May 13, 2008
Plane Ticket Prices Rising, TSX Likewise Rising, And Nothin's Safer Than Tasers!
WestJet and Porter Airlines both added fuel surcharges to their ticket prices, because it turns out jet fuel is getting more expensive what with, you know, oil prices and all. So obviously this means that you should plan your expensive, environmentally wasteful trip sooner rather than later, when all the gas runs out and the only airline left is the Gyro Captain from The Road Warrior.
The company head of Taser International told a federal government inquiry yesterday that Tasers are "generally safe." For example, when you are not shoving them into somebody and putting fifty thousand volts through that person, they are very, very safe! And that's most of the time, right? So on average they are amazingly safe.
The TSX closed yesterday at a record high, mostly thanks to big jumps for Research In Motion (who make the Blackberry) and EnCana (who make oil out of tar sands). Not doing quite as well: ALF International, world's largest producer of ALF-related memorabilia.
Just in case the events in Myanmar weren't bad enough, an earthquake in China killed at least 12,000 people yesterday and left God knows how many more trapped underneath rubble. The earthquake seems to not have damaged the already-unstable Three Gorges Dam, which is good because if that dam cracks, it would be…bad.
Jim Flaherty says Canada is well poised to deal with an ailing American economy. He went on to elaborate: "Well, except for Ontario, because you're all stupidheads who elected a bunch of Liberals, and don't come crying to us when that works out because we don't even want your votes."
And finally, Team Canada beat the shit out of Finland at the world hockey championships. Yeah, take that, you…Nokia-making bastards!
Photo by Marc Lostracco.
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Damn, I picked the wrong day to get into ALF futures.
Amazing picture, congrats!
Does anyone know where I can see a map of where the earthquake was in China? I'm not very familiar with the geography and I would be interested to know if it is anywhere near Beijing, you know, with the Olympics coming and all.
@2: MariaPD, you can find an interactive map here:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/05/12/world/05132008_CHINA_MAP.html
Also, Christopher: Not sure where you might read that 18,000 are dead. Most papers I've read say 12,000 are confirmed dead, and at least 18,000 are still buried.
The 18,000 figure was my mistake when I was editing the entry and updating the figures. Fixed; apologies.
Great picture.
Ah, the Royal York—once the tallest building in the Commonwealth.
Taser International is also set to introduce peel-and-stick incapacitation patches. Hmm. I would love to see what goes on in their labs. Who/what do they test these things on? Dogs? Pigs? "Enemy combatant" renditions?
I'm totally curious to know what a Taser feels like. On a voluntary basis, that is.
Charges like fuel and navcan should be banned. The only fees allowed to be separated from the advertised fare are things customers have a real choice about choosing - i.e. without fuel or air traffic control a passenger doesn't get to fly at all.
In the European Union airlines are having to shutdown their websites (Ryanair for 3 days) to comply with fare transparency demanded by the European Commission - we in Canada deserve similar fair dealing.
Dowlingm: Are you proposing that the NavCan fee be included in the advertised fare? Your post is unclear.
I think that's what Dowlingm is talking about. I totally agree: it's a lot easier booking fares on sites like Expedia, which roll all (mandatory!) fees and taxes into the price you see, than booking on Air Canada's site, where you have to proceed to start booking before you can see the total price.
Although I have always known to look for it, I despise small print that mumbles "plus a million dollars" beneath a tempting headline price and product illustration (not exactly as illustrated).
VIA Rail and Greyhound don't play games with their advertised prices to the same extent that the airlines do, which I do appreciate. Obviously, I'm one of those people who thinks that sales tax should be included on price tags.
Fuel surcharges have been added here in Japan for the past year or two. Airlines seem to feel that the surcharges will be temporary until jet fuel prices fall with the peace dividend in Iraq, and all .... if you can call 2 years temporary and Iraq peaceful.
Cheers,
Tuds
That's absolutely right airline surchages -- the advertised price should be the price, period.
In any other business if your costs go up, you have to raise your prices. In the airline industry, the prices never change, they just tack on surcharges at their whim.