We read this article regarding an overarching desire for change (through the good people at lucianne.com) and discovered a few things that shocked us.
1. People secretly adore criminals because they're the ultimate rebels, until said criminals turn around, point a gun at your head, demand all your money, shoot you dead, and your friends are agog at the ruthless efficiency of their criminal nature!
2. "Everything must be different!" is a battle cry for "We're so overwhelmed with guilt we can't stand it! Let our control freak flag fly, establish totalitarianism for everyone, make people exceedingly poor - except us, where we'll be off in our own island, using the same slave classes to bring us drinks and food chop-chop while we bang out press releases and enjoy the fruits of their labors!"
3. "Now normal folks are speaking out in their own media, and it just freaks out our socialist Ruling Class." That's because the socialist Ruling Class are a bunch of control addicts who deserve every bit of venom cast towards their simpering maws, including extended middle fingers, blogs that blast every single conspiracy theory to dust, and people who "just don't get" the spoiled elite and find out answers for themselves!
8/12/2007
Notre T-shirt - 'Un piège de touristes… mais notre piège de touristes!' (Our T-shirt: A tourist trap - but our tourist trap!)
We went to Maine yesterday on the Downeaster and when we passed by Old Orchard Beach in the early evening, roughly 7:15pm or so, we saw crowds upon crowds of people lining the streets.
So when we took a glance at this story regarding OOB and French-Canadian invasion, we know exactly why they come down from Montreal and Quebec City.
1. The exchange rate about four years ago was 65 cents US to the Canadian dollar. Now, it's 95 cents US to the Canadian dollar. Also, the only taxes Quebeckers have to worry about is the Maine state sales tax of 5% for general sales tax and 7% for food and lodging.
2. Gasoline is cheap, cheap, cheap, even after they cross the border into Vermont. At the border, gas is about $2.88-$2.95 a gallon, or $0.76-$0.78 per liter - a full $0.25 per liter cheaper than what they sell in Canada. The further south you go, the better the prices are; in OOB, $2.79 ($0.73 per liter) is a huge bargain, compared to the $1.01 per liter ($3.81 per gallon) they pay in Canada.
3. Maine is not like the "big cities" of Boston and New York. It is truly a vacation land where a Quebecker can relax and indulge in the big waves in the sea and buy tacky souvenirs without the veneer of unsubstantiated stereotypes, like robbers and con artists lurking in every corner, and gangs of toughs intimidating poor souls and upping the murder count. Not every part of Maine is perfect and full of "Ayuh" salties; there are places where everything's not hunky-dory; the more unsavory of characters (bums, drug addicts) and the social fringe have filled the places where bustling businesses once were. More about that later.
4. Unlike other tourist spots in Canada, in which a leisurely drive from parts of Quebec may take over 10 hours, OOB and New England is easily accessible. Vermont and Quebec are an hour's drive away; OOB is 5-3/4 hours away; Boston is roughly 6-1/2 to 7 hours; New York City (via I-87) about 5-6; and Cape Cod is about 8-9 hours away.
So when we took a glance at this story regarding OOB and French-Canadian invasion, we know exactly why they come down from Montreal and Quebec City.
1. The exchange rate about four years ago was 65 cents US to the Canadian dollar. Now, it's 95 cents US to the Canadian dollar. Also, the only taxes Quebeckers have to worry about is the Maine state sales tax of 5% for general sales tax and 7% for food and lodging.
2. Gasoline is cheap, cheap, cheap, even after they cross the border into Vermont. At the border, gas is about $2.88-$2.95 a gallon, or $0.76-$0.78 per liter - a full $0.25 per liter cheaper than what they sell in Canada. The further south you go, the better the prices are; in OOB, $2.79 ($0.73 per liter) is a huge bargain, compared to the $1.01 per liter ($3.81 per gallon) they pay in Canada.
3. Maine is not like the "big cities" of Boston and New York. It is truly a vacation land where a Quebecker can relax and indulge in the big waves in the sea and buy tacky souvenirs without the veneer of unsubstantiated stereotypes, like robbers and con artists lurking in every corner, and gangs of toughs intimidating poor souls and upping the murder count. Not every part of Maine is perfect and full of "Ayuh" salties; there are places where everything's not hunky-dory; the more unsavory of characters (bums, drug addicts) and the social fringe have filled the places where bustling businesses once were. More about that later.
4. Unlike other tourist spots in Canada, in which a leisurely drive from parts of Quebec may take over 10 hours, OOB and New England is easily accessible. Vermont and Quebec are an hour's drive away; OOB is 5-3/4 hours away; Boston is roughly 6-1/2 to 7 hours; New York City (via I-87) about 5-6; and Cape Cod is about 8-9 hours away.
8/08/2007
Shut your damn cellphone off or else you get NOTHING
That would be the Boston version of this Bob Slate request.
Here are some variants of that sign for various neighborhoods...
Hyde Park: Please don't talk on your cellphone. (Hyde Park is known to be very simple and straightforward.)
West Roxbury: Like, your cellphone conversation, like, bothers me. Take it outside so, like, I don't have to hear it. (West Roxbury has had that "Valley Girl" kind of patina. Roslindale would omit the 'likes.')
South End/Beacon Hill: Hey, I know your phone conversation is really interesting, but how about fishing out your platinum American Express so we can complete your purchase and extend to you our wonderful customer service?
Dorchester/Roxbury: Hey, man...dig, I have one of those cellphones that bleep and chirp and I gotta tell you, they're convenient. But I gotta tell you - stop chirping now, 'cause I get it mixed up with my alarm system.
Charlestown/North End: Yo, you with the %&#$@# idiot device glued to your skull! You're holding up the $%#&@ line! You got FIVE seconds to hang up that phone or else you're gonna make medical history when MGH takes it out of your intestines!
East Boston: Hey, man...nice phone! Who you talkin' to, pal? Listen, my grandmother's just been learning English (she's from the old country, know what I'm sayin'?) and last week she asked me something about what you're talking about now...she thinks it's funny, but you know, Granny's forgets sometimes that certain combinations of words ain't good, and my mother, she's gotten quite embarrassed. You know where Cleveland is, right? You know what a steamer is, right? You put them together...that what my grandmother said in front of Monsignor Delgato, eh? So to put me in good spirits with my mother again, I gotta ask you to put the cell phone away.
Here are some variants of that sign for various neighborhoods...
Hyde Park: Please don't talk on your cellphone. (Hyde Park is known to be very simple and straightforward.)
West Roxbury: Like, your cellphone conversation, like, bothers me. Take it outside so, like, I don't have to hear it. (West Roxbury has had that "Valley Girl" kind of patina. Roslindale would omit the 'likes.')
South End/Beacon Hill: Hey, I know your phone conversation is really interesting, but how about fishing out your platinum American Express so we can complete your purchase and extend to you our wonderful customer service?
Dorchester/Roxbury: Hey, man...dig, I have one of those cellphones that bleep and chirp and I gotta tell you, they're convenient. But I gotta tell you - stop chirping now, 'cause I get it mixed up with my alarm system.
Charlestown/North End: Yo, you with the %&#$@# idiot device glued to your skull! You're holding up the $%#&@ line! You got FIVE seconds to hang up that phone or else you're gonna make medical history when MGH takes it out of your intestines!
East Boston: Hey, man...nice phone! Who you talkin' to, pal? Listen, my grandmother's just been learning English (she's from the old country, know what I'm sayin'?) and last week she asked me something about what you're talking about now...she thinks it's funny, but you know, Granny's forgets sometimes that certain combinations of words ain't good, and my mother, she's gotten quite embarrassed. You know where Cleveland is, right? You know what a steamer is, right? You put them together...that what my grandmother said in front of Monsignor Delgato, eh? So to put me in good spirits with my mother again, I gotta ask you to put the cell phone away.
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