10Sep 2024 by R&O No Comments
The Guilty Taxpayers

The Guilty Taxpayers

Crime, Economy, Life, Life in Vancouver, Observations, Politics, Rants
While making my way to work in 2011 along Powell Street in downtown Vancouver I was given a pamphlet while waiting at a traffic light. The guy who approached me as I sat at the light mumbled something about 'Save the downtown Eastside' as he presented his informative missive. The title read 'BOYCOTT! Pantages/Sequel 138 - Condo$ are Destroying Our Low-Income Community'. This is asking the working, contributing taxpayer to support their quest to maintain the tattered, depressing hell-hole that is our downtown Eastside. Let's save the slums, the misery, the abject poverty and the legions of drug-addled, homeless people wandering into traffic. Vancouver's downtown Eastside eats the city from within, spreading its filth and drug addiction through violence and crime, affecting the lives of all that live and work…
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13Jul 2019 by R&O No Comments
My Bitcoin Rollercoaster Ride

My Bitcoin Rollercoaster Ride

Bitcoin, Economy, Finance, Internet, Life, Technology
It's been 9 years since my first tentative experiments with Bitcoin and the ride is just as exhilarating as ever, even more so as the price has begun skyrocketing once again. After reading about the technology way back in 2013 and setting up my old windows computer with software to mine coins, realizing my hard drive was too small to store the blockchain ledger and my computer too slow and clunky to process transactions, I gave up before receiving any coins. But I realized that it was something important and I needed to learn everything I could about it and understand how it worked and more importantly, how to participate. Cut to mid 2019, almost 2 years after the crazy December 17, 2017 peak of USD $19,783.21 per coin and…
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01Jan 2014 by R&O 1 Comment
Bitcoin: A Crash Course

Bitcoin: A Crash Course

Bitcoin, Business, Economy, Finance, Internet, Technology, The World
The interest in cryptocurrency is growing by both governments and individuals all over the world. Some governments fear a decentralized, unfettered currency, other governments (specifically China and Russia) are presently embracing and actively promoting the technology, though probably more to poke a finger in the eye of The United States than anything else. It's better for no one to control it rather than your enemy, right? In my opinion, two things are poised to change the world as we know it: 3D printing and a secure, dependable cryptocurrency. These two technologies will empower the global population more than any single events in history, allowing us to produce goods on demand and disallowing governments and banks from continuing to use our money as global economic weapons. These changes are well beyond…
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01Sep 2011 by R&O No Comments
A New Crop of Assholes

A New Crop of Assholes

Assholes, Business, Economy, Observations, People, Politics, Rants, The Law
There's been a sizable crop of contenders for the Asshole of the Week award and I've yet to see such a deserving group of recipients. These folks run the gamut from murderers to politicians (what's new) to a police chief to spoiled Asian kids. These are just four of the people that make our day-to-day lives miserable at times and contribute to our feelings of despair and hopelessness. They piss us off and make us want to smash something into tiny pieces with a huge fucking hammer. Overly dramatic? Sure. But what do we do...depend on our pathetic legal system to do sort it all out? Read on... ONE: It was reported today that Sasan Ansari, the douche that stabbed his friend 33 times outside the Hollyburn Country Club five…
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