A Sad State of Affairs

The sad state of our culture's priorities.

BBC News - Information goes out to play

Sunrise

I was working at the computer and I happened to glance up and see a red tinge to the sky. I stood up to check out the sunrise and it looked pretty good so I grabbed my camera, threw on shoes and a jacket and ran down the back alley to the top of the hill overlooking the river.

The power line tower is a little annoying, but it was still a spectacular sunrise. And yes, the color was really like that, I didn't mess with it in the computer. We've had some good sunrise's and sunset's lately.

The annoying thing was that after the light show was over I looked at the display on the back of the camera and saw that the anti-shake / image stabilization was turned off!  I've been caught multiple times by not putting settings back to normal and I'd carefully checked the focus and iso and exposure adjustment etc. But I had forgotten to turn off the remote release after the previous bird pictures. And when you have the remote release turned on, it assumes you're using a tripod and turns off the anti-shake. I wish there was an easier way to reset all the settings. (There is a "green" mode that does that, but it only shoots JPEG not RAW so I don't use it.) Of course, some of the settings are actually physical knobs and levers (how quaint!) which a reset button couldn't handle. But it could still beep and flash and make it obvious so you'd know to manually reset those ones.

I hadn't thought to grab the tripod, even though it was right there. I guess I'm not a serious photographer yet! Luckily, I did sit down and brace my elbows on my knees so I was reasonably steady even without the anti-shake.

Red-breasted Nuthatch

There were a dozen of these little guys around the feeder so I got out the camera and tripod and remote.

They were pretty skittish, even using the remote they could obviously hear the shutter through the window and would fly away.

Bird Book

There's a new coffee table book called "Bird" of amazing bird photographs by Andrew Zuckerman.

You can get see many of the photographs on his website: birdbook.org Don't miss the videos under Films, I really liked the Aviary and Behind the Scenes as well as the first Bird Film.

I see he had a previous book called Creatures that looks pretty cool too.

His main web site is andrewzuckerman.com I liked the video under Work > Films > Wisdom.

I also see some of his bird photos are in the latest issue of Audubon magazine.

Killing Things

Saskatchewan has put a bounty on coyotes.

Trevor Herriot comments on this.


Basically, people complain that coyotes (or gophers or wolves or buffalo or ...) are a nuisance so we should kill them. Of course, because our god, money, is involved it's regarded as much more serious. But every business accepts restrictions (that cost money) for the good of everyone.

The logical conclusion of this attitude of our culture is to kill everything except our beloved, precious human beings and the things they eat.

Don't other living things have a right to the planet as well? And even if you don't believe that, do you really want to live on a planet with just us and our food? (If that's even possible, since we rely on the ecosystem a lot more than we realize.)

And for some extra craziness, if we did succeed in wiping out most of the coyotes, we would then list them as endangered and spend large amounts of time and effort trying to "save" them.

Politicians

Bill C311, the Climate Change Accountability Act, has been stalled again.

NetNewsledger via Nature Canada

As a result of of an email I sent, I recently received an email from Justin Trudeau (a canned response) that made it sound like the Liberals, unlike the Conservative, are 100% behind this bill. They must have a different definition of "support" since the Liberals joined forces with the Conservatives to stall the bill.

Photo of the Day

I was going through my Australia photos getting ready for a slideshow (2pm Fri. Oct. 23 at the downtown library) and came across this one from the Sidney Taronga Zoo. Quite the display!

I've uploaded a big enough image to use for a desktop background if you're interested. (Click on this image to see the bigger version. Right click on the big version and save it if you want to use it for a background.)

A Beautiful Fall Day on the Prairies

After snow and -10c it was great to have a beautiful sunny +16c day.  Too nice to stay inside.

2009-10-17 Prairies

It was very calm, hardly a breath of wind. Not much stirring. Even most of the bugs were gone after the frost and snow. As I was walking back to the car I could hear some birds calling. It turned out to be a huge flock of Sandhill Cranes (scroll down and listen to their distinctive call)

Some friends were lucky enough to see some rare Whooping Cranes today.

Fees and More Damned Fees

The Forest, The Trees and the Bag Fees - The Brancatelli File at JoeSentMe.com

I love it - the airlines that tacked on the most fees lost the most money. There's payback!

I suspect you could make the same case against banks and their never ending attempts to gouge more fees out of you.

So are we going to be bailing out the airlines next?

Vancouver Island Sea Life

More photos from our trip to Vancouver Island at the end of August.

2009-08 Vancouver Island sea life

We went scuba diving with Ocean Planet Adventures. They're a small outfit but they seem like a good bunch of people. The water was cold for wet suits, around 13c. Remember to bring your thermos of hot water to pour in your wet suit between dives! You can see why everyone switches to dry suits if they're going to be diving much. Despite the cold, it was definitely worth it. I love poking around in tide pools as well, but underwater is a whole other world.

The sea life is very different from tropical coral reefs, but it's just as rich in its own way. It was pretty murky and dark so all the underwater shots are with the flash. It's amazing how much more color stuff has when lit up by the flash. It looks much more drab in the low light.

Fine Feathered Friends

We have a bird feeder in the tree outside the dining room window and I love to see the birds that visit it.

Red-breasted Nuthatches like the one on the right are pretty cute. We had a Downy Woodpecker last evening. I thought it was a Black-capped Chickadee at first because of the black and white head. They're another favorite.

 

Of course, I picked a dark, cloudy day so it's not the greatest photo. I'll have to try to remember to take some pictures on a sunny day!

Driving Mentality

I was walking home yesterday after work, through residential streets. I approached an intersection. There was a car coming from the side street, but it was a ways back and not going too fast so I continued walking across the intersection.

The car slowed down for me (it didn't even need to stop) but at the same time it blasted its horn repeatedly at me. I assume for having the nerve to impede its progress. The driver raised her hands at me as if to say "what do you think you're doing". Uhhh ... I'm crossing the road, legally and properly, at an intersection. I didn't step out into traffic or anything silly. It was broad daylight.

What happened to pedestrians having right of way? It's obviously a thing of the past. Interestingly, a woman with two small children was waiting on the other side of the intersection to cross. She obviously knew that pedestrians no longer had rights and didn't even attempt to cross when there was a car anywhere in the vicinity.

I realize this is not the normal case. That's when you stand by the side of the road and watch the cars zoom by without them even considering slowing or stopping to let you cross. After all, we're walking, and therefore second class citizens, and must have all the time in the world to wait. Whereas they are driving, and all drivers are on urgent missions and have to get wherever they're going as fast as possible. Heaven forbid you should get in their way.

Photos from Vancouver Island

More photos from our trip to Vancouver Island at the end of August.

2009-08 Vancouver Island

Thanks for Not Driving

Once more, I give thanks that I get to walk or bicycle to work this way instead of sitting in a car in traffic.

This is the river end of the connecting path to Innovation Place. It wasn't that many years ago that it was a dirt track between a field and the railway tracks. The trees on the right between the field and the path are growing up nicely. And I have to admit that when it's wet the paved path is nicer than the mud used to be.

And here's a shot of a solitary end of season flower taken with my iPhone on the way to work.

The Smaller Majority

If you like nature and don't mind "creepy crawlies" have a look at The Smaller Majority by Piotr Naskrecki. Your local library probably has it (the Saskatoon library did).

The photographs are amazing and the text is great too.

Only in Saskatchewan

Shelley and I had planned to go kayaking this weekend but the weather didn't cooperate (rain and 50 km/hr winds) so we went down to Regina so Shelley could take part in the police memorial parade. Looking for somewhere to stay, I googled for "regina boutique hotels" and this was one of the top results:

Pretty sad when a Holiday Inn Express is the "premier boutique hotel"!

We ended up staying at the Hotel Saskatchewan - the price wasn't much different (via Expedia) and it's a little classier :-)

Redwoods — Photo Gallery — National Geographic

Redwoods — Photo Gallery — National Geographic Magazine

Some great photos.

Weather Ups and Downs

I just got back from an overnight kayak trip on the Hanging Heart Lakes and Crean Lake near Waskesiu. (Shelley was on call so I was on my own.)

The two days of weather couldn't have been much different. Saturday was 30c, sunny, very little wind. I started at the dock at Heart Lakes. (satellite view is best) There were all kinds of people out enjoying the day. The paddling was easy and relaxing. I kept going until the sun was getting ready to set.

It was too hot for the bugs on Saturday. ( I wonder why they don't operate in hot weather?) I sat outside and ate my supper and watched the sunset and wasn't bothered by a single mosquito. But as soon as the sun went down and the temperature dropped a few degrees swarms of them appeared like magic and I quickly retreated to the tent. Of course every time I went out and came back in it took several minutes to eradicate all the mosquitoes that snuck in with me.

This morning (Sunday) was much cooler at 7c, windy, and raining. I camped in a relatively sheltered spot but once I got out in the open water it was ... interesting. The waves bounced me up and down, spun me around, and slapped me in the face. It was a bit like a Disneyland ride, only I didn't have to pay, there were no lineups, and it lasted two hours. Crean is a pretty big lake (over 10 km across) and the growing whitecaps made me a little nervous. But the kayak is pretty stable and the spray skirt kept most of the water out, and I was close to shore if I did get tipped. Despite going mostly against the wind I made steady progress.

In the middle of this, two bald eagles appeared and flew around me for a while. I had to be careful not to get too distracted watching them and get creamed by one of the bigger waves. 

Once I got off Crean and into the Heart Lakes it was a lot calmer and I could relax, although I started to get cold once I wasn't exerting myself as much. Despite the rain gear and the spray skirt I was still pretty wet and sitting in a puddle of water. I can see why paddlers wear rain gear that seals around your wrists - getting a wave pouring water down your sleeve is a tad unpleasant!

Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the paddle back through the rain. Out of the wind it was quite peaceful. I had to stop a few times and listen to the sound of the raindrops hitting the lake. It was an almost musical pitter patter. The loons were also adding their own accompaniment. (When I searched I also found this video of a poem about loons.)

One advantage of the bad weather was that there were no other people anywhere to be seen. I was especially happy to be rid of the power boats. If you ask me, they should ban powerboats on at least some of the lakes. But that would no doubt be so unpopular as to be impossible.

I'm pretty lucky to be within relatively easy reach of more or less unspoiled countryside. The moss on the forest floor and the lichens on the trees, the ducks and loons and eagles - it's all pretty magical. I should get out here more often.

(sorry, no photos this time)

Summer's Final Fling

The weather lately has been gorgeous, warm and sunny and not even too windy. I've been trying to make the most of it - running, cycling, having coffee where I can sit outside. It's supposed to get up to 30c today!

Of course, it is the middle of September and the days are getting shorter, the leaves are starting to fall, and the Canada geese are congregating.

Although our winters are harsh, I still love the cycle of seasons we have here. If you compared winter to summer you'd think it was two different places entirely.

No Fly Zone

It's becoming increasingly obvious (to me) that flying isn't sustainable due to it's impact on climate change. Depending on whose numbers you believe, it's about 10 times worse than buses or trains. And unfortunately, there are no obvious (or even obscure) ways to make flying sustainable. You can have cars and buses and trains powered by electricity generated in sustainable ways. But airplanes require a concentrated fuel. Even hydrogen isn't a good fit.

The trip to Peru we've got planned this winter will contribute somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 tons of CO2 per person - more than what we should be producing in an entire year. I can buy carbon offsets but that doesn't change my impact, it just means I expect someone else to cut back.

So after Peru I'm going to quit flying for a while. For someone that loves to travel that's a hard pill to swallow. But if I'm not willing to sacrifice, how can I expect other, less motivated people to do anything?

People are willing to do things that don't require much sacrifice - changing light bulbs, recycling, insulating their house. But that will only go so far. The changes we really need require a lot more sacrifice and that's a show stopper for most people.

It's not all bad. In a way I'm excited about the possibilities. Constraints often end up encouraging enough creativity to more than compensate for the limitations they impose. I don't intend give up traveling entirely - there's lots of places I'd like to visit in North America that I can reach by bus, train, bicycle, etc. Even our Prius with two people in it is a lot better than flying. (And I'm less likely to travel as far by these means so that helps too.) Saskatoon is a Via Rail stop so I can get east or west that way. I could even get to Churchill Manitoba to see the polar bears before they're gone. The Amtrak rail network in the USA goes lots of places and connects to Canada in Vancouver and Quebec. Unfortunately, it's not easy to go south from Saskatoon - neither the trains or the buses go across the border except in Vancouver and out east. And once you're in the US the trains primarily go east/west except on the coasts.

Traveling by bicycle would be even better, but distances in North America are large. One option might be to travel by train or bus with my bike. For example, I could take the bus to close to the Saskatchewan border, bike across and then use buses or trains in the US. Of course, that might be a little tougher in the winter! Maybe I need a Montague folding bike (there I go again falling into the trap of needing more "stuff")

Shelley thinks I'm a little crazy, and she's not the only one. Of course, they're right, but not necessarily because of this :-)

Too many people are keeping their heads in the sand, even people that are supposedly committed to solving the problems. For example, I recently ran across the International League of Conservation Photographers. It sounded great so I went to see what they do and found they're organizing a conference in Merida, Mexico. So a whole bunch of people are going to fly long distances to go and talk about how they can save the planet. Maybe they'll talk about not flying?

The standard defense is the old "the end justifies the means" - that the good they're doing makes up for the damage. Come on, can you really get people to stop doing something by doing exactly what you want them to stop doing? Bah!

The campaign against climate change is an odd one. Unlike almost all the public protests which have preceded it, it is a campaign not for abundance but for austerity. It is a campaign not for more freedom but for less. Strangest of all, it is a campaign not just against other people, but also against ourselves. - George Monbiot, Heat