tectonic spacetime

2007-08-10T17:46:00.000-07:00

This is hilarious! I am dancing with the Phantom of the Paradise!

This is so awesome!

2007-08-10T13:11:00.001-07:00

Do they look alike?

2007-08-10T01:24:00.001-07:00

2007-07-16T20:57:00.001-07:00

2007-07-16T14:29:00.001-07:00

Blowing off Zambia for Tanzania!

2007-05-10T10:22:00.000-07:00

President Levy Patrick Mwanawasa is taking good care of us here. The above photo hangs everywhere, including bars!

We are in the crazy city of Lusaka tonight, and hopefully heading out to go "disco bowling"!

Tomorrow we hop on the Tazara train from Kapiri Mposhi to Dar Es Salaam.

Russell's birthday is on Tuesday, and we will spend it at this place:

It is the Moivaru Coffee Plantation, at the base of Mt. Kilimajaro. Please send birthday telegrams, flowers and vegan chocolates to him there!

We'll know by then whether we can leave Tanzania and re-enter or if we should just head east to Zanzibar. I really want to laugh with some chimpanzees.

On the road and train tracks!

2007-04-29T17:16:00.000-07:00

My internship is over, and we are spending the next month going to East Africa by bus, train, car and boat. Our journey's route is hilighted in green on this map.

Tomorrow I sell my car and mail clothes back to Canada. On the morning of May 1st we hop on a bus to Windhoek for a few days in Namibia, where we will hunt the dissipated aerosolized feces of shiloh jolie-pitt. If we get one cell of turd, it will be on ebay!

Not much internest action from us over the next while. Our pan-African adventure will be capped with a visit to Amsterdam. Wahoo!

2007-04-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

In keeping with our tradition, we left an Inukshuk for other Canadians to enjoy.

We climbed Table Mountain!

2007-04-14T07:29:00.000-07:00

Hey, everyone. On Easter Monday we climbed Table Mountain, elevation 1,060m. Compared to our climbs of Lions Head, this was way more difficult.

The climb started at the cable car station.

By the time this picture was taken, we had been climbing for over two hours. I was exhausted. Meghan is a machine -- she is in incredibly good shape as she runs every day at work and has taken to running the stairs in our apartment building.

"Salutations from the Other Side!"

2007-03-25T15:45:00.000-07:00

We rented the Phantom of the Paradise DVD recently and laughed our asses off. I actually spent time the next day photographing the screen and taking little movies of my favourite parts.

This clip is for Russ - it cracks him up every time:

2007-03-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

Signal Hill caught fire again, but this time even worse than the other time. If you look closely, you can see a helicopter dumping water on the fire just above and to the left of it. It was fun but sad to watch from the balcony.

This is not chronological. Sorry.
About a week before Lena left, she took us to the Rhodes Memorial on the side of Devil's Peak. Russell really enjoyed the structure while I found it to be a bit too much.

2007-03-25T15:43:00.000-07:00

At the last fullmoon, we attempted the Signal Hill hike in the evening, as locals here use the moonlight to guide them. Unfortunately, the mountain ended up surrounded by clouds soon after we started our ascent. Here is a photo looking over the Cape Town CBD ("central business district") with the full moon visible above the horizon.

Bregja's newish doggie Quinty came with us! Here he is being carried up the ladder by his mama.

2007-03-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago was the total lunar eclipse. Here is a collection of three photos I took from the balcony here. Unfortunately, the sky was covered by clouds before the eclipse made the mood appear to have a red glow.

ARGH!

2007-03-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry. Blogger has been acting odd and so we have a big collection of photos that we have uploaded and not been able to publish over the past two weeks.

Braai, Bruno and Smoke wish Lena Safe Travels!

2007-03-25T13:16:00.001-07:00

Bregja and Damien had a "goodbye braai" for Lena, who was a few days away from flying home to Vancouver to see her man and doggie. This is a tray of meat (inclusive of ostich kebabs) that Russ almost knocked onto the floor!
Bruno was celebrating with us. He wished that Russ had succeeded in knocking the boerwors onto the ground.

The night before Lena left, a bunch of her friends came out for thai food and drinks in Observatory. Some of us are above: Damien, Bregja, Russell, Meghan, Lena in her new gorgeous dress and Andrea.

Meghan's Cederberg Experience Changes Her Forever

2007-02-27T12:12:00.000-08:00

On Friday night, Meghan and I drove two hours north of Cape Town to stay at The Baths, a mineral hot spings near the town of Citrusdel. The main purpose of our trip - besides bathing outdoors in our own private mineral-water tub - was to witness some millenias old rock paintings done by the San peoples (the Bushmen from The Gods Must Be Crazy).

The rock painting we saw on Saturday is estimated to be only 1000 years old. Anthropologists are confused by the subject matter, for it was unusual to see men depicted parading along with elephants. Have a look.

The painting was near some amazing sandstone rock formations in the Cederberg Wilderness Park. We had to drive the last 60 km on a bumpy, dusty gravel road to reach the site of the painting and the caves, but it was definitely worth the trip.

Something must have happened to Meghan (perhaps when she crawled into this hole atop one of the caves) for ever since our return, she has become obsessed with photoshop modifying pictures of bald men she knows.

It started innocently enough with a remark that Vanessa's boyfriend reminds her of Lena's boyfriend, who kinda looks like our friend Dave. So she thought they belonged together in a picture, even though they've never met.

But now it has just gotten out of hand. I'm starting to worry.... She promised to cut down, but today I caught her making some edits to Grant.

Not to turn this into some X-Files conspiracy, but it appears that I have not escaped whatever curse has befallen Meghan. I found myself buying a stone carving of a bald man from a Zimbabwean refugee named McFortune Langa that I met on the street yesterday. We have nicknamed the statue "Langa" and he sits next to our laptop. When we find ourselves experiencing some Internet lagginess, we often turn to Langa, stroke his baldness lovingly, and find the bits immediate start to flow faster.

Pride (In the Town of Cape)

2007-02-21T12:45:00.000-08:00

Long Street was thick with Canadian interns last Friday, as Jess and Lena joined Meghan and me for a delicious traditional Kurdish dinner at Mesopotamia. This was the second visit for your Cape Couple to this particular restaurant. We had so much fun the first time that we didn't hesitate to recommend it to Jess and Lena.

Here we are sampling the flavoured tobacco shisha known on the menu as The Hubbly Bubbly. I was expecting buggle gum flavour, but it was fruity. A bong for desert is not something you see every day (ever?) in Canada.

Pop quiz: which of the four of us accepted the belly dancer's invitation to join her on stage?

Okay, that was an obvious one.

Jess, who you may remember from Meghan's pony trek through Lesotho, was in town for the Pride Festival. On Saturday we hung out in De Waterkant at the street party. There were angels, witches, Roman soldiers, bears, bulls, several Cleopatras... Meghan loved the costumes.

I got bored and pooped out by the time the official house band of Cape Town (Goldfish) appeared on stage. Or maybe I was sulking because none of the guys hit on me. My loss, as I missed out on this amazing sunset that Meghan captured while walking back to our apartment with Lena and Jess.

They discovered me at home freaking out over the announced reunion tour of The Police, starting May 28th in Vancouver.

More recently, Meghan and I spent yesterday afternoon exploring Bo Kaap, the predominantly Mulsim neighbourhood of Cape Town. We visited the museum that explained how many of the original slaves imported by the Dutch colonists 300 years ago were from Indonesia and Malaysia, and that Islam became the religion of dissent. The neighbourhood is beautiful. Here's a typical street panorama.

Bo Kaap is nestled into Signal Hill. Meghan and I climbed to the top where the noon gun is located. Apparently they fire this cannon at noon every day, but I have never noticed. Here is Meghan sporting her newly acquired sunglasses.

Now for the requisite history lesson. It turns out that cannon between Meghan's legs is over 200 years old. The miracles of modern genomics willing, that is a sentence I hope to one day revisit.

Holy crap, where did these donkeys come from?

The only wildlife I have seen so far, and it turns out to be domesticated farm animals grazing on Signal Hill.

There is a Canadian Film Festival in full swing right now at the Labia Theater. Last night we entertained at the Labia ("sounds like my last date," quipped Dave) and caught the charming Quebecois film "Miss Meteo". On Monday we saw the documentary "Metal: A Headbanger's Journey", which made me think that Meghan should make documentaries. Tonight we are going to see live dinner theater at the Old Zoo, which is literally an old zoo that was built on the former Rhodes estate (yes, that Rhodes).

669 Metres Above Sea Level

2007-02-12T12:28:00.000-08:00

This weekend was rather coldish and stormy for summer time weather in Africa, so we made the best of it and went to the Iziko South African Museum. This museum was a bit funny as some of the displays looked half finished and lacked proper labelling and/or lighting. There was some great footage of a freaky looking San woman dancing herself into a trance by a bonfire. She looked a bit like an alien. The museum is free every Saturday so we will have to return to see the rest of it and also see a show at the adjoining planetarium. It will be great to have a lesson on the constellations of the southern hemisphere.

This is a photo taken of the Great Synagogue from the Company Gardens. Devil's Peak is shrouded in clouds in the background. The Company Gardens are the central greenspace for Cape Town. It was originally the Dutch East India Trading Company's Gardens planted to grow food for the first Dutch settlers in the Cape.

On Sunday Rusell and I mosied up Lion's Head which offers gorgeous panoramas of the city, the ocean, beaches and Robben Island (which I am pointing at above). The Island is famous for having been the home of a prison in which political prisoners from the struggle against apartheid were locked up for decades on end. I have toured the Island and am happy to announce that european deer live there amongst elands, kudus and penguins.

Here is Russell climbing Lion's Head with a gorgeous backdrop. To the left of him in this photo is the "city bowl" while to the right is the part of town known as "camp's bay." Too bad we cannot upload a bigger and better version of this fine photograph. Do yourself a favour and click on the image for a better look at the Canuck in a strange world. It kind of looks like he is wearing leiderhosen.

On the way up/down we built our first ever Inukshuk. Actually, it was my first Inukshuk, as Russell had made one with Rebecca in his kitchen before. This is the one for public consumption. It is a slightly disfigured Inukshuk, but we are confident other Canadians would recognize the 2010 logo (?!) along their route and perhaps have a heart-warming chuckle.

Here is a photo of the "central business district" from our hike. We wanted to capture the photons reflecting off of the crazy yuppie floor-to-ceiling windows of our condo. Ours is the one with food spilled on the patio (where I sit) and coffee whiffs wafting from the air-conditioning output thing.

In case you didn't see our specific place above, we thought we'd highlight it for you.

Russell couldn't resist taking a portrait of me in the first "Glory Hole" known to man! We are in the cradle of mankind, you know!

Russell had a lot of fun reclaiming his adventurous spirit which has been a bit dormant since his days in Chilliwack. We will have to climb a lot more rocks and negotiate some kloofs before heading back to the other side of this beautiful planet.

Burn Mothercity, Burn

2007-02-08T13:40:00.000-08:00

Meghan is away today at Stellenbosch in her official capacity as Canadian Intern, UWC Law Center. Fortunately, she left me the keys to the blog.

Today I witnessed - from the balcony of our apartment - a fire on signal hill. Here is a picture of the firemen dousing the flames. If you look in the lower right-hand corner, you'll see one of the many mosques that adorn the surrounding neighbourhood.

Coincidence...? I think not.

It is difficult to make out exactly what is going on, so I have zoomed in for your convenience. I love how there are all these expensive homes in the background.

Enough of the drama. The real reason for this post is twofold. One, to wish Meghan's wonderful sister Ariel a sincere Happy Birthday! Meghan and I hope you are having a great day, and send you tons of love and hugs.

Second, to discuss the abysmal state of beer in South Africa. In the many bars, restaurants, and liquor stores that surround us, you can have any beer you like so long as it is one of the following five lagers:

1. Carling Black Label
2. Heineken
3. Windhoek (which is Afrikaans for "farty beer")
4. Castle Lager
5. Miller Genuine Draft

As a Canadian, it's an absolute hoot (which, by the way, is the verb they use here instead of honk) that Carling Black Label is so popular. I read the Wikipedia entry on Carling to try to figure out what the deal is; a recommended read for those of you who are interested in the history of beer.

My kingdom for an ale. When the British packed up and left, I guess they took their beer home with them.

Reunited, Relocated, and Re-Originated

2007-02-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

In honour of my flying through 10 timezones and three continents within 24 hours to join my beloved in Africa, Meghan thought it would be fun to let me (her boyfriend Russ) take the reigns and write a special guest post.

Reunited I have been here for nine days, and now that the jetlag and initial culture shock have worn off, I am thoroughly enjoying the experience. I can report that Meghan is looking radiant and healthy; the climate and environment are agreeing with her (she looks like a movie star, to be honest). Here is the first picture of us together in South Africa, taken by her roommate Eliza in the house on Upper Mill. I am sporting a Bishop Desmond Tutu t-shirt that Meghan bought for me.

My flight was great. Okay, maybe not great (it was ridiculously long), but I did get to see some amazing sights and three in-flight movies. More importantly, I can now say that I have seen the Sahara Desert, Jackass 2, and the Mediterranean Ocean. Here is the latter from 32,000 feet along the French coastline at Marseille.

On my first full day in Cape Town, Meghan wasted no time in taking me to the surfing beach at Muizenberg. It was beautiful, and while we didn't do any surfing, we did see a Jack Russell playing soccer.

Me, not surfing.
Burning my neck, actually.

That is not a tennis ball; it is a full-sized soccer ball.

Relocated On Thursday, Meghan and I moved into our own apartment. We are on the 10th floor of a brand new downtown condo development, in what seems to have been an old parking garage. The view from our balcony is... well, see for yourself (click on the image).

Meghan had amassed a few treasures in her three months away from home, but we managed to fit everthing into her VW and make the move from Upper Mill to Long Street in one trip.

I can't say enough about how much I love living in downtown Cape Town. Long Street is right in the main entertainment district. The streets are alive with business people during the day, and at night the place becomes a vibrant mass of friendly locals and tourists making their way from one establishment to the next.

Meghan did a great job in picking out a place for us to live. This is the first building she has lived in that has had an elevator; this is the first time I have lived like a yuppie. Our building is still under construction, and we are one of the few tenants that have moved in. I am writing this at 11:00 PM, and I can actually hear workers in the hallway. The main cultural differences that I have experienced so far seem largely due to the labour intensity with which South Africa approaches things. (A discussion of the economic problems of resource allocation in the context of post-apartheid South Africa is left as an exercise to the reader.)

Re-Originated My first weekend in the city and Meghan drives us out near Worcester to camp and attend the Origin Festival, which is one of those new-age hippie music festivals. Despite my Generation-X skepticism, I found it to be a fun time, with great food, scenery, and music.

Here we are joined by our new best friends, the Blockheads, of Jo'berg.

South Africans are apparently famous for their love of trance. This picture was taken Sunday afternoon: 24 hours of non-stop, 4/4, kick drum on the downbeat... and the white people are still just a givin' 'er.

There were four black people sighted at the festival. Do you see them?

Here... let me zoom in.

There!

I think they should have combined these:

I had to drag Meghan away from this purchase.

The natural setting was beautiful, and to top it off, there was a full moon.

Cape of Good Hope Two Day Hike

2007-01-25T11:15:00.000-08:00

I have not posted much lately, because I was house-sitting in a home without internet. Then my sister Erin, her partner Shane and my mom came to visit until January 19. We went on a road trip and to the Eastern Cape, hoping to pin down some information about (or graves of?) our great great grandparents who died of tuberculosis there in 1892. Anyhow, that i another story.

The morning after the family went home, I woke up at 6 am to go pick up some girls I know and then we all drove to the Cape of Good Hope for a two day hiking extravaganza! Cape Point is not the most southern tip of Africa (Cape Agulhas is), but it is the most south-western point!

Satuday January 20th was an insane day for wind. Luckily the wind was blowing towards the land rather than away. I think we seriously could have been blown off the cliffs if the wind was blowing towards the ocean. I am not kidding. It was kind of like when you are walking through a wind tunnel between buildings in a city, although this was non-stop for hours.

Here I am with the crew: Meghan, Tina, B and Lena. Cape Point is behind us.

This was a cannon of some historic significance. It is aiming towards Cape Point.

This sign is pointing at the huts we hiked to. They are small in the pic, but if you look closely you will see them perched on the hill above the sign.

Sunset from the hut, looking towards the continent of Africa, with the ocean on either side of the peninsula. Cape Point is behind me from this angle.

We had the most unexpected and coolest treat ever on the 20th! On the left is Comet McNaught and to the right of the photo is a crescent moon. If you click on the photo, it will enlarge and I want you to look closely at the moon - you will see a red spot right at the top of the moon. This was Venus! It was so so so so neat! The sky at twilight was just too much! Venus almost overlapping with the moon would have been spectacular on its own - but a gorgeous comet as well?? We were speechless! I didn't take this picture, but it was taken nearby in Franschoek and depicts what we saw, except for the land in the foreground.

This is the path before us on the second day. These flowers all over remind me of daisies, but the petals appear sparkly, a bit translucent, and look a bit like dried out flowers, even though they are alive and kicking! Very neat indeed.

This is a mother of a protea flower! It was a rebel flower, as it was blooming out of season and was the only one of this variety that we came across over the two days. The Protea is South Africa's national flower. This blossom is WAY larger than my open hand. Peter, a retired pediatrician that stayed at our hut with us, told us that there is way more of a diversity within floral species in the fynbos kingdom. Unlike species in, say, the Boreal kingdom of North America (where glaciers have run over the plants a number of times in ice ages), the plants in this part of the world have had a much longer period to diversify. This is why there are so many types of heather and protea in the Cape and only a few types of pine in North America. I hope I conveyed that newly learned information accurately.

And now for some wildlife we spotted....

A cape tortoise!

One of many lizards.

A Chacma baboon on his way to fish for some molluscs! These are the only baboons on Earth known to eat from the seas.

The above is a map of the route we followed (click to see better detail). The hike on Saturday was almost 8 hours. Sunday took 10 hours. Motorin'!

2007-01-12T12:28:00.000-08:00

Margaret says "Hey Team! Go here for some photos of us in South Africa!"

2007-01-01T08:11:00.000-08:00

Sotho Sounds!

Lesotho Pony Trek Adventure!

2006-12-29T12:03:00.000-08:00

Lena an I headed off from the Cape at dinner time on Friday December 15, right after work ended for the both of us. The bus took a while to leave the station, but we made it to the border of Lesotho by 10:30 am the next day. The bus ride was not very memorable; we were shown "Ocean's 13" but without much volume and then in the morning were terrorized by a "Best of Celine Dion" DVD.

Our initial encounter with the Kingdom of Lesotho was marked with lots of miscommunication and a frantic attempt to contact Jess, Mac and Sheena (coming from Jo'Burg) before they crossed the border. South African cell phones cease to work in Lesotho, so we needed to plan a meeting spot before we were out of touch. Mission was succesful and we met up by the giant Basotho hat in Maseru. Eli, a guy from Brooklyn, had met our friends at the backpacker's in Bloemfontain and he decided to join our pony party for two days. Sheena and her brother Mac could speak Sotho which was AMAZING as many people we encountered in Lesotho could speak almost no english (except for "give me some sweets!" and "i love you!"). Their ability to translate for us enriched our experience greatly!

We all went to the minibus taxi rank and waited for about an hour before heading for Malealea, a town 2 hours from the capital. In the van we had dozens of people approach the windows, trying to sell us things. Jess scored an amazing cassette with a screeching kitten on the front. It was pure Basotho tunes.

I swear, the Basotho music is great but it all kind of sounds the same! I bought a house mix for my vehicle (I have no tapes here but have a tape deck in the car) featuring an eyeball on the cover. While it features some african language, it is unfortunately not blessed with the classic vibes of Lesotho music. I also scored some sunglasses while waiting, but they were a bit small and ended up hurting my head a lot over the next week. We rocked all the way to Malealea with eardrums hurting from the blaring "Famo" music.

At Malealea, we found the lodge and shared forest huts for the night. I enjoyed the giant St. Bernard and the two silly Staffordshire Terriers. We had dinner with a nice couple from Germany who work for BMW and were exploring Southern Africa for their holidays.

The next morning we awoke at 7:30 and packed the big leather bags for the pack ponies. We met Samuel, our Masotho guide, and were assigned a pony each. Sanghu, the smallest and youngest (4 years) was to be my pony for the next few days.

He was pretty funny. His theme song would be "You can go your own way!" as he consistently diverged from the route only to end up taking a short cut or something. There was one nice horse that he would nuzzle into if we got close to, and Samuel told me that it was his mama Selina.

The first day was great as we must have passed through about six villages, all quite beautiful and peppered with these cool aloe tree things:

At about 3 pm there was a crazy thunderstorm that we rode through. I felt bad for the pony eyeballs, as the rain turned into big ice pellets! The ponies trekked right through it and we all got soaked! Our first night was spent in a village in Ribaneng. The women were all gathered around the cooking pots and the men were dancing to blaring "Famo" that came out of a giant speaker powered by a single solar panel. I am so sad I did not capture that scene. The main dancer was moving as if he was drunk, as his dance involved leaning on a giant stick as though he couldn't stand properly.

There was a litter of puppies that appeared to be starving. They were so so so skinny. Lena and I wanted to scoop some into our saddle packs but that night we realized we'd never get back across the border with them. Poor little guys. I'd be surprised if even one or two of the six survived. Below is Sheena in front of our first night's home. In each village, we would stay in a hut next to the local chief. The huts were equipped with air mattresses, a gas stove and some cooking utensils. We'd get a big bucket of drinking water as well for the night.

After we got to this village, we hired a local guide to bring us to the Ribaneng waterfalls. The hike took over three hours in total but was well worth it.

The next morning we bade farewell to Eli, who had to head back to catch a flight to NYC. Day two of the trek took us through high mountain plateaus. We didn't pass many villages as we had the day before. We saw lots of gorgeous birds and butterflies though and the occasional Basotho horsemen. Here are some that rode by as we were having lunch in the grass and were kind enough to pose for a picture:

Check out the hat and the blankets and the rubber boots. This was the Bosotho uniform.

As we desecended into the village of Ha Hlalele where we were to stay, a nice young pony followed us and heralded our entry into town with a series of "neys!"

Mac had a nap and I made a huge pot of tea for us ladies. While the others read, I wandered around taking pictures of the village animals.

The doggie in this village was special and I loved him a bunch. I witnesses the local children kicking him for no reason at all! I tried my best to tell the kids that they should be kind to the dog. I shared my bread with the little guy.

I gave an orange to three kids that were so interested in us. They really enjoyed it. The youngest one in this picture would cry if I got too close though. I was spooky I guess.

Our home on this second evening was decorated! Here is a close-up of some of the decor:

The chief's wife Georginna was very well spoken and thrilled to meet Sheena, the only Sotho-speaking South African she had ever met. Georgina asked for our help as the local school had been closed since the winds blew off the roof. I got her address and will be sending her photos that we took there of her family and village. I also want to send some clothes for the children. This was the most remote village we ended up at.

At about 8 pm there was a knock at our door; it was Philip, an electoral official who had hiked into the town to stay for the night (above). He was there to register the locals to vote in the national election this February. What a crazy job! Accessing these areas all on foot! He was very educated and interesting to speak with. He was thirty and had no wife. He was ashamed of this, I think. He described the local political parties to us. I asked him if he wishes that Lesotho became a province of South Africa and without hesitation, he said "yes."

The next morning we met our local guide Joseph and hiked towards the Ketane Falls. They are 401 feet or 122 metres high and were beautiful! We were basically viewing them from the edge of a cliff which made it a bit unnerving. It was incredible though. Way more impressive than the falls the first day. The scenery around the waterfalls reminded me of photos I have seen of Ireland, mixed with Arizona. Lena said it seemed a lot like Hawaii. As we were very high up, there were gorgeous alpine flowers all over the place.

The pony trek that day was again through fields high up in remote mountain areas. I picked a lot of sage from bushes as we trotted by. We stopped at the most beautiful place for lunch on this third day. We ate on rocks in a stream. Lena actually braved the chilly water and took a dip!

The skyline as we descended into the village of Ha Sekoting where we stayed that night:

The kids here were absolutely hilarious and got into more than one session of flinging horse turds at one another. Sadly this was not captured onto video. The videos posted below of the happy apple kids and of Alice and her friends dancing were taken in this village. I got out a deck of cards to play solitare and Alice called me over and played some game with me. Of course, she couldn't explain the rules to me because of the language barrier, so she won every single time. The kids watched over our shoulders completely fascinated. I will mail some cards to Alice.

Here is a photo of our "Ponies for Life" crew - unfortunately I never got the name of Samual's assitant who couldn't speak english.

Mac, Sheena, Samuel, Jess, Lena (kneeling), Meghan (me) and the unknown assistant!

There were some sweet puppies in this village, but the one that stole my heart was this slightly older pooch who looked like a labrador retriever mix. I thought his eye was infected and tried to open it to treat it with polysporin, only to realize that there was no eyeball inside! Poor guy! So young and already missing an eyeball? I was sad about this and cried at one point while hugging him. I wanted to take him home with me. He was getting no love at all. It breaks my heart.

On our final day we took a bit of a detour to check out some caves in which there were bushman (san) paintings on the walls of several caves. The San people are the oldest living humans (genetically speaking) and we are all descendants of them. They no longer inhabit this portion of Africa and are now scattered around Botswana and Namibia. Anyhow, the petroglyphs I am in front of below are up to 27,000 years old!

On our way back to the lodge, I figured I had better capture a photo of one of the thousands pof mountain goats we passed by on our trek.

Here is a panorama of our lunch spot on the final pony day:

We got back to the lodge and showered! So nice to wash all the grime and sun tan lotion off of ourselves! We bought a bunch of cold Savannas and made chow and sat and watched the local choir perform. Then Sotho Sounds came on! They are my favourite African band! They have a song called "Oh! I whip horses!" They had CDs, amazingly, and so I have one. I am posting a video of them performing to this blog asap. It was a great night. We played board games and I became acquainted with Johnny Klegg and realized that Paul Simon rips him off!

The next day was a little stupid, as we waited for four hours in the rain at the border for our bus to show up! It was annoying. We said goodbye to Jess, Sheena and Mac at Bloemfontain (they were headed into Mozambique for christmas). Then the bus ran out of gas on the side of the road at 2 am! It was hilarious, actually. Some people were SO pissed off.

We got into Cape Town December 22 at about 11 am and I took a minibus taxi home to find Laure in the kitchen doing school work. She is my new roomate and is subletting from Frank while he is in Spain for two months.

Lesotho was awesome! I miss Singhu!

2006-12-26T08:06:00.000-08:00

Katane Falls

2006-12-25T08:11:00.000-08:00

Alice and her buddies dancing!

2006-12-25T08:10:00.000-08:00

Happy Apple Kids

2006-12-24T16:18:00.000-08:00

Donkey Calls

2006-12-23T11:37:00.000-08:00

Pony Trekking

High IQ link to being vegetarian

2006-12-15T01:59:00.000-08:00

Vegetarians were more likely to be female, to be of higher occupational social class and to have higher academic or vocational qualifications than non-vegetarians.

I wish they had reported statistics about those who chose to reject dairy and eggs... In North America, the meat, dairy and egg industry are deeply inter-twined, so what is with people who choose not to eat animals out of concern for animal welfare, only to contribute to their suffering though the consumption of cheese, eggs, etc? From a nutritional perspective, I suspect that eating meat and rejecting cheese is healthier...

Any one want to debate this or offer some insight so that I can better understand?

Basically, I think if you are avoiding meat because of animal welfare, you are a hypocrite to eat dairy and eggs. Same thing for those doing it for nutritional reasons.

Christmas Celebrations at the CLC

2006-12-14T10:34:00.000-08:00

We played softball and my team won! It was neat to play with people who had no idea how to play... I thought it was more of a universal sport. Some people would run around the bases and think they were scoring points but they had not even gone to bat!!! Others would strike out and then run to first base.

Here we are getting down at the Cuban restaurant in Kalk Bay. People were drinking crazy drinks (like white chocolate pina coladas) but I stuck to Savanas and wine. Mike the waiter is to the left. No one seemed to care that Fidel Castro is dying of terminal cancer. There is a statue of Lenin in the bush there, near jesus. I though about how pure communism rejected religion, right? Anyhow, my colleagues ordered this "sheesha" (that is how it is referred to in Canada ) with some molasses tobacco in it. My boss bought some vanilla cigars.

Below is me and Annette, the only full time female researcher in the local government project. There is actually a gorgeous beach behind us.

Sore muscles, happy mind.

2006-12-10T13:21:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I start the last week of work before the summer break. On Friday after work I am hopping on a bus and heading to Lesotho, where I will embark on 4 days of "Pony Trekking" from Malealea Lodge!

I love how the big papa seal is waking up the napping small seal because he just needs to scratch that itch! This was in the waterfront. The one sleeping in behind kind of looks like a walrus.

Here is a partial panorama I took this afternoon. It is looikng South-East from "Lion's Head" which Lena and I climbed up (669 metres above sea level). I have an amazing 360 degree panorama here!
I forgot to put sunscreen on my legs, so now they are burnt!

This is a view of "Lion's Head" from the city centre (which is to the left of Table Mountain in the photo above taken from the peak). Lion's Head slopes over into that hump on the right known as "Signal Hill." To the right of this photo is the waterfront, where the seal at the top lounges.

Yesterday I went surfing! This is a photo of "Roxy Surf Club" where we rented boards and wetsuits. You can see the beach and waves straight ahead in this picture. You have to carry the board across the train tracks which was tough, as the wind was very powerful. I was really happy that surfing was not as hard as I thought it would be! I plan on taking lessons once a week in the new year so that maybe I'll be able to stand on the board without falling off.
It was also really nice to get all salty and wet in the ocean. At one point it felt like a crab or something pinch my foot, so I got a bit spooked and wouldn't put my feet down for awhile. Maybe it was just a shell though.
This beach is at Muizenberg (I posted a nice panorama of the beach a few weeks ago) and there are great white sharks around there. There are shark watchers employed to sit on the hills above the bay and watch with binoculars. If they see a shark come into the bay, a flag on the beach changes and some alarm bell goes off so that everyone can come out. In August a lifeguard had his foot bitten off at the beach!

Alarm Systems are Crazy!

2006-12-08T09:59:00.000-08:00

Whoa - my roomates left while I was here in my room and I guess they set the alarm! So I headed downstairs and a crazy sound went off! I know the code to turn it off, but the company calls to make sure it is all good. The thing is, i don't know the "password"... So they were okay with that but now I am spooked the "armed response" is still going to show up!

So above are my flatmates - we all made different courses of dinner and chowed down for St. Niklaus Day which is when Wistnel (sp?) comes and leaves anonymous gifts for you!
Above are Rebecca (a doctor visiting from germany), Angie, Franci, Frank and Anne. Anne and I collaborated and made noodles with asparagus and carmelized onions!

Niklaus? Dat you??

Kerensa and Maya harvesting gemstones to make jewelry for the Prince George market next summer.

Me lying in a bed of gemstones. I have always loved Tiger's Eye and there is tons of it here! Apparently South Africa has the best quality Tiger's Eye on Earth (though India and China have some too). Wait - I just checked the link and they say it is in CANADA and don't even list South Africa? What fool was I talking to?
I found this other stone I had never heard of, called Chalcedony, which I really liked too. It is from Namibia.

Maya's creation: a bird/giraffe/elephant dressed as a witch!

This is Lila, by latest co-worker. At staff meetings, she likes to chew on bones!

Kerensa and I out to dinner on her last night on the town. She is now either in London or Paris.

This is my favourite feral kitty at the campus I work at. He is SO friendly! He purrs and lies down next to me. He may need to come back to Canada and be Muchacho's african brother.

Here are six other feral cats near the Community Law Centre. Most are spooked, except for the charmer above. They lounge around. I like them all a lot. I have yet to figure out how many there are in total. At least fifteen, though.

This was taken this morning. It is Omo, me, Michaelle Jean (Canada's Governor-General), Lena and Jean. We all met up at the "Zip Zap Circus" in a weird part of town. We all got lost a few times.

Here is a circus dude with his anti-retro-virals... this is reality here in South Africa, and it is great to see them taking the bull by the horns (well, civil society, at least....) These children were AMAZING! I was so envious of their flexibility and strength!

Apparently our Governor-General is a man. I wonder what the Conservatives will think of a transgendered person occupying the most senior post in Canada?

What a burn on Zaccardelli. What a turd. Did you know the RCMP aren't allowed to be unionized? What is up with that?

Some local news...

2006-12-05T02:08:00.000-08:00

WOZA protesters and babies brutalised on Human Rights Day
By Violet Gonda2
9 November 2006

At least 63 members of the pressure group Women Of Zimbabwe Arise, including six babies, were arrested in Bulawayo on Wednesday. Four members of the group Men of Zimbabwe Arise were also arrested when police allegedly used brutal force to break up a peaceful launch of the activists People’s Charter.
WOZA spokesperson Annie Sibanda said an ambulance had to ferry people to the hospital after they sustained serious wounds from police beatings. Those taken to hospital include a baby with an injured leg and a woman who may have a broken leg. Unprovoked the police officers embarked on a vicious attack on the demonstrators, who had sat down as police arrived.
WOZA leaders Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu and a Presbyterian priest are among those arrested. The arrested were taken to Bulawayo Central Police Station while another vehicle is believed to have been diverted elsewhere, as some members who were arrested were not at Central.
It’s reported the level of the brutality was so extreme the police had to take 6 of the victims to Mpilo Hospital themselves. An emailed report from a Bulawayo onlooker says he witnessed police assaulting people before some of them were bundled into police trucks; “I saw devilish beatings inflicted by the riot police on these women at Hyper Supermarket. Kuudzwa kunyimwa mbare dzekumusana (seeing is believing). Satan would have smiled to himself and marvelled what faithful followers he has.”
More than 300 demonstrators had successfully walked several blocks through the streets of Bulawayo to the government offices at Mhlanhlandlela where they began reading out the People’s Charter to the assembled workers at the government complex. Annie Sibanda said, “Approximately 30 riot police arrived and in customary WOZA fashion – the women sat down and prepared to be arrested.”
Despite being International Human Rights Defender’s Day the riot police surrounded the group and in a violent outburst; “began to viciously beat both women and men with baton sticks.”
Sibanda added; “I saw 6 people being offloaded from an ambulance. People cut in their faces from where there were beaten over the face. One woman is bleeding profusely from her leg.”
She said the security forces also chased the crowd down the streets beating the unfortunate ones in the process. “I personally witnessed a person who was sitting in a parked car being pulled out of his car and being bundled into a (police) defender,” Sibanda narrated.
The activists said the brutality today was unspeakable saying “it was obvious that the Zimbabwe Republic Police were there to spill blood because that is certainly what they did.”
A senior police officer at Bulawayo Central told us he was not allowed to comment, referring us to Police Spokesperson Wayne Bvudzijena in Harare. It was not possible to get him.
WOZA said Wednesday’s launch of the People’s Charter was a result of a yearlong countrywide consultation. They say it was launched on International Human Rights Defenders Day as a fitting day to launch the Charter and demand social justice for all Zimbabweans. Bulawayo, the WOZA stronghold, was seen as an appropriate start to a series of protests that will roll out around Zimbabwe.Also see WOZA/MOZA demonstrators viciously beaten and arrested on International Human Rights Defenders Day
If you wish to contact the Bulawayo Police force to ask them why they think it is necessary to beat innocent women, you can reach them on +263 09 72515,263 09 61706, 263 09 63061, 263 09 69860 (Central Police Station).

Canadians! Be grateful!

2006-12-02T08:03:00.000-08:00

Maybe I am just irritable, but I am bothered by complacency that we seem to have in my homeland. I posted the following "bulletin entry" on myspace and only got one response?! What is up with that? Do Canadians not really care about gender equity, or am I just a poltical geek?

"So a few months back I posted a rant about proposed cuts to Status of Women Canada and I hope you all wrote to Bev Oda. I have yet to get a repsonse from this cabinet minister, but I guess she has been busy coordinating petty cuts that undermine the work of those fighting for women's equality in Canada. Read news story below, please. I cannot believe the conservatives have the gall to do this. I have also now sent numerous emails to "REAL Women" - a right-wing lobby group in Ottawa that alleged what I consider to be crazy stuff on their website.

As an aside, I am learning lots about women's participation in governance here in Africa and the many mechanisms used to increase women's participation in decision-making. I remember about a year or two ago, the Liberal party voted on whether or not to introduce a quota system into their policies with respect to electoral candidates. At the time, I was dissapointed that the party members voted against it. Now that I am studying the issue in more detail, I am quite horrifed that Canada doesn't have ANY type of quota system in place for women and other disadvantaged groups. WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK ABOUT THIS? Do you think reserving a certain number of seats (locally, nationally, etc.) would be undemocratic? Or do you think it is legitimate? Please share your opinions with me!

Now here is the bullshit from today's news:

Tories close most Status of Women offices
Nov. 29, 2006. 05:40 PM
CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — The Conservative government has stunned women's advocates with a decision to close three-quarters of the regional offices of Status of Women Canada.

Cabinet minister Bev Oda says 12 of the 16 offices will be shut by April 1.

Status of Women Canada is a federal agency that works to advance women's economic equality, human rights and eliminate violence against women.

Oda says the regional offices do little to serve women directly and money can be better spent by streamlining services.

But Liberal MP Maria Minna calls the move "reprehensible."

She says women still have a long way to go to reach equality with men and the government should be doing more, not less.

New Democrat MP Irene Mathyssen says the decision shows the Tories have no commitment to promoting women's equality.

PLEASE WRITE TO BEV ODA!!!!

Bev Oda, MP Parliament Hill Office
121 East Block
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0A6
(613) 992-2792 (Phone)
(613) 992-2794 (Fax)
odab1@parl.gc.ca"

You really don't need a law degree or an xx chromosome to care about these things, folks. We are so so so lucky to have democratic institutions and consultative mechanisms to interact with our elected officials.

I was just in the city centre, looking for a christmas gift for my grandma and saw a young guy that looked about 11 huffing some gas or glue (?!) out of a bag. Then he came right over to me and asked for some of my old diet drink. I asked where his family was. He shrugged. He pointed again at my drink and I told him he needs something with energy so we went together to the corner store and I bought him chips and fanta (his choice). I am not sure what to do in these situations. I told him to keep safe. Driving home I admired the glaciar-like clouds coming down the crease between Devil's Peak and Table Mountain and imagined how horrible the little guy's future is going to be.

Tonight I go to Mama Africa for a going-away dinner for Kerensa. She just got back from Nairobi and is leaving for BC on Monday.

I have been working very hard on an essay for the Forum of Federations and am learning so much. I went to the mechanic today to get my roadworthy certificate. I am such an idiot when it comes to cars and it doesn't help when the mechanic's accent is hard to understand.

2006-12-01T05:07:00.000-08:00

Goldfish at Kirstenbosch

Why aren't the people dancing? Pretty beautiful venue though, eh? Some of my roomates are visible here.

Arroooooooo!!!!

2006-11-27T13:15:00.000-08:00

The land seal Abbey says "HARK!!! The snow has fallen on Vancouver Island and my mom is sunburned in Africa! Throw me another snowball, Russ!!!"

I apologize for not getting a better shot of this transvestite who was trolling around in the night! She came in and posed, all glammed up with christmass tree bulbs hanging off of herself, and I didn't get to my camera in time. Here she is heading off to thrill some more humans and reptiles.

This photo is over a week old, but the dudes were great. I like how the guy on the right is boogie-ing. I have some footage of a chorus of men too, that my mother in particular would love.

No comment needed. This guy was too much. Nice hair hanging off his flabby hanging weird neck thing?

Right as I took this photo of the Pelican, a bug chunk of dead fish ricocheted off of me! I ended up with gross smelly guts smeared on both of my arms. Yeuch.

Another one of my favourite "Cape Vulture." I have many many more, but limited myself to two on this post!

I took this photo this afternoon at a stoplight on my way home from work. The lady is letting her goats feed on the side of the highway.

Southern Africans love Che Guevera - I think he came to Angola when he was bored with Cuba. There is this great restaurant on the beach called Cape to Cuba and that is where the pics above and below were taken.

Kerensa and I dining by the sea. They actually had vegan dishes!

I went on Safari this weekend to sniff out some snakes!

Here is Maya in uniform with the maker of her beaded key chain. Her purse is made out of coke cans. She is so cute! This man is great too - I almost got him to do my name, but his bead colours weren't optimal for me. I will go back when he has replenished his supplies.

I Miss Abbey...

2006-11-23T15:54:00.000-08:00

2006-11-22T13:53:00.000-08:00

Long Street on Saturday Night

16,912 km from Vancouver!

2006-11-22T12:55:00.000-08:00

Above is a picture of MY CAR! Yes, Meghan now has a car and a cellphone and an alarm system. What the hell? I bought this VW Citi Golf from this cute girl Christina who has now moved back to Germany. It is in the garage getting worked on so that I can get a "roadworthy" certificate in order to register it to myself. The driver's seat is on the right hand side - it cracks me up. This town is hilly, sort of like San Francisco, so I am spooked of burning out my clutch on the steep hills. I cannot believe I own a big chunk of metal that is propelled by an engine. ODD! Oh yeah, that is my car in front of my home! My bedroom is on the second floor with the balcony in front of it. Below is a detail of the coolest chandelier I have ever seen! It is made of beautiful shells and beach glass. Only R4000!

These purple blossoms are the sign of spring here in Cape Town. Reminds me of the blooming Sakuras we get on Vancouver Island.

Here is a snapshot of the ATM - take THAT Canada! EIGHT languages available here!

I love the styles that the African moms rock here... the babies in the blankets on their back are so adorable!

A sign by the waterfront, reminding me how far I am from home...

Below is the Community Law Centre, where I am doing my internship. My boss just went to the Sudan and I have to write a paper about "empowering impoverished groups" in the context of local governance on his behalf while he is away. The draft will be reviewed by an Indian Minister for inclusion in a roundtable in Delhi next year.

Here I am at this nice vinyard near "Tokai" within the city of Cape Town.

Woops - photos are a bit out of order. Here is a picture I took near the administration building of the University of Western Cape where the Community Law Centre is. The UWC has a cool history in the history of Apartheid in South Africa. Check out more here if you are interested.

Here is some classic Cape Dutch architecture. I had some drinks at this place on my birthday last weekend:

This is a piece of crap car that I rented for a month and took back within 24 hours because it stalled twice within an hour of me getting possession of it and it WOULDN'T START again unless I got stranger dudes to push it for me! A service guy was sent out, who "fixed" the carborator for me. NOT VERY SAFE for a girl like me to have a car that won't start in South Africa! That was the most stress I have ad here yet. Best Beetle sucks.

Here are the remnants of the first Braai I have experienced here. A "braai" is a South African barbecue and my first experience wasn't the best, as nothing vegetarian was grilled. I think I need to coordinate a vegetarian braai soon and show these folks what healthy, ethical eating is!

Muizenburg, Waterfront and Vinyard

2006-11-21T14:45:00.000-08:00

Please click on the panoramas to see them better and do them justice!

Weekend Escapades

2006-11-21T14:42:00.000-08:00

I finally met some penguins that weren't enclosed in some zoo-type thing in North America. Not many people know that there are penguins in Africa, but here they are! I went to Simon's Town with Kerensa and Maya but we got to Boulder's Beach quite late, as one can tell from the ducky lighting and fuzzyness of the photos.

Before finding the lazy penguins, we stopped in at a great place in St. James to eat some yummy chow and get coffee. There was a great outdoor bar there, as you can see! There were some funky hammock-type things made with long sticks too, a desugn which I want to import back to Canada.

Here is the little one that is so cute! I will post a photo of her in her school uniform soon.
At a beach in Muizenberg earlier in the day we met a fellow with two funny dogs. The one here is named Champagne and she bit Maya in the arm as Maya tried to photograph her and her younger (and friendlier) son.

The Saner Side of South Africa

2006-11-15T11:48:00.000-08:00

Although there are some very disgusting things about this society that I am living in, what may be perhaps THE MOST FANTASTIC festure of South Africans is that they are way less idiotic about doggies than Canadians are. Dogs are allowed IN RESTAURANTS here (check out the Great Dane, above). As you can see below, they also "tell it like it is" and don't sanitize words like "poo"! Why is Canada so anal about this stuff??

Completed my 28th Solar Rotation...

2006-11-15T11:24:00.000-08:00

I woke up to this is the kitchen,left by Anne, Frank, Franci and Angie!

Here I am, celebrating my birthday with a trip to Hermanus with Omo and Jean.

HermANUS had some type of Memorial, and I found out later that November 11 is armistice day here in SA, but am unsure what war dead they pay tribute to. Other than this sighting, the observance seemed non-existant.

And yes, this was where I fell in love with the dassies!Dassies are a common name for a hyrax, which, "despite the unexceptional appearance of modern hyraxes, the order has a remarkable prehistoric lineage and hyraxes may be the closest living relatives of the elephant."

Later on, my Mom and Cathy hosted a party for my via the internets!
Then I went out for excellent thai food with Kerensa. After that, we had adventures on Long st!!

2006-11-14T15:21:00.000-08:00

The caption below reads : "OFFICIOUS: This unidentified man, who is holding a pair of nunchakas, martial arts sticks, kicked Cape Argus phtographer Henk Kruger in the stomach in Hout Bay and manhandled reporter Candice Bailey, tearing up her notepad"

2006-11-13T12:01:00.000-08:00

Penguins in Simon's Town

Listen to Maya in the background repetedly ask "what is wrong with the boogie man?"

These Dassies Made my Day!

2006-11-12T02:47:00.000-08:00

2006-11-10T05:15:00.000-08:00

Last night I dreamt that George Bush had a lunch box full of Rumsfeld's still-alive bodyparts that were converted into "cyberskin" - he arranged them so that rumsfeld's eyes would close into his buttocks when the lunchbox shut.

This photo is a view from my rear bedroom window. Right now the clouds are rolling down it again, which I just love.

I am so so so enjoying the fact that the Bush is having a bad time politically. It is about time! Apparently Bolton (US envoy to the UN) is about to lose his position. He is so irritating to me, though I am sure he will have plush jobs for life.

Cape Town may seem all beautiful in my posts, but the darker side is awful. Here is a little glimpse of the reality of life here. So sad.

2006-11-09T13:56:00.000-08:00

Here is a panorama of some pictures I took last sunday near Hout Bay.

Another panorama, but this one of a really cool phenomenon called the "Table Cloth" where the clouds pour over Table Mountain like waterfalls... the clouds evapourate before hitting the city. It is so amazing. I took this on the walk to the store yesterday after work.

This is Mia, not Farrow. Mia is Babs. She deserved a repost.

A bunch of dental moulds that are for sale for 8 rand each... I am thinking of buying some to make cool things with.

Some critters hanging out on top of a building on Long St... the one on the left looks sad and lonely about the evil character of his neighbour.

I took the photo above in the Gardens because the birds in the fountain were silly to me.

Part of a DICK CHAIR that is for sale downtown. This glass part is the part you sit on, and it is convex, so I don't see it being very practical, although I really appreciate the design!

One of the kitties looking at me on the staircase as I take her picture.

Cool bean things that are growing above my neighbour's car.

My street sign in Afrikaans.

Excerpt from UWC Message Board

2006-11-09T01:21:00.000-08:00

A male and female dog have been seen around Alan Boesak Residence. Both are black; the male has "dreadlocks" and the female is also a big dog with short hair. She has extended teats hanging. Please call Sharyn Spicer if you see these dogs or have any idea where they are sleeping, as these dogs need to be trapped.

2006-11-07T10:08:00.000-08:00

I have been here for less than a week and here are some of my favourite things so far about Cape Town South Africa:

street lights are called "robots"
it is common for people - children and adults alike - to be barefoot anywhere in public (including restaurants and shops, etc)
the University I am interning at has resident kitty cats that linger and meow... book sales are held to raise money for cat chow! I traded in bunnies at University of Victoria for cats at University of Western Cape

Seal Island off of Hout's Bay - I took a little boat ride with Kerensa and Maya to see these playful cuties that remind me of my canine land seal back home.

We pulled over on our way back to Cape Town and I took this picture while being hassled by craftmongers trying to sell me cool stuff. I abstained.

This is one of the funniest things about the city bowl so far (city bowl is just the word for downtown because the downtown is closed in by mountains like a bowl!!!) LABIA? I laugh every time I pass one of these!!!!

This is Faro channeling BABS!

I took this on my walk towards my home today. This is in the "Comapny's Gardens" - kind of like a botanical central park downtown.

2006-11-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

I am in Africa! Get ready for some great images of the Sahara from the sky (as soon as I get an adaptor!) This place is crazyville.

2006-10-14T23:54:00.002-07:00

2006-10-08T21:27:00.000-07:00

Tomatoes!

This is the harvest of our cherry tomatoes so far!

2006-09-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

This post is about my wonderful partner in crime, Russell! I will soon be leaving him to go usher in the summer south of the equator, but he will be orbiting the sun from this Island with my dog Abbey and my kitty Muchacho. Jasminder Doghiwal is madly in love with the 'chacho, so maybe Russell will witness some inter-speciel fertilization while tending to the furry fart-heads.
Russell is the ENTJ to my ENFP (though we are both closet introverts, too!).
His family welcomes me warmly (after his father's initial doubts about my age, but I won him over with some snarky comments at the dinner table one day).
Russ' internet "homepage" is a blank screen.
He follows directions with everything and takes timers seriously.
He gives Abbey hip massages and wants to take her to a chiropracter!
We watch "A Perfect Match" together, even though they probably only ever made 6 episodes and we just watch the reruns...
Russell buys me slurpees and will go out of his way to get the "good" version further away, even though he worries about my sugar consumption.
You should see him with a mullet wig - he bites the bruce cockburn style!
I want to wear his preserved hockey jacket from when he played in a league, but my bohunk body would rip up the seams!
The man rocks my helva - how many doctors talk about vomiting into Eddie Haskell's anus? Not many, I am sure.
I think Russell needs a blog, but he is classic Generation X and farts on my proposal!
We both waited 19 years to see "Un Zoo le Nuit" and it sucked!
Officer Barbrady has to "go poopies!"

2006-09-10T16:18:00.000-07:00

Russ and I went to South Park this weekend and I got a wicked ass Terrence and Phillip T-shirt! Russ was still drunk from Beer Fest here in Victoria, so he ranted to Colorado the whole time about how ridiculous it is for the Pope to say that Canada is turning its back on God.

I had a great curried tofu scramble this morning with friends from back home and a new/old friend from Halifax - she is heading home so that tomorrow Condoleeza Rice can seduce her with a memorial boner in Nova Scotia.

Seperated at Birth?

2006-08-29T23:52:00.000-07:00

Polaroids from Boulder!
JonBenét in a Coma!

Turds on the Grass: Abner turns 12!

2006-08-18T13:59:00.000-07:00

Today is a special day, as it marks Abbey's completion of twelve Earth orbits around the Sun! She oozed out of her mama's doggie vagina in Woodstock twelve years ago today which makes her about 84 in doggie years. Two years ago, her auntie Erin gave her two liver paw-shaped cakes!

Yesterday Russell and I dined at Sabri's for lunch which was sooooooo yummy (great indian buffet in Victoria) and we met a theoretical astronomer there who was visiting from U of T which thrilled me, beacsue I like space and cosmology and stuff…

Speaking of astronomy, I am contemplating the potential opportunity of seeing the "southern cross" in the night sky this year. I may be able to celebrate my birthday in the spring for the first time ever, as I may have a chance to live in South Africa for six months, given that militant buddhists have dragged Sri Lanka back into a civil war….

Farts in a Jar!

2006-08-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

I quit my job yesterday, and today I find out that my internship to Sri Lanka is CANCELLED due to security concerns!

2006-08-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

I have less than a month until I leave my fair island and head over to Ontario with my kitty Muchacho to pass him off to Erin. Muchacho will be spending the winter with my sister and Shane in Fredericton. Hopefully, he will remember how to be knid to the gliders.
I want to change this blog template to reflect my new context next month. It is neat that Colombo is exactly 12 hours ahead of Victoria, so I am moving as far from this location as possible (well, I suppose I will still be in the Northern hemisphere).
As anyone who has hung out with me is aware, I am not the best planner and do not make lists. Getting all my shit in gear to move to the other side of the planet for at least half a year will be a challenge for me. I should start gathering my piles now.

Reunited and it Feels So Good!

2006-08-05T15:47:00.000-07:00

Less than 24 hours after they were separated, Jasmine and Abbey blissfully reunite!

Send this Vancouverite to Sri Lanka!

2006-07-29T13:02:00.000-07:00

Sri Lanka truce dead in all but name: chief monitor
Hmm.. this sucks... I hope someone listens to this guy!

2006-07-28T10:07:00.000-07:00

2006-07-22T18:17:00.000-07:00

Tonight is Luminara! Wahoo!

2006-07-18T21:52:00.000-07:00

I will start this position in September.

2006-06-23T18:30:00.000-07:00

At Yael and Jason's wedding ceremony Monty thought the wooden cups were toys!

This is a crazy ass glaciar/ice field in Kluane National Park (Yukon Territory) that I took from the window of an airplane. Click on it to make it bigger, okay?

May I present THE CLEVELAND STEAMERS! My fabulous team this year at the 2nd annual Victoria Dodgeball Tournament. Although we were not the most competitive team in our division, we advanced to the Finals because of our phenomenal team spirit! Go Cleveland Steamers!

And of course, a goat kid massaging my back at the local petting zoo...

Some Photos from my Trip up North!

2006-06-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

Horses left to their own devices, wandering in the Yukon...

Silver City - a ghost mining town built in 1904

I made it to Edmonton finally!!!!

I took this photo from my cabin and it was almost 1 am... This is not manipulated, it is just the gorgeous and crazy daylight in the North near the solstice.

This little Grizzly dude wandered near our meetings - I hope he is okay!

2006-06-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

So I have been hired (!?) to photograph the Dance Victoria summer solstice event that is the subject of that little poster above! Some person found that picture of mine online and asked to use it for the poster, so I am being credited on the poster and will receive a print of it. Pretty funny - I have never met any of the people involved and they want to pay me quite a bit! I will be there next Wednesday to photograph the stilt walkers and twirlers though!

The Yukon was so beautiful - I really loved the extra hours of sunlight! It was awesome to explore what one of Canada's territories is like! I will post some pictures once they are on my hard drive. I went up to a magical wedding in the Cariboo, too, and will have to get some photos from that up here as well!

My Grampa is coming to visit me this weekend from Toronto! The first time I came to this island was with him twenty years ago this summer! Family West Coast Reunion!

2006-05-16T15:15:00.000-07:00

I found a “boat” washed up on a local beach on April 12th, and it had a number (430) written on it as well as an email address. It turns out that the boat was one of 500 released by a 5th grade class in Washington State and you can check the status of the boats here.
Here is a photo of my beautiful cousin Vanessa (“Vern!”) with her new doggie Ruby Clay.

Happy First Canine Mother’s Day, Verniqua! I hope Ruby brewed you up a pile of turds for the special day!
In other exciting news, I might represent my province next month in the Yukon at a conference for fur managers! I am for sure going to THIS, though. I think I need to join this club here before I show my face at the taxidermy expo!

I went to Gabriola Island!

2006-05-07T18:14:00.000-07:00

Bring it on...

2006-05-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

"The co-chairman of the Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nation Chiefs was among several dismayed by what wasn't in the new government's first budget.
Namely, more than $5.1 billion promised under the Kelowna deal reached last November by aboriginal leaders, the former Liberal government and the premiers.
Its exclusion comes on the heels of a botched police raid that escalated a continuing land dispute in Caledonia, near Hamilton, Ont., and another flood crisis on Kashechewan, a remote northern Ontario reserve that has repeatedly made grim headlines.
"We've been a very patient people for hundreds of years," said Stan Louttit, grand chief of the Mushkegowuk Council representing Kashechewan.
The tiny First Nation on the James Bay coast has been evacuated three times in the last two years because of flooding and, last fall, polluted drinking water.
"I don't know how far people can be pushed before they start carrying out things such as civil disobedience to make their point," Louttit said Wednesday.
"If that's what it takes, well, I suppose that's what it will be."
Opposition MPs taunted Indian Affairs Minister Jim Prentice in the Commons on Wednesday as he defended the budget.
It commits just $150 million this fiscal year to lift education, housing and water standards and to help close "socio-economic gaps" between native and non-native people."
-Toronto Star

What??

I will be there with bells on, should there be blackades and protests. This is ridiculous! How can Canada advise other nations with respect to social safety nets and good governance when our own people are constantly shafted because of their race?

In terms of the Caledonia protest in Ontario, I read yesterday that the province is planning on getting compensation rushed to the developers whose business interests are being hindered. Why the double standard? Who has more of a claim to the land - the traditional people or some corporations that are profitting off the land's development? Why is compensation for Aboriginals not this kind of priority when their rights go unacknowledged?

If Canada cannot overcome this inequity, what kind of nation can? We are rich and priviledged and educated! No excuses!

2006-05-02T10:47:00.000-07:00

Paid to Deny Global Warming - The people out to 'poison the debate on climate change.' – The Tyee

By Donald Gutstein
Published: May 2, 2006
TheTyee.ca
In early April, the Financial Post published a letter addressed to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and signed by 60 "accredited experts in climate and related scientific disciplines," as they describe themselves. They want Harper to begin a debate on the Kyoto Protocol.
Begin a debate? What do they think has been happening since 1988, when US National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientist James Hansen testified before the US Congress that he was "99 percent certain that global warming was here." That statement has been subjected to extensive, prolonged and worldwide scrutiny ever since.
The point of their letter is to deny "alarmist forecasts" of global warming and to attack "the confident pronouncements of scientifically unqualified environmental groups" whose goal is to capture "sensational headlines."
The letter is classic climate change denial and among the 60 signatories -- only 19 of whom are Canadian -- are the most prominent climate change sceptics, as they are frequently called.
The deniers' letter was followed two weeks later by one from 90 supporters of Kyoto. This group calls itself "climate science leaders from the academic, public and private sectors across Canada." No foreigners, no weasel phrases like "related scientific disciplines" (economics? agronomy?). Their point? The evidence is conclusive that warming has occurred and most of it is attributable to human activity.
These conclusions, they say, are supported by the vast majority of the world's climate scientists. Harper's assignment is to get on with developing an "effective national strategy" to deal with climate change.
More debate or action?
Financial Post editor Terence Corcoran seems to think that more debate is required. He did run the letter from the Kyoto supporters but accompanied it with an editorial attacking their credibility. Their crime is that some of them are federal government scientists and some have received peer-reviewed government grants. Therefore, what they have to say must be rubbish.
The problem with libertarians like Corcoran is that they can be so blinded by their ideology -- anything government does is bad -- that they don't see the problems a powerful corporate sector can cause. Call it a case of libertarian looneyism.
Funded by Exxon Mobil
The 60 deniers had no Corcoran editorial accompanying their letter. A question Corcoran might have asked is how many of the deniers are funded by Exxon Mobil and the coal industry?
It's a natural question to pose. The fossil fuel industry doesn't want mandatory limits on CO2 emissions because they would affect profits. It wants Canada and the rest of the world to do what George W. Bush did, establish voluntary standards and provide government subsidies to develop cleaner technologies.
To update his knowledge on this issue, Corcoran could read the works of Ross Gelbspan, who has been covering climate change for more than a decade as a reporter for the Boston Globe. Gelbspan discovered in 1995 that some of the leading skeptics were funded by the coal industry. He wrote a book in 1997, The Heat is On, and runs the companion web site, The Heat is Online. Gelbspan's recent book is Boiling Point: How Politicians, Big Oil and Coal, Journalists and Activists are Fueling the Climate Crisis -- and What We Can Do to Avoid Disaster.
Corcoran could also check out the May/June 2005 issue of Mother Jones, which tabulated the organizations that received funding from Exxon Mobil between 2000 and 2003 to fight CO2 emission controls.
And he could look at the SourceWatch site created by John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton.
Using these sources, Corcoran could put together some interesting profiles of the skeptics. Sallie Baliunas is a non-Canadian signatory to the deniers letter. She is a Harvard-Smithsonian Institute astrophysicist who has been giving global warming deniers scientific cover since the mid-1990s. She is a senior scientist at the George C. Marshall Institute (received $310,000 from Exxon Mobil). She co-wrote (with colleague Willie Soon, who did not sign the skeptics letter) the Fraser Institute pamphlet "Global warming: a guide to the science." (The Fraser Institute receives $60,000 a year from Exxon Mobil.) Baliunas is "enviro-sci" host of TechCentralStation.com (received $95,000 from Exxon Mobil) and is on science advisory boards of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow ($252,000) and the Annapolis Center for Science-Based Public Policy ($427,500). She has given speeches before the American Enterprise Institute ($960,000) and the Heritage Foundation ($340,000). The Heartland Institute ($312,000) publishes her op-ed pieces.
Why is Exxon Mobil so taken with Baliunas? With her colleague Willie Soon, she first claimed that solar effects could account for the earth's warming. When that theory was debunked, they next wrote a paper, partially funded by the American Petroleum Institute says Mother Jones, that claims the twentieth century hasn't been all that warm. The paper quickly became a mini-bible for deniers. But the editor of the journal where the paper was published resigned, saying it never should have been published because of a deficient peer-review process.
Exxon Mobil has been astonishingly successful in delaying action on global warming for more than a decade. During that time, oil revenues soared, Exxon took over Mobil for US $82 billion and in 2005, the combined company earned the largest profit in human history at $36 billion.
That was the year Exxon Mobil CEO Lee Raymond retired. As thanks for his work on behalf of shareholders -- the stock price soared over 500 percent over the decade -- he received a retirement package valued at nearly $400 million.
Sceptic in demand
Closer to home, one of the 19 Canadian signatories to the skeptics letter is Tim Ball, a retired professor of climatology from the University of Winnipeg, now living in Victoria. As a global-warming sceptic, he is in high demand by the front groups sponsored by the fossil fuel industry.
Ball's particular niche is the argument that since 1940, the world's climate has actually been cooling. The conclusion of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, reached by over 2,000 climate scientists, that the world is heating up is wrong, he says, because it used "distorted records."
Undistorted records in hand, Ball is promoted by the National Center for Public Policy Research ($225,000 from Exxon Mobil), and Tech Central Station (which also receives support from General Motors). He's a hot topic on the Coalblog web site, sponsored by the coal companies. In the past year, he's given policy briefings to the Fraser Institute and the Frontier Centre for Public Policy in Winnipeg.
You could have found him and Baliunas at a conference in Ottawa in November 2002, just days before parliament ratified the Kyoto Protocol. That conference, urging the government not to proceed with ratification, was paid for by Imperial Oil (Exxon Mobil's Canadian subsidiary) and Talisman Energy and put together by public relations firm APCO Worldwide.
APCO's assignment for Imperial Oil was to bring together a roster of climate change skeptics to reveal Kyoto's "science and technology fatal flaws."
An APCO specialty is supporting rogue scientists who are financed by industry and purport to challenge established scientific thinking. APCO organized The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition, which was originally funded by the Philip Morris Company, to attack epidemiological studies which implicated environmental tobacco smoke in slightly increased rates of lung cancer in non-smokers. Such studies could not be allowed to stand, given the tobacco industry's claim that harm from smoking was regrettable but due to individual choice, not second-hand smoke. This work was essential in Philip Morris' efforts to limit the impact of passive smoking regulations. APCO then widened the financial catchment to include other companies with poisoning or polluting problems. The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition was so successful that it was assigned a lead role in opposing Kyoto.
Vancouver PR whistleblower
And that makes Jim Hoggan mad. Hoggan runs one of the largest PR firms in Western Canada. PR practitioners rarely criticize the work of their colleagues, but Hoggan pulls no punches in his scathing denunciation of the global warming deniers and their public relations advisors.
In December 2005, he set up his blog, which he calls deSmogBlog. In his personal manifesto, "Slamming the Climate Skeptic Scam," he writes "it is infuriating -- as a public relations professional -- to watch my colleagues use their skills, their training and their considerable intellect to poison the international debate on climate change."
It's powerful reading.
Hoggan recently broke the story that one of the 19 Canadian deniers had recanted, saying he was misled about the letter's content when he signed on.
True, the Hoggan firm does work for organizations that do not spring to mind when thinking about environmental protection -- Delta Land Development and Sea-to-Sky Highway Improvement Project, for instance. And organized labour would be no fan of his. He has an "extensive" background representing companies involved in labour disputes. And he has Partnerships BC as a client. But he's not afraid to list his clients on his web site, in contrast to many PR firms.
And Hoggan has a large pro bono practice in which he represents clients like the David Suzuki Foundation, one of the most consistent targets of the deniers. He's also creating a market niche around the issue of sustainability.
In a recent post, Hoggan discusses a column by Globe and Mail columnist John Ibbitson, who complains that here's a letter from 90 scientists urging action; there's a letter from 60 scientists urging Harper to ignore calls to action. "What's a layman to do?" Ibbitson whines.
His solution? Forget about global warming and instead work with the US to improve air quality. "After all," he writes, "a continental agreement on air quality would do far more to improve the lives of both Americans and Canadians than any actions specifically targeted at reducing greenhouse-gas emissions."
It's called bait and switch. We're alarmed about the health of the planet our grandchildren will inherit. But (thanks to the lies and deceptions of the deniers) nobody can agree on what's happening, let alone what should be done. So let's do something that we can all agree on instead.
Ibbitson's column makes clear the political purpose of the deniers' letter -- to help Harper out of a tight corner. His goal of capturing a majority government depends on winning seats in Ontario and Quebec, the provinces where support for Kyoto is strongest. He could court their support by giving them Kyoto, but this would infuriate his oil industry masters.
These are people like Gwyn Morgan, retired CEO of EnCana Corp., long-time Fraser institute trustee and generous Conservative Party funder who Harper placed in charge of vetting all senior government appointments.
So obfuscate, confuse and divert attention to clean air is the order of the day.
Why Canada is key
Why would 41 foreign deniers be concerned about what happens in Canada? Because what happens in Canada will shift the momentum towards or away from Kyoto.
There's a larger issue, too. In 2007, the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is expected to warn governments that global warming could drive the Earth's temperature far higher than previously forecast.
The UK's Royal Society, in a confidential internal memo leaked to The Guardian last month, predicts that the lobbyists will try to undermine the IPCC's report. "There are already signs these groups will be targeting European countries and Canada to seek to provoke opposition to the Kyoto protocol."
And thanks to deniers for hire and newspapers like the National Post that spread their baloney, their task will be made that much easier.
Donald Gutstein, a senior lecturer in the School of Communication at Simon Fraser University, writes a regular media column for The Tyee.

And he is an economist at a respected University?

2006-04-28T12:57:00.000-07:00

Reading articles like this, and realizing that people can be published and respected makes me SO SAD! I encourage everyone to write to the Post to discredit his weak arguments here:

Climate 90 miss the point of debateNational Post Fri 28 Apr 2006 Page: FP19 Section: Financial Post: Comment Byline: Reuven Brenner Source: Financial Post
Judged by their Climate Manifesto, the Climate 90 signers are not scientists. That is the unavoidable conclusion of the Climate Manifesto's language.
The issues in this climate debate are simple and rather clear. The disagreement is not about rising temperatures but whether the rise can be attributed to human activity. None of the Manifesto's four points claim to solidly back their conclusion. Their approach isn't scientific at all.
1. The two groups agree on the first point: "There is increasingly unambiguous evidence of changing climate in Canada and around the world."
2. The second point has nothing to do with "science": It is a forecast. Moreover, the point does not say how the forecast is linked to "human activity" or which human activity brings it about. Since all climate scientists know that the Earth's climate has gone through periods of warming and cooling that had nothing to do human activity, and since we are now within the range of that variability, this forecast must be taken with grain of salt.
3. Advances in climate science since the 2001 IPCC Assessment have provided more evidence supporting the need for action and development of a strategy for adaptation to projected changes." What does this statement mean, if anything? It reads like bureaucratic political blah-blah. "More evidence" does not mean "convincing evidence." And even skeptical scientists have not opposed people adapting to the warming temperature.
4. Their last, very prudently articulated fourth point suggests a lack of evidence -- it only asks for more taxpayer money to finance research. This point is fine; researchers are entitled to be lobbyists, though perhaps they should register as such." Canada," it says, "needs a national climate change strategy." First, red flags should pop in one's mind when people invoke nationalism and patriotism when talking about science. If one is talking about "global climate change," what can Canadian taxpayers, with just 33 million people scattered on an immense surface, do to have any effect? Then the signers ask for "continued investment in research, [to] understand what is happening, to refine projections of changes induced by anthropogenic release of greenhouse gases."
Does this sound as if there is strong evidence of human activity causing global warming? Not really. Which is fine, that's why there is disagreement in this field of science. This isn't the major issue.
But here we come to the most troubling part of the entire manifesto, and one wonders how 90 scientists could endorse it. The principle of scientific research is NOT to confirm, and analyze opportunities and threats but to try and reject a hypothesis. Scientific research is about finding deviations, because deviations disprove rules. Science is not about going with the herd and confirming what some have found but to try and reject it. After all, the saying in science is "Even if one million people believe in an idea, it can be a very dumb idea."
The government may decide to fund further climate research but it should do so with strings attached, and finance proposals that state explicitly how they will try to reject findings rather than confirm them, let alone politicize the subject or speculate about threats. (Of course, fear mongering is easy, can find political support, and bring in money for "research" that very conveniently subsidizes pleasurable conferences in -- where else? -- warm climates. This principle should hold true for researchers on either side of this or any other scientific debate.
It is about time that taxpayers stop funding activists and lobbyists who masquerade as scientists. The government would give a strong signal by applying a scientific "Accountability Act" by putting the 90 who signed this "manifesto" on the watch list.
Reuven Brenner lectures at McGill University's Desautels Faculty of Management.

2006-04-28T12:17:00.000-07:00

When shuttle Discovery lifted off the launch pad last July on the first flight since the 2003 Columbia accident, it hit a vulture during its climb to orbit.
Discovery did not suffer any damage that time, from the vulture or from the chunks of foam that fell off its fuel tank during launch. But NASA fears collisions with the large, carrion-eating birds could damage shuttle heat shields, leaving the spacecraft vulnerable to an accident like the one that killed Columbia's seven astronauts.

2006-04-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

"The probability of a grizzly and a polar bear actually mating is actually pretty low," he said. "Partly because polar bears mate on the sea ice and grizzly bears mate on the land."

2006-04-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

Seals eat fish as a main source of food, so do you think the hunting of seals would affect the number of fish found in the ocean by a great amount?

Paul Watson: Only 3% of a harp's seals diet is made up from Cod. There is a very complex food chain in the ocean and this diversity and interdependence has worked very well throughout time. The cod was not destroyed by the harp seals. The species was depleted by human fisheries. At the time of Jacques Cartier, there was no shortage of fish and there were ten times as many seals. The fact is that the largest predator of cod aside from people are other species of fish, the very fish that harp seals prey upon. When you lower harp seal populations you increase predatory fish populations thereby contributing to a further decline in the cod. Rather than more seals less cod, it is more seals = more cod and less seals = less cod.

Rebecca Aldworth: In fact, many scientists believe culling seals may further impede recovery of fish stocks by removing even more biomass from the ocean. Visit www.fisherycrisis.com to find out more about this theory. We do know that harp seals (the target of the commercial seal hunt) are opportunistic feeders (see www.imma.org/harpdiet.html). That means they eat a little bit of a lot of different species. Commercially fished cod accounts for about 3 percent of their diets, but they also consume many significant predators of cod. To learn more about this, you can read a presentation that was given to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans www.imma.org/fishcomm/#cull by Dr. David Lavigne on the topic. You should also have a quick look at this simplified depiction of the food web of the northwest Atlantic www.ifaw.org/ifaw/dfiles/file_54.jpg - as you can see, determining what the impact of a seal cull on any one fish population would be next to impossible. And even the Department of Fisheries and Oceans agrees: "Seals eat cod, but seals also eat other fish that prey on cod. There are several factors contributing to the lack of recovery of Atlantic cod stocks such as fishing effort, the poor physical condition of the fish, poor growth, unfavourable ocean conditions and low stock productivity at current levels…It is widely accepted in the scientific community that there are many uncertainties in the estimates of the amount of fish consumed by seals. Seals and cod exist in a complex ecosystem, which mitigates against easy analysis or simple solutions to problems such as the lack of recovery of cod stocks." http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/seal-phoque/facts-faits/facts-faits2004_e.htm#SEAL%20PREDATION%20ON%20COD

(Source)

I challenge any reader to dispute this information and convince me that the seal hunt off the Canadian East Coast has the capacity to recover cod stocks (that dropped because of human mismanagement.)

2006-04-18T19:04:00.000-07:00

2006-04-10T16:04:00.000-07:00

My words were published in the Vancouver Province yesterday, in response to Friday's editorial. I'd have written a little more intelligently if I'd have thought that there was a potential that it would end up in the newspaper.

2006-04-03T17:45:00.000-07:00

Here I am in Cranbrook! I have meetings at the "regional offices" tomorrow - this is where business trips in BC will take you! I feel SO lucky - this province is GORGEOUS! I slept on the plane and when my eyes opened, I was so impressed with the beauty out the window.

I think it will be hard to find a yummy and nutritious vegetarian dinner, though. Tomorrow I hope to go to the taxidermy museum if I have time!

What is this bullshit??

2006-03-29T08:54:00.000-08:00

A troubling article in New Scientist summarized evidence of increasingly strange behaviour by elephants throughout Africa.
For example, while elephant populations in Uganda are at historic lows and wild forage has never been more abundant, New Scientist reports wild elephants showing unprecedented aggression toward humans, destroying cultivated gardens and in one case invading a village, trampling dwellings and blocking roads.
The article reports that elephants in South Africa's national parks have begun attacking other species -- rhinos, for example -- and each other. In one park, 90 per cent of the male elephants killed are victims of other male elephants, a rate that's 15 times the usual rate of conflict.
Last year, New Scientist says, leading scientists reported that "elephant breakdown" is taking place all over Africa.
What's behind it? Humans are, thanks to both poaching and scientifically planned herd management.
First, scientists now say these highly intelligent animals are exposed to great psychological trauma as they watch humans -- whether poachers or wildlife managers culling herds -- publicly kill members of their tightly-knit families.
Second, in both poaching and managing, complex elephant families are often deprived of both matriarchs who teach the young and mature dominant males who keep young males in line.
The result, New Scientist reports, is dysfunctional families in which teenage mothers without parenting skills are raising "a generation of juvenile delinquents," while the absence of mature dominant males leaves young males with no curbs on their aggression. Some scientists argue that elephants now deliberately direct violence at humans who have traumatized them.
We've been "scientifically managing" elephant populations for half a century and it's only just begun to dawn on us that the mechanisms in which we've meddled are far more complicated than imagined.
Now we discover that the outcomes of our insensitivity -- shooting parents in front of their relatives is devastating for humans, why would we assume elephants don't care? --may eventually affect us as well as the elephants.
-Stephen Hume: Our meddling is driving intelligent animals crazy in today's The Vancouver Sun

2006-03-22T15:22:00.000-08:00

2006-03-21T13:16:00.000-08:00

Happy Vernal Equinox!

I trapped another doberman! This one was further than the last one, however, and was found in the wilds of Ucluelet - I think she was hoping to capitalize on the Pacific Rim Whale Festival!

2006-03-13T19:20:00.000-08:00

Aye aye aye!

Some deaths occurred over the weekend. The first was LUNA the orca who was sucked into a vaccuum tube of a tug boat and shredded in the boat's propellor! This makes me very sad - I think of whales as elephants of the sea! I saw "L-98" (as he was known to federal biologists) about a year and a half ago by Nootka Sound - this was his home.

Slobodan also died over the weekend but unfortunately his demise was not as dramatic as Luna's. Based on my reading and research, Mr. Milosevic was a prime asshole who sucked shrivelled camel testes but check the BBC website's forum about him! I still think he sucked big time though. It is so unreal to me that Europeans continue to tolerate genocides! Here I am, raised in the "new world" post-enlightenment, thinking that secularism and multiculturalism is where its at, only to discover that evil disgusting massacres happened within the past decade on European soil! Is that "never again" slogan that we inherited from the Holocaust bullshit?!? And don't even get me started on the bullshit being farted out of other regions. Why isn't Burma/Myanmar on the global radar? Why are women marching the streets of Khartoum with a baby in one arm and an automatic assault rifle in the other, vowing to make a bloodbath of UN peacekeepers? The powers that be sincerely don't give two turds about human rights - such concerns are a thin veneer for greed and arrogance. We all need to dance and eat berries and be kind to one another as this world really is chaotic crap.

Tomorrow I take my first float plane ride ever! Yahooo Savannah! I need to recharge my digital camera batteries!

In other exciting news, I am so damn happy that water has been discovered on one of Saturn's moons - I will make sure that the Provincial wildlife department is prepared for the inter-planetary species which are sure to prove invasive!

Also, check out the new Mars maps - Google sucks for agreeing to censor information in order to get those lucrative Chinese contracts, but their technology sure does rock!

In other news, I will be getting a 90 minute facial at Tonic Spatique sometime in the future! Wahoo! Time to be a lady!

2006-03-09T11:26:00.000-08:00

Is a FIGHT BREWING?

2006-03-07T09:48:00.000-08:00

Big Up to Cyberspace! I am floating along at the Fish and Wildlife Branch and may have some time off soon due to a union strike. I am fighting off a cold and writing a funny memo for one of my bosses. I have my first official business trip next week! I get to take a float plane (or maybe even a helicopter) to Vancouver for a two-day workshop that some colleagues and I have been organizing for “regional” managers and biologists. I read on BBC this morning that two of the next twenty extinction “hot spots” are in Canada – in the North and in the Eastern forests – what the hell wildlife is in the east? Labrador Retrievers! I think we will need to breed those chowhounds in captivity so that we don’t have another tragedy like the extinction of the thylacine. By the way, dig that photo of me with my latest trapping trophy – I caught this mature buck in the wilds of Sooke…. Very rare indeed! I cannot believe my good fortune!

2006-02-28T18:12:00.000-08:00

You are Socialist

What: Socialism

Where: At the distant bottom-left of the politcal spectrum

How: Comparable to communism, socialism is an economically authoritarian political standpoint. Often, people are guaranteed jobs and given them, while workplaces are being closely regulated. Forms of it are currently instituted in many modern countries, and it is know to support the working class, but also implode economies.

What political extremity are you?

2006-02-23T11:48:00.000-08:00

"We need, and we can, develop markets for our coca ... China is particularly important. The Chinese like herbs and they'll like our coca tea."

Today I love the cops. Go law enforcement! I woke up to a string of phone calls - it was the police department letting me know that my stolen computer has been recovered and is in fine shape! Wahoooo! What a nice treat for a girl who had no insurance on her appartment!

Know anything about anarcho-capitalism? Neither did I until yesterday. It is odd yet thriving in Somalia of all places. And Iceland apparently had some capitalist anarchy going on a few centuries back... Been wondering what is up with Mogadishu? Well, if you do some research you will be shocked and awed like Chaka Khan in the Iraqi Invasion!

I love this city I live in. The sakuras are in bloom and I want to spin on some cardboard to celebrate! Snow = cherry blossom petals on this fine island.

2006-02-16T17:20:00.000-08:00

That spookster is my Great-great-great Grandfather.

He died at the breakfast table.

2006-02-08T14:04:00.000-08:00

So my appartment suffered a narcissistic injury: there was a break and enter while I was working on Monday! Boo! Hiss! The thieves stole my computer and keyboard and my roomate's VISA. The cops are hoping to get photos from a 7-11 surveillance camera when they bought fags!
Owls and frog-mouthed birds are weird. I think they deserve their own parade! I signed up for a 10 km marathon today! Am I crazy? Today my sister Ariel turns 16 years young. This is great in the suburbs where she lives because now she'll learn to drive and have ESCAPE potential! I will mail her bison burgers to celebrate. I can remember 16 years ago today so well. Erin and I went shopping for a gift for our step-mother at Westwood Mall.

This is where the SASQUATCH lives!

2006-02-01T21:55:00.000-08:00

2006-01-19T19:02:00.000-08:00

I miss my dog! She is in Toronto still as I needed to fly back to work and there was no room for dog kennels on any flights that week.
What is ridiculous is that it cost me $190 to fly home to Victoria and to ship her on the same airline independently of me costs over $250! What kind of policy is going on THERE??
I am trying to rent out the coolest loft bedroom to a pet-person as I am sick of paying so much in rent! I want to start paying a mortgage!
My mom flew to Calgary today for her cousin's funeral - the poor guy was shot in the head by an angry former client who was denied a mortgage!
Shame!
I am loving my new job at the Ministry of Environment - I love all the taxidermied animals around. I need to befriend more people so I can get up close and personal with some big-horned sheep skulls!
I am going to visit some hotsprings this weekend for the first time in my life! Wahooo! When I was on the Baja Peninsula years ago I hiked forever in the dark with some friends looking for some hot springs we were told about....I remember wading through swamp-type stuff in a sundress surrounded by bioluminescence....but our mission was not successful. I will rectify that this weekend!

Bowling Ist Rad!

2006-01-15T21:27:00.000-08:00

Yippee Yahoooo Savannah!

2006-01-10T12:47:00.000-08:00

Aye Aye Aye!

I am super thrilled to be able to say that I am now officially employed as a Policy Analyst with the BC Ministry of the Environment! I am going to assist with troubleshooting issues arising from the Wildlife Act!

I get to work with biologists! Dead animals are on the walls! Maps too!

Not only am I happy to have employment, but I am thrilled to be working in a field of law and policy that I sincerely enjoy.

Year of the DOG!

2006-01-04T14:30:00.000-08:00

2005 was fucked!

I said goodbye to very massive parts of my life last year. My dog was by my side the whole time. I have never been good with letting go of things and when it comes to humans, this is especially true. While I have overcome the deaths of friends and lovers, I have never had to suddenly cease contact with a special person in my life when they are still alive and living in the same neighbourhood even!

I want to be able to embrace transitional periods better, as life sure is stocked full of them. With loss comes opportunity. I am so grateful for my physical health and fundamental awe with existence.

Resolutions? None really so far. I actually followed through on some resoltions from last year which makes me happy! I just want to use my moisterizers more often than I do. My problem is that I hate oily ointment stuff on my face. I'd also like to start writing more in my spare time and maybe get published in local papers.

Less thought and more action.

Express my talents.

Love to small lizards everywhere.

2005-12-28T13:06:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my favourite quotes of 2005:

"You would have to eat 10 billion meals of brains, spinal cords, ganglia, eyeballs and tonsils to get the disease." Alberta Premier Ralph Klein on the chances of being infected by mad cow disease.

"You are jerks!" French actress Brigitte Bardot of Prime Minister Paul Martin and Fisheries Minister Minister Geoff Regan for allowing the seal hunt.

"The justice system has never given Indian people a fair shot at anything." Robert Whitehead, chief of the Yellow Quill First Nation, after a white man convicted in a gang rape escaped jail time.

I am back in the "middle east" of Canada (Ontario, and more specifically, Toronto) and it is great to be around humans that don't like to focus on how powerful, snobby and arrogant (stereotypically) my hometown is. I think people despise cities they don't know out of ignorance and inferiority complexes.

On the Toronto front, the talk is all about midday shootings in public areas. Inncent bystanders being killed because of the disillusionment of young, impoverished youth. I sincerely do not understand why some people are attracted to gangsta-bullshit. I think the root causes of such disrespect for life are complicated (social welfare cuts, familial norms, poverty, a soft justice system, popular culture glorifying guns and gangs, a lack of role models, etc.) Toronto still has the second-lowest crime rate in Canada, however!

2005-12-22T20:03:00.000-08:00

Abnitor Jaguarro and Myself Wish You All HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

2005-12-18T22:39:00.000-08:00

Looking at pictures from the past makes me sad. I was just looking at some photos from this time two years ago and it is almost like my anguish then is still somehow present in me - not as explicit, but somewhere inside. I need to overcome some emotional baggage that has had me confused, scared and fucked-up for some time now. I wish I didn't have to be so vague on this blog though. Sorry. I just need to let go, forgive myself for what I perceive as "mistakes" and just move on.

I am still learning so much about myself and what I need and what motivates me. I wish everyone was raised in a safe environment with unconditional love.

I underwent the most drastic change in appearance today than ever before in my entire life.

I did it.

My hair is a warm brown and it is short.

Bangs may come soon.

The Banger Sisters was an awful movie that I watched in hotel room in Kelowna one night in between bus rides. What was Susan Sarandon thinking?

The indigenous candidate, Evo Morales, won the Bolivian presidency. Well, pretty much. Got 42% to 45% of the vote - far ahead of the incumbant. As well as a president, Bolivia elected a new Congress and regional governors today. That is a lot of SHIFT WORK!

Under their election rules, if no candidate polls 50% of the vote, the election does not go to a run-off but is decided by Congress instead. This new dude has promised to legalize coca production but not for the manufacture of cocaine, but to use it for more basic purposes (food, I believe). The USA has already issued a statement saying that they expect the new government to continue to honour previous commitments in terms of fighting the production of illegal drugs.

Coca prohibition or democrazia, Mr. Bush?

I think he likes the coca, as far as I have heard. In other news, I saw his daughter Jenna's twat on the internet this week.

2005-12-14T16:52:00.000-08:00

I don't like reading stories about animals dying. Unfortunately, my chosen books lately are all about rotting animals. Including goats.
Last night, it was a human death that I read about in my bed. Finally, a break!

My christmas lights from last year are not working. Sort of like my brain. And my psyche still aches. I am trying to solve that dilemma as best as I can.

I have been put in touch with a lady who could perhaps be my mentor. She has a law degree and went to the London School of Economics (as I had the option to do) and is now a professor here at the local Univeristy where her interests are in International Law. Sounds like my kind of chick! AND a former deadhead! Not that I ever was a dead or a phish head, but I surely am comfortable within that ultra-stimulating yet laid-back culture.

To keep on this positive note, I am super super happy to be able to say that an essay that I wrote last year about the regulation of "non-timber forest products" (ie. mushrooms, salal, botanicals for essential oils and tinctures) has been chosen to be included in the next edition of a book about sustainable forestry! Wahoo! Here is the book as it was published. I think the next book will be called "The Wealth of Forests II" or something. I might get a whole chapter! I don't really anticipate any money to come from this, but the idea of being published is just so damn exciting to me. I need to alter my resume. It will also increase my chances of getting research grants and scholarships and bursaries.
I just think it is hilarious that this girl from the industrial suburbs of Toronto (and who stopped studying science a decade ago) will now be published as some authoritative analyst in the realm of forest policy!
Bring it on! Take me to Madagascar!

In other realms of my life, I have been told that I tend to "speak in conclusions" as I do a lot of the reasoning to get to my thoughts internally, whereas most humans sort out their thoughts externally. I guess this is what leads others to believe that I sometimes want to just conform them to my line of thinking rather than sincerely soliciting their opinions.

I think I am a zoologist trapped in the body of a law graduate.

This kicks ass!

I am considering cutting my long blonde hair to my shoulders and dying it brown!

My best friend is turning 30 next year. I am already envisioning the cake I will prepare for her.

A giant peace lily is in bloom near me. Good thing Beth is not around to snap it off!

2005-12-12T18:20:00.000-08:00

Well, Christmas has come early for this bitch.
Muchacho came to the window today with a
mouthful of branches and I almost tried to pull
them all out as I feared the leaves were caught
in his teeth. (Or his cat tumour!)
Instead, it turns out that he is dragging a bird
corpse in to brag to me. This cat has never
brought such trophies home before. I thought
he just liked to beat on other cats,
not flying fuckers!

Click on Each Word of my Post for a Diversity of Treats!

2005-12-06T16:54:00.000-08:00

The intellectual space in which to debate cross-species consumption is further contaminated by ignorance; most humans who choose to eat animal bodies are not specifically informed about the material conditions that enable corpse eating, nor do they tend to want to know about it.