Farmer Diaries

 I only saw bits and pieces of the funerals for the Queen.  Fundamentally not that interested.  The whole thing was blown out of proportion.  She certainly represented continuity but ok.   I found amusing the bullshit around Harry and Megan; considering how they wanted to remain low-key, I think they succeeded, and good for them.   I suspect that tomorrow they will be on BA 283 the first flight to California, happy to have left the royal family.  For whatever reason, the palace (hence the King) has blown hot and cold during the entire process, when I got the feeling, they were working hard at not making these funerals about them, it seems that the Royal family and the British press were really trying to get to them and implied all kinds of behavior on the party of Harry and Megan (in particular).  It is clear that for Harry it was a difficult time, purely for family reasons, he has no stake in the British game and cares little since they've decided to make their life in America.  T

 $28,000 for a new batterie.  A (ex) Canadian Tesla owner complained that this was outrageous.  he stated that the air conditioning unit was leaking on the battery which led to it needing to be replaced.  Now Tesla will not do it for free.  HOW DARE THEY.,, Ok, now a bit of context.  The Tesla owner who paid $140,000 for his car did so in 2013.  The car is 9 years old.  If instead, he had bought a high-end BMW or Mercedes he would probably have to replace the following: The engine The transmission  Entertainment system Spare parts for luxury vehicles are expensive and the wear is terrible.  This guy is complaining that his 9-year-old Tesla needs a new battery.  Apparently, he sold his 9 year old car, but of course, didn't disclose for what price... That is apparently news in Canada...outrage and then nothing  

 I don't understand what is going on with the Trans movement in the US.  I thought this was a myth that children were being offered sex reassignment operations.  I really thought this was another far-right conspiracy.  Turns out not so much. Now when I mentioned children, I understand that we are talking "minors" here rather than 7-year-olds.  Still, one thing I know for sure is that full brain development doesn't occur until the age of 25 (I checked on the interweb).  I find it surprising that hospitals and doctors would consider gender reassignment before the age of 18.   My oldest friend's daughter, even when she was 7 years old, behave and dressed like a boy.  She looked like a boy and behaved like a boy, and what more than happy when she was referred to as a "he".  I saw them sparingly as she grew up, and her dad told me about five years ago that she had gotten married and had a baby boy (he was a proud grandfather).  Her wife had the baby and they

Sometimes words are hard...I guess in the world of these two GOP politicians it doesn't matter that they are challenged by the English language. Wonton & Wanton Petri Dish & Peachtree dishes Gazpacho & Gestapo Really they don't know the difference... and the more important issue is that their supporter either don't care or don't understand the difference, because they don't know the word Wanton, or what's the Gestapo or what the CDC would do with a Petri Dish.  To their supporters its all irrelevant These are questions that have been asked by late-night shows to people walking on the streets of New York City: What is the capital of the US How many presidents have there been In what year did the US declare independence In what country is the Panama Canal and my all-time favourite:  Which is larger the sun or the moon... Something tells me that America's education system is not the greatest...BTW the people who were asked these questions didn't

 "T he fundamental difference between Ukrainian soldiers, who are fighting for their country’s existence, and Russian soldiers, who are fighting for their salary, has finally begun to matter" The Atlantic Elegant and true... A lesson, maybe, for the Xi Jinping

 For a very long time, my philosophy was right of center; I  believe that the government should only be active in segments of the economy where the market cannot operate efficiently.  I believe that the government should stay out of the bedroom and that women should be able to make decisions with regard to their bodies themselves.  Again, nothing is black and white here, there are complex issues, but these are fundamental issues.  And I believe that governments have an obligation to protect their citizens In addition, and possibly even more important is believe that individual privacy is fundamental.  Facebook, Google, Instagram and any free application sell your data, no free lunch.  I never got the 23andme test, first because I am not interested, but no one has ever said what is done with this metadata!  Your genetic data is sold, because the cost of the test is higher than what the consumer pays.  Money has to come from somewhere. Notionally, I am a conservative, although I don'

 On Friday, September 9, 2022 the headquarter of Evergrande in Hong Kong was seized by foreign creditors.  It is possible that the Chinese government decided that it was not worth the trouble to fight for that one piece of real estate, especially if it was owned by a single creditor (unknown at this stage).  My Friends in China tell me that the government is fully aware of the scope of the problem they face with mainland real estate and are threading a needle.  The problems are several, but the first and most important is the deal to restructure Evergrande which will be the blueprint for the other Chinese real estate companies that are facing nearly identical cash flow problems. The amounts are too large for the state to absorb.  Evergrande's total debt outstanding is around US$ 300 billion.  Evergrande is not the largest real estate developer.  The 300 billion is used as equity in projects worth between 5 and 10 times that amount.  These are the borrowings from ordinary Chinese th

 AMLO has now discovered the benefit of using the military for many activities; part of the Maya train is now being built by the military with zero oversight, like the new Mexico City Airport, because it was built by the military there is no cost oversight. It is well known by everyone in Mexico that all contracts with the Military will require some form of payment.  Rumors (and they are just that) are that the Military "take" is about 25% of the contract amount.  My gut feeling is that this is for a small procurement rather than a large one, but still, it is unknowable. The military has been put in charge of the Mexico City airport (14 gates unknown cost) and section 5 of the Maya train (100km and cost about 6 billion dollars), again the idea is to shield the true cost and environmental impact from the public -- AMLO's favourite move. The risk is that the military takes a liking to these contracts, like the military in China which now control about 10% of the economy.  A

The Quebec government's condolences have been absent, but then again Quebec is not in charge of foreign policy, that's the role of the federal government.  Those who do not like the province, and there are a lot, have made a point that Quebec has been less than enthusiastic, most will forget Quebec's difficult relationship with the monarchy, and those who forget history can easily repeat it. First thing, Quebec until the early 1980s was an Anglophone-run province, in 1976 the Parti Quebecois took power and made some fundamental changes, making Quebec a French stronghold surrounded by English speakers.   First was that Quebecers had less education (think of the blacks of Canada), and were therefore conscripted by the British (1914) and then conscripted to join the Canadian army (1942) and often used as cannon fodder.   When Canada repatriated its constitution from the British, the rest of Canada played the Quebec government in a way that was advantageous to the rest of the c

71% of Americans are for the right to choose, within certain guidelines 70% of Americans are supportive of Gay marriage 66% of Americans are for some form of Gun control After the Supreme Court overturned Roe Vs. Wade, the culture war roles have been reversed.  The anti-abortion movement that has won, has been successful because most Americans never thought that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe Vs. Wade, but now that it has, they perceive the courts as the enemy of what the people want, and the most direct way to affect the courts is via the ballot box. The left is energized.  Democrat candidates are now vocally talking about gun control and the right of State to allow abortion.  The right, well they won and the battle at the state level is complicated.  Moreover, Democrats have been far more successful in raising money than has the GOP.   This is a twist.   On top of everything, the GOP has decided to go even more extreme.  The story that a woman was refused to be allowed to purch

 I was born in the UK, on a cold night on November 2nd, 1961.  I left at the age of two as my parent's life took them elsewhere in the world.  I first returned to the UK as a 19-year-old in 1980 as a guest of my aunt for two weeks after having worked as a chef in the South of France for a summer. England was so different from North America, as to be a different planet.  My aunt and uncle lived in Notting Hill, one street over from the famous Portobello market.  One of my aunt's neighbours owned a stall on the market and two things, he would refuse to sell you anything if he didn't like your face, secondly, he and his wife would neither answer the phone or the door on Sundays -- nothing religious rather they wanted peace and quiet one day a week. The Queen of England was nothing to me, as a Canadian (I also hold a British Passport) I felt no allegiance to the Queen, yes she is on the Canadian dollar and on our coins, but that's it. This morning I saw on the news that ALL

So the Prime Minister of Quebec has decided that his party's political platform should only be available in French...and so he will actually remove the English version.  Did these people even know that all browsers can translate any webpage?  I mean automatically!   Aside from the theatre aspect of this announcement what is the CAQ's real objective?  The message is that as a political party the CAQ doesn't care about those who don't speak French ( if you don't speak french we don't consider you as real Quebecers, and we feel comfortable insulting, ignoring and disrespecting you).  That's the real little FU that the CAQ has sent non-francophones.   Well folks that's my f'ing country!     

The elections taking place in less than 30 days are not very exciting.  The party that is leading the show is called the CAQ a nationalist somewhat corporatist government that has been in power for four years.  The opposition is not very exciting, the Liberals, the Parti Quebecois, Quebec Solidaire and the Conservative Party each share about 15% of the electorate's support while the CAQ is sitting around 45%.  In terms of probably seats the CAQ is looking at anywhere between 80 and 107 (they need 67) and the liberals between 15 and 25, the rest each get between zero and four seats, because how their votes are distributed.  Quebec's prime minister has been a good steward of the economy during the COVID and has met the crisis head-on taking full responsibility.  In the current fiscal year, the Quebec Government has a small budget surplus.  It has aggressively protected the rights of French speakers in a province surrounded by more than 300 million English speakers.  He has passed

Well, the initial cost of Dos Bocas, one of three of AMLO's key projects, was supposed to be less than US$ 6 billion. On September 1, 2022,  the President insisted that the cost would not be US$ 18 billion it would be less.  Unfortunately, on September 2nd, PEMEX's auditors (the company that actually pays the bills for the refinery) have a different number and this final cost estimate was approved by the board at its latest board meeting.  The figure:  US$ 22 billion Yes, the total cost of Dos Bocas including the yet-to-be-planned or built supply pipeline (something of some importance for a refinery), will cost US$ 22 billion or 3.6 times the initial estimate.  That sounds about right for Mexican government projects.  Let's not forget that AMLO had a firm bid from Bechtel to build the entire thing for about US$ 8 billion...that he deemed theft by the neo-liberal foreigners. I shudder to think how expensive the new (14 gates) Mexico City airport cost.  We will probably never

 Most will have heard of Ayn Rand's book Atlas Shrugged .  To say that the book is a contradiction to the real life of the author who lived off the government for years would be an understatement.  One of the premise of the book, is that society is corrupt by the good thinking left, because the problems are not caused by greed but by incompetence.  Obviously, the first idea that incompetence is something only left-leaning people do is ridiculous, but it somewhat fits here, since AMLO's government is considered a left-wing (really it's a  1960 nationalistic corporatist) party. So THE STORY: The Mexican, government is building an oil refinery in the middle of a swamp.  The total cost was to be US$ 6 billion, but now it could be as high as US$18 billion.  So the cost of building a simple refinery is 3 times the initial estimate (BTW Bechtel had bid the project at around US$ 8 billion excluding the pipeline -- and yes that WAS in the bid offer). Now the good bit; this morning