Sasha Speak's
The World Around Us
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Sasha JaegerBaird: Posted on April-05-13 1:42 AM
A home-owner, here in the Crowsnest Pass, is making history. He is apparently the first ever person to sell a home, for an online currency called Bitcoin. Taylor More has listed his two-bedroom Coleman bungalow for approximately $405,000 in equivalent Bitcoins. Bitcoin's current exchange rate in Canada puts Taylor More's property cost at about 5786 Bitcoins.
This is a virtually untraceable online digital currency typically used for all kinds of small online purchases. It has also been used to make purchases, in person. There are a few stores in the US, that accept the currency, in store.
Pizzaforcoins.com made headline's in 2012 when a man ordered and then payed for his pizza using Bitcoin. It is also being accepted by a Toronto office space rental company.
Bitcoin was created in 2009 and is now quite a popular currency. Bitcoins are a futuristic concept, foreign to many people. It is a crypto-currency that exists only electronically. To explain it better, you can 'mine' Bitcoins using your computer as part of the network that supports them. When a transaction happens on one part of the network, it gets
sent to a person on another node and they can verify that. They then collect a small transaction fee which creates new value of
Bitcoin.
In turn, you can use these Bitcoins to buy goods and services, without using paper money.
For more information on Bitcoin, you can check out this link: Bitcoin
Taylor More, who inherited the Coleman family home, plans on using his Bitcoin for future planned projects. He mentions that even if someone wants to partially pay in Bitcoin that would be alright too. He is currently accepting offers and also making history.
Who will buy his house and have enough Bitcoin to do so. Stay tuned Crowsnest Pass, I'm sure we have not heard the last of this.
One must wonder though, is this Bitcoin our future in the making?? It is likened to the currency used in Neal Stephenson's 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash. Though it seems moreover "a peer-to-peer electronic currency uncontrolled by central bankers or
politicians and a perfect object for the anxieties and enthusiasms of
those frightened by the threats of inflation and currency debasement,
concerned about state power and the surveillance state, and fascinated
with the possibilities created by distributed, decentralized systems".
However, it makes me think that this just may be more of a start down the path to our own Brave New World.
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Sasha JaegerBaird: Posted on January-08-13 4:37 PM
Article in Lethbridge Global News regarding the sale at Grassy Mountain and the subsequent potential coal mining:
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Posted on January-04-13 11:02 PM
“Fiscal
Cliff” put in a much better perspective.
Lesson #1:
* U.S. Tax revenue: $2,170,000,000,000
* Fed budget: $3,820,000,000,000
* New debt: $1,650,000,000,000
* National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
* Recent budget cuts: $38,500,000,000
Let's now remove 8 zeros and pretend it's a household budget:
* Annual family income: $21,700
* Money the family spent: $38,200
* New debt on the credit card: $16,500
* Outstanding balance on the credit
card: $142,710
* Total budget cuts so far: $38.50
Got It ??
.......
OK
now....
Lesson # 2:
Here's another
way to look at the Debt Ceiling:
Let's say -
You come home from work and find there has been a
sewer backup in your neighborhood....
and your home has sewage all the way
up to your ceilings.
What do you think you should do ......
Raise the ceilings, or remove the crap?
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Sasha JaegerBaird: Posted on October-14-12 12:59 AM
I just wanted to pass this story along.
Tonight on the news was a story about a woman named Allison Tate.
Who is she you ask?
Well, she is a mother, like so many of us women are.
She is a mother who suddenly got a huge wake up call, at a party that one of her children was invited to attend. At this party was a photo booth. Her young son excitedly tried to drag his mother over to get their pictures done together.
However, like so many of us who are or have been a mother, Allison hesitated because she did not feel that she looked good enough to be in the pictures.
Allison, like many mother's do, has spent years being the one behind the camera, as the one taking the photos of her family. And also as many mom's do, she has avoided the camera altogether because she felt that her hair was not perfect, her makeup was not done or that her double chin might show.
Then something began to dawn on her. She went home and looked through all of the photos that she has documented of her children's lives and one person was very conspicuously absent from all of those photos. Her.
She realized that one day, when her children go through those photos, there will be no photographic evidence of her existence. Then hit her. Her children do not care that she was not wearing any makeup, or that her hair was askew. They would not care if she had not lost that baby weight that she had gained having all her beautiful children. They would only see that she was not in those pictures.
It was right then and there she knew that it no longer mattered what she "felt" she looked like. She would be in those pictures from now on.
She states: "Our sons need to see how young and beautiful and human their mamas were.
Our daughters need to see us vulnerable and open and just being
ourselves -- women, mamas, people living lives. Avoiding the camera
because we don't like to see our own pictures? How can that be?"
And she is so very right. How many of us avoid the camera when it comes out? We worry more about how we "think" we are perceived, than how we really look to others, especially family. Our family love us for who we are, not what we think we should look like. We all have imperfections.
As mother's we usually are the first one to get up and the last to go to bed. How many time's do we really stop to throw on make up Christmas morning before coming down to see what "Santa" has left for our children. We hide ourselves behind our camera's to avoid what "we" think of how we look. Really though, it is what our children feel about us, that matter's.
Allison goes on to say: "Too much of a mama's life goes undocumented and unseen. People,
including my children, don't see the way I make sure my kids' favorite
stuffed animals are on their beds at night. They don't know how I walk
the grocery store aisles looking for treats that will thrill them for a
special day. They don't know that I saved their side-snap, paper-thin
baby shirts from the hospital where they were born or their little
hospital bracelets in keepsake boxes high on the top shelves of their
closets.
They don't see me tossing and turning in bed wondering if I am
doing an okay job as a mother, if they are okay in their schools, where
we should take them for a vacation, what we should do for their
birthdays. I'm up long past the news on Christmas Eve wrapping presents
and eating cookies and milk, and I spend hours hunting the Internet and
the local Targets for specially-requested Halloween costumes and
birthday presents. They don't see any of that."
And she is right!!! We need to be documented for our children and our grandchildren and their children, too. We need to be seen sitting right there beside them.
After all, we are the women who, as Allison says:
"gave birth to them, whom they can thank for their ample
thighs and their pretty hair; the woman who nursed them all for the
first years of their lives, enduring porn star-sized boobs and leaking
through her shirts for months on end; the one who ran around gathering
snacks to be the week's parent reader or planning the class Valentine's
Day party; me, who cried when I dropped them off at preschool, breathed
in the smell of their post-bath hair when I read them bedtime stories,
and defied speeding laws when I had to rush them to the pediatric ER in
the middle of the night for fill-in-the-blank (ear infections, croup,
rota virus)."
We, mom's, can all learn a lesson through Allison's heartfelt revelation.
As Allison so eloquently puts it:
"Someday I won't be here -- and I don't know if that someday is tomorrow
or thirty or forty or fifty years from now -- but I want them to have
pictures of me. I want them to see the way I looked at them, see how
much I loved them.
I am not perfect to look at and I am not perfect to
love, but I am perfectly their mother."
I am one of those mother's have has spent many years lurking behind the camera. I, too, have suddenly taken to hiding when a camera is taken out. However, after reading Allison's story and seeing the broadcast on the news tonight, I will now be right up front and center when the camera comes out. I will be sitting beside my children and with my grandchildren from this point forward.
To Mom's everywhere - "We need to get out from behind those camera's and be in the moment!!!!"
You can read Allison's entire article here:
Or watch the online CTV News Story here:
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Posted on October-03-12 2:50 AM
A Nanaimo woman almost receives ticket for leaving her car parked with the windows down.
Read the whole story here:
Really!?!??!!?
Sounds like something current council would encourage here.
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Sasha JaegerBaird: Posted on July-27-12 10:41 PM
Tough to Swallow: Meals That Sparked a Seniors Revolt
Have you seen this video created by the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees?
In Alberta's long term care home's, seniors are eating from a new menu. The reviews are in - It's awful! Absolutely Dreadful.
Some have described the food as being unappetizing, tasteless, inedible, has a strange consistency or no texture at all. Some have described it as being like dog food.
The program was created by the Alberta Health Services (AHS) for senior's in Alberta's long term care facilities. It affects primarily seniors in rural Alberta. The theory was to standardize the food supply.
The Provincial 21-day Menu was implemented in December 2009. The idea was to create on standard menu at approximately 78 Hospitals and Nursing Homes, with fewer than 125 beds. Many employee's jobs became redundant with the implementation of the new menu.
Professionals in the Health Care and Food Industry have said that the food can not possibly be healthy, as it is not fresh, nor is it grown locally.
The food is bought in bulk and shipped in from other provinces and the United States. It's been pre-boiled
and prepackaged. Most of the vitamins and minerals have been boiled out
of it. The meats have been prepackaged for up to 70 days. A lot of the prepackaged food is said to be fresh not frozen, so it must be heavy with preservatives. It leaves many people questioning it's nutritional value. Much of it has been frozen and reconstituted on site.
Since the program has been in place, the staff at these residences have seen an increase in urinary tract infections, wounds not healing as fast, and in general people not coming to eat meals.
Well, since this video was released, many more people have stepped forward with their complaints.
The 15-minute mini-documentary interviews residents, family members,
nurses and a food critic, all of whom decry the quality of food in the
facilities.
Well, this week something was finally done about it.
Alberta seniors and caregivers who protested the “shameful” and
“appalling” food served at provincial long-term care facilities have won
the right to home-cooked meals.
Health Minister Fred Horne
announced Thursday the 2,700 seniors who live in Alberta’s 73
provincially run long-term care facilities will be getting meals made
on-site come December.
The promise comes nearly two months after the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees released a short documentary
detailing the “terrible,” “inedible” and “dreadful” food served in the
facilities. The documentary has since been viewed online more than
17,000 times.
Horne said he has issued a ministerial directive to
Alberta Health Services, ordering them to switch from centralized
production of standardized meals to on-site food preparation and cooking
that respects both nutritional needs and cultural diversity.
AHS executive vice-president Chris Mazurkewich said Thursday, the
superboard has adopted a new nutrition and food services plan called
“Closer to Home.”
“Our commitment is that we would like to have a
homelike environment for meals in our long-term care facilities. I’m
interested in how we get there,” Mazurkewich said.
Under the terms of the ministerial directive, the superboard must
present Horne with a plan by Oct. 1, and the changes must be implemented
across the province by Dec. 1.
Finally, a positive measure being taken by our Government to correct an obviously wrong course of action!!!!
The people have spoken, and our Government has had no choice but to listen.
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Sasha JaegerBaird: Posted on July-27-12 10:59 AM
Finally
- the masses may slowly be starting to understand ...
Somewhere,
somehow, someone has to pay the bills, and someone has to be
responsible for running up the bills.
Great T-Shirt! This really says it all. Sadly!
Couldn't find the word 'ineptocracy' in my old Webster's
dictionary so I Googled it and discovered it is a recently
"coined" new word found on T-shirts on eBay.
Read this one over slowly and absorb the facts that are within
this definition! I love this word and believe that it will become
a recognized English word.
Finally, a word to describe our
current political situation...
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Sasha JaegerBaird: Posted on April-24-12 12:51 AM
Well, the winds of change are upon us.
It's official, the South Western region of Alberta is now Wildrose Country.
I always thought ALL of Alberta was Wildrose Country, but that wasn't politically speaking. Politically, we are now riding the tides of change. What changes we will experience, have yet to be seen.
But we can say this much: It's not likely to be any of the same old, same old.
The old familiar faces are soon to be a memory. What has ruled in this portion of the Alberta region for 40 plus years, is now making way for fresh new faces.
Let's hope the people behind these faces have our best interests at heart.
Change is hard, but it is inevitable.
Will you choose to be a part of this new wave and hopefully better solution's to long standing issues? Or will you continue to be a part of the problem's that seem to plague us.
Will this Brave New World take us into a brighter, happier, more productive future, or will it prove to be just a bandaid on a sore that continues to haunt us from our past.
I guess we will just have to wait and see. We, the people, have spoken, and the people obviously wanted change.
And change is what we have got.
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Posted on March-30-11 1:17 AM
I think he might be onto something here!
Letter in the The Parksville-Qualicum Beach News.
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Posted on January-19-11 12:36 AM
In the year
2011, the Lord
came unto
Noah, who was
now living in
British
Columbia,
and said:
"Once again,
the earth has
become wicked
and
over-populated,
and I see the
end of all
flesh before
me. Build
another Ark and
save 2 of
every living
thing, along with a
few good
humans."
He gave
Noah the
blueprints,
saying: "You have 6
months to
build the Ark before
I will start the
unending rain
for 40 days
and 40 nights."
Six months
later, the
Lord looked
down and saw
Noah weeping in his
yard - but no Ark.
"Noah!,"
He roared,
"I'm about to
start the
rain! Where is the Ark?"
"Forgive
me, Lord,"
begged Noah,"but things
have changed."
"I needed a
building
permit."
"And I've been
arguing with
the Boat
Inspector about the need
for a
sprinkler
system."
"My neighbours
claim that
I've violated
the neighbourhood
by-laws by
building the Ark in
my
back garden
and exceeding
the height limitations. We had
to go to the
Local Planning
Committee for a
decision."
"Then the
Local Council
and the
Electric
Company
demanded a
shed load of
money for the
future costs
of moving
power lines
and other
overhead
obstructions,
to clear the
passage for
the Ark's
move to the
sea. I told
them that the
sea would be
coming to us,
but they would
hear nothing
of it."
"Getting the
wood was
another
problem. There's a ban on cutting
local trees in
order to save
the
Greater
Spotted Barn
Owl."
"I tried
to convince
the
environmentalists
that I
needed the
wood to save
the owls - but
no go!"
"When I
started
gathering the
animals the
SPCA took me
to court. They insisted
that I was confining wild
animals
against their
will. They
argued the
accommodations
were too
restrictive,
and it was
cruel and
inhumane to
put so many
animals in a
confined
space."
"Then the
Environmental
Agency ruled
that I
couldn't build
the Ark until
they'd
conducted an
environmental
impact study
on your
proposed
flood."
"I'm still
trying to
resolve a
complaint with
the
Human Rights
Commission on
how many
minorities I'm supposed
to hire for my
building
crew."
"Immigration
are checking
the Visa
status of most
of the people
who want to
work."
"The trades
unions say I
can't use my
sons. They insist I have
to hire only
union workers
with
Ark-building
experience."
"To make
matters worse,
Customs and Immigration
seized all my
assets,
claiming I'm
trying to
leave the
country
illegally with endangered
species."
"So, forgive
me, Lord, but
it would take
at least 10 years for me
to finish this Ark."
Suddenly the
skies cleared,
the sun began
to shine, and a rainbow
stretched
across the
sky.
Noah looked up
in wonder and
asked, "You mean
you're not
going to
destroy the
world?"
"No," said the
Lord.
"The
Government
beat me to
it." |
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Sasha JaegerBaird: Posted on January-15-11 12:52 AM
What will they be changing next??
Today's news reveals that the zodiac sign that you thought you were born with, may not actually be your right sign.
According to some, earth's shifts on its axis over the past 3,000 years have changed the 12 zodiac signs.
Astronomer Parke Kunkle tells
NBC news that due to the Earth's changing alignment in the last 3000
years, the sign you are born into now, are different than they were long
ago. Plus, astronomers believe there is a 13th Zodiac sign called
Ophiuchus, which falls between Scorpio and Sagittarius.
"This is
not something that happened today. This has gone on for thousands of
years," says Kunkle. "Because of this change of tilt, the Earth is
really over here in
effect and Sun is in a different constellation than it was 3,000 years
ago."
The constellation of Ophiuchus is located near the
celestial equator and is typically depicted as a man wrangling a
serpent. "Ophiuchus" means "serpent-bearer" in Greek. There are several
different characters from Greek mythology that Ophiuchus is thought to
represent, including Asclepius the healer, Trojan priest Laocoon, who
was killed by sea serpents, and Phorbas, who saved the people of Rhodes
from an infestation of serpents.
The sign Ophiuchus can be found
in the Sidereal Zodiac, which is used by Jyotish (or Hindu)
astrologers. The Sidereal Zodiac's astrological sign dates are what is
listed below and they are based on a moving Zodiac, not the fixed one we
use today in Western astrology. Therefore, that Zodiac has shifted
almost one full sign from the fixed zodiac. So astrology
enthusiasts should technically be using these dates, which reflect the
current alignment of the Sun, Earth and stars.
Here’s the latest configuration:
Capricorn: Jan. 20 - Feb. 16 Aquarius: Feb. 16 - March 11 Pisces: March 11- April 18 Aries: April 18- May 13 Taurus: May 13- June 21 Gemini: June 21- July 20 Cancer: July 20- Aug. 10 Leo: Aug. 10- Sept. 16 Virgo: Sept. 16- Oct. 30 Libra: Oct. 30- Nov. 23 Scorpio: Nov. 23- Nov. 29 Ophiuchus: Nov. 29- Dec. 17 Sagittarius: Dec. 17- Jan. 20
ATTRIBUTES THAT DESCRIBE THE SIGN OF OPHIUCHUS
• interpreter of dreams, premonitions • attracts good luck • serpent holder • lofty ideals • a seeker of peace and harmony • doctor of medicine or science • to add, increase, join or gather together • poetical, inventive nature, expanding • seeks higher education • overseer, supervisor of work • fame - either grand or completely misunderstood • longevity, aspirations of healing the ills of man • architect, builder, reaches for the stars • tax assessor or levys taxes • astrological talents, intuitive • large family indicated, but apt to be separated from them when young • the number twelve holds great significance • foresight to benefit from hard times • has secret enemies in family or close associations • many jealous of this subject • notable father, apple of father's eye when young • high position in life expected [depending on aspects] highest fame and legend comes after death however • feelings of granular, wise, • likes to wear clothing of vibrant colors • receives the favor of those in charge
Ophiuchus in the Planetary Zodiac:
The
planet Pluto was found in Ophiuchus until the end of 2003, after which
it passed into Serpens Cauda, the Serpent's Tail. The Centaur object,
the minor planetoid Chiron, was visible against the stars of Ophiuchus
until November 2001, after which it passed over the border into
Sagittarius. Venus and Mercury can be found in Ophiuchus for a time each
year.
So what's your sign????
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Sasha JaegerBaird: Posted on December-22-10 12:51 AM
Albertans
may have the fattest paycheques in the nation, but they give less to
charity than than many of their poorer cousins, according to a report
released Monday by the Fraser Institute.
In spite of
having the country's most generous tax credit program for donations,
figures from the conservative think tank show the province ranked fourth
behind Manitoba, Ontario and British Columbia for the proportion of
income that tax filers donated to charitable groups.
Albertans donated just $84 for every $10,000 they took home.
The
new report shows a disturbing decline in the proportion of Albertans who gave to charity.
Read more:
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Sasha JaegerBaird: Posted on December-22-10 12:23 AM
Finally some good news for university students. The Province of Alberta may set up an online book depository.
Alberta’s
Advanced Education minister, Doug Horner, hopes to cut student textbook fees in half
by setting up a province wide online book depository next year.
Read more:
University students currently pay between $750 to $1,000 on textbooks a year.
The
e-books would likely include textbooks written in the province as well
as common first-year textbooks used in multiple institutions.
Most students
on campus are already on iPads, e-readers or laptops.
"Ideally they can download the textbooks from any campus in the province,
perhaps even for free," said Horner.
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Sasha JaegerBaird: Posted on December-08-10 2:01 AM
A total lunar eclipse will be visible in the nighttime sky late Dec. 20 and early Dec. 21.
The show will begin at 12:29 a.m. EST for the Western Hemisphere, according to NASA.
In total, the eclipse will last for 72 minutes - at 3:18 a.m. EST, the sun, Earth and moon will be almost exactly in line.
Lunar eclipses occur when the moon passes through the Earth's shadow.
The moon will turn red because of the Earth's atmosphere, which
retracts light onto the moon's surface.
Only people in North and Central America will be able to view the
total eclipse. The next one is due on April 15, 2014.
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