h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Before I see any of my pay, about 28% of it has been taken away for national and provincial taxes, and support for a national pension plan and unemployment insurance. And then, everything I might buy or service that I pay for is taxed from 7 to 15% as well. There's a bunch of egg-heads in our capital that track all the taxes a person meets through the year, and figure the average Canuck gives over about 55% of every earning to one layer or level of taxes or another.

cor blimey and I thought that taxes here were bad lets see the first 7,000.00 you earn is tax free then everything up to I think 35,000 is taxed at 25% and then over that at 36%. we have a 10% goods and service tax on everything but food and thent eh usual stamp duties on houses and loans etc so if your earning say 60,000.00 a year you will loose about 18,000.00 in taxes and superanuation.

Everyone earning has money deducted and put into a superannuation fund for when they retire, you have to put in a base minimum and your employer has to match it you can put in more if you want and then at the end event hoguh you have paid tax on that money before it ever went in they charge you on it when you take it out again. If you get into absolute dire straits they graciously let you acess it so long as you jump through their hoops over burning flame first

For the most part, your system is like ours ... Just the percentages differ. Oh, and the national pension scheme can't be touched until a person is atleast 60 years old. Another annoyance to it is how they figure entitlement. A body may have contributed for a lifetime, but at the end, it's based on how much you put in over the most recent 10 years. So if you found your hours reduced to part-time, then your average will be much less, your entitlement reduced ...

And beyond scarey is the idea that 12 years from now, I qualify! As well as for the company scheme.

wow what a rip off how come nobody does anything about it, here what ever you put in you get back and you can invest your super with whoever you want so if you want to put it in high risk you can women here can get super at 60 men at 65...the big thing in Australia at present is to get older people to stay in the work force on a part time basis at least.....partly because we have zero population growth and also because we have a major top heavy ageing population as well as they finally realised that the wisdom and skills lost when people retire hurts our society not just economically but socially and culturally as well.....

How are older people regarded in Canada as assetts or burdens?

A few years ago, mandatory retirement age at 65 was eliminated. So quite a lot of seniors continue to work, some out of necessity, some to keep usefully busy. SO while some are considered a burden by family, perhaps, quite a lot are assets, with their years of skills and experience.

Hello here at the smae time that makes a change, how are you

For almost 6 minutes we were. You found me just before heading off to the slave-mines again. And into the thick of an ugly blizzardy day. It has not been nice at all. Would you mind if I shipped some of this stuff down your way?

We had to go off line because of a sudden thunder storm that was quite impressive, so we run round shutting down computers and microwaves and anything elese that tends to be tempremental when it comes to voltage going awry....I would gladly swap some of our unrelenting sun for some of your snow and sleet We visited our neighbouring town over an hour away to go the Salvos church there have never been to one of their serivecs before I thoutoughly enjoyed it..the congregation are far more involved being called on to pray and testify and there is so much happening that you dont have a chance to fall asleep..i like the fact that it is everyday people sharing their faith and their walk rather than people steeped in theology who can often seem removed from reality...however the drive there was in airconditioning the church was airconditioned the drive home was more air conditioning and then walking into a house that had been shut up all moring with no air conditioning first thing we did was switch it on but it will take a whiel to cool down and i am actually feeling quite nausuas at present from the heat think I will head for the pool until the house cools down

I am thinking of applying for a churchill scholoraship to study under a lady in south Africa for 4-6 weeks they have a 100 fellowships each year they bestow on the average person who wants to study somwething overseas which they will then use to help their communities. She works in teh are aof neuroscience and education and i could then help further those children I currently see and work with....anyway its worth a shot they can only say no

One of the mongols is hovering which I think means whens lunch mum gotta dash

That sponsorship sounds like a fine idea. And as you say, in the worst case, they might say 'no'. It costs you a bit of time, maybe some postage, for something that might well be the experience of a lifetime. Go, little (red-headed) girl !!!

And it is so nice to visit another congregation, isn't it? Some might fgeel all wrong, but some will just feel so 'all encompassing', that it is simply wonderful. I am so happy for you, to have looked into it. Some folks despise faith and believers, some are so tightly wrapped in their own variation, none of them see the larger wonder ... The ways and ideas that others have of exploring what is within themselves, and seeking to marry that with the 'Greater'. Who-ever or what-ever that may be.

Dear nic I do believe you have the soul of a poet

I am off today to make a new friend that I met on the net shes a homeschooler of four and still trying to get her head around some things....Remember what that was like

I have picked some figs, plums and pears to take as a friendship offering.... now all I have to do is round up the mongols and heard them in the direstion of my car

Have downloaded the forms from the net I have a little under 20 days to complete them all and send them in

The only thing that I can pick today is icicles ... And not many new friends want them as greeting gifts.

Best of luck with the forms and perhaps acceptance, dear Lady.

Wow cant believe two weeks has passed since I last logged in though admittedly I have spent the last five days away at a conference on narrative therapy it was brilliant....The man who was teaching would have to be the most amazing person I have ever seen for enabling people to sought out there problems and feelings.....

He is currently training chaplains for our defence force apparently those returning from East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan are choosing not to seek help from defence psychologists but instead are going to see their chaplains for help as they cope with what they have seen as they reintegrate back here at home....however the chaplains weren't trained in this area but they are catching up quickly

Without revealing identities he role played a lot of different scenarios from various clients and I found that I was particularly drawn to those that involved returning veterans and trauma experiences such as those involved in Arche or critical incidents such as armed hold ups so I am considering specialising in trauma therapy..

Robert has indicated that a lot of service men when they leave head for the country and that there will be a real need in the next ten years for trained up therapists in the area of PTSD's to meet their needs in the country.

So what’s new in the world of Nic

I have a weeks worth of washing and cleaning to catch up on

However I decided to spend all of today doing nothing so I have slept and watched movies and I feel all the better for it time enough for the house work tomorrow I figure.... oooh just remembered I am counselling this evening better go and pull out my notes and throw some dinner on

Canada has been very actively involved in UN peacekeeping for decades, but it's only since tours in the former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Afghanistan that PTSD is becoming recognized. And quite a real concern. Your chap seems to have been quite engaging.

There's not a great deal happening in our world. Winter storms, work, planning brief and separate vacations for later in the year. We haven't taken any "me" time, either of us, for quite some time. For her, it's coming on 2 years. For me, about 27 years.

Robert is amazing he was a Marist priest at one stage born in Honk Kong of Chinese and Portuguese parents I have never seen anyone able to listen and draw people out the way he does.... imagine the following

teenager walks in Robert greets them and gets a grunt and no eye contact.....
your not sure you want to be here today
it sure wasn't my idea
somebody else felt coming would be good for you
yep
well thank you for coming in spite of your reservations, can you think why they thought you might benefit from talking to me....


and on he goes until he gets to the heart of their problem shifting gears and melting resistance through sheer perseverance and patience...he is awesome to watch

People know that he really cares which is why he is so successful.....the funny thing is when he finishes a long teaching or counselling session he’s a military aficionado and he loves nothing more than watching war movies.....he says that after all the love he needs a bit of violence

The big news in our house is Beth is going to be interviewed for a national magazine about how she learns and what home schooling is like it should make interesting reading

We spent the day at a writers festival where the children got to see cartoonist writers and illustrators do their thing as well as a group from Italy who bought the most amazing multimedia set up with them and created a changing symphony of colour and sound for the children that responded to their movement, Rafe in particular loved it....tomorrow we are going to spend the day experimenting with what we learned today I’ll let you know if we have any budding Michael Angelo or Rembrandts

Well enough rambling I am feeling peckish now if we only had some salmon some red and a fresh salad mmmm actually I think I have some Barramundi in the freezer and we do have those hot house tomatoesmmmmmmm

He really sounds like he is "involving", with his seminars and such. You sound positively lifted by him.

If that interview and magazine article ends up in a mag that can be found on-line, please do let me know the name of it? I'm sure that you do wonderful with the home-schooling, but it would also be nice to hear the perspective of a student ...

And young rascally Rafe ... That man is going to be something very special one day. His mind and imagination seem to know no bounds, do they? Thank your God that he was far too late to have seen Houdini perform!