SRC

Please visit the Focus On The Family website (for my position on moral issues).

Click here to watch the best TV commercial I have ever seen.

I love flight - especially space flight. My father was a pilot in the RCAF, and I might have followed in his foot-steps, but I lack perfect vision. I can still get a commercial or private license though, and I would like to buy and build a 'Berkut' - a composite canard "pusher" two-seater based on Rutan's 'Long-EZ' and named after a subspecies of golden eagles bred for hunting wolves. The name Rutan may not be familiar to you, but you should have heard of 'Voyager' - the first aircraft to circumnavigate the globe non-stop, without refueling. Rutan's famous flight began on December 14, 1986 at Edwards Air Force Base, California, and ended nine days later (at the same location). More recent and more famous is SpaceShipOne - the first non-government craft to fly to low Earth orbit twice within two weeks, winning the X-Prize.

I have yet to visit "Edwards", but I have walked under 'Voyager' - it's hanging above the entrance to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C. I was finally able to visit the museum - including the Star Wars exhibit - in January of 1999. I wasted most of my shots on the Washington Monument the night before, but did take some photos of the exhibit. A few photos are nothing compared to what I "wasted" on my hotel room that same night though - check out my view and you'll see why.

Washington exists of course almost entirely due to government, while I (and others like those at Casey Research and the CTF) believe in more freedom through less government. Here is an illustration of why;

A Quick History Lesson

The U.S. Post Service was established in 1775. So they've had 234 years to make it work. It is broke.

Social Security was established in 1935. They've had 74 years to make it work. It is broke.

Fannie Mae was established in 1938. They've had 71 years to make it work. It is broke.

The War on Poverty started in 1964. They've had 45 years to make it work. About $1 trillion of taxpayer money is confiscated each year and transferred to “the poor.” It hasn't worked.

Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. They've had 44 years to make it work. They are both broke.

Freddie Mac was established in 1970. They've had 39 years to make it work. It is broke.

AMTRAK was established in 1970. They've had 39 years to make it work. Last year it had to be bailed out and today continues running at a loss.

More recently there is the $700 billion bailout of 2008. It has yet to create a single new private-sector job.

Cash for Clunkers in 2009 went broke after 80% of the cars purchased turned out to be produced by foreign companies.

The U.S. government has a 100% failure rate.

I decided that, since it's increasingly unlikely I'm ever going to have children of my own, I should support children whom are in need of it. I decided to start with a little girl named Marlina from Indonesia, since it was the worst hit by the Tsunami three years ago. So far I have been able to add a child per year- a little boy named Jose from Colombia, and then Jeremy from Peru. Update: Jeremy's family is doing well enough that they don't help anymore, so I transferred sponsorship to a "Millennium Baby". Madhabi was born January 1, 2000 in Bangladesh. Not only has Bangladesh been hit by two devastating cyclones in as many months, Madhabi had been without a sponsor for over a year. Please visit Compassion Canada's website and consider sponsoring a child yourself.

A few years ago I got the "sign from above" in the thumbnail below. I needed a better income than I was getting helping people with their computers, so for three years I drove semi-trucks up to 125 feet long - mostly for Direct Transport. I was with Direct for two more years manually calculating/processing the driver's payroll.

The first blast of winter 04/05 hit the first weekend of December 2004. I had picked up 20,000 litres of apple juice from SunRype and slept by the lake shore in the Okanagan valley - the kilometer increase in elevation to Rogers Pass ahead of me. I awoke Saturday to falling snow - over a decimeter had already fallen on the twisting mountain road ahead of me, and it didn't stop till Monday morning. The trip home was only 550 miles, but it took me 13 hours. The worst point for me was climbing the hill out of Cochrane - as it got steeper the slippage got worse until I was almost in my lowest gear, balancing the angled spinning against the hill and road crown. The worst for three other drivers - a west-bound tanker, a west-bound double and an east-bound single - was the mountain curves. (I don't think the east-bound driver survived.) Click here or above for a collage - there's links to dozens of my trucking photos below.

It's been over a decade since there's been a new car I'd like to buy - one that has the right blend of reliability and performance and price. For the last few years the only serious contender has been the Subaru Impreza WRX (wagon - more practical and better profile). The horizontally opposed turbocharged four with all wheel drive allows it to dominate its competition, and the reliability is on par with Honda and Toyota. The Mazda 3 likewise has recently demonstrated excellent reliability and last year was my top pick in the low price range (the top model with a 2.3 litre engine is about Cdn$23K). The Impreza WRX STi is my pick for the high (Cdn$50K+) price range, out-performing cars double and even triple its price, but even Cdn$40K or so for the mid-price WRX is still a bit much to spend on a new car. While lacking the intercooler and turbo of the faster versions, the base Impreza has the same 2.5 litre "boxer" engine and symmetrical full-time all-wheel drive. (In fact it's the lowest priced 4-wheel drive available from any automobile manufacturer.) The base engine generates 173 horsepower and 166 lb-ft of torque while the WRX boosts it to 230hp & 235 lb-ft and the STi puts out 300 of each! With a curb weight under 1400Kg that makes for some impressive acceleration. "Power-assisted, dual-diagonal system ABS 4-channel/4-sensor/4-wheel EBD disk brakes" on all four aluminum 205/50R16 five spoke wheels give equally impressive deceleration. Made in Japan reliability and economy and all the "stuff" you'd want/ expect on an expensive new car - A/C, alarm, a nice AM/FM/CD, projector beam halogen lights, power windows/mirrors/locks, tilt, cruise, even heated mirrors. Compared to other manufacturers, one would expect the price to be $33,500 not the $23,500 that it is, so when I was approved for their 2.8% financing, the only reason I had to say no was my Honda not being a viable trade in. I paid $8900 for it five years earlier and promptly sold it for $4900 June 5/06.

Three years later I sold the blue 2006 to generate some cash, but fortunately was able to buy a 2008 (with 1/4 the mileage) a few months later for ~$4,000 less than what I had received for the 2006 - an almost new car for half the price! It looks like the photo above, but without the hood scope and the 18" wheels - the black base version of the silver STi in my favorite commercial linked here and at the top of the page.

Updated: December 2009