The Takeover
Posted by Admin | Filed under Posts
The break’s over.
I’ve moved this blog to be the first thing on funbarn.ca, it should have no real effect on anything but you never know. Maybe it will explode like a lava filled pinata at a poorly planned 5th birthday party. Why didn’t you get the bouncy castle.
For Shame.
If you’re looking for the wiki, fear not, it still exists. Click here or use the link “WikiBarn” from the awesome places on the right. Your right, not my right. Unless you’re english, in which case we drive on the RIGHT side of the road here.
>:(
I am Defeated
Posted by Admin | Filed under Posts
I took my m3 in to the dealership this morning. After hours of working on it trying to rundown the problem, it is still stalling intermittently below 2000 RPM and not starting back up afterwards. I have no idea why and I’m all out of ideas. I’ve posted on THE INTERNET asking about it, and they made mention to some scan tools I don’t have and a smoke machine to check for vacuum leaks. Short of starting a campfire in my parkade and wafting smoke in the general direction of my air intake, this is beyond my capacity as a pretend mechanic. I suppose a vacuum leak could be the culprit, but they’re a pain in the ass to run down and I’d rather have someone “professional” tell me why my car won’t start.
When I dropped it off this morning, they gave me a little envelope to put my keys in. On the outside they ask you to write in your contact info what kind of car it is. Right below that they give you three fingers of space to write down your car’s symptoms. I looked at it.
I blinked
And asked the girl for more envelopes. She ended up giving me a piece of paper out of the printer and watched as I used the whole page to write down what’s been going on with my car.
I hope it’s fixed soon.
Oh also: while I was waiting, 2 salesman got into a shouting and chest poking argument about how everyone was supposed to pay Barry the same amount, but the one guy only paid $50 because he figured that’s all it was worth. Car salesmen are the poo-throwing monkeys of the retail world.
#ecca
Posted by Admin | Filed under Posts
This city centre airport debate is getting a lot of air time on the ole internets recently. I don’t have all the background but the thrust of it seems to be that Twitter is upset with “Fat Cats” that want to keep the airport open which is getting in the way of… <insert most recent conjecture here>.
I’m no longer exactly sure what the initial issue surrounding the ECCA was, but I’ve heard some arguments for and against and I thought I’d blog about my thoughts on what’s floating around “The Twitter”. Despite my belief that arguing on the internet is akin to running full-speed into a wall over and over again, I’m doing this because: I care somewhat about the issue; because people have been telling me I should blog more; and because I don’t want to have this conversation more than the 5 times I’ve already had it.
As far as I can surmise it boils down to the ECCA losing money and the city having to come up with the shortfall. Sounds like the Indy situation to me. So why doesn’t the same solution apply? Replace the management and implement a new business model that will generate profit for the airport. Granted this wouldn’t happen overnight, but I fail to see how having an airport near downtown is anything but a benefit to a growing city.
In fact why wouldn’t the city embrace it? Combine it with the LRT, and help transform the area into a sort-of-central all modes of transportation hub! It could even be the termination point for the future (read: never going to happen) high-speed rail link from Edmonton to Calgary. Hell, throw in a moonship dock. Boom, future city.
I still haven’t heard a solid argument for why it should be shutdown vs reorganized, but here is a list of some of the arguments I have heard:
Argument I’ve heard #1: The ECCA is for “Fat Cats” and why should we keep it open for just for these “Fat Cats” that just want to use it “Jet Set” around in their “Fat Cats”mobiles?
Well, first off, there is a reason they’re “Fat Cats”. “Fat Cats” are what they are because they’ve landed some job where they’ve got the responsibility/burden/luxury of flying around for business. Why should they not do this? If the ECCA is a business, then these people are the customers. Those customers should consume that product, Fat Cats or not.
Plus I’m pretty sure labeling them FAT CATS is racism. You jerks.
Argument I’ve heard #2: The ECCA is taking up valuable land that is needed to generate $100 million in property tax revenue from close-to-downtown condos.
That might be true, but you could claim that a fat franks cart would also generate $100 million in revenue given a long enough time frame. If the airport were to close this week, and rezoning were to happen, and destruction were to happen, then construction, then buying of the properties. If you take a look at Century Park, that place was supposed to be condominium Mecca, but if you look at the site, despite is luxury promises, it’s still a bulldozed mall and a dirt LRT park n ride lot.
Maybe the city would start to see property tax revenue from ECCA in 10 years. Assuming of course that the real estate market for condos rebounds immediately, people can wait for the LRT, and don’t mind living next to the yellowhead. But generating $100 million in that time? I doubt it. If whoever ends up with the ECCA were smart they could reorg and work towards a profitable business model in 5.
In the mean time I project selling hotdogs to net me $10 billion in revenue over the next 59 decades. I’ll wave at you from my flying Ferrari. Which I’ll have to land in a field outside Leduc. This is very inconvenient for me as I’m a Fat Cat. You jerks.
Argument I’ve heard #3: Closing the ECCA will kill people.
HAHAHAHAHA This argument is so absurd I actually like it. I’m going to re-name this one Argument #1. Good job Argument 1, you’re a winner.
Argument I’ve heard #4: Edmonton can’t have super tall sky scrapers because of the airport which is decidedly un-world-class and, as you know, we are all about being world-class.
I met a guy who is a pilot who was talking to me about this. He said that by modifying the flight path to increase the degree of descent by 2 degrees, we could add on another 12 floors to every building. Now I’m just a brain surgeon/rocket scientist so I can’t say that taller sky scrapers will solve all our problems, but it seems like if 60 floors isn’t enough for you, then why can’t the planes fly in from not directly over downtown? After all, many planes have steering devices now. Or so I’ve heard. Like I said, I’m only a Nobel Laureate and only have a complete grasp of how all three dimensions work.
Also there are a ton of cities that are world-class that have an airport near downtown. Google them, it’s true. Believe it or not, there are also some cities that are world-class that don’t have a downtown airport too. Feel free to Google them too. Suggesting that an airport downtown is necessary to have a thriving city is stupid, but it would be much harder to get another airport later if we shut down this one. I mean a world-class one though, not that bush league bullshit like they have in New York City.
Argument I’ve heard #5: Where are the RCMP/EPS/STARs/Global news/Etc going to park their helicopters?
Anywhere, they’re fucking helicopters. You don’t see me bitching about where to park my bright pink zeppelin with dangling truck nutz do you??
Actually, this is somewhat compelling. If the airport is shutdown, will this include helicopters? Or will ECCA be transformed into a heliport? How will this then affect the $100 million in condo sales? Want to come over and have a BBQ on my new patio? Oh that? Its the soft pitter-patter of a helicopter taking off next door.
OR
Will this mean another heliport needs to be built, if the RCMP/EPS/STARs/Global news/Etc don’t want to launch from EIA or Namao? Maybe they could bulldoze a shutdown school site for that. NOT IN MY BACKYARD >:(
Argument I’ve heard #6: The Katz Group is behind the ECCA debate to try to keep media attention off the new arena.
I made this up, but if I’m not around for a few days, it’s because I was right and have been murdered by the Katz group.
Argument I’ve heard #7: If the ECCA is shutdown, Namao will be reactivated.
I suppose this would prove that the airport is necessary to someone.
I’m not sure that a civilian airport being shutdown would necessitate a military base reactivating, but this would be bad news to all race car drivers in western Canada as Namao is the premier racing venue in the province. Yes, it’s even better than Calgary’s Race City. If Namao is reactivated, it probably won’t book as many events, if any at all.
ECCA shutting down is also bad for the Indy, since reclaiming the land for condos would likely mean no more ECCA runway and hence no race. Unless another track can be found, like say Namao then the Indy would either go away, or need a bespoke track to be built. I’m no Accounting Scientist, but I estimate this to cost $100 million. Leaving the net gain at zero.
So in conclusion, I’m all for the new arena.