no Noah, ark, or worldwide flood.  If a scientist actually believes otherwise they aren't a very good scientist.

Saying No.

I recently posted about a campaign billboard I saw in Saskatoon for the People's Party of Canada.  Now the company that has been hosting the signs is pulling them, after complaints the signs are anti-immigrant.  Pattison Outdoor Advertising initially said the billboards would remain up, but yesterday changed their mind, and will remove the billboards as soon as possible.  Interestingly the ads weren't actually paid for by the PPC, but do reflect the party's policy that immigration should be greatly reduced.  Canada currently takes in about 350 thousand immigrants a year.

Gas In Saskatoon, August 23, 2019.

A slightly more worthwhile drop to report this week.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 109.4 cents a litre at most locations.  With the Labour Day long weekend coming up at the end of next week it will be interesting to see if the price goes up or down.

You Will Anyway.

October will see a federal election in Canada, and more and more political advertising is staring to appear.  This morning I saw a billboard for the People's Party of Canada along Saskatoon's Warman Road.  On it was the slogan "Say NO to mass immigration."  My response was to think "Just say no to Maxime Bernier," the PPC's leader. 

But what I say definitely doesn't matter in this case.  Whatever your thoughts on current Canadian immigration policy you'll likely be saying no to Bernier and the PPC regardless.  The last I heard the party was polling a mighty 3 percent of decided voters.   I wouldn't be surprised if Bernier retains his seat, but the chances of them electing anyone else are probably iffy, despite planning to run candidates in all ridings.  The Liberals and Conservatives are running at pretty much a dead heat at the moment, so a lot of potential PPC voters aren't going to take the risk voting for them, because it might help the Liberals retain power.

Gas In Saskatoon, August 16, 2019.

It's a drop barely worth noting, but it's still a drop.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 111.4 cents a litre at most stations.

Gas In Saskatoon, August 9, 2019.

Further down we go.  Gas in Saskatoon is now 111.9 cents a litre at most locations. 

Pity The Call Screener.

Today's edition of CBC Radio One's Cross Country Checkup asked a simple question:  Is it wrong to eat meat?  A simple question, but the kind that will get a lot of people going.  I would hate to have been the call screener today.  I'm sure pro and anti-meat callers of the most unpleasant sort wanted to have their opinions heard. 

Gas In Saskatoon, July 26, 2019.

Prices have been heading down as of late.  Gas in Saskatoon is currently 117.4 cents a litre at most locations.

I'll Feel Less Safeway.

In 2013 the Sobeys grocery chain acquired Safeway's Canadian stores.  I'm sure I was not the only one surprised when instead of rebranding them all Sobeys kept a large percentage in operation as Safeways.  (23 stores had to be sold off as part of the merger agreement.)  But now we are going to see a rebranding of some.  In Saskatoon's case 3 of the existing Safeways will be converted to the Sobey's run FreshCo branding.  FreshCo is the Sobeys equivalent of the Loblaw budget No Frills stores.  Sobeys says FreshCo stores will replace "underperforming" Safeway stores, with construction taking place in Saskatoon early next year.

The 3 stores to be converted in Saskatoon are at Market Mall, Confederation Mall, and on 33rd Street.  I only go into the 33rd Street store once in a blue moon, but I'm not surprised about the Confederation Mall store, since that mall as a whole underperforms.  Market Mall has the problem that its located in the middle of what is supposedly the oldest per capita population in Canada, the area having a large number of older residents in seniors housing.  Some of them buy little or no groceries, so it's hard to see how lower prices will change that.  One thing all three stores share is that they're smaller than the other two Safeway stores in Saskatoon, making them more suitable for a budget branding.

As for the other two Safeway stores the only thing I can imagine happening to them in the foreseeable future would be a conversion to the Sobeys branding.  The Mall at Lawson Heights store is brand new, having replaced the old Safeway space in the same mall last year, while the McOrmond Road Safeway is only a few years old.  The Lawson Safeway would need little more than some new paint and signs to become a Sobeys, as it has pretty much the same layout as recently built Sobeys stores.  The McOrmond store would need more work, unless of course they just changed the appearance.

Didn't Expect That One.

I just had YouTube show me an ad for the Israeli military manufacturer Rafael.  I wouldn't have thought people watching rock music videos would be a demographic they'd think to advertise to.  I'm certainly not in the market for antitank or surface to air missiles.

Don't Tell Donald.

This year is the fiftieth anniversary of the World Series of Poker.  The Main Event, as it came to be called as more games were added over the years, is down to the last three players.  And one thing we know for sure, the winner this year will not be an American.  Current chip leader Hossein Ensan is an Iranian who has lived in Germany since 1990.  In second is Halifax native Alex Livingston.  In third place is Italian poker pro Dario Sammartino.  The last American player was Garry Gates, who will have to console himself with the 3 million bucks of a fourth place finish.

This won't be the first time a non-American has won the big prize.  The first was Iranian born, London based Mansour Matloubi back in 1990.  Jonathan Duhamel became the first Canadian winner in 2010.  And Swede Martin Jacobsen was the last non-American to win, back in 2014.

So please, don't tell Donald Trump.  He'll just go on a big rant about foreigners taking over "America's game," stealing American money etc.