1) More than 40,000 Devil crabs – also known as Velvet swimming crabs – were found strewn along beaches in Thanet along with dead starfish, lobsters, sponges and anemones.

2) dozens of dead jackdaws fell from the sky in the town of Falkoeping Sweden

3) On the Brazilian coastline around 100 tons of sardines, catfish and croaker have washed up dead along the coastline near Paranaguá.

4) Hundreds of dead starlings and robins have been found dead in back gardens of Gilbertsville residents in Kentucky

5) two million dead fish have washed ashore in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland.

6) 5,000 red-winged blackbirds that fell from the sky only days ago in Beebe, Arkansas

7) Arkansas – 100,000 dead fish along a 20-mile stretch between the Ozark Dam and Highway 109 Bridge in Franklin County

8 ) In New Zealand officials are baffled by the death what is described as a carpet of dead snapper near Coromandel Peninsula.

9) In Canada hundreds of dead fish have washed up on shore in the north end of the St. Clair River

10) Lincoln Park, Michigan has seen hundreds of dead fish found in a pond at Council Point Park.

11) hundreds of dead birds were recently found in Wilson County,Tennessee

12) at least 8000 Thousand dead doves in Faenza, Italy (thanks Binni for the report)

While nobody knows at this time the cause, there is no shortage of conspiracy theories and talk of a coming apocalypse. If you know of any more mass animal deaths please leave a comment along with a link to a reputable source so I can update the list.

We cruised about 5 minutes away and shut the engine down, relaxed and started casting. I should note that as a fisherman I really only fished in Alberta lakes for walleye and pike, I tried a few times for trout in the mountains but never even managed a bite.  So I was a little unsure about the lures and techniques, lets face it… fishing for a few hours without a nibble can get pretty boring.  Anyway, I was very happy when about an hour in I landed my first Kokanee (Silver trout) was only about 1 lb and I happily released him. The next hour was slow so we decided to try trolling, I landed one more Kokanee that we kept, and Connie brought a beautiful rainbow trout within 1 foot of the boat only to lose him at the last second. 3 others managed to get away from her in the next hour as well which was unfortunate but still a lot of fun!

Anyway, we shared my Kokanee that night with some fries and we both agreed it was probably the best fish we have ever tasted.  If you ever make it out to the kootenay’s be sure and hit me up for a fishing trip. The action is great and taste is incredible.

You will be restricted from accessing copyrighted material without paying for it, a no-brainer really since this was the presumed reason for the bill — or the excuse to get it passed. “The bill aims to make it more difficult to access copyrighted content, by blocking Web sites built around sharing such material. From the other side, the bill creates sanctions that can be applied to you, the user, should you be caught with your fingers in the copyright cookie jar,” writes CNet.

A fan of Download.com, the popular software site?  You might use software (peer-to-peer, bit torrent, etc.) available on the site to download copyrighted stuff.  For that reason the bill would allow the government to prevent any of its citizens from being able to reach download.com.  This is very similar to the filters used in China to protect its population from the scourge of free speech and information.

Google may fall under this provision as well. After all, you can use a search engine to locate hacker tools, free movies, music, and peer-to-peer software.  How usefull would the internet be without search engines?   Or a search engine that does what search engines do in China — massive filtering.  For your protection of course.

Napster, limewire, kazaa and all other p2p services is out of the question, even though these services are now legal (and struggling to survive). Past malefactors will be punished for sins of the father.

Not surprisingly, the bill effectively outlaws WikiLeaks.   One of the most worrying is that the same clause also specifically allows for blocking sites deemed ‘likely to’ infringe copyright. We don’t yet know how the government will divine whether a site is ‘likely to’ do anything, unless Ofcom is going to start employing soothsayers. There’s also a clause relating to national security, which could see legal restrictions on material ‘they’ don’t want us to see.

No open Wi-Fi. How can you expect big corporate ISPs to make any money if you are getting on the internet free at the local pub, campground or coffee shop? The bill does not actually outlaw Wi-Fi — it merely imposes on people who run these networks the legal responsibility to monitor their users who may be accessing copyrighted material.  No sane business person will want to take the risk. Fait accompli.

What about an employee at work who uses the office connection to download illegal material? the employer could be fined, or even have their ISP pull the plug on their connection to protect themselves.  Imagine the turmoil this could cause.

Its not too late yet, especially for those of us in Canada and US to ensure we do not allow our governments from policing our internet activity.  Copyright is an issue, but we need to be very careful about how we enforce it so we dont end up giving draconian powers to bureaucrats  who could use it to muzzle free information for our and future generations.  The internet gives an equal voice to everyone, and an equal opportunity to listen to any point of view is critically important.  One must be aware of net neutrality and the model of Internet 2 to make informed decisions about protecting our freedoms.

A cloud lurks accross the street

Trials Bike Course with typical Creston backdrop

Pioneer Cemetary In Creston

]]> http://www.markartyniuk.com/photos-of-town/feed/ 2 http://www.markartyniuk.com/war-on-terror/ http://www.markartyniuk.com/war-on-terror/#comments Sat, 03 Apr 2010 18:59:16 +0000 Mark http://www.markartyniuk.com/?p=46 I have spent my entire life living in Canada, perhaps that constant exposure to peace has spoiled my appetite for war and national security… I don’t know.  But one cannot help notice the huge shift in National security policy since 911 in this country and especially in the US.  Some argue these policies are necessary to quote “keep America safe” I will argue the opposite.  Here are few changes I am concerned about, though I wonder how many others are sharing my concern.  I realize everyones life is busy and nobody seems to have time to think about this stuff and I guess that is why I am extra concerned, we seem to be missing the voice of reason in much of this argument largely becuase of a flawed economic system that is looking more like willful slavery with each passing day.

1) Why did 911 happen?  Understanding the reason of the attack is probably the most important point that needs be understood today, a google search for “why 911 happened” will yield a lot of “911 truth” results saying the US government committed the act, very few results seem to talk about foreign policy.  “Terrorists hate freedom” is the answer I most commonly see from US leaders.   While terrorists might in-fact hate freedom loving infidels, would they be willing to kill themselves because someone else has liberty that is not affecting them?   No, I think its more likely the attack was a result of arrogant foreign policy in places like Afghanistan.  Just like the Palestinian’s throw stones at tanks and blow themselves up, its not because they hate Jewish people because they are Jewish, they hate them because as a people the Palestinians are oppressed.  While Israel is funded and armed by the US, no-one is helping the people of Palestine.  As the old saying goes, desperate times call for desperate measures.

2)  How much freedom should be traded for security? – I say none… absolutely none.   After 911, governments around the world started spending on airport security like it was someone else’s money.  Even though fuel prices and the credit crunch are pushing airlines and tour operators out of business, government security spending in airports is expected to continue to increase at alarming rates.   Even though we have been spending more and more on airport security since 911 we have still allowed the “shoe bomber” on a plane with explosives, and just last Christmas the “underwear bomber” was also able to smuggle explosives on to a commercial airline.  All the while, my 91 year old grandfather who was a SGT Major in World War II is subject to invasive pat downs, wand waves, and having all of his luggage rooted through and destroyed.  In-fact, he was the subject of a national news story a few years ago when security checks had destroyed his glasses and suitcase which he was carrying his war medals hometo Alberta  from a remembrance day ceremony in BC.   What gives anyone the right to treat any of us like prisoners or suspected terrorists?  The underwear bomber was a suspected terrorist reported to the CIA by his own father (one of the richest bankers in Nigeria), he paid almost $2400 cash for his ticket, had no luggage,  had no passport, and was wearing shorts and a Tshirt to arrive in Detroit on a cold and snowy Christmas.  In the end he was finally stopped by the last line of defense – his fellow passengers not any airport security program or officer.  What if we as a society become so fearful we are afraid to stand up for ourselves? how much protection can we really expect our governments to provide? how much threat to our persons is a direct result of government foreign policy?

I could go on and on about this issue, but for now I’ll leave you with a few questions plaguing me.

How many terrorists actually exist in the world today?

how many have been created since the “war on terror” started?

Are we as a culture moving in the right direction with this issue?

First, a “hunters cabin” complete with mini ravioli, matches, and a whole lotta snow.

Next some wildlife roaming around the bushes

the trip was cut short because we forgot to give our little dog her medication before we left but there is always tomorrow!

With this in mind I tried to become more involved in the environmental movement, watched some documentaries and read as many articles from as many sources as I could find.  I found very little evidence opposing global warming and the general consensus was humans were to blame and we need to fix it.  Still at this time the conservative politicians in the west were denying the problem existed, at the same time Kyoto was basically a non starter due to US, Canada, China and India not participating.  I was disappointed at the time, but today… not so much.

Then Al Gore came out with his Nobel Peace Prize winning documentary that changed everything from my perspective.  Now, I wanted Al Gore to beat Bush in the election and I cried foul when he lost, like many it was disappointing for me and  wreaked of corruption.  I’m not an American but I’m not foolish enough to ignore the fact that the US governments position on key issues always affects Canadian policy makers.   A few key things changed after Al Gores movie, first the government (and in turn the media) stopped calling the phenomena “global warming” which only works when things are constantly warming, to “climate change” which frankly fits any given day in any given place.  Next we learned a new catch phrase that would save us all, “Cap And Trade”.  This is where I thought perhaps I might be going a little crazy… the government wants to create a system which allows polluters to pay non polluters to “offest” their carbon footprint as its known with the hopes that eventually they will upgrade their facilities and methods to lowere their own carbon emissions.  Forget about all the heavy metals, phosphates, and other toxic waste being pumped into our air and water… the issue here is about Carbon (the basic building block of ALL life on earth) and how we need to protect our planet from it.

I’m 100% for the improvement of everything we do (this is why I like the idea of free market), lets do it cleaner not faster, lets do it better, not cheaper.  But introducing a new multi trillion dollar worldwide tax is likely going to lead to bigger problems and not better solutions.  What I find a little frightening is we now have both sides of our limited political choice (left / right paradigm) advocating the same basic solution.  Taxes.  We should have seen this coming.  It took me a few years to realize this, but most people don’t share my affinity for current events, I have a bad feeling this cap and trade system will be adopted before the majority actually take the time to understand it.

When Superior Drummer arrived I was very excited, installed it on my PC (took a while) and ran pro tools.  Before this I had never used VSTs or any software instruments before so I had no idea how to configure or set anything up.  All I knew was it had to be MIDI, and I wanted to use my Roland to trigger Superior Drummer.  After poking around for a couple hours I managed to figure it out, here is a run through for anyone searching how this might be done.

1) Connect MIDI cable to MIDI out on the back of drums

2) Connect other end of MIDI cable to back of your protools ready device (in my case the DIGI002 rack)

3) Open protools and create a new session, create a new stereo “instrument track”

4) In your “mix” window locate your track and add an insert (near the top of the track control), Multi Channel Plugin, Superior Drummer

Now you should see your drum kit show up on screen, and when you strike your edrums you should see and hear the impact in ProTools.  Now that your setup, you can play on the edrums, use MIDI patterns, draw your own MIDI pattern etc,  The possibilities are virtually endless.  And of course there is always expansion packs full of great drum kit recordings and expert arranged MIDI patterns for those of us who have trouble with 4 appendages moving independently.  The sound quality of Superior Drummer is amazing, and its very flexible allowing you to position mic’s swap drums/cymbals and much more!

if your having trouble setting up Superior Drummer with Protools, feel free to ask, might be able to help.

Anyway looking forward to getting into this a bit, and I hope you’ll join me in separating 1 day from the next.