Ontario Health Care: We’re Going To Lose It

Let me preface this by stating that I’ve very glad that we have a public health care system.

But it is turning into absolute garbage filled with so much waste, that the proverbial landfill is filling up fast.

Aside from all the over billing, overpaid doctors who get into this profession solely to make money, and nurses who are overworked, understaffed, and under appreciated, we have a very simple, yet insane system of basic financial waste.

Here’s my recent scenario.

I book 2 hours off of work, so I can travel 1.5 hours round trip to see my Family Doctor’s nurse practitioner. I’ve actually only seen my actual family doctor once or twice in the 5 plus years I’ve been with her. She’s too busy working in her for profit clinic, so has her NP work her family practice.

Anyway. I see my NP, who refers me to a specialist. Now we’re getting somewhere.

I book off another 2 hours and travel 1 hour round trip to see this hearing specialist. I spend 5 minutes at the hospital where he operates out of (not surgery), so he can refer me to another place for testing. Because the hearing specialist in the hospital doesn’t apparently do any of that testing. I have to go to a private general anyone can walk in the door, for profit hearing clinic.

Now I’m booking another 2 hours off, and travel 1 hour round trip to go to this clinic, and have to now pay, because now we’re in the realm of private care, and hearing isn’t covered by OHIP.

And when THAT’S done, I’ll have to book another 2 hours off to here the results of this test.

All in all, my family doctor could have referred me to the hearing clinic from the get go. But doctors don’t do that any more. I KNOW they used to when I was a kid. Family doctors were SO much more involved in our direct care.

But now, all of this will total 8 hours of booked off work, plus 4.5 hours of travel time, for essentially having me passed around like a hot potato in some game that I can’t think of the name of right now.

This is incredibly all so wasteful on so many levels.

I’m going to add to this later with two other examples. One involving a sleep clinic, and the company they send EVERYONE to for sleep apnea equipment (Because EVERYONE has it now).

Yard Waste Recycling in Ontario: An Excercize in Waste. And We Pay For It.

Here’s the fun cycle of waste in the name of recycling organic yard biomass in Ontario.

Homes, businesses, and apartments cut their lawns, prune their bushes, trim their trees, all in an effort to keep everything tidy and presentable.

Then they place these organic wastes into giant paper bags that were made from trees at some point, specifically to be turned into organic waste.

They’re filled, and placed by the curb until the magical time of the year when municipal collectors come in giant emission spewing trucks and whisk them all away.

At some point they get sorted and churned and sorted into giant piles of organic waste to sit and produce uncaptured methane while they slowly turn into compost.

Giant emissions spewing machines of course are involved in this process as well.

Then the day comes when the compost is all grown up and it’s time to leave the nest. Municipalities then tell home owners to come get this compost to take home for their lawns. Some charge for it, some do it for “free”.

So then all these people get into their cars and fat pickups and go to pick up all of this compost and distribute it back onto their lawns.

Later in the year, the cycle is encouraged to continue. Tonnes of bagged organic yard matter gets picked up in giant emissions spewing trucks, churned by giant emissions spewing vehicles. Turned into more compost with methane uncollected and wasted to pollute our air (but we’ll keep blaming cows, right?), and then people drive to collect it all, and so on. Year after year.

We all pay for this with our taxes. We buy the bags that are made with many trees to be turned into compost. We pay for the compost to go back onto the lawns we take it from.

We pay for this. People who don’t have lawns, or gardens as well. We all pay for this.

We pay for something that each home, business owner, and apartment owner should be doing on their OWN properties.

We literally pay so people can cut down more trees. Spew more Co2 and other emissions into the environment, and waste resources, time, and money. All for something that people SHOULD be doing in their own properties.

It’s NOT waste. It’s OUR land. Treat it better than this.

This has been a message to our government, heh, “leaders”…

Star Trek Insignia Class WIP

I’ve been working on this ship for over 10 years now. It’s concept is based around the Insignia worn by Starfleet personnel. It’s a shape that I’ve always wanted to turn into a Starship.

Regardless, here’s where I’m at. My original concept drawings on the site was a sketch, followed by a some attempts to make it in Sketchup. I just couldn’t get it.

My latest attempt is through digital art using Krita and an XP Pen tablet. It’s coming along nicely.

Here’s my latest image. It’s heavily influenced by Probert’s Galaxy class. Clean no nonsense lines with an organic feel.

And here’s a link to my 2012 sketch and sketchup concept…

Ottawa Class Starship c2398

https://wordpress.com/post/patrickivan.wordpress.com/1636

United Federation of Planets, Starship NX-xxxxxx, Insignia Class, c2376, Under Construction

The End. Good Bye To My 2010 Golf Wagon TDI

After the years of issues with my TDI, it’s gone. Long gone by now.

Back in 2019 my new DPF crapped out thanks to a faulty valve on my EGR. The cost to fix that is insanely high.

And why would I? The car was wrought with issues since I got it. I’ve ranted about all the issues in past post. They were lengthy and incredibly inconvenient. And VW was useless throughout it all.

The funny thing is, while I considered what to do with it, I kept it running, and drove around the block in limp mode just to keep everything from seizing. And just for fun, the rear spring broke. A fitting end considering it broke a few months after I bought the car. Just snapped in half.

I drove it to a car dealer in limp mode, got a car I didn’t really want, parked it, and until it finally left, I’d say that out of the 3 years that I had it, my only car to drive to work and get grocercies, it spent about 6 months in repair bays or broken in my driveway.

This car cost a bloody fortune. It was problem after problem. VW could never figure out what was wrong, and would never accept responsibility for what was a lemon in every sense. And i didn’t even get to drive it for 6 months!

It was such a shame, because when it did work, I LOVED IT. I loved how speedy it was. How it hugged the road. How it drove so fantastically in winter. Snow was no obstacle for it, nor was the cold for starting (aside from that condensation issue).

I miss that car so much, but I’ll never buy another VW just because of how many issues it had, coupled with how difficult VW Canada was with anything about it, including blocking me from their Twitter when I did nothing but post the issues I was having, and always politely.

Good Bye VW. I’ll miss you.

Star Trek TOS Era Patrol Vessel 3D Print

I was inspired about 8 years ago to design some of my own Starships when I learned Sketchup. One of my designs here, was a small patrol ship. Well armed for dealing with most issues that came with its assigned duties. Fast enough to hit and run when dealing with larger capital ship type threats. And deadly in packs.

My inspiration was DS9’s USS Defiant, though I did not want to mimic it in any shape or incredible strength. Mine isn’t a retcon design of it. It was just inspired by the idea of it.

I started with a simple premise. Break down a Constitution Class to it’s most basic elements. Removing all the superfluous exploration and long range equipment, space, crew, et c. And go from there.

After removing all of that, I came up with:

I’ve always liked this little ship. And it made sense to have a Starfleet with lots of them. However, this was an old design, and I wanted to update it a little. I also got a 3D printer a year ago, and I have always wanted a model of this ship.

Back to the drawing board. I re-made it in Sketchup again. This time with it being printer friendly. This is a perfect size for 1:350 scale, and that’s what I started with. I’m pretty happy with it so far.

Just a small update on this: I sanded, painted, and decaled it. It was looking great. I was setting it up for photos, and I dropped it. Smash. Bash. Gone. Mad….

Star Trek & Backcountry Camping: Getting Back to the Basics

It’s been a while since I’ve used WordPress on a regular basis. I think it’s time to get back. Though with more focus and less complaining.

 

The focus will be mainly on Star Trek modelling (and other model building) and some general opinions, and of course Backcountry camping related thoughts, opinions, and trips.

 

I’ve used WP as a platform to complain a little about some things, though mostly my VW Golf Wagon TDI lemon that is finally gone. I loved that car, but the issues continued and never stopped. It was a remarkable piece of junk.  Regardless, it’s no longer an issue, and my stats clearly point to an interest in Star Trek and Camping. That’s fine because I also prefer those topics.
Therefore, my next posts to come will involve model builds, both physical and virtual, and camping/ outdoors related. That will start with my trip to Algonquin Park last summer.

 

Enjoy!

MORE OF THE TREK BBS NONSENSE

It is remarkable how heavy handed and unreasonable the moderators on The Trek BBS can be with some people. And it’s typically with a few, while other long term members get away with pretty much anything they want. I’ve mentioned that in a prior post.

This time, a member asks where they can watch Star Trek Discovery shorts for free… There’s a no piracy rule on The Trek BBS, and that’s fair. But the member didn’t ask for pirating anything. They just asked where they could watch it for free. And that’s valid, because there are MANY legal places to do so.

Naturally the mods gave the member an infraction and warning for advocating piracy, and locked the account.

Now it’s a quasi public forum, so you have to play by their selective rules. But there’s no way in hell King Daniel would have been shut down for asking that question.

In another thread, 3 members stated where the OP member could LEGALLY view these shorts for free. Naturally the mods dumped all over those member.

 

You be the judge. Trek BBS is too judgy, or just being over cautious?

Here’s the thread links and a copy of the conversations.

 

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/where-can-i-watch-the-new-discorver-shorts-online.296786/

 

 

Where can I watch the new Discorver shorts online?

Discussion in ‘Star Trek: Discovery‘ started by SailorLadyGaga, Monday at 7:42 PM.

Thread Status:

Not open for further replies.

1. 

   SailorLadyGagaLieutenantRed Shirt

   Joined:

   Dec 12, 2015

   I would like to watch them for free.

   SailorLadyGaga, Monday at 7:42 PM

   #1

   Tim Thomason likes this.
2. 

   cultcrossWar is what happens when language failsModerator

   Joined:

   Jul 27, 2001

   Location:

   Armistice 100

   As per the rule thread and copious warnings, discussion of Piracy is against board rules.

   Infraction for Other (Advocating Piracy)
   Comments to PM

   cultcross, Monday at 7:48 PM

   #2

   Kor, Locutus of Bored and KennyB like this.

(You must log in or sign up to reply here.)

https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/star-trek-short-treks-1×02-calypso.296803/

 

1. SailorLadyGaga said: ↑
   1. I would like to watch them for free.
   2. Click to expand…
2. Sorry your thread got locked for no reason, and you got kicked for asking a legitimate question. Some moderators of late can be overzealous in enforcing rules, even though there is nothing piratical about this question.

   The answer is yes, there are multiple places you can watch the shorts for free. If you’re in America, you can get CBS All-Access with a 30-day free trial. Outside of the US, you can get a free trial via Netflix. I’m not sure how Canada works, but you can probably view them for free, legitimately, with a well-timed trial as well.

4. Tim Thomason, Today at 2:43 AM
5. #6
7. 

   OvationVice AdmiralAdmiral

   Joined:

   Sep 19, 2003

   Location:

   La Belle Province or The Green Mountain State (dep

   Tim Thomason said: ↑

   Sorry your thread got locked for no reason, and you got kicked for asking a legitimate question. Some moderators of late can be overzealous in enforcing rules, even though there is nothing piratical about this question.

   The answer is yes, there are multiple places you can watch the shorts for free. If you’re in America, you can get CBS All-Access with a 30-day free trial. Outside of the US, you can get a free trial via Netflix. I’m not sure how Canada works, but you can probably view them for free, legitimately, with a well-timed trial as well.

   Click to expand…

   I believe Crave TV has the free trial covered for Canada.

   Ovation, Today at 4:11 AM

   #7
8. 

   .:: TSN ::.CaptainCaptain

   Joined:

   Mar 16, 2004

   Location:

   Finland

   Tim Thomason said: ↑

   Sorry your thread got locked for no reason, and you got kicked for asking a legitimate question. Some moderators of late can be overzealous in enforcing rules, even though there is nothing piratical about this question.

   The answer is yes, there are multiple places you can watch the shorts for free. If you’re in America, you can get CBS All-Access with a 30-day free trial. Outside of the US, you can get a free trial via Netflix. I’m not sure how Canada works, but you can probably view them for free, legitimately, with a well-timed trial as well.

   Click to expand…

   You can get a free trial of Netflix, but you won’t be seeing the Shorts with that. Short Treks are not available outside USA/Canada.

   .:: TSN ::., Today at 7:27 AM

   #8
9. 

   Locutus of BoredSMOOTH CRIMINALModerator

   Joined:

   Jul 5, 2004

   Location:

   Moonwalking on Mustafar

   Tim Thomason said: ↑

   Sorry your thread got locked for no reason, and you got kicked for asking a legitimate question. Some moderators of late can be overzealous in enforcing rules, even though there is nothing piratical about this question.

   Click to expand…

   Did you happen to see the “Comments to PM” remark in cultcross’ post in that thread? That doesn’t just apply to the person receiving the warning, it applies to everyone. If you have a problem with a moderator action, PM them to talk about it, don’t take your grievance to another thread to complain. No more comments about mod actions here.

   Locutus of Bored, Today at 8:03 AM

   #9

   KennyB likes this.

Another Issue with my VW TDI

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Here we go again.

More issues with my Volkswagen TDI.

Right after a hot humid day, we plunged rapidly into a cool night. That resulted in condensation in the intercooler, and once again, a difficult start.

This is the exact same issue that I went through all of last fall, winter, and early spring after warm days went cool quickly.

That resulted in a broken connecting rod, and an intercooler “fix” kit install.

That fix clearly isn’t working.

So what do I do now? I have a $10000 potential disaster (again).

VW Canada won’t respond to emails. They’ve blocked me on twitter. I’ve said nothing derogatory, defamatory, or rude.

I can’t get the buy back because I got the emissions fix BEFORE I knew about this issue.

It’s my only car. I can’t afford another. Who will buy this knowing it’s issues?

VOLKSWAGEN GOLF WAGON (JETTA) TDI 2010. PROBLEMS AND BREAKDOWNS IN 1 YEAR OF OWNERSHIP.

I purchased my 2010 VW TDI from Barrie VW in March of 2017. It was my first VW and the newest car I ever owned. The emissions issue was eventually to be fixed, and therefore I decided this was what I wanted for my next long term family vehicle.

This was one of their advertised certified used, 125 point inspection, Volkswagen quality, used cars. I was sold on it because it was what I was looking for, and was in high demand.

It has become the biggest purchase regret in my life.

Of all the used cars I have owned, all have been at least 10 years old. Never a used vehicle. All have had occasional issues, but never in all my vehicles, have I ever had a car with so many problems.

The car had lots of great work on it by VW just before I purchased it. And it was that work, plus their reputation, that encouraged me to get this.

DRIVE CLEAN

WIPER BLADES- FRNT-REAR

TIRES- FRONT-X2

FRONT STABALIZER LINKS/ ALIGNMENT

EXHAUST CLAMP

BRAKES REPLACED- FRNT- DISC-LINING-BOLT-SERVICE

BRAKES REPLACED- REAR- DISC-LINING-SERVICE

BRAKE FLUSH

60KM SERVICE: OIL CHANGE KIT-OIL-SCREW

FILTER LEM-AIR FILTER-POLLEN FILTER

DSG TRANS-WASHER-FILTER-SEAL RING-GEAR OIL

TIMING BELT REPLACED

WATER PUMP REPLACED

Soon after getting it home, within a month, I started to notice little issues. Light goes out right away. That’s fine, no way VW could anticipate that. We get a heavy rain, and I notice a leak in the hatch, through to the roof. It was in the wiring seal from the hatch into the car, and it was a lot. I also noted an issue with the engine pulsing on long straightaways, flat roads, while on cruise. More notably at slower speeds. The car started pulling to the right a lot as well. I even had an issue where I accelerated once on the highway, and the entire car sputtered, lost power, but then picked up back to normal after choking out a giant puff of white smoke.

I told VW Barrie about all of this, and they pretty much said the issue with the acceleration can’t be addressed unless it happens in front of a tech.

I also start to notice a clunking sound from the front end, and want that addressed  as well. But I don’t want to pay for all of this, as the car was just purchased.

I go back and forth with Barrie VW for weeks and weeks. It gets so bad, that they keep assuring me of what a great car I got, that I offer to let them take it back. If they’re so confident in it, they can take it back and sell it. They refuse of course. This is on a car loan, so I can’t sell it easily either. I have to pay it off first, or get someone to assume the loan payments. Not so easy.

I take it in for servicing at a local shop in my town, and ask them to address the clunking, and they tell me it could be my strut bearing, and get an alignment that I couldn’t get VW Barrie to fix. An expensive job. I tell VW Barrie, and they say they will not fix it at cost, but they will look at it.

I also soon note that 2 tires are going bald (evenly). This was now 3 months after I got the car. The tires they had on the car when they sold it to me, had just enough tread to pass inspection. And I was too stupid to notice how low the tread was on them when I bought the car. VW Barrie of course refused to give me tires, or do the work at cost, or EVEN Price MATCH the lowest cost I could find!

I’m still having the occasional issue with the car sputtering when I accelerate. An immediate loss of power, followed by a giant cloud of smoke, with increasing power back to normal. No engine codes, and the same: We have to see it happen to ascertain.

Soon after that, a rear coil spring breaks, 200km from home. VW Barrie won’t do that for a reasonable price either. I have to get two news ones, and an alignment.

After months of complaining to VW, they offer to take it in, look at it on their dime, and do some work for a REDUCED rate, but it still costs me over $1000.

I tried getting VW Canada involved, but everyone knows no car company has any say over the day to day operations of their dealers. They are all adamant about that. They don’t care about their branding with the little guy. Only if it affects many many people.

While the car is at Barrie VW, of course there is no issue with the engine or power.

And they clearly state there is no issue with the front suspension.

Time goes on. It’s getting colder, and now once per month, starting in October, the car won’t start. It turns over but will not fire at all. It take about 15 minutes of trying with a boost, and when it finally does start, it’s with a lot of white smoke, and is very rough for about 30 seconds. Then you wouldn’t know there was any issue.

Again, no engine codes, and Barrie VW, another VW, and two other shops all say they can’t diagnose unless it happens, especially without engine codes. 2 places suggest glow plug issues.

The clunking issue has been determined to possibly be the front CV, but they couldn’t be sure without pulling it, and of course it WOULD NOT make that sound while at the garage.

We’re now into April of this year, and the car will not START at all…. I have to get it towed from Toronto. I go to Alliston VW because, well, Barrie VW is useless to me.

Turns out my car is hydrolocked. The issue with the starting was because of water from condensation in the Intercooler! Apparently a known issue. Fortunately, it is a warranty item. Despite the inconvenience of the car being gone, it was hopefully the solution to the starting and sputtering issue.

Well now it’s May. No Air Conditioning now! Heat wave and no A/c… Terrific. Another issue.

And a few days later, the engine light comes on. P020C code. Cylinder 3 compression issue. I take it into Alliston VW and it turns out I may have a bent rod….

Seriously. I can not believe all of this. I babied this car. Took care of it, and it just keeps dumping all over me, and I owe SO much on it.

I don’t know what to do anymore. But my faith in VW is greatly shaken.

I have a car that won’t work consistently over 14 months of ownership. I can’t easily sell it. I owe so much on it. I can’t afford to keep fixing it. I can’t afford to buy another car. I have no public transit. This is just incredible.

So here I am, waiting to hear what can be done with my car. I do have a loaner, but if warranty doesn’t cover the engine, I’m in a LOT of trouble.

SERVICE: EUROHAUS

OIL FILER- OIL

AIR FILTER-CABIN FILTER

FUEL FILTER

ALIGNMENT

LUBE-INSPECTION

*POSSIBLE NEED DRIVER FRONT STRUT BEARING REPLACEMENT

(RULED OUT AS POSSIBLE RIGHT CV- SEE 23012018)

CANADIAN TIRE (STUPID)

TIRES- REAR MICHELEN DEFENDERS-X2

SERVICE: EUROHAUS

OIL FILTER- OIL

COIL SPRINGS (HD)- REAR-X2

TIRES ROTATED

SERVICE: VW BARRIE

INSPECTION: FRNT SPRINGS-STRUTS-MOUNTS- REAR BUSHINGS

EGR REPLACED

PARKING BRAKE CABLE REPLACED

FRNT LEFT OUTER AXLE BOOT REPLACED

ALIGNMENT

COST $1059

SERVICE: VW ALLISTON

OIL-OIL FILTER-AIR FILTER-FUEL FILTER

OBD SCAN

FLUIDS

INSPECTION

VW ALLISTON

CHECK FRONT CLUNKING SOUND

NOTHING AT TIME- POSSIBLE PASSENGER SIDE CV

VW ALLISTON

INTERCOOLER FIX (ENGINE HYDROLOCKED IN TORONTO)

VW ALLISTON

ENGINE LIGHT (P020C) CYLINDER 3 COMPRESSION ISSUE

AC STOPPED WORKING- NEW COOLING FAN

*NOTE: P020C ISSUE POSSIBLE BENT ROD!

Star Trek Discover Enterprise Comparison

A Side by side comparison of Star Trek Discovery’s USS ENTERPRISE 1701 and master modeler, Doug Drexler’s render of TOS ENTERPRISE with updated textures and lighting.