Heh ...

Click

Well ... that and beaver tails ...

"... The Rideau Canal has been named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, putting it in the esteemed company of the Rocky Mountains, Gros Morne National Park, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, Old Quebec and the Waterton Glacier. ..."

*

Oh ... and rubber duckies!

It's time to start praying to the Great Turtle God ...

" ... Next week, the Council of Europe is going to vote on a resolution imposing Darwinism as Europe's official ideology. The European governments are asked to fight the expression of creationist opinions, such as young earth and intelligent design theories. According to the Council of Europe these theories are "undemocratic" and "a threat to human rights." ... "

A must read for all you newbies.

cross-posted
Update via smalldeadanimals

Uh, oh ...

Now they've gone and done it.

"The mud at the bottom of B.C. fjords reveals that solar output drives climate change - and that we should prepare now for dangerous global cooling."

" ... Climate stability has never been a feature of planet Earth. The only constant about climate is change; it changes continually and, at times, quite rapidly. Many times in the past, temperatures were far higher than today, and occasionally, temperatures were colder. As recently as 6,000 years ago, it was about 3C warmer than now. Ten thousand years ago, while the world was coming out of the thou-sand-year-long "Younger Dryas" cold episode, temperatures rose as much as 6C in a decade -- 100 times faster than the past century's 0.6C warming that has so upset environmentalists. ... "

Well .... that settles that!
Interesting reading, though.

Spring ...

Captions unnecessary ... but ...

That just about says it all ...

From e-Ariana ...

... Today, more than 70 nations are working together to stabilize Afghanistan and consolidate its new democracy. This truly international endeavor enjoys the overwhelming support of Afghans, who constitute an important strategic asset in the fight to contain terrorism. Thus, it is clear that Canada is in Afghanistan for different reasons altogether [i.e. not imperialism].

One of the most significant reasons for Canada's involvement is the country's own national security. One cannot deny the real security imperative Canadians will face if Afghanistan's stabilization efforts fail, and the country becomes the domain of narco-terrorists. Canadians may be wary of terrorist retaliation, but a surge in the illegal drug supply represents perhaps an even greater danger.

It is imprudent to think that Canada is exempt from increasing transnational security threats and that Canadian national security is not at stake with its mission in Afghanistan.

In light of this reality, the Canadian parliament extended the mission of their forces in Afghanistan until 2009, which the Afghan people gratefully welcomed as a lasting Canadian commitment to Afghanistan's reconstruction.

The government of Canada has increasingly focused on addressing the human security needs of Afghanistan's 25 million people. Last February, Canada committed $200 million in reconstruction funding to help the Afghan people stand on their own feet. The funding, in addition to Canada's annual allocation of $100 million for development programs in Afghanistan, will support five priority areas: governance and development; counter-narcotics; police reform; mine clearance; and road construction. This balanced approach to peace-building in Afghanistan should be emulated and further strengthened by other nation-building participants to leave no gaps for the Taliban to fill.

Canada and its NATO allies have already registered substantial achievements in promoting Afghanistan's reconstruction over the past six years. To consolidate gains already made, Canada and other NATO members need to support the upcoming Afghanistan-Pakistan Regional Peace Jirga, which Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Pakistani counterpart, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, have initiated, seeking ways to end the cross-border insurgency and to neutralize the Taliban's influence in Pakistan. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].

In addition, NATO forces, including the Canadian contingent, must implement a balanced "clear-hold-build" strategy in the restive provinces that border Pakistan. In most areas where the Karzai's Afghan government is weak, the Taliban is strong. This situation must be reversed. Once each area is swept of Taliban militants, NATO must help foster a strong Afghan government presence in these regions, enabling officials to both deliver essential services and to promote security. NATO troops can also support Afghan government efforts to break the power of narco-terrorists. This multi-pronged approach to peace-building would go a long way toward achieving Afghanistan's stabilization goals. And a stable Afghanistan means a heightened sense of security for Canada and other NATO members.

Editor's Note: M. Ashraf Haidari is the Political Counselor at the Embassy of Afghanistan in Washington, DC.

Goosebumps, indeed!

Extraordinary.
via Gail

Charlie Zender ... grab a shovel!

Canada has dirty snow. Who knew, and what horse did he ride in on?

A team of U.S. scientists has found that "dirty snow" is a surprisingly significant contributor to global warming, and is urging Canada -- as "custodian" of a vast, snowbound nation -- to lead an international cleanup effort.

The researchers have measured, in the first comprehensive study of its kind, how snowy landscapes tainted by carbon particles from inefficiently burned fuels and forest fires are absorbing more of the sun's heat than the less sooty snow cover of centuries past.

"Snow becomes dirty when soot from tailpipes, smokestacks and forest fires enters the atmosphere and falls to the ground," the team explains. "Soot-infused snow is darker than natural snow. Dark surfaces absorb sunlight and cause warming, while bright surfaces reflect heat back into space and cause cooling."

Even a slightly darkened surface impairs the natural reflective properties of snow crystals, say the scientists, who calculated that dirty snow accounts for a startling one-third of rising temperatures in the Arctic over the past two centuries.

"When we inject dirty particles into the atmosphere and they fall onto snow, the net effect is we warm the polar latitudes," says Charlie Zender, a University of California atmospheric physicist and co-author of a study published in the latest Journal of Geophysical Research. "Dark soot can heat up quickly. It's like placing tiny toaster ovens into the snow pack."

About 80 per cent of "black carbon" pollutants are man-made, the researchers estimate, with forest fires accounting for the rest.

Mr. Zender said that although all nations contribute to the problem of snow impurity through the long-range transport of pollutants, Canada bears particular responsibility to push for cleaner-burning fuels and reduced industrial emissions of soot.

"Just as Brazil is the custodian of the Amazon, a world resource whose deforestation has all sorts of negative consequences, so is Canada a custodian of an important swath of snow-covered land that helps to cool the planet," said Mr. Zender.

He also raised a red flag about increased ship traffic through the Northwest Passage -- widely viewed as a potential economic boon for Canada in the coming decades -- as a result of the melting Arctic ice pack.

"One implication," Mr. Zender said of his team's research, "is that any increase in shipping through the Arctic Ocean -- for example, the Northwest Passage -- is likely to exacerbate these effects by putting soot emissions right in the middle of the remaining snow and sea ice. We must think very carefully about this."

In their NASA-funded project, Mr. Zender and three colleagues from UC-Irvine and the University of Colorado calculated that dirty snow caused the Earth's temperature to rise 0.1 to 0.15 C, or up to 19 per cent of the total warming of 0.8 C over the past 200 years.

In that time, the Arctic has warmed about 1.6 C, and dirty snow there has caused at least 0.5 C of the warming, the team found.

"The global warming debate has focused on carbon dioxide emissions," the scientists note. But their research has "determined that a lesser-known mechanism -- dirty snow -- can explain one-third or more of the Arctic warming primarily attributed to greenhouse gases."

While the international Kyoto strategy to cut greenhouse gases is deemed essential to fight climate change, Mr. Zender's team says targeting sources of dirty snow could pay faster dividends in curbing some of the increase in global temperatures.

"Carbon dioxide lives in the atmosphere for a century, so cutting back on emissions can prevent further warming but does not produce immediate cooling," they said. "Policymakers could use these research results to develop regulations to mitigate global warming. Limiting industrial soot emissions and switching to cleaner-burning fuels would leave snow brighter. New snow falls each year, and if it contained fewer impurities, the ground would brighten and temperatures would cool."

The researchers warn that dirty snow not only results in gradual warming but can also create temperature spikes where surface snowmelt is accelerated enough to expose the deeper, darker layers of previous years' snowfall, or even the soil lying below.

A map produced by the team shows a minimal effect across most of mainland North America and extensive areas of significant heating from darkened snow throughout the High Arctic latitudes.

© The Ottawa Citizen 2007

We report, you decide.

[Cross posted]

The real shocker, here, is that the Globe and Mail has a category titled: "Behaviour Management"

Yuk.

A frightening report on the manipulation, social engineeering and state sanctioned drugging of Canada's children. Where have these investigative reporters been for the past thirty years? It's not news.

h/t PW

" ... why people hate Toronto"

BINGO!!

[...] Imagine, then, this spectacle: Like Big Brother in George Orwell's 1984, the face of William Thorsell, director of the ROM [Royal Ontario Museum], suddenly loomed several stories high over Bloor Street, projected onto the museum's new cladding. It was realistic enough to be terrifying. And it spoke! It said, of course, that this was a great moment, but the disembodied god-like presence left us trembling.

Thorsell and several others, magically revealed by celestial technology, turned out to be the show's highlight. Most of the evening was dead ordinary, but the Big Brother imagery at least delivered an element of primitive horror. And its spiritual implications fit the evening's theme.We were there to celebrate Toronto's devotion to a quasi-religious belief in art, progress and imagination.

First, though, it was a festival of thanking. At openings of cultural buildings, we give ritual thanks to donors, from whom all blessings flow. We do it as often as religious people thank the deity. Managers of these buildings must believe that donors suffer from a terrible thirst for gratitude, and they could be right. In any case, the thanking at the ROM reached previously unimagined levels of unction.

The performances filling most of the evening were also worked into the religious theme: In between acts, Paul Gross, our host, conducted an argument with a booming voice (Gordon Pinsent's) that claimed to belong to Time. We all realized that Time represented God, who would have come Himself if He hadn't been made illegal.

Time turned out to be just as pushy as the God of Genesis, though less interesting. He said all civilizations die and our time had come. He was "pulling the plug" this very night because we were growing less creative and polluting the earth.

In our defence, Gross offered the show we were watching (rap singers, Celtic dancers, an opera star, native drummers, whatever) as proof of our creativity. Time seemed unimpressed (and nobody would blame him). Besides, that still left Earth-despoiling. What could we say about that?

At this point the producers wheeled out David Suzuki, that national menace, to declare that the world is reforming itself by going green. As an example he cited some young girls who saved some old horses. He mentioned "my friend Al Gore."

[...]

Now ... that's funny.

Are you people out of your #%^&(@ minds?

The National Post:

No proof of citizenship, guarantor needed for passport renewal
BY JULIET O’NEILL CanWest News Service

OTTAWA • Canadians applying for a passport renewal will not have to provide proof of citizenship or a guarantor as of Aug. 15 under new measures introduced to simplify and speed passport applications.

First-time applicants will be able to use just about anybody with a passport as a guarantor as of Oct. 15. Guarantors, who vouch for an applicant’s identity, are now restricted to a small list of professionals.

But the government has ruled out, for now, extending the Canadian passport to 10 years from five, after noting many countries are reducing the length of their passports to five years from 10, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said at a news conference yesterday.

The government also pledged to alleviate long lineups and other inconveniences by hiring hundreds of new passport staff, extending office hours in some cities and holding clinics in rural areas where officials will collect completed applications. Another 65 post offices and government service centres will receive applications.

The measures were announced as Ottawa faced pressure to persuade the Bush administration to grant Canadians the same reprieve on passports as it has offered American travelers.

Mr. MacKay had said earlier in the House of Commons the government is “disappointed” that the U.S. administration did not offer to alleviate passport requirements for Canadians entering the United States.

[my bold]

Who's the next lying lier who will find a lying lier to say, "Hey, he's cool!"?

Another WTF moment in Canadian history ....

From the National Post:

Secretaries’ laugh therapy luncheon costs taxpayers $625
OUTAOUAIS HEALTH AGENCY ‘At $25 per person, the investment is really worth it’ BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS BERTRAND CanWest News Service

GATINEAU, QUE. • They take their laughter seriously at the Outaouais health agency. Last April, 25 secretaries, administrative assistants and support staff took part in a conference to learn how to laugh — at a cost to taxpayers of $625. They learned techniques to trigger their laugh, how to laugh at themselves and how to breathe through it all. Why? Because it lowers stress in the workplace, lightens the atmosphere and teaches people to better deal with stress, says the agency.

“If they spent $625 to learn about laughter therapy, it must not be funny in their workplace. People must be really stressed out,” said Marthe Robitaille, speaking on behalf of Outaouais l’urgence, a lobbying coalition that wants more health care funding for the region.

The 90-minute conference, held over a luncheon in April during Secretaries’ Week at a Gatineau golf club, was titled “Laughing at work — it’s serious.”

Apart from the 25 employees from Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de l’Outaouais, more than 100 other support staff from the region’s health care network took part in the conference.

“When employees are less stressed, at the end of the line, they perform better and are more efficient,” said Martin SaintLouis, spokesman for the agency. “At $25 per person, including lunch, to have secretaries that are motivated and more efficient, the investment is really worth it.”

The speaker was Linda Leclerc, a “certified laughter yoga teacher,” who was trained in B.C. by Dr. Madan Kataria, the Indian family physician who created laughter yoga. Her list of clients includes the Canada Revenue Agency, the Supreme Court of Canada and the Canada School of Public Service.

Ms. Leclerc said in an interview laughter’s health benefits are numerous: better breathing, higher heart rate, the release of endorphins — which balance the adrenaline brought on by stress.

“Laughing won’t change difficult events in the workplace, but it gives a different perspective,” she said.

Ms. Robitaille, the advocate for better health care in the Outaouais, agrees. She is a human resources consultant who gives presentations on stress management.

Laughter was not the only topic on the Outaouais health agency’s training menu. Sixteen employees attended a seven-hour workshop called “Neuroperformance: How to use one’s brain to the maximum.” That session, given by Dr. Marc Therrien, a neurologist and the director of the sleep clinic at a Gatineau hospital, aimed to “maximize cognitive abilities: concentration, memory, attention span,” said Mr. Saint-Louis.

The cost of learning those techniques: $2,545. At a cost of more than $10,000, 22 managers and professionals learned about “Political abilities: Key ingredient of success.” Employees requested and registered for that two-day workshop, said Mr. Saint-Louis.

Under Quebec provincial legislation, every business, government agency and ministry must invest every year 1% of its payroll in training. Any money not spent goes to a special provincial training fund.

I want my money back.

Photos by Jay ...

Thanks, babe!

[nice BBQ .... who's the chick?]

I tease ... and you know it.

Conversations with my HOA .....

Me: What!?! You mean to tell me that taraxacum is asexual?

HOA: It was pre-ordained.

Me: Wow! That bad, eh. Who knew?

[apologies to JG]