HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: tech@cs.athabascau.ca (Richard Loken)
Newsgroups: can.general
Subject: regressive taxes on gasoline
Date: 20 Aug 92 17:47:06 GMT
Distribution: can
Organization: Athabasca University

grant@clarinet.com (Grant Robinson) writes:

>In article <3142@isgtec.isgtec.com> robert@isgtec.com (Robert Osborne) writes:
>>mart@csri.toronto.edu (Mart Molle) writes:
>>> Again, if you really want to save the environment by reducing fuel
>>> consumption, then please advocate measures that directly affect fuel
>>> consumption, like:
>>> 
>>> 1. higher gasoline prices

>Well here in California (generally considered to be progressive in
>environmental matters), the opposition to this measure consists largely of
>arguments of the form:

>	it's a regressive tax on the working poor.

>Similarly, auto insurance is required by law, as in Ontario, but the law
>is not enforced, with the result that 1 in 4 drivers on the road are
>uninsured, requiring others to carry "uninsured motorists coverage" to the
>tune of about $80 per 6 months.  The reasoning is the same: to enforce
>coverage would be a regressive tax on those who can not afford it.

When I am in a good mood I consider myself a socialist but...   If you can't
afford to drive then you should get off the road.  (Look at the trouble that
remark got S. S. Hiakawa into years back.)

The automobile is the most environmentally and socially destructive device
ever invented by man and we (North American society) will make any sacrifice
to make sure that every possible potential driver is on the road no matter what
the cost to himself and the world around him.  We have buggered up the infra-
structure so badly that in places like California the car does indeed verge
on being a necessity.

In the Saskatachewan the drivers handbood says "driving is a privilege not a
right."  Don't you beleive it, my brother who has 20-100 vision with his 
glasses on just go a license by whining to the Attourney General's department.
Give us you your sick, hungry, blind, stupid, sadistic and we will put them
behind the wheel.

By the way, I also have 20-100 vision but I have no plans to whine to the
Attourney General.  After all this time I prefer public transportation.

-- 
  Richard Loken VE6BSV                             : "ISDN (acronym)
  Athabasca University, Athabasca, Alberta Canada  : Innovations 
  tech@cs.AthabascaU.CA                            : Subscribers Don't Need."
  {atha|aunro}!cs.athabascau.ca!tech               : - some sorehead or other
Newsgroups: can.general,soc.culture.canada
From: marc@r-node.gts.org (Marc Fournier - Sys Admin)
Subject: Re: Change the speed limit
Organization: R-node Public Access UNIX System (416-249-5366) 24hrs.
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 02:27:15 GMT

In article <1992Aug19.143428.7971@ee.ryerson.ca> cal@ee.ryerson.ca (Calvin Henry-Cotnam) writes:
>In article <3153@isgtec.isgtec.com> robert@isgtec.com (Robert Osborne) writes:
>>
>>Here in Toronto they don't even trust people testing for their driver
>>license on the street.   The have a little track with stop signs,
>>cross walks and stop lights and no other traffic!  So they putter
>>around this nice little perfectly paved track for a half-hour and,
>>before you know it,  they get to drive down the 401 at 120kph!
>>
>
>I agree that this system of testing sucks, but I want to point out one
>thing that I think needs improvement in addition to this: training
>courses!!!
>
	Hey...I never took my test on a 'safe' little course...I took
mine on the streets.  I don't know if these coures are new, but they
didn't exist 7 years ago when I took my licence.

>1) Manditory retesting every N (5?) years.
>
	How about up to and then after a certain age?  Like once at
16, then at 18, then at 21, and then after a certain age?

>2) Non-snow versus all-weather licencing.
>
	Oh ya...how do you expect to get all-weather experience?

>3) Manditory recertification of vehicles every M (3?) years.
>
	This I agree with.

Marc

-- 
Marc G. Fournier      | R-node Public Access Unix running UnixBBS 1.03
Etobicoke, Ontario    | 416-249-5366   24hrs 7 days/week   network email
voice: 249-4230       | shell/feed accounts available   1800+ newsgroups
marc@r-node.pci.on.ca | Telebit T3000/SupraModem2400/Cardinal 2400  FREE
Newsgroups: can.general,soc.culture.canada
From: buckland@ucs.ubc.ca (Tony Buckland)
Subject: Re: Change the speed limit
Organization: University of B.C. Computing Services
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 04:08:03 GMT

In article <1992Aug16.200311.22480@bmerh85.bnr.ca> myhui@bnr.ca (Michael Hui) writes:
>Use the political system to change the speed limit, rather than waste
>your energy teaching other drivers to drive on the right if they're
>travelling at or above the speed limit. By law, if they're slower than
>the speed limit, they must move over to the right.
>
>If I'm elected, I will change the speed limit on Ottawa's 417 and most
>safe sections of the Trans Canada Highway to 160 km/h, and also review
>related laws comprehensively to make it easy for police to discipline
>dangerous drivers without penalizing safe and fast drivers. ...

 It might, but shouldn't, surprise readers of my other postings that
 I'm thoroughly with you.  I've driven in several countries in Europe,
 where people _do_ move over because the traffic patterns and customs
 make it virtually always possible and sensible.  What is needed that
 we don't have?  (1) Higher speed limits, as you say.  But, (2), a
 much higher average level of driver competence.  We are stuck, in
 North America, with this insistence that there must be almost
 universal access to driving privileges.  The competence that we
 have to demonstrate to get our licenses is ludicrously inadequate.
 Come back from Europe, where people know how to shift, accelerate,
 steer and brake in demanding circumstances on narrower and older
 roads, where they have the reflexes and skills to safely drive
 a car way over 100 km/h, to North America (and I've done it to
 both American and Canadian destinations), and you find sloppy, vague
 pointing of vehicles down amazingly wide lanes, acceleration that
 takes forever to reach cruising speed, lack of attention, lack even
 of joie de vivre or its German, British or Italian equivalents.
 A hell of a lot of US and Canadian drivers shouldn't have licenses,
 but they do because nobody has the political guts to take them away,
 and so we have to drive under laws tailored to their numbnuts
 abilities.
From: thierry@ozrout.uucp (Thierry Daigneault)
Newsgroups: can.general
Subject: Taoist Tai Chi
Date: 14 Aug 92 04:07:35 GMT
Organization: A.P.Ozrout
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4

Hello!

  I know this might be a weird place for this question, but since it's pretty
much general, here goes:

   I am interested in learning tai chi. I heard about the taoist tai chi
society and heard it was a pan-canadian organisation. What I would like to
know is:

   has anybody out there heard about them?
   are they big?
   are they reputable?
   anything else I should know?

   Thanks in advance!
                       Thierry
Newsgroups: can.general,can.politics
From: dave@lsuc.on.ca (David Sherman)
Subject: Re: RACISM???/Access to English schools
Organization: The Law Society of Upper Canada
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 08:19:54 GMT

charters@madhaus.utcs.utoronto.ca (Jim Charters) writes:
>OK, so I called the Separate School Board.  They said that my child
>would be put on a waiting list, _and all children who were Roman
>Catholics_ would be placed in programmes first.  If my child was
>admitted, I would have to pay tuition.

Now you know how it feels.  I pay over $6,000 per year per
child for our kids' education at Jewish schools.  Ontario is
one of the few jurisdictions that offers no support to the
Jewish school system (not even for the secular portion of the
education, which is all that's being sought).  Yet Catholics are
fully funded.

>The way I look at it, here are _two_ examples of discrimation on the
>basis of religion.
>
>My next call was to the Ontario Human Rights Commission.  Guess what?
>The Separate School Board is allowed, on the basis of the 1867
>Education Act, to discriminate.  They (Human Rights Commission)
>claimed it was out of their hands, and it wasn't likely worth
>pursuing.

It's on the basis of the Constitution Act, 1867 -- the Canadian
constitution -- that the special status for Roman Catholics exists.
No, it's not worth you personally pursuing, but you'll be glad to
hear it's being challenged by a group of Jewish and (non-Catholic)
Christian parents who have kids in private schools.  The Ontario
Court of Justice handed down a decision just a few days ago denying
the claim; it doesn't matter at this stage, since it'll be appealed
to the Supreme Court of Canada anyway.  The position the parents
take is that it's unfairly discriminatory to fund Catholic schools
and not ours and that this is a violation of the Canadian Charter
of Rights and Freedoms.

David Sherman
Newsgroups: can.general
From: dowdell@unixg.ubc.ca (David J. Dowdell)
Subject: Re: regressive taxes on gasoline
Organization: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada
Distribution: can
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 02:09:10 GMT

In article <2380@aupair.cs.athabascau.ca> tech@cs.athabascau.ca (Richard Loken) writes:
>
>The automobile is the most environmentally and socially destructive device
>ever invented by man and we (North American society) will make any sacrifice
>to make sure that every possible potential driver is on the road no matter what
>the cost to himself and the world around him.  We have buggered up the infra-
>structure so badly that in places like California the car does indeed verge
>on being a necessity.
>
Gee....
Sorry to be so picky, but IMHO the NUCLEAR BOMB is the most environmentally
destructive device invented by man.  By comparison, the car is our friend.:-)
Sure we all have bad days, sometimes.  I've kicked the fenders, an cursed
a lot at some of the cars I used to own, but I've never felt such extreme
hatred for any of them.  To be a little more realistic, Richard, what we would
really like to do is to refine the current transportation system so that, as
a society, we can improve the safety and reduce the environmental impact.

I believe that people can make sound economic choices if they are not sheltered
from the real costs.  Higher gas taxes would be acceptable provided the money
was not used for anything else _but_ to pay for the roads and the environmental
damage produced by vehicular traffic.  I don't know about Alberta, or much of 
the rest of Canada, but here in B.C. it seems that insurance premiums are set
up such that good drivers subsidize a lot of bad drivers.  If insurance
premiums did reflect the true risk of driving, and taxes for the roads 
were allocated to the users, safety would improve and environmental impact
would be reduced.

I do not agree that a revolutionary change in our lifestyle is at all
necessary!  (The NUCLEAR BOMBS are another case altogether! ;-))

_____

Dave Dowdell                                       dowdell@unixg.ubc.ca
Vancouver
Newsgroups: can.general,can.politics,soc.culture.canada
From: dave@imax.imax.com (Dave Martindale)
Subject: benefits of driving above the speed limit
Organization: Imax Corporation, Mississauga Canada
Distribution: can
Date: Sat, 22 Aug 1992 15:17:19 GMT

charlesv@aupair.cs.athabascau.ca (Charles Van Duren) writes:
>
>A study reported in the motor association rag supports your opinion. It
>was first done in Germany, and then replicated in North America (I don't
>have the article with me, so don't know if it was Canada or the US).
>
>One driver was instructed to drive as fast as possible to get to a destination
>some 1500 (again, recollection may not be correct) km away. The second driver
>was instructed to drive the speed limit. The result was that the first
>driver was 31 minutes faster over an app. 20 hour trip. The result in
>North America was almost identical. Instrumentation recorded the driving
>patterns. They were replicated and analyzed under controlled conditions,
>showing the expected increase in wear, tear, and fuel consumption by the
>speedster.

Um, don't you think this sort of test depends greatly on the
conditions?  The example you quote might very well be demonstrating
that being in a hurry doesn't help much on two-lane country roads, or
where significant portions of the trip go through urban areas.  In
short, routes where the driver cannot maintain the faster speed, and
the acceleration and deceleration are a significant source of wear, and
the short periods of higher speed contribute little to overall average
speed (in the example above, the gain is only 2.5%).

For a significant counterexample, consider someone driving from, say,
Oshawa to Montreal on the 401, starting out in the evening on a
weekday.  If they drive 100 km/hr, they will almost never have to slow
down or accelerate, and will arrive in some easily-computed amount of
time.  But in fact, almost all of the trafic on that road is travelling
faster, and a driver going 110 km/hr will also be able to maintain that
speed for almost the entire trip.  Not only do they get almost a full
10% reduction in travel time, but traffic flows more smoothly and
safely because fewer drivers have to pass the slowpoke doing 100
km/hr.

If the traffic is light enough, cars can maintain even higher speeds
over that stretch with few slowdowns, gaining even more time, but at a
higher cost in lane changes and mechanical wear.

In short, the "ideal" speed to balance average speed against wear and
safety is the "natural" speed of the road, the speed that most people
are travelling at, not the speed limit.  The study quoted above showed
that the "fast as possible" strategy gained only 2.5% over the "speed
limit" strategy, suggesting that the speed limit was in fact the
"natural" speed of the road, for that test.  But on many Ontario roads,
a strategy of "faster than the speed limit but steady" is both
significantly faster and at the same time safer than driving exactly at
the speed limit.

	Dave Martindale
From: thood@corvus.matrox.com (Thomas Hood)
Newsgroups: can.general
Subject: Television commercials in the shakycam style
Date: 22 Aug 92 02:13:27 GMT
Organization: Matrox Ltd.

Reprinted from the Globe and Mail, with permission.

           Enough with the shakycam in commercials!
                     by Howard Green

You might not have noticed it, but it rears its shaky head about
every 10 minutes in prime time.  I refer to the inordinate number
of television commercials that look as though they were shot by
someone with a hand tremor.  Watch Dini Petty, all gussied up,
parked in the middle of a gym, talking about the miracle of Pears
Shampoo.   The shot's just a-shakin away, enough to make you reach
for a dose of Gravol.  And for what?  Same with the good old
Bank of Montreal and the old woman who's been storing her loot there
since Canada was divided into Upper and Lower.  If it's such a
rock-solid place to do business, why not shoot the ad on a tripod?

This is, of course, the age of so-called "reality television," with
current affairs and trash TV programs reaching back to the halcyon
days of 'verite' shooting style.  The message is simple.  A shaky
camera means we didn't set anything up, therefore you're getting
the straight goods.  If it shakes and it's out of focus, who cares?
It's the truth.

Well, the folks who make the ads know a good gimmick when they see
it and they're determined to bludgeon us with it.

Even Madonna, music's star marketeer, knows what's going on.  Her
ersatz documentary, Truth or Dare, was a two-hour ad for someone
who didn't need an ad.  And she did it in the guise of a documentary,
using black and white, backstage shakycam with dirty grain and all.

Too bad it was obvious that her backstage scenes were meticulously
pre-lit by highly experienced gaffers which made the grainy look
very questionable.

Same goes for the TV ads.  Although they strive for the grittiness
of a documentary, they just miss.  The camera is shaky, but it
doesn't shake quite right.  Someone's shaking it on purpose and it
shows.

What really worries me about this foolishness is that the next ads
to utilize "the technique" will be a vital part of the election
campaign in the United States and will no doubt be imported by
Canadian campaign managers to show us the "real" Brian, Jean and
Audrey.

I quote from a recent issue of Harpers magazine: "I would do it --
and all the Bush ads -- with a handheld camera.  That gives it a
more documentary feel," says Stuart Stevens, who worked on the
campaign of Massachusetts Governor William Weld.

Yikes, says me.  And so should you.  When you see an ad with a 
whole-lotta-shakin'-goin'-on, beware.  It's not real.  It's fake.
Change the channel and watch a documentary.

--

Howard Green is a Toronto-based freelance broadcaster/producer


--
Thomas Hood                                                    thood@matrox.com
Newsgroups: can.general
From: tmcfarla@fraser.sfu.ca (Tara McFarlane)
Subject: social studies exchange
Summary: social studies exchange
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 06:17:17 GMT


hi! i am looking for social studies teachers who would be interested in
doing online exchanges (via email or nn) with their students and other
students across canada. i am looking grades 9 through to 12.

thanks in advance!
Newsgroups: can.general,soc.culture.canada
From: jnetto@bnr.ca (John Netto)
Subject: Re: Change the speed limit
Reply-To: jnetto@bnr.ca (John Netto)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.
Distribution: can
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 92 15:00:43 GMT

In article <1992Aug18.135233.6420@sq.sq.com>, donald@sq.sq.com (Donald Teed) writes:
|> buckland@ucs.ubc.ca (Tony Buckland) writes:
|> 
|> >In article <1992Aug16.200311.22480@bmerh85.bnr.ca> myhui@bnr.ca (Michael Hui) writes:
|> >>If I'm elected, I will change the speed limit on Ottawa's 417 and most
|> >>safe sections of the Trans Canada Highway to 160 km/h, and also review
|> >>related laws comprehensively to make it easy for police to discipline
|> >>dangerous drivers without penalizing safe and fast drivers. ...
|> 
|> > It might, but shouldn't, surprise readers of my other postings that
|> > I'm thoroughly with you.  I've driven in several countries in Europe,
|> > where people _do_ move over because the traffic patterns and customs
|> > make it virtually always possible and sensible.  What is needed that
|> > we don't have?  (1) Higher speed limits, as you say.  But, (2), a
|> > much higher average level of driver competence.  We are stuck, in
|> 
|> OK, then what do they do in Europe when the traffic is bumper to bumper
|> moving at 1XX km/h and a heavy tractor trailer uses the full merge length
|> but only reaches 40 km/h by the time it is forced to take the a
|> position in the right lane?  Can someone fill us in on the difference
|> in (1) density of road use (2) design of highways and associated
|> planning of merging roadways.  These factors more than any concept
[......]

 Perhaps, when you get the chance, you should try to drive in Europe and
 see for yourself.... it's not only the roads, cars.... it's the skills..
 In Canada, anyone with $$ can drive a car, whether they are competent or not,
 but who am I to judge them, right ?
 
 And if you do not understand that.....

 Cheers,

 John

PS: The truckers there are good; I rarely ran into the case you described.
    When I did, DRIVERS just compensated, without braking to a STOP !!!!
Xref: sparky can.general:4114 ont.general:1665 tor.general:1155 ott.general:883 kw.general:301
From: yewhin@ecf.toronto.edu (YEW HIN Jimmy)
Subject: Disques Compacts
Organization: University of Toronto, Engineering Computing Facility
Distribution: can
Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1992 17:23:54 GMT

J'ai envoye une demande sur soc.culture.french mais il n'y a pas eu beaucoup de
reponse, alors quelqu'un m'a suggere de le mettre dans ce groupe: Est-ce que 
quelqu'un connaitrait un magasin dans la region de Toronto ou je pourrais 
trouver un grand choix de CD d'artistes d'expressions francaises. Je suis 
surtout interesse avec les albums de Jean Jacques Goldman. Merci.

PS: Il est possible que je sois a Montreal bientot, alors si vous pouvez me 
renseigner dans cette ville, ce serait bien aussi.
Newsgroups: can.francais
From: stam@dgp.toronto.edu (Jos Stam)
Subject: Re: Comment traduire "oxymoron" ?
Date: 20 Aug 92 15:58:51 GMT

riese@litsun.epfl.ch (Marc Riese) writes:

>Le mot "oxymoron" n'apparait ni dans la dictionnaire 
>F/E Robert & Collins, ni dans la Harrap (au moins, mes copies).
>Ce mot anglais veut dire une expression qui est, ou qui semble etre,
>contradictoire en elle-meme, par exemple "l'intelligence militaire" ou
>"politicien honnete".

>Y a-t-il une expression comme cela en francais ?

oui. oxymore.

Mon prof de francais au College utilisait ce mot donc je pense que ca doit
etre correct.

>Marc Riese
>Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne
>Suisse

Jos Stam
From: teasdale@ERE.UMontreal.CA (Teasdale Gilles)
Newsgroups: can.francais
Subject: Re: Comment traduire "oxymoron" ?
Date: 22 Aug 92 00:42:56 GMT
Organization: Universite de Montreal



Pour repondre a ta question, je te suggere de consulter le dictionnaire GRADUS
des procedes litteraires. Cet ouvrage contient une serie de definitions de 
figures traditionnelles de rhetorique. Toutes ces definitions ont ete colligees
par M.Bernard Dupriez, professeur au departement d'etudes francaises de l'
Universite de Montreal. M. Dupriez emploie plutot l'expression ALLIANCE DE MOTS
comme equivalent a oxymoron.

" ALLIANCE DE MOTS " : Rapprocher deux termes dont les significations paraissentse contredire. Ex.: Cette obscure clarte qui tombe des etoiles. CORNEILLE, 
Le Cid
 "Alliance de mots" est une ellipse de la definition :"alliance de mots 
contradictoires". Les deux termes doivent donc viser des qualites opposees.
Mais ces qualites appartiennent au meme objet, ce qui distingue l'alliance de 
mots de la dissociation.

Gradus, page 31

Ce dictionnaire est le fruit d'un travail de benedictin. Il a ete concu dans
le but de venir en aide aux etudiants en lettres; ce qui ne l'empeche pas d'etretout aussi utile aux gens qui s'interessent a la langue francaise. Je vous
en recommande vivement l'achat d'autant plus qu'il est offert a un prix tres
abordable puisqu'il a ete edite uniquement en collection de poche. 

DUPRIEZ, Bernard, Gradus:les procedes litteraires (DICTIONNAIRE), Paris, Union
                  Generale d'Edition, collection 10/18, 1980, 544p.

L'ouvrage a fait l'objet de multiples reimpressions depuis la date de sa
sortie initiale.

Voila, j'espere que cette reference vous sera utile. N'hesitez pas a me faire
part de vos commentaires.


Gilles Teasdale,
B.A., M.B.S.I.
From: beaurega@ireq.hydro.qc.ca (Denis Beauregard)
Newsgroups: can.francais
Subject: Re: Iso-8859 et Re: Comment traduire "oxymoron" ?
Date: 21 Aug 92 17:01:01 GMT
Organization: Institut de recherche d'Hydro-Quebec, Varennes, Canada

In article <1992Aug20.212509.14974@csi.uottawa.ca> dominic@shamin.genie.uottawa.ca writes:
>
>Mais sirieusement...je vois jamais des accent dans ces articles.  Est-ce il 
       ^ ^
>y a vraiment un manque des lectures de `news' qui sont iso-8859 compatible?
>
>   MUTANTS    | Dominic C. Richens          dominic@shamin.genie.uottawa.ca |
>  _________   | Tel: (613) 564 9911                 richens@aix1.uottawa.ca |

Le reseau semble entierement marche a` 7 bits.  Les accents etant des
caracteres a 8 bits, le 8e bit est alors ote et, par exemple, le e' devient i.
Il reste encore de la pression a faire si on veut des accents.

Dans mon cas, il faut meme prevoir une conversion (je n'ai pas une machine
UNIX).

-- 
  \_\    Denis Beauregard  *  internet:beaurega@ireq.hydro.qc.ca
 /   \   Genealogiste officiel : Beauregard/Jarret/Jarest/Vincent
J   __>  Barthelemy Jarret (1471) -> Andre Jarret, sieur de Beauregard (1665)
\_.-===   -> Denis Beauregard (1992)                  Opinions ? Et pis non !