Monday, December 31, 2007
Just a Little Humor...
I seen this and just had to share it on the closing of 2007...Now I don't care who you are this is funny!!!!!
Ready for Take Off
Well the festive season has come and went. I hope you got what you were looking for from Santa! Contrary to popular belief I did make the good list, so as usual I made out like a bandit! Don't get me wrong the gifts are awesome, but I guess I am showing my age a bit. Christmas for me is about kids. For the adults I think that it is about having a good meal doing some visiting and being kind to fellowman.
As we count down the last few hours till 2008 I would like to thank you for the readership of 2007 and hope that you continue to pop in on occasion in 2008. Remember the jungle is all about you! From The Official Zoo Trainer that keeps me in line and safe in my cage. Mel and I would like to wish each and every one of you a Very Happy New Year and all the best in 2008.
About the time we think we can make ends meet, somebody moves the ends.
- Herbert Hoover
Cheers
From The Big Ape
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
WOW How time Flies...
So until next time remember:
Many a man who falls in love with a dimple make the mistake of marrying the whole girl.
- Evan Esar
Cheers From
The Suburban Gorilla
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Bits and Bites
Has it been hot or what this week? I have been sweating harder then Mike Tyson at a spelling bee... GRIN This past Friday we got to about 40 degrees in the shade. That made it about 44 in the house. Now we had the air conditioner installed in the bedroom, but not in the living room yet so needless to say we retreated to the bedroom for the day just to survive. For all you folks that either do not work in metric or just understand Fahrenheit better 44 degrees is about:
111.2 degrees Fahrenheit
All I know it is too damn hot for this ape. I can truly understand how people in the USA perish in the heat in the warmer states!!
With the warm usually comes terrible weather. You know hail, damaging rains, tornado's. Well as predicted we did get that also. Enclosed you will see damage of some homes about 65 miles to the west of us . Some good friends have children that live in Brooks, and we also have friends and relatives that also live there. Here is some of the devastation they received from large hail and possibly a tornado that moved through this area on Friday June 29, 2007.
Then there was the devastation in Elie, Manitoba.
It really makes we has humans feel pretty small against the force of Mother Nature doesn't it? I will post some more pictures of the storm that moved through the Creston B.C. area that destroyed a very good friends camp at Moye lake. When I see stuff like this I just thank my lucky stars that I never had to experience something like this first hand. The only positive situation in all this is as far as I know there was no tragic ends to peoples lives. As tough as it may be at the time material items can be replaced, lives cannot!!!
Well I have some to pass on that I found absolutely astonishing that thieves would stoop to this level. We all know criminals are generally lazy, because if they had any ambition at all they would get a job and earn their money honestly. Anyway this email was passed on to me and I feel obligated to inform you of this. I tried this first hand yesterday, and believe it or not it worked just as the email states. The parts person did not even ask for any identification or anything!!! All I can say if you are a confidante talker I am beginning to believe you can get what ever you want in this world including someones vehicle with no questions asked.
What will car thieves think of next???????
Edmonton Police Service
Co-operative Policing/Merchant Crime Alert
Program 9620-103A Ave.
Edmonton, Alberta Phone Number (780) 421-3545
Seems that car thieves have found yet another way to steal your car or truck without any effort at all.
The car thieves peer through the windshield of your car or truck, write down the VIN from the label on the dash, go to the local car dealership and request a duplicate key based on the VIN #.
WOW is all I can say to that!!! Pretty soon thieves are going to be able to steal our houses with us living in them and we will be none the wiser. I better not speak to loudly or this may happen next!
I didn't believe this e-mail, so I called a friend at Chrysler Dodge and pretended I had lost my keys. They told me to just bring in the VIN#, and they would cut me one on the spot, and I could order the keyless device if I wanted. The Car Dealer's Parts Department will make a duplicate key from the VIN #, and collect payment from the thief, who will return to your car. He doesn't have to break in, do any damage to the vehicle, or draw attention to himself. All he has to do is
walk up to your car, insert the key and off he goes to a local Chop Shop with your vehicle.
Avoid this put some duct tape strip over the Vin Number so that they can't see the number. Do this from the inside of the vehicle.
Scott Hobbs, Calgary Police Service.
Well I think I have taken up enough of your time for today so I will swing back to the Jungle and take care of some house chores before the Boss gets home.
Until next time
Cheers from the Suburban Gorilla
Don't forget:
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy and Jill a rich widow.
- Evan Esar
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Why has our Government become our parents?
It really baffles me as to why our government thinks that it should be our moral Shepard. What happened to society thinking for itself once and a while? Have we as society become so much like sheep that we need out Government leaders to think for us? I don't know about you, but I think for myself just fine thanks. It really frosts my nuggets that Government on all levels think that they should do whats right for the citizens. Correct me if I am wrong is that not communism? At very best it could be considered a socialist region. I participated on a talk show about a week ago with our local mayor of our city. The city council in all their wisdom feels that they have to ban smoking in all businesses in our city. The business owner does not have a say on this matter. Our mayor and his flock felt it was their obligation to protect us from ourselves. EXCUSE ME!!!!! I am 39 years old, and have been doing just fine thanks. I do not need some bureaucrat to tell me what is good for me, and what they feel is not safe for me to participate in thanks. That was what my parents were for when I was growing up to teach me what is right and wrong. Now don't get me wrong if I was breaking the law then step in and deal with me accordingly. Please do not think for me when something is legal, and I might add the government makes literately billions of dollars from tobacco products ever year, and then tell me because it is bad for me you can no longer do it in public. If it is so bad then make it illegal, and then it would be banned and then who ever uses it then will be dealt with accordingly. If you have a business license you cannot allow your customers or staff to smoke in your establishment. There is a 3 meter ruling that you have to smoke away from the building. For the record I do not smoke. Personally I think that it is a nasty habit, but again who am I to judge. I am not the picture of health so I do not have much room to yell quite honestly. I do agree that smoking could be banned around places that do allow children. For the most part I think that most smokers are pretty respectful, and do agree with this. We have friends that smoke, and they are very respectful of when and where they light up. Now our Provincial Government has taken it upon themselves to ban smoking in public province wide. My question is where does it stop? You might think I just fell off the turnip truck, but I can see in time this be taken even further. You might think I am crazy, but I can see our powers to be banning people over a certain weight from eating certain foods. I can see our government banning the vehicles we drive because of fuel consumption. You smile now and think I am cracked, but in a few years time when we are being told when to get up and what to wear. You might not be smiling as much anymore. I do agree that if a business wants to go smoking that children may not be allowed in. I can live with that, but when you are told as a business owner who your customers are going to be. I have a huge problem with that. I encourage each and every one of you to raise hell on this matter even if you do not agree with smoking, because if this is allowed to happen where does it stop? I think that there are two things that government at any level should not be allowed to participate in, and that is private business and religion. Quit being our parents we are able to look after our own, and if we are not then we have agencies that are private enterprise that can do it for us.
That is just my opinion and I may be wrong
Until next time remember:
An author is a fool who, not content with boring those he lives with, insists on boring future generations.
- Charles de Montesquieu
Cheers
From The 400LB Gorilla
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Proud to be Canadian
Enjoy
From the 400lb Gorilla
A British newspaper salutes Canada. This is a good read. It is funny
how it took someone in England to put it into words.
Sunday Telegraph Article: Salute to a Brave and Modest Nation -
Kevin Myers, The Sunday Telegraph LONDON -
Until the deaths of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan , probably
almost no one outside their home country had been aware that Canadian
troops are deployed in the region. And as always Canada will bury its
dead, just as the rest of the world, as always will forget its
sacrifice, just as it always forgets nearly everything Canada ever does.
It seems that Canada 's historic mission is to come to the selfless aid
both of its friends and of complete strangers, and then, once the crisis
is over, to be well and truly ignored.
Canada is the perpetual wallflower that stands on the edge of the hall,
waiting for someone to come and ask her for a dance. A fire breaks out,
she risks life and limb to rescue her fellow dance-goers, and suffers
serious injuries. But when the hall is repaired and the dancing
resumes, there is Canada, the wallflower still, while those she once
helped glamorously cavort across the floor, blithely neglecting her yet
again.
That is the price Canada pays for sharing the North American continent
with the United States , and for being a selfless friend of Britain in
two global conflicts. For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in
two different directions: it seemed to be a part of the old world, yet
had an address in the new one, and that divided identity ensured that it
never fully got the gratitude it deserved. Yet its purely voluntary
contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the
greatest of any democracy.
Almost 10% of Canada 's entire population of seven million people served
in the armed forces during the First World War, and nearly 60,000 died.
The great Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops,
perhaps the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle.
Canada was repaid for its enormous sacrifice by downright neglect, it's
unique contribution to victory being absorbed into the popular Memory as
somehow or other the work of the "British."
The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian navy began the war
with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing nearly half of the
Atlantic against U-boat attack. More than 120 Canadian warships
participated in the Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian
soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone. Canada finished the war with the
third-largest navy and the fourth-largest air force in the world.
The world thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had
the previous time. Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged
in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a
campaign in which the United States had clearly not participated - a
touching scrupulousness which, of course, Hollywood has since abandoned,
as it has any notion of a separate Canadian identity.
So it is a general rule that actors and filmmakers arriving in Hollywood
keep their nationality - unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus Mary
Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland, Michael J. Fox, William
Shatner, Norman Jewison, David Cronenberg, Alex Trebek, Art Linkletter
and Dan Aykroyd have in the popular perception become American, and
Christopher Plummer, British.
It is as if, in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be
Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakably Canadian
as a moose, or Celine Dion....
Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the achievements
of it's sons and daughters as the rest of the world is completely
unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of themselves - and are
unheard by anyone else - that 1% of the world's population has provided
10% of the world's peacekeeping forces. Canadian soldiers in the past
half century have been the greatest peacekeepers on Earth - in 39
missions on UN mandates, and six on non-UN peacekeeping duties, from
Vietnam to East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.
Yet the only foreign engagement that has entered the popular on-Canadian
imagination was the sorry affair in Somalia , in which out-of-control
paratroopers murdered two Somali infiltrators. Their regiment was then
disbanded in disgrace - a uniquely Canadian act of self-abasement for
which, naturally, the Canadians received no international credit.
So who today in the United States knows about the stoic and selfless
friendship its northern neighbour has given it in Afghanistan? Rather
like Cyrano de Bergerac , Canada repeatedly does honourable things for
honourable motives, but instead of being thanked for it, it remains
something of a figure of fun.
It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians should be proud, yet such
honour comes at a high cost. This past year more grieving Canadian
families knew that cost all too tragically well.
*********************
Please pass this on to any friends or relatives who served in the
Canadian Forces or anyone who is proud to be Canadian; it is a wonderful
tribute to those who choose to serve their country and the world in the
quiet Canadian way.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Quack Quack Quack...
What is happening to our youth of today? I watched the news again last evening, and they lead with a story about a young man being shot and killed in a Toronto school yesterday. What is going through a child's mind or anyone for that matter, child or not that you wake up one morning and decided that today seems like a good day to go out and kill someone. Now there is the special interest groups that blame video games. All I can say to that is POPPY COCK!!!!! It is like saying lets ban guns because there is too many people dying. Unless you have not noticed people it is not guns that kill people, it is people that kill people!!! I am finding it harder and harder in today's society that nobody is taking responsibility for their own actions. My question is where did such a young man or women get a gun to take to school in the first place? Better yet I don't know about you, but as a parent I think I would be paying a bit more attention to my kids as to what they do and don't have. If it is a case that it was taken from the home I think the parents should be charged at best for child neglect as I really don't think a kid of that age should have access to weapons. I am not saying the parents cannot have guns, But PLEASE store them properly so little fingers do not have access to them. If you feel that your child is that unstable store them off the property so they do not have access to them. The situation I see with this is now all the special interest groups are going to be climbing back on that big band wagon to ban guns globely. I really struggle because of that. There is some very good and responsible guns owners out there. Just because there is one dolt out there the whole group has to suffer.
Again I go back to why did this happen? What lead up to this situation? I think that society in some cases have lost control of our youth. Tell me how many parents do not both work? Not many... I want the great Canadian dream too, but I also made the choice to not have children. Now before you start firing off emails as to then what do you know you don't even have kids. Well my response to that is two fold. I come from a therapy back ground so I feel I have some knowledge in the area. Also I did not just crawl from out under a rock last night. Most of our friends have children, and contrary to popular belief I like kids, and take an interest in them. Some of my career has even involved working with youth very closely. I think because of peer pressure and Mom and Dad wanting everything in the first five years of marriage. Better known as the Keeping up with the Jones syndrome. Mom and Dad have to work to pay for what they have committed to. Sometimes I think kids would just as soon want to spend time with Mom and Dad doing the simpler things in life rather then going on expensive vacations to Maui ever year. I would like some feed back about this one. You know how it works leave me your opinion in the comments section at the end of this posting.
The other story that I was following today that made me sit back and ponder life, and what was going on. Is a teenage girl has a baby in a Walmart washroom, and then walks away leaving it there unattended. Again WOW. What was going through this girls mind? I can appreciate she was probably scared witless but, wow in todays society, and so many people want newborn children to adopt, why did she at least take it to a hospital and turn it over there rather then taking her chances, and hoping someone found it before it was too late. I guess I am not a young girl having to deal with this situation, but I will say there must be a tremendous amount of anguish after doing something like this. I struggle with the fact in today's society, and the amount of education and protection how our youth is having accidents and getting pregnant anyway! Again I would like to hear your feed back on this topic. I am interested in you as readers and your opinions on these two matters.
Until next time....
Cheers
From the 400LB Gorilla
Remember:
The Constitution gives every American the inalienable right to make a damn fool of himself.
- John Ciardi
Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons.
- R. Buckminster Fuller
Wanting to read more on that school shooting? Click here...
Want to read on baby being born is Saskatchewan Walmart? Click Here...
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Wow how time flies!!!
Cheers
From the 400LB Gorilla
Remember:
- Bertrand Russell
- Doug Larson
Thursday, March 29, 2007
The Candy Ass Of The Year Award Goes To????
I ask you would you rather have some junky shoot up in a safe place away from your kids or go to the nearest school yard, and leave their rigs and mess behind to possibly infect our children at play. Most people get it! Why is it the Government can't comprehend this concept. It is a proven fact that Insite actually saves lives. Just because Harper is trying to keep the peace with the up and comers he sides with George W on this one. Just because Junkies do not vote he does not care what happens to them is the bottom line. Just remember that addiction is a disease just like cancer or heart disease. I have always said that the only projects that government officials take on are ones that affect them personally. I guarantee if Mr. Harper's Son or daughter had an addiction problem there would be top priority on this matter.
I think it is time to start speaking with votes. I am not sure if people realize that when you vote you only have to vote for the people that you feel will do the proper job. One does not have to vote for all the area's of interest. We need to start supporting just the people that support our interests. Maybe then in our conservative country something would get accomplished rather then people getting in just because there was nobody to do a proper job. The European countries get it, and embrace places like this to help aid the situation. They save lives rather then turn a blind eye to the problem, and stick their heads in the sand. We have a provincial agency that deals with addiction in our province that gets upwards of 13 or so million dollars a year to help deal with addictions. Why is it that Alberta has one of the highest rates of addiction in the country then? I will answer that... people will not quit drugs or stop their destructive behavior until they are ready. Throwing money at a cause is not going to make it go away PEOPLE. I know that, you know that, why is it then that the Government does not understand this concept? Hell the head of that said agency was arrested late last year for embezzlement from his own agency. Get this, it was to fund his gambling addiction. GO FIGURE!!!!!! I think we need to start contacting our members of government on all levels and ask why? Why are you not supporting an initiative like this? Why can't we as a province or country lead by example rather then try and be a follower on topics that could make a difference. As the old saying goes; "God Hates A Coward!!!"
Like prostitution, drugs are not going to go away. Why does the government not grab a clue, and tax this stuff? Lets get a better handle on drugs. Hey look at the money they could make off this stuff through taxes!!!! People are going to do drugs, and participate in destructive behavior whether it is legal or not. So lets try and keep it safe as possible. Try and re-educate people of the harm. Rather then stick our heads in the sand, and say not in my back yard! Maybe if we ignore it long enough it will just go away! NOT!!!!!!! I do realize these places cannot be put in populated areas, but their is warehouse districts, and downtown cores. For the most part the people that do this type of activity are generally on living in suburbia anyway.
That is just my opinion and I may be wrong!!!
Until next time remember: I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.
Cheers
From The 400LB Gorilla
Would you like to email our Prime Minister other officials on this matter and share your opinion? Click here...
Would you like to read the article that sparked this rant? Click here...
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Very Smart Words
2. Prayer in schools is not a bad thing to participate in during our times of turbulence in the world.
I think Darrel Scott could not have spoken more truer words. If you are wondering who Mr. Scott is he is the father of one of the students that was killed at Columbine High. As you may or may not know we had a similar incident just weeks after the one at Columbine in Taber, Alberta. We have since heard of various situations that were similar. I know that prayer is not the only solution to this problem, but we have to start some where. Acceptance, Bullying, and the concept of just getting along with one another can to be added to that list.
Here is Mr. Scott's words:
DARRELL SCOTT - TESTIMONY
Guess our national leaders didn't expect this, hmm? On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.
They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilder ness. The following is a portion of the transcript:
"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers .
"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.
"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.
I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best. This was written way before I knew I would be speaking here today:
Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage,
& nbsp; You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
&n bsp; Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!
"Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational
systems for most of our nation's history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs -- politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.
"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America, and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to comm unicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your
own heart before casting the first stone!
My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"
Words like that can not be ignored or forgotten!
Until next time...
Friday, March 23, 2007
Has Society Finally Gone Mad?
That is just my opinion, and I maybe wrong!
Cheers from:
The 400LB Gorilla
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Living Life Backwards
Until next time remember: We have to get old, or we'd never slow down.
Cheers
From The 400LB Gorilla
Welcome
Until next time remember: It's National Chili Week! Which makes next week National
Stay Indoors Week.
Cheers
From the 400LB Gorilla