The Squamidian Report – June 10 / 06
Issue #201
Also in this issue:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Like I said last time, you are getting this issue early as I am off to Prince George for the weekend. The Wife has been coming home every second weekend, and this is one of the ones that she stays there so we figured it might be fun for me to pop up there, kind of pretend we are on a short vacation. So hook off work a bit early, get cleaned up, send off the Squamidian and head for YVR. Do the park-&-fly thing and away we go. I get in kind of late but my flight home on Monday will be in mid morning so if I can get a window seat and if it is clear out and if I remember to have my camera with me and if I can get some nice shots of the BC interior from 35000 feet through those tiny airplane windows I’ll do that and if they turn out I’ll post them for next week.
And just wait until I tell you where Sue’s next posting is going to be!
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We got out for a short biking run last weekend. Nothing like the scenery that Warren was in the week before, in fact, we really weren’t in any picture taking scenery. Well, actually we were, it was all around us but we were in the trees and on the overgrown older trails so we really couldn’t see it. The challenge for that type of riding is that you can’t see very far ahead. The rough, washed out old roads can be tricky enough to ride, but when you can’t see far enough ahead to pick your path through the obstacles it gets interesting. All of a sudden you may have a deep cross ditch with water running through the bottom, or a steep section of loose boulders. We had headed up Mulligan hoping to get up into the high open country but after blasting through the alders, heads down to keep from being swiped right off the bikes, we ran into snow. The snowline is receding but it is still fairly low due to the huge amount that piled up on the mountains last winter.
After turning back and coming out onto the Mamquam Main, we tried a few other spurs but each of these turned out to be blocked by stuff we couldn’t get past, like very washed out creek beds with snow-melt fed wild streams speeding through them. We could have stayed on the roads we knew to be passable but we were having fun and they could be ridden any time. So we backtracked after a while to where the Indian Arm Pass road branches off. Figuring it would be interesting to see if the pass was open and passable, we turned up that way. But a short distance up past the closed gate that we had bypassed we came to a side spur that we had never explored before. So up that one we went. It took us into an active logging area, but the trail also kept going beyond so we kept going. This seemed to be roughly paralleling the Indian Arm line except that it is part way up the steep south side of Mulligan. Our hopes were that it would take us to the trail that is supposed to follow the hydro tower line, the trail we have not been able to find the west end of. After a click or so we came up against a rock barrier blocking the old road. The rock at one end was fractured and broken into rubble. Looked like we might be able to bounce the bikes over this section so I tried first. I made it up one side but dumped the thing just as I crested the rock pile. There was simply no solid footing, the loose stones just rolled out from under your feet. From there it was easy to pick the bike up and continue on down the other side. Warren didn’t get quite as far when he dumped his bike. Same problem, loose rocks, no solid footing.
I went on a piece to see how the road was and it looks interesting, may even get us over to the trail we hope it will take us to. We know where the east end of that particular trail is but it drops over a ridge so steeply that we have never attempted to go down it incase we would be unable to climb back up if the trail proved impassible further on. So I turned back to where Warren was wrestling his bike back down to solid ground and after gauging the boulder field from that direction picked a route and made it over, doing a lot of bouncing as I went. Buy then we had run out of time but we will come back to this one next time and finish exploring it when we are just starting a ride, fresher and more energetic. Our ride had been hard and fairly exhausting, but very fun. On rides like this one we push ourselves into the more difficult areas rather than into the photogenic areas. It forces us to raise our riding skills a bit and have a different kind of fun.
While we were out Sue went out to pick up some groceries. Can’t beat that, she comes home from Prince George for the weekend and goes grocery shopping for me. As she drove back up the street behind us, Thunderbird Ridge, a bear walked out of the driveway that is right below our house. This was early afternoon, broad daylight. Our neighbour has had to clean up bear doo-doo a couple of times this week from his front lawn. I guess they are all over the play these days.
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Some Very Minor Geek Speak – An Oldie Goldie Computer Tip
This is more of a user tool tip than anything geeky, and it goes back to the advent of the computer mouse with the rolling scroll wheel on top. Do you find the text you are trying to read in an Email or document or web browser to be too small, or too large? Simply hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard and roll the mouse wheel back and forth to find the direction you want. One way will make the font appear smaller, the opposite way will make the font appear larger and therefore easier to read. This works for most MS applications as well as many other types. Only way to tell is to try. For instance, if you are reading this, experiment with re-sizing the text you are reading by doing what I just described. All this does is change the screen view inside the open window. It does not affect the actual font setting. You may find the Squamidian to be a whole lot easier on the old eyes.
doug
****
****
Hello
everyone!
Well, here
we go again! Another police action to give rise to criticism by the “Bleeding
Hearts” of our society. The RCMP and CSIS officers arrested a group of 17
Muslim members who were plotting terrorist activities right here in Ontario.
They had been watching these people for months and finally had enough evidence
to make the arrests this week. Before the ink was dry on the warrants we had
people jumping on the “Civil Rights” soap box. It’s being said that the
Canadian Justice System isn’t affording the accused members of this group the
same rights as any other citizen, prisoner or not. Now, I know that in Canada,
everyone is innocent until proven guilty and these gentlemen deserve the same
process. However, when the crimes of which they are accused are listed under
The Terrorism Act of Canada, there are certain limitations that must be applied
to the processing of said charges. When a
judge makes a decision and passes an order that the members of this
group NOT be allowed to communicate directly with each other during their
processing, that is a legal judgment supported by the laws of Canada and it
must take precedent over any other process such as one’s personal religion. The
request (or demand) by the prisoners in this case that they be allowed to pray
as a group would jeopardize the sanctity of the judges order. As in many other
criminal cases, co conspirators in a crime must be kept apart so as to prevent
them from “getting their story strait” and affecting the outcome of any trial
they may be facing collectively or individually. Too bad if they have to go it
alone! I don’t care what race, colour or creed you are, if you’ve committed a
crime there is a process that must be followed to assure that the results of
the decision affecting the outcome of guilt or innocence are proper and the
legal outcome of the trials take priority over anything else. In this case, the
safety of the people of Canada is of the utmost importance and suspected
perpetrators of terrorist activities in my opinion must have their rights limited
to humane treatment. This includes clean and comfortable accommodations,
medical care and decent food and clothing. I must add that the 5 youths that
are co-accused knew exactly what they were getting into and therefore deserve
no less punishment than those of “legal age” that are charged. There is very
little difference in the ability to understand one’s own actions mental or
physical from age 17 to age 19 years. There are one hell of a lot of teen age
people that are more mature than some adults when it comes to planning and
committing crimes. I think the distinction between youth and adult must be
judged by the gravity of the crime they are involved in. This is so, especially
when those involved are citizens of this modern NON third world country and are
educated individuals. After all, the men arrested in this situation are not sub
human individuals that were dragged kicking and screaming out of some a
stoneage civilization. They are people that have been raised and educated right
here in Canada and know the difference between right and wrong! I won’t tar all
Muslims with the same stick but the very fact that all of the individuals
involved in this case are affiliated both through race and religion tends to
cast a shadow on the Muslim community. I’m sure that if one tried hard enough,
one could find examples of white, Protestant, Catholic or Jewish criminals with
a taste for terrorism right here in Canada but they are few and far between and
I’d have to be shown documented proof of same before I’d be convinced. This
situation has really made it difficult for me to look at the Muslim religion
with trust. Hopefully cool heads will prevail and the Muslim people of Canada
won’t be wrongfully persecuted for the actions of this group. I’m just glad
that our special police forces are good at their job and we have to support
everything they do with regard to our safety. Terrorists have no place in our
society and those involved in terrorist activities do not deserve any
compassion from the law abiding citizens and other residents of Canada. I
personally would support the reinstatement of Capital Punishment for those
convicted of terrorist acts in Canada whether having caused death by their act
or not. All terrorist activity should be punishable by death and only by this
extreme result can we deter people from getting involved in Terrorism.
Whew!
Another one of those very serious subjects but I couldn’t let it pass without
getting my 2 cents worth in. I don’t expect all or any of you to agree with my
views of this situation but I thank you for at least taking the time to read
what I’ve just written. I’m going to be keeping an eye on the proceedings
against this group as I’m sure you all will do. I’m just glad the authorities
were able to arrest the individuals involved before anyone got injured or
killed. There have been over a dozen such groups either arrested or at least
dispersed by the RCMP and CSIS since 2001 and we must be grateful for such
successful diligence on the part of all law enforcement groups that protect the
citizens of Canada.
My hat is
off to them!
Thanks
for tuning in this week! I look forward to talking to you all again next time
in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for now… Greg.
PS:
Something To Think About>
In
violence we forget who we are.
Mary McCarthy
1961
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The Family and the Squamidian sites:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/ and http://www.thedougsite.ca
Have a good one..
the
doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.