# The CanaDoper Café, 2013 edition. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 1, 2013, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736 "2013-01-01T03:29:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 142
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2821 "2013-11-29T21:06:08Z")
Oh, and here’s an interesting article from CBC - [Feds to monitor social media round the clock.](http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/feds-to-monitor-social-media-round-the-clock-1.2445224?cmp=fbtl) > [@](#): > > “It depends on the intent. Is it creepy? Yeah, for the vast majority of the public it will seem creepy because the sense is the government is looking over their shoulder,” he said. > > “But another part of me feels that this is a recognition that this where the conversations are happening now, and they’re happening in plain view.” Yeah, I find it creepy. I want a government that listens to me, not a government that listens in on me. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2822 "2013-11-29T21:28:34Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Didn’t Calgary lose a number of houses to fire a few years ago because fire trucks could not get through the snow, because it had not been plowed, since plowing residential streets is not city policy? I’d suggest that such a policy should not hold in a major city like Calgary (population 1,000,000). Seriously? They don’t plow side streets during the winter? That’s nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2823 "2013-11-29T21:38:15Z")
We never used to plow the side streets in Brandon or Winnipeg, either. (I don’t know what it’s like since I moved away…) Too much snow, nowhere to put it and more of it on the way. We’d just let it get compacted and then sand it down. Winnipeg was especially fun because the streets are barely wide enough to allow parking on one side and ‘two’ lanes of traffic. (In practice, it’s more like one and a half lanes of traffic; you’d just pull over into a parking space/driveway to let the oncoming car get past you.) ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2013, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2824 "2013-11-29T21:43:02Z")
A cool link to ['How to build a Rainbow Igloo](http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2013/01/how-to-build-a-rainbow-igloo/)’. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2825 "2013-11-30T03:12:46Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Seriously? They don’t plow side streets during the winter? That’s nuts. Remember what I said about Calgary’s street plowing policy being “wait for a chinook?” I wasn’t kidding. 🙂 On a different note, we saw [this truck driving down the #1 highway (16th. Avenue) in Calgary a couple of weeks ago.](http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/featherlou/Miscellaneous/DSCN0319_zps01f80c8d.jpg) I keep telling you guys that we’re not all rednecks out here, but some of us are more redneck than others. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2826 "2013-11-30T03:25:11Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Remember what I said about Calgary’s street plowing policy being “wait for a chinook?” I wasn’t kidding. 🙂 > > On a different note, we saw [this truck driving down the #1 highway (16th. Avenue) in Calgary a couple of weeks ago.](http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s142/featherlou/Miscellaneous/DSCN0319_zps01f80c8d.jpg) I keep telling you guys that we’re not all rednecks out here, but some of us are more redneck than others. 😃 Huh? What am I supposed to be looking at, the antlers? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2827 "2013-11-30T03:31:01Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Huh? What am I supposed to be looking at, the antlers? The antlers on one side, the feet sticking out the other side, the big truck, the redneck stickers all over the truck - it’s really the whole package. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2828 "2013-11-30T03:38:23Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > The antlers on one side, the feet sticking out the other side, the big truck, the redneck stickers all over the truck - it’s really the whole package. 🙂 I didn’t realize those were “feet.” But really, you would not believe how much this resembles the Ottawa valley. Once you get outside of Ottawa, and into Arnprior, Renfrew, Cobden, Pembroke, Petawawa, Eganville, Killaloe, etc. this is standard fare. In fact, it’s probably standard throughout most of Canada, apart from yer big fancy, shiny cities. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2829 "2013-11-30T04:37:36Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I didn’t realize those were “feet.” But really, you would not believe how much this resembles the Ottawa valley. Once you get outside of Ottawa, and into Arnprior, Renfrew, Cobden, Pembroke, Petawawa, Eganville, Killaloe, etc. this is standard fare. …Bancroft, Oshawa, Sutton… I am so sick of hearing stupid-loud vehicles being driven by dumbasses. Edit: though, Oshawa is near the cultural boundary where stupid-loud pickups with raised suspensions and big knobbly tires are outnumbered by tricked-out sedans and coupes with fart-can mufflers, big wheels almost touching the wheel-wells, and tires about a millimetre high. Still stupid-loud, though. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2830 "2013-11-30T04:55:41Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > We never used to plow the side streets in Brandon or Winnipeg, either. (I don’t know what it’s like since I moved away…) Too much snow, nowhere to put it and more of it on the way. We’d just let it get compacted and then sand it down. Winnipeg was especially fun because the streets are barely wide enough to allow parking on one side and ‘two’ lanes of traffic. (In practice, it’s more like one and a half lanes of traffic; you’d just pull over into a parking space/driveway to let the oncoming car get past you.) They plowthe side streets in Winnipeg, but in order of priority (for example, any side street that a school bus has to get down takes priority). ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2831 "2013-11-30T06:03:58Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > I didn’t realize those were “feet.” But really, you would not believe how much this resembles the Ottawa valley. Once you get outside of Ottawa, and into Arnprior, Renfrew, Cobden, Pembroke, Petawawa, Eganville, Killaloe, etc. this is standard fare. > > In fact, it’s probably standard throughout most of Canada, apart from yer big fancy, shiny cities. 😉 I see. So the people who think Albertans are all rednecks because of things like this are thinking quite myopically. Lawyered! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2832 "2013-11-30T10:04:22Z")
It just means that there are a lot of redneck wanna-be Albertans out this way jonseing to be manly. Ft. Mac gives them a chance to find somewhere to fit in – sort of a cross between a gulaug and a zoo. Don’t mind me. I’m just pissed off at the new bubba-truck with Alberta plates towing a trailer with a piece of shit car on it that ran me onto the shoulder yesterday morning. What congenital defect is it that makes it impossible for a bubba to negotiate a corner on a hill when it snows? And why was I even working yesterday rather than visiting family and friends down south, and why am I on the road today? My winter schedule has been seriously fucked up due to the domino effect of trial rescheduling initiated by a fourteen transport pile up. What does a bubba do when he can’t get a job in the patch? He drives truck. And crashes it out my way, asserting his gawd given right to close the highway and fuck with my schedule. Earlier in the week while I was dealing with yet another adjournment resulting from the fourteen transport road closure, a mayor was blaming this week’s road closure (three transports in a head-on in the snow) on driving too fast (causing head-ons) and following too closely (causing pile-ups), and specifically not on snow, road maintenance or road design. Anyone who enjoys watching NASCAR should be prohibited from driving, and any truckers wanting to use the Trans-Canada out this way should be required to use a freighter pilot and to have a flagman walking in front of them, 'cause their just too fucking stupid to be trusted to drive. The only proper use for bubba truck and their big brother transport buddies is to squish piece of shit over-revving cars with loud mufflers and Harleys. Aside from that, I wish they would find somewhere other than the highway when they get the urge be all manly-man. Somewhere else like Alberta. Please take them and keep them. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2833 "2013-11-30T10:38:47Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Don’t mind me. I’m just pissed off at the new bubba-truck with Alberta plates towing a trailer… What is it about Albertans. and trucks, and trailers? Apparently, you can’t be a real Albertan unless you drive a pickup truck, and have a trailer of some sort. Seriously, what’s with that? ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2834 "2013-11-30T11:13:29Z")
> [@Canadjun](#): > > **At the moment** , Edmonton library cards are free. However, that is temporary. [https://www.epl.ca/services/library-card](https://www.epl.ca/services/library-card) Library cards should be free to those who are resident in the library’s city. I really do not understand why Albertans have to pay for library cards. I never had to pay for one in Ontario. ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2835 "2013-11-30T12:41:43Z")
And strangely, I have to pay to be a ‘research reader’ at University of Toronto. It has gone up to $300.00 this year, and I’m not entirely sure it’s worth it. Yet when I go to work in Edmonton, the equivalent card at U of A is free. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2836 "2013-11-30T12:56:45Z")
Do you have to be enrolled in anything or employed there to be eligible to pay for the card, or can anyone pay for a card? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2837 "2013-11-30T13:38:55Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > What is it about Albertans. and trucks, and trailers? Apparently, you can’t be a real Albertan unless you drive a pickup truck, and have a trailer of some sort. > > Seriously, what’s with that? Serious answer, from a non-bubba with four-dood Jeep and a trailer and a share in a boat trailer, and who shares a drive with family with a quad-cab pickup, a full size suv, a trailer and a boat trailer. Regardless of location: hauling campers, small boats or canoes, sleds, atvs, dirt bikes, camping gear, hunting trophies, and for comfort, ground clearance and 4wd on bush roads Rural: trash for the dump run, building materials, comfort on bumpy un-paved roads (although it sounds like that would apply to a lot of urban Alberta roads too if they are not plowed in the winter) and 4wd on snow drifted roads Distance travelers: four wheel drive and some weight (not an empty box) makes for one hell of an improvement when driving in the winter, and provides somewhere to sleep comfortably when some fool bubba manages to close the highway. Bubbas give the rest of us a bad name. If it has a loud exhaust, tries to beat you off a light, has bull balls swinging from the hitch, or has misogynistic, gun fetish, conspiricist or Confederate stickers on it, it is a bubba and should be quaranteened and be instrructed on personal hygiene and basic literacy. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2838 "2013-11-30T13:43:52Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > And strangely, I have to pay to be a ‘research reader’ at University of Toronto. Are you sure? My impression is that as an alumnus, I have a “card for life” at the U of T libraries. (Not that I can take advantage of it from here, but that’s the way things go.) Suggest that you take a good look at the agreement. Any questions, PM me. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2839 "2013-11-30T13:59:00Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Serious answer, from a non-bubba with four-dood Jeep and a trailer and a share in a boat trailer, and who shares a drive with family with a quad-cab pickup, a full size suv, a trailer and a boat trailer. > > Regardless of location: hauling campers, small boats or canoes, sleds, atvs, dirt bikes, camping gear, hunting trophies, and for comfort, ground clearance and 4wd on bush roads. Understandable. But most of my friends and neighbours don’t need such things. Rather, they blast their pickups away from the stop sign on hardpack snow, sideswiping parked cars, and not caring. Their trucks have never done a lick of work in their life, and never will. Their trailers (which have more bedrooms than my house) sit in their driveways, as status symbols. Until they take them out, one weekend a year. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > Bubbas give the rest of us a bad name. If it has a loud exhaust, tries to beat you off a light, has bull balls swinging from the hitch, or has misogynistic, gun fetish, conspiricist or Confederate stickers on it, it is a bubba and should be quaranteened and be instrructed on personal hygiene and basic literacy. I’ve often said that if one thinks that “it ain’t fun unless it runs on gasoline,” one should be prohibited from owning any gas-powered machine: truck, snowmobile, boat, ATV, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2013, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736/2840 "2013-11-30T15:56:24Z")
Same here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736.md?page=141) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-canadoper-cafe-2013-edition/645736.md?page=143)