As IF Times

link Dinosaurs farted their way to extinction, British scientists say | Fox News.

The implications of this ‘news story’ are mind boggling.   While I am certainly not in a position to scientifically question the astounding conclusion of this study, if these scientists’ claims are valid, some big changes are going to happen to our society.

The very first thing that comes to mind is the concept of being a vegetarian.  As astute readers of the article will notice, most of these behemoth monsters were actually vegetarians, consuming mainly plants and trees, albeit by the acre, Michael Moore-like.  As most consumers of beans and legumes are aware, consumption of such stuff can lead to embarrassing moments in crowded elevators.  Apparently, the dinosaurs had the same issues millions of years ago and they gassed themselves to extinction.  Logically, we can only extrapolate that vegetarian humans are actually harming our present environment and therefore they should be stopped immediately before it’s too late.

If we were able to monitor the air over San Francisco, Los Angeles or Vancouver, there’s a certainty that the air quality would show higher than the normal measures of toxic gases, which we can now trace  to rampant vegetarianism among their populace.  People may be forgiven who had thought that BS emanating from these cities were responsible for the bad air.  Of course, this gas issue is already known by those who are participants in Yoga classes.   They should immediately form an organization called STOP generating annoying smells, or STOP GAS.

If human vegetarians are a menace to society, then so are all herbivores.  For years, there were theories that cows were in fact the greatest contributors to global warming due to their release  of methane gas from eating grass.  Now, the fickle finger of blame is zeroing in on these dangerous animals.  This dangerous list of herbivores will include goats, sheep, deer, elephants and giraffes too.  All of these creatures are hastening the doom of mankind.  It turns out that eating meat is not only tasty, it’s also green and socially responsible!  Eating broccoli is bad after all!

Another implication of this story is that scientists seem to have the ability to discern the cause of events looooong past their occurrence by persistent and ingenious sleuthing.  Even though dinosaurs died off a few million years ago, apparently the cause of their demise is evident even now, as if it were a slightly cold CSI case and the chalk outline was in clear view.  It’s hard to believe that the dinosaur conclusion wasn’t arrived at sooner.  It was right under our noses; all that was needed was to stitch a bunch of seemingly unrelated pieces of evidence together as if it were a Mississippi trial.   This should scare all criminals.  The truth will come out eventually, although perhaps a few million years down the road.  It will only be a matter of time before they apply modern science to unravel some of the true puzzles of modern life; such as the mystery  of Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance or how they get the caramilk in a caramilk bar.

link Young families pull up stakes for better life.

While at first, articles such as this will provoke lots of knee jerk responses from those who will say “something must be done”, the reality is that in a free society, that would make little sense.  The constant promotion of Vancouver over the past decade or so though the staging of  world class events such as the Olympics has resulted in the benefits we see today.  Vancouver is a world class destination no longer undiscovered by those that have means.  We kept telling people what a wonderful place it was and whaddya know, it’s worked!  Go figure that people would find the stunning scenery, benign climate and amiable population attractive.  Attractive enough to lure people to buy homes here.

As residents are always proud of proclaiming,  Vancouver is a world class city.  That’s the upside.  But now comes the unintended consequences. The downside is that locals may not be able to afford to live in a world class city.  Unless you were fortunate enough to have owned property here from 20 years ago, it’s unlikely that owning a house within the city proper is affordable for most people.  That’s the way  it is.  It’s not likely that in New York City, or Hong Kong, or Honolulu or San Francisco,  young families would be able to get a 2000 sq ft house with a small yard for the dog and kids for $300,000.  In all of those cases, as is in Vancouver, they are victims of their own success.

If it’s that wonderful, guess what, people will pay to be there.  The wave of enthusiastic property purchases have made innumerate locals wealthy beyond their wildest dreams for simply having the good fortune to have owned property.  Some of that money goes back into the local economy through lifestyles and undoubtedly some will get passed on to the children of those fortunate homeowners.  Because of this wealth effect, people don’t blink when paying $4 dollars for a half calf, double mocha with a latte twist at the hundreds of coffee shops in this town.  They don’t hesitate to pay $200 to watch the Canucks play hockey at a stadium where they pay $30 to park and $12 for a beer.  And my favorite, $120 bucks to buy Lululemon yoga pants.  While of course it’s a burden for young families, it does require an evaluation and assessment of expectations.

The fact that we are seeing young people move to more affordable communities is the natural order of things. (If that weren’t the case, everyone would still be huddled around Plymouth Rock in Virginia).  These people  will then build communities and create opportunities in places more affordable. Eventually, they’ll sponsor a hockey team and pay high ticket prices there too.

What should not be encouraged is the ugly populist notion of entitlement.  As it should now be obvious to most sane people, the blanket mentality of entitlement  threatens to smother progress everywhere.  Living in a comfortable society allows us the luxury of heightened expectations for all aspects of our daily lives, but expectations are not rights.   The next time you hear about someone complaining about how high property prices are, ask them if they’d be willing to sell theirs for what they paid for it.  After the laughter dies down, the only sound you’ll hear are crickets.