Fireworks on the 4th of July

KIM JONG UN ON 4 JULY 2017

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Update 7 August 2017—U.N. Security Council resolution “condemns in the strongest terms” North Korea’s July 4 and July 28 missile tests, and adds new individuals and entities, including the Foreign Trade Bank, a state-owned bank that acts as North Korea’s “primary foreign exchange bank,” to a U.N, sanctions list.

Update: 27 July 2017 North Korea fires another ICBM

The New York Times reminded readers on the 5th of July—the day after North Korea tested an ICBM—that before taking office President Trump had rated the possibility of North Korea obtaining an Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile as, “Not going to happen.” China’s puppet regime in North Korea waited until American Independence Day to show the new President wrong. What does this bode for the upcoming Congress of China’s Communist Party in September? And what constitutes an appropriate measured response from the United States and its allies?

Understanding PostModernism

[CLICK IMAGE TO PLAY VIDEO]

Peterson, a Canadian professor from Toronto, steps up to the plate and hits one over the wall in a manner inspiring not just for the Blue Jays dugout, or Canadians citizens in general, but for the western world as a whole. If you are unable to open the link, my notes from the video are offered below.

The Transportation Transect

TRANSPORTATION TRANSECT (click image for hi-resolution graphic)

The Rural to Urban Transect is Andres Duany’s master stroke for analyzing urbanism. Here, we will use it to classify various modes of transportation according to principles for sustainable urbanism, efficient transportation and democratic land economics. The transportation transect presents an aspirational condition where carbon based transportation technologies have been superseded and cities & towns are built to maximize social mixing.

Cost of Doing Business in Vancouver Real Estate Markets

As of the middle of May 2017 the 15% ‘foreign home buyers tax’ introduced in Vancouver in August 2016 and about nine months later in Toronto will not have the intended effect of cooling real estate prices. One week after British Columbians voted to change the government they have supported for 16 years Bloomberg reports Vancouver markets are back in full swing. Toronto’s can be expected to follow after a brief sojourn to readjust strategies. The culprit appears to remain China. Excess capital made there in a non-democratic command economy leaks out to western markets in search of safe haven. The proposition arises, “If Chinese people can buy real estate in Canada, then why can’t Canadians buy real estate in China?” The imbalance promises to dog international relations until such time as western governments act to discourage using housing as a commodity chip in investment portfolios.

SCSH: The Sunshine Coast Super Highway

The SCSH linking Campbell River with West Vancouver travelling over upgraded roads (yellow dots), new highways (blue lines) and 5 new bridges [click map for hi-resolution image]

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A new 300 km Sunshine Coast Super Highway linking Campbell River to West Vancouver would take 2 hours 30 minutes to traverse travelling at 120 k.p.h. (dry road posted speed limit) or about the same time it takes to ride the ferry between Vancouver and Victoria. Providing free charing points for electric vehicles along the way would turn it into a Super Highways. Built on upgraded local roads, new highway segments and 5 new cable suspension bridges the SCSH promises to do more than just ferry cars and trucks around the Salish Sea. It can be designed to trigger economic development, end the affordable housing crisis in British Columbia, carry fibre optics to remote locations, create an electric rail corridor, modernize transportation and build sustainable urbanism.

The Dam, the Pipeline & the Damn Fish

Candidates for Provincial Premier: Clark, Weaver and Horgan

British Columbia is electing a new government in one week… or so the polls seem to suggest. Meanwhile, I had an energetic round of tennis in North Vancouver with my nephews and my kids. Among the ones that could vote two were voting for the status quo because they the wanted good jobs. The new voter kept silent.

Premier Clark: Why has the price of housing in British Columbia risen beyond the reach of both the middle and working classes?

The $35,000, 5-year loan for first-time owners you are campaigning on doesn’t pass muster. A guaranteed $350,000 price tag for a cottage on a 4,000 square foot lot would return affordable homes to BC.