Taken “The story of the 2/4th Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry” by Captain G. K. Rose KC (Oxford: B.H. Blackwell, 1920)

“On August 18, starting at 4 a.m., the Battalion marched to Goldfish Chateau, close to Ypres, and the Transport to a disused brickfield west of Vlamertinghe. We lived in bivouacs and tents and were much vexed by German aeroplanes, and to a less degree by German shells.

On August 20, while companies were making ready for the line, an air fight happened just above our camp. Its sequel was alarming. A German aeroplane fell worsted in the fight, and dived to ground, a roaring mass of fire, not forty yards from our nearest tents. By a freak of chance the machine fell in a hole made by a German shell. The usual rush was made towards the scene-by those, that is, not already sufficiently close for their curiosity. A crowd, which to some extent disorganised our preparations for the line, collected round the spot and watched the R.F.C. extract the pilot and parts of the machine, which was deeply embedded in the hole. For hours the wreckage remained the centre of attraction to many visitors. The General hailed the burnt relics, not inappropriately, as a lucky omen.

During the night of August 20/21 the Battalion relieved a portion of the front eastward of Wieltje. Three companies were placed in trenches bearing the name of ‘Capricorn’, but B was further back. During the night a serious misfortune befellthe latter. Three 5.95 fell actually in the trench and caused thirty-five casualties, including all the sergeants of the company. On the eve of an attack such an occurrence was calculated to affect the morale of any troops. That the company afterwards did well was specially creditable in view of this demoralising prelude.

On the following night Companies assembled for the attack. Neither the starting place nor the objectives for this are easily described by reference to surrounding villages. The nearest was St. Julien. The operation orders for the attack of August 22 assigned as objective to the Oxfords a road running across the Hanebeck and referred to as the Winnipeg-Kansas Cross Road. The 48th Division on the left and the 15th on the right were to co-operate with the 184th Brigade in the attack.

Shortly before 5 the bombardment started. In the advance behind the creeping barrage put down by our guns, of which an enormous concentration was present on the front, C, D and A Companies (from right to left) provided the first waves, while B Company followed to support the flanks. The Berks came afterwards as ‘moppers up.’ Half-an-hour after the advance started D, B and A Companies were digging-in 150 yards west of the Winnipeg-Kansas Cross Road. The losses of these companies in going over had not been heavy, but, as so often happens, casualties occurred directly the objective had been duly reached. In the case of C Company, on the right, but little progress had been made. Pond Farm, a concrete stronghold, to capture which a few nights previously an unsuccessful sally had been made, had proved too serious an obstacle. Not till the following night was it reduced, and during the whole of August 22 it remained a troublesome feature in the situation.

Before the line reached could be consolidated or they could act to defeat the enemy’s tactics, our men found themselves the victims of sniping and machine-gun fire from Schuler Farm, which was not taken and to which parties of reinforcements to the enemy now came. More dangerous still was an old gun-pit which lay behind the left flank. The capture of this had been assigned to the 48th Division, but as a measure of abundant caution Colonel Wetherall had detailed a special Berks platoon to tackle it. This platoon, assisted by some Oxfords on the scene, captured the gun-pit and nearly seventy prisoners, but failed to garrison it. A party of the enemy found their way back and were soon firing into our men from behind.

During the early stages of consolidation, when personal example and direction were required, John Stockton, Scott, and Gascoyne were all killed by snipers or machine-gun fire. Scott had been hit already in the advance and behaved finely in refusing aid until he had despatched a message to Headquarters. While he was doing so three or four bullets struck him simultaneously and he died.

Throughout the 22nd no actual counter-attack nor organised bombardment by the enemy took place, but much sniping and machine-gun fire continued, making it almost impossible to move about. Our loss in Lewis-gunners was particularly heavy.

Callender, the acting company commander of ACompany, had been killed before the attack commenced, and Sergeant-Major Cairns was now the mainstay of that company, whose men were thoroughly mixed up with B. Upon the left the 48th Division had failed to reach Winnipeg, with the result that this flank of A and B Companies was quite in the air. On the Battalion’s right the failure of C Company, in which Brucker had been wounded, to pass Pond Farm left the flank of D Company exposed and unsupported. But the position won was kept. Ground to which the advance had been carried with cost would not be lightly given up. Moberly, Company Sergeant-Major Cairns, and Guest -the latter by volunteering in daylight to run the gauntlet of the German snipers back to Headquarters-greatly distinguished themselves in the task of maintaining this exposed position during the night of August 22 and throughout August 23.

Some of our men had to remain in shell-holes unsupported and shot at from several directions for over fifty hours”.

The breathtaking high mountains and steep mountainsides that form deep valleys and fjords along British Columbia’s central and northern coastlines are home to some remarkable animal including: wolves, Sitka deer, killer and humpback whales, tens of millions of salmon, grizzly bears and Canada’s rarest bear the white Kermode or spirit bear.

The spirit bear or as the First Peoples call them the “ghost bear” is a rare colour phase that results from two mating black bears that each carry the same recessive gene. I have seen some black bear litters with both black and white (sometimes cream-colored) cubs. Only the cubs that receive the recessive gene from each parent develop the white or cream fur.

About 900 spirit bears are only found in two populations on the globe, both are along coastal British Columbia stretching from about Rivers Inlet to Stewart. One population is mainland-based in the Terrace-Nass-Hazelton area. The other is found between Royal-Roderick, Pooley and Gribell Islands. 

On Princess Royal Island about one in every eight black bears is a spirit bear. In Terrace, along the mighty Skeena River, some 120 miles (200 kilometers) north and east of Princess Island the ratio drops to one in forty and further up the river in Halelton it’s down to one in a hundred.

Kermode (Ursus americanus kermodi) is a black bear subspecies named in the early 1900s in honor of Francis Kermode a former director of the Royal British Columbia Museum, by American naturalist William Hornaday.

Some bear biologists believe that this unique white-phase color evolved on the rainforest islands of the Pacific coastline since the Pleistocene or last glaciation about 12,000 years ago.

The First Peoples believe the Raven’s legend: At the beginning of time the world was white with ice and snow. The raven came from the heavens and made the world green. He wanted something, however, to remind him of the icey white beginnings of time. He made every tenth bear on Princess Royal Island white. The Raven also made a promise: The white bears would live here forever in peace.

Until about the late 1970s the spirit bears on Princess Royal Island did in fact live in total peace. They made a living in the majestic western redcedars, hemlock and Sitka spruce forests amongst hundreds of salmon streams, pristine inlets and rare coastal estuaries.

The coastal black bears and Kermodes can reach an astounding weight in excess of 580 pounds (265 kilograms) because of rich salmon- and huckle-berries and the plentiful runs of salmon returning to spawn along the fresh water streams and creeks. In preparation for winter the spirit bears will spend up to 20 hours a day eating – at least three times as much food as they do at other times of the year.

Interestingly, spirit and black bears frequently hunt for fish at night and they take the salmon into the forest to be eaten. Some spirit bears climb the Sitka spruce and western redcedars to devour their prey. My colleagues have estimated the total weight of salmon transported into the forest by a spirit or black bear is about 3,500 pounds (1,600 kilograms) per bear per year.

The nitrogen released from the decaying salmon carcasses is recycled back into the soil and absorbed by millions of tree roots. In time, big old trees uproot, rot and release that nitrogen back into streams to be used by young salmon.

Moreover, many of the largest trees in the valley bottoms live near creeks where their overhanging branches keep the water cool enough for the salmon to spawn. When these big old trees are harvested they threaten the bears and their food supply, and deplete the forest of its most important and essential nutrient – nitrogen.

In addition, big downed trees create hollows or dens, which are crucial winter habitat for bears.

Spirit bears are intelligent. I have witnessed them walking in creeks with their heads under water hunting for salmon. This is similar to a technique that fish biologists use – a mask, snorkel and float a river to find and observe fish. 

Spirit bears are also playful much like dogs that chase one another in circles.

In the mid 1980s bear biologists Wayne McCroy and Erica Mallam saw that logging along the British Columbia central and north coast would eventually destroy the spirit bear habitat on Princess Royal Island and ultimately threaten this rare beast.

They undertook an 18 years campaign eventually leading to 440,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of land being set aside by the British Columbia government and designated as “The Spirit Bear Conservancy.” And in 2006 the government of British Columbia selected the Kermode or spirit bear as B.C.’s official animal.

Almost two decades ago I conducted tree root research along the Copper River just east of Terrace. My encounter with a spirit bear was one of the most spiritual and peaceful events of my life and it lasted over a half an hour. 

These critters are truly worth our respect and deserving of the Raven’s decree of Peace.

 Dr Reese Halter is a public speaker, conservation biologist and founder of the international conservation institute Global Forest Science. His most recent book is The Incomparable Honeybee and the Economics of Pollination http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Incomparable+HoneyBee+reese+halter&x=0&y=0 Reach him through http://DrReese.com

So there are no misconceptions this is going back to objective based MILSIM and away from shoot-em up, blow-em up cowboy bullshit. If you want full auto blowing everything up in sight fun don’t come to this event.

Location: Xtreme-tactics – 551 Ferry Road, Winnipeg, MB

TIME/DATE – 152030L DEC

AGE 17 plus

Game details;

Sign up is limited to 15 people, optimal with 12. (with 15 people team 1 will gain 1 player and 2 will gain 2 players)

12 people; Team 1 (3 members) takes 3 scientists and secures an undisclosed area in XT.  Scientists must remain stationary within arms reach of each other.   Team 2 (6 members) dispatched to recce AO, then to assess the risk and if possible eliminate team 1.  Scientists are of equal value to either team.  Both teams want scientists alive for undisclosed reasons. Team 1 will be awarded for making team 2’s job impossible to execute.   Team 2 will be awarded for retrieving scientists.  15 mins for Team 2 to complete objective.  Team 1 enters arena at 20:52 and has 3 minutes to establish themselves.  20:55 team 2 enters. 21:10 session 1 ends.  7 mins to re-load and get ready for next session.  21:17 next set of Team 1 enters, Team 2 enters at 21:20.  21:35 session 2 ends.  21:42 session 3 Team 1 enters, 21:45 Team 2 enters.  22:00 end.   3 rotations.  Has to be strict for time! BE ON TIME AND READY!

When you are shot you are DEAD. NO RESPAWN. Also watch the blind fire! Those scientists are not to die! Your mistake may cost your team the win so play it smart.

Grenades are in play.

Scientists will wear a simple overthrow smock (will supply) for quick change from combatant to scientist during the 7 min get-ready period.  Teams will be chosen from hat draw.  3 poker chips with ‘S’, 3 with #1 and 6 with #2.  This draw will be used to establish session 1 and the rotation can be sorted out from there… SIGN UP ON [url=http://www.operationcoldfront.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=390]MOUT FORUMS ONLY[/url]. If you are not on the list you are not coming.

I planned to photograph the Esplande Riel at sunset today but the weather was not cooperating. I went down the skatepark at the Forks instead and started a great photowalk. Unfortunately I found a slippery patch and fell sending everything in the air – me, camera and dignity. Fortunately only the camera lens was broken. It still works but I bruised my right thumb. Oh well – the price for vigilant photowalks. Here are three views from today.

We made it through November without much in the way of snow or cold but the past few days ‘Old Man Winter’ has been subtle in letting his presence be known.

A small dusting of snow and winter like temps of minus 20C greeted us this morn.  Still a far cry from my most recent memories of Decembers past… but winter-like, none-the-less.

In the photo below a brave soul still jogs down the  street.  I guess they don’t refer to us as ‘hardy Manitobans’  for nothin’  .

This past November was almost gift-like  and even now, with little snow, and the yet to be felt unrelenting gusts of the  North wind,  winter has been kind.   I can’t help but feel a little lulled into hoping for a mild (in comparison) next couple of months.

Sadie may not wholeheartedly agree with me and I know that the reality may well prove otherwise.. but for now.. fingers remain crossed in my red Canadian Olympic mitts.

Click to enlarge!

After departing Athens, Greece on October 30th, the Olympic Flame has been traveling across Canada, now about 1/3 of the way into its 106-day, 26,000 km overland relay (another 18,000 km by air). Over 12,000 torch-bearers will carry the flame along a winding path covering all of Canada, passing through over 1,000 communities total – from Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary to smaller communities such as Gwa’Sala-Nakwaxda’xw, Notre-Dame-du-Lac, Moose Jaw and Sheshatshiu. The final destination: Vancouver’s BC Place on February 12, 2010, where it will light the Olympic Cauldron and signal the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

]]> http://cataloguemash.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/whats-new-rss-feeds-at-the-university-of-winnipeg/ Sat, 05 Dec 2009 03:54:52 +0000 cataloguemash http://cataloguemash.wordpress.com/2009/12/05/whats-new-rss-feeds-at-the-university-of-winnipeg/

So far, I’ve spent a lot of time blogging about ways that users can access the library catalogue differently, and ways users can interact with and add content to the catalogue. But what about ways that the library can push catalogue content out to users? Well, today I’m going to talk about RSS feeds, which do just that.

I’m going to tell you about the “New Books” RSS feed at the University of Winnipeg, which happened to be the first library hit I got when I Googled “New Books RSS.” Go Winnipeg! You can access the list of feeds easily from the main library webpage, where it’s listed in a little box helpfully titled “Library 2.0.” I guess users are up on the jargon?

The first thing I noticed is that there were separate links for “New Books” and “New DVDs and Videos.” And while the New Books is an RSS feed, the New DVDs and Videos link requires searching from a dropdown menu rather than providing any RSS content. Now, I appreciate that many users might only want to know about certain types of resources, but I do think the service could be improved by adding RSS feeds for other types of materials – the service seems to fit with other library services as far as it goes, but it seems like it could do more. Once I clicked on the New Books link, it took me to a list of feeds that I could sign up for. You can choose to recieve the feed for all new books, or select from 11 different categories, from “Business and Economics” to “Fine Arts, Performing Arts, and Music.”

Now, here’s where my ability to evaluate this tool breaks down a bit. When I clicked on a feed, it simply took me to my Google RSS Reader (which I was already signed up for) and asked me if I wanted to add the feed to my list. With a simple two clicks, I could check out every new book in UofW’s catalogue.  However, I’m not sure it would be quite so easy if you weren’t already set up with an RSS reader, or even more so if you weren’t familiar with how RSS technology worked or what it was – there is no explanation on the website of how to use these feeds, so it seems likely that this is something that only those already using RSS technology would employ (which is maybe not surprising, how many people actually sign up for an RSS reader just so they can see that the university bought a copy of “Writing Greek Law”?).

Now, I have to admit that this is a service I doubt I’d ever use. This is not in any way a criticism of Winnipeg particularly, I just don’t feel the need to be notified every time my library buys a book (now, if I could be notified every time my library buys a book about libraries, then maybe I’ll have to rethink things, but the feeds aren’t that specific or customizable yet).  To that end, it would be great to see some other RSS feeds as well, maybe library news or events feeds, although I wonder if I’d be saying the same thing about those if they existed.

That said, I do think that this is a good and usable idea. The ability to customize what books you would be notified of would just make it better.  So tomorrow, I’m going to do some more searching for the ways other libraries are using RSS.

I didn’t go for a long walkabout today so instead I tried some self-portraits at home. I have been doing for a while and I tried a few different things. I used a backlight flash for the effect in the first picture. I added a old photo look to the second. It was a bit trying to run back and forth from the camera but that is the price of self-portraits.

OFH

Oldfolks Home is releasing a new single every week in December.  And they’re free!  Crazy.  Download ‘em from Myspace or Facebook.

Christmas sucks.  Except for this.

Go get ‘em.

AS EVERY RECOGNIZED COUNTRY (192) ON PLANET EARTH MEETS IN COPENHAGEN ON DECEMBER 7, 2009 TO ADDRESS CLIMATE CHANGE — THERE IS TERRIFIC OPPORTUNITY FOR THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST — PARTICULARLY BRITISH COLUMBIA — TO UTILIZE ITS ANCIENT FORESTS AND DERIVE A STEADY INCOME STREAM.

This story ran on January 22, 2009 in the Victoria Times Colonist http://www.drreese.com/resources/OldGrowth.pdf

Seven western states and four provinces have joined forces in a plan to limit greenhouse gas emissions. An entire new source of long-term revenue is available to British Columbia’s government, which will enable protecting massive tracks of old growth forests and fresh water supplies.

The Western Climate Initiative includes: Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Washington, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, and they have agreed to cut the region’s carbon emissions by 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.

The backbone of their plan relies on a system of cap and trade. It is a system that was successfully devised and implemented in the early 1990s to combat acid rain around the Great Lakes caused by the pollution generated from coal burning power plants.

The cap and trade system reduces pollution by requiring utility and other companies to meet tough emission standards. Under this system, businesses that cannot cut their emissions because of costs or technical hurdles would be allowed to buy emission credits from companies that have spent the money to clean-up and lower their emissions. 

Most large industrial polluters, automakers and coal-based utilities are scrambling to find companies to sell them offset credits.

In 1990 (Science, Feb 9) Mark Harmond of Oregon State University and others found that the conversion of Pacific northwest old growth forests to young fast growing forests did not decrease atmospheric carbon as compared to old growth forests which capture and store vast amounts of carbon dioxide. In fact, it took those low elevation second growth forests at least 200 years to accumulate the carbon dioxide storage capacity of existing old growth forests.

In other words, British Columbia’s standing old growth forests are valuable but not just as milled saw-timber or pulp. British Columbia’s old growth is a gold mine for burgeoning worldwide offset markets, as well as its bountiful medicines and other valuable non-timber forest products.

Marriott International with over 3,000 global properties has partnered with Conservation International and is the first hotel company to calculate its carbon footprint and launched an aggressive worldwide campaign to lessen its impact. 

Each year it uses 3.2 million tons of CO2 or 66 pounds per available room. To offset this they have undertaken a remarkable initiative. Marriott is spending millions of dollars over a long-term period to protect 1.5 million acres of endangered rainforests (because forests absorb and store CO2) in the Juma Sustainable Development Reserve in partnership with the state of Amazonas in Brazil. 

If Brazil is renting its forests for millions of dollars then why shouldn’t the government of British Columbia consider its options?

In the late 1960s a young assistant professor (now Emeritus) Peter Dooling at the Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia taught a nascent discipline of forest recreation. Dr. Dooling predicted that forest recreation and tourism would become a major industry in British Columbia.

Today, British Columbia tourism is a multi-billion dollar industry rivaling that of forestry. The 2010 Whistler/Vancouver Olympics will easily tip the scale and soon thereafter tourism revenue will exceed that of forestry.

As the world recession deepens and the mighty U.S. housing market continues to sputter and stall, thousands of BC forestry workers are being dislocated.

It is perplexing and frustrating that North Americans buying furniture at IKEA must settle for Scots pine grown and manufactured in Lapland when millions of acres of British Columbia’s lodgepole pine are salvage-logged and pulped rather than manufactured and sold throughout the continent (and elsewhere) as distressed cottage pine furniture.

With more than 60 British Columbia glaciers receding, securing fresh water supplies are of paramount importance and maintaining high elevation old growth forests, which capture, retain and slowly release billions of gallons of snow melt in the springtime is priceless. 

While maintaining the integrity of the Brazilian forests are important so too are the last of British Columbia’s contiguous great temperate rainforests. Why not rent some of the old growth forests, take advantage of their potent ability to absorb enormous amounts of CO2 and provide a buffer against climate change.

SAVE THE HONEY BEES http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6w-Z7XlnHI

Dr Reese Halter is a public speaker, conservation biologist and founder of the international conservation institute Global Forest Science. His most recent book is The Incomparable Honeybee and the Economics of Pollination http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Incomparable+HoneyBee+reese+halter&x=0&y=0 He can be contacted through  http://DrReese.com

I just wanted to quickly share an interesting article about downtown parking and urban revitalization by urbanist Roberta Brandes Gratz. This is very relevant to Winnipeg given the ongoing debate about downtown parking, such as the recent arguments put forth by Downtown BIZ’s Stefano Grande and The Rise and Sprawl blog.

Some of the more interesting points from Gratz’s article:

• When downtown revitalization is being debated, there’s often too much emphasis on parking, even when no one knows for sure how efficiently the downtown area’s parking capacity is being used.

• Undo the one-way street system and restore two-way streets downtown.

• Don’t bother trying to implement mall-style parking standards downtown.

• Maximize “upstairs” living opportunities, up above downtown stores and other businesses, in order to increase the number of people living downtown.

• Reconsider the parking provisions required in new projects; don’t assume one size fits all

• Give downtown residents parking privileges  not available to others

• Focus on providing angled or curbside street parking if increasing the number of spaces is important

• Most important of all: Make downtown worth coming to

Full article here.

Things I’m missing out on because of my job:

-Balanced meals on weekdays-sleep-social life-exercise-time to pamper myself-reading books-stained glass-my garden is suffering-a love life.

I don’t mean to be miss complainer, but my job is hard. It’s a job meant for a single man. If I were to explain what I do it would “sound” really great, and it is kind of great. It’s just that the downfalls of the job are starting to become landslides.

Oh well, Let’s keep it positive!

I have acquired some fabulous new ornaments for our tree this year….peacocks and dragonflies. AND I’m bringing home two Picasso Poinsettias this week!

Yesterday I hit a huge bump while driving and some boxes of Christmas greens fell over in the truck….right on top of some of my Amaryllis. Oops…I get to take one home now

Last weekend I took a last minute trip to Canada to see my new niece, Quinn. Since I’ve left Winnipeg, I’ve never had the slightest desire to move back until now. Yup, blame it on the baby. But I’m sure it also has a little something to do with how crazy up and down my life has been this last year. It just feels safe being back home with my family, like sticking your head in the sand.

The baby is beautiful and I admire and look up to my baby sister for having the balls to be a Mother.

Once again, I’m a blond.

Who says you can’t do R&B and soul in Winnipeg? Recorded and produced here by several of the Moses Mayes crew (Mark Penner, Julian Bradford, Ben Reimer and Nathan Reimer), Sweet Vibration is a profound showcase of Maiko Watson’s singing and writing skills. Unlike most contemporary ‘urban’ albums, which feature walls of sound produced by committees, this is a living, breathing document of rootsy, classic soul performances, pure and simple. Maiko wrote nine of these 10 songs on her own (the 10th is a co-write with her former husband, Remy Shand) and, to paraphrase her own song, everything should be lookin’ up for her with this release.
— John Kendle

Good luck Maiko, I think you deserve it. It is a great CD. Every song has a message and it’s own vibration. I love it.

The influenza genome is segmented. Eight pieces of single-stranded RNA encode for 11 proteins: PB2, PB1, PB1-F2, PA, HA, NP, NA, M1, M2, NS1, and NS2. The segmentation allows influenza of different subtypes infecting the same host to trade segments like card players on a Friday night. Most of the resulting viruses will express phenotypes for the worse, but a small subset may be transformed into strains more infectious in their usual hosts or to a new host species.

This reassortment accounts in part for the origins of this year’s pandemic. Livestock pigs have long hosted their own version of seasonal H1N1, evolutionarily related to our own. From 1930-1998 the pig version evolved only slightly. But starting in 1998, the virus was subjected to a series of reassortment events. In North America, an aggressive swine H1N1 emerged with internal genes of a human H3N2 virus and an avian influenza. That virus subsequently spread across pig populations, with limited transfer to humans, usually to farm workers, who routinely offer the influenza virus human test subjects every step in its evolution.

In early 2009 a previously undescribed influenza, what we now know as swine flu H1N1 (2009), emerged in humans in central Mexico and spread around the world. Three of the new virus’s segments appeared to be from the classical swine influenza (HA, NP, NS), three from the North American H3N2-avian swine recombinant we just described (PB2, PB1, PA), and two from a Eurasian swine recombinant (NA, M) that originated in birds. In short, every one of the new H1N1’s genetic segments is most closely related to those of influenzas circulating among swine.

Something of a mystery remains, however. How did genomic segments from influenza circulating on opposite sides of the world get together? The most parsimonious explanation is that the final reassortment event occurred among swine where the first human outbreaks emerged in Mexico. A second possibility, with the first human infections estimated months before the first recognized cases in Veracruz, the strain emerged in Asia where all three of the influenzas that would form sfH1N1 (2009) have been found.

While the specifics of the strain’s origins remain unclear, the general mode of swine influenza’s movement is now clearer. Unlike as in avian influenzas, no migratory waterfowl can be offered as an obvious intermediate host by which the viruses are transported long distance. By sfH1N1 (2009)’s emergence, only hog populations were implicated. As hog transport is facilitated by human handlers alone, there can be no mistake that human agency has played a defining role in the spread of swine flu’s source strains.

With the globalization of the livestock filiere, the distances over which food animal populations are transported have expanded to continental and even intercontinental scales. Data is scarce, but Baltussen et al. (2009) report that in 2007 alone 22 million live piglets and slaughter pigs were traded across Europe. Their figure 2 shows the main routes of hog transport among European countries.

The surge in livestock miles goes hand in hand with the global spread of a corporate model of vertically integrated husbandry associated with farm consolidation and increases in head count per farm. By way of structural adjustment programs and neoliberal free trade agreements, agribusinesses are moving company operations to the Global South and Eastern Europe to take advantage of cheap labor, cheap land, weak regulation, and domestic production hobbled in favor of heavily subsidized agro-exporting.

But as David Burch explains, companies are also engaging in sophisticated corporate strategy. Agribusinesses are spreading their production line across much of the world. The CP Group, for one, now the world’s fourth largest poultry producer, has poultry facilities in Turkey, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the United States. It has feed operations across India, China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It owns a number of fast food chain restaurants throughout Southeast Asia.

A supply chain arrayed across multiple countries allows companies the means by which to compensate for any interruptions in business, including of their own making. The CP Group operates joint-venture poultry facilities across China, producing 600 million of China’s 2.2 billion chickens annually sold. When an outbreak of deadly bird flu occurred in a farm operated by the CP Group in Heilongjiang Province, Japan banned poultry from China. CP factories in Thailand filled the market gap by increasing exports to Japan.

Despite working out much of this over the past year, it never occurred to me the lengths to which agribusinesses are willing and able to move their wares. A recent Winnipeg Free Press article describes a Manitoba company’s newly implemented efforts at flying thousands of pigs out of Winnipeg to Germany before a truck trip to Russia. As the video below shows, it’s Winnipeg to Krasandor on the other side of the world in four days. Even if pigs are rarely flown so far, still an open question, the agro-economic pressures placed on increasing the geographic extent of livestock transport are obvious.

The implications for influenza are fundamental. First, the scale of transport increases the likelihood previously isolated influenza serotypes can trade genomic segments, as occurred for this year’s transcontinentally recombinant H1N1. Second, increasing the virus’s geographic scope should select for deadlier strains. A renewable supply of susceptibles–ever available on the next horizon–is thought to act as a primary fuel for the evolution of virulence.

When pigs fly may be a bad time.

Flying pigs from Winnipeg to Germany.

Recently, while traveling on the eastern seaboard I was asked by school children where the most remarkable remaining wild forests in North America were located? My answer: British Columbia.

 The land base of British Columbia is astounding 95 million hectares and it contains picturesque fjords, jagged peaks, glaciers and more than 70 per cent of the 409 species of birds and 163 species of mammals known to breed in Canada – it’s biologically rich; and the critters depend upon forests for their habitat.

 In fact, globally forests recycle rain, create oxygen, absorb carbon dioxide, hold soils in place and control the flow of water to our rivers, which in many cases feed our oceans. Ultimately, forests provide us with the air we breathe, the food we eat, the water we drink and over 7,000 medicines to keep us healthy.

British Columbia’s forest ecosytems are young – 14,000 years ago glaciers a couple miles thick receded, very quickly.

Lichens – those half algae and half fungus – landed first on bare rocks secreting acids, working with frost and other weathering processes making small openings for mosses and with the help of bacteria created the first soils.

The trees – lodgepole pines, spruces, hemlocks, firs, larches, aspens, alders, poplars and birches invaded the lands and quickly colonized them.

The diversity of landforms or topography and the types of forests are breathtaking; ecologically each forest type is a jewel and they all evolved to cope with change; wildfires, insect infestations, diseases, avalanches and 200 kilometre and hour winds than blow forests down. 

The Garry oak woodlands of the southern tip of Vancouver Island are gorgeous. They rely on the Stellar’s Jay to eat the acorns – their seeds, and help to distribute the trees by burying acorns in the ground and sometimes forgetting about them. 

The Sitka spruce along the west side of Vancouver island and continuing for 1,800 miles north into Alaska are the monarchs of the coastline. They tolerate the onslaught of salty ocean air – that corrodes metal within decades – and live almost 1,000 years reaching heights surpassing 311 feet. 

Rufous, Anna’s, black-chinned and calliope hummingbirds appear in these forests in late spring or early summer. They travel at 50 miles per hour and have migrated over 1,700 miles from their wintering habitat in Mexico.

With rolling shoulders and 200 wing beats per second, these critters are Nature’s helicopters – they must visit at least 1,000 flowers a day drinking nectar for energy and inadvertently cross pollinating the plants. 

Equally impressive are the colossal-sized western redcedars. One tree on Meares Island near Tofino has a staggering circumference of 66 feet. The wood is highly rot resistant and the First Peoples of British Columbia used it for houses, totem poles, dugout canoes, bentwood boxes, paddles and ceremonial drums.

Twenty five percent of the world’s bald eagles live in those forests and many of their inter-generational nests weighing a whopping 3,900 pounds are high-up in the treetops.

These forests also provide crucial habitat for the rare red-ochre or salmon coloured coastal wolves along the Great Bear rainforest that are dependent upon the intact ancient forests that provide streams for hundreds of millions of salmon.

It turns out that those salmon not only feed the wolves, ravens, eagles, bears (spirit, black and grizzlies) and 196 other species of animals but also 80 percent of the marine-based nitrogen comes from the remains of salmon carcasses dragged from the stream into the forests.

Perhaps the tallest tree to ever live on the planet grew in Lynn Valley – a Douglas-fir in the 19^th century was felled and measure at 452.7 feet.

These ancient exquisite forests are home to the endangered spotted owls. Each owl eats about 100 flying squirrels a year, each flying squirrel is responsible for fertilizing the old growth forests by spreading soil fungus spores in their poop which nourishes millions of tree roots. 

Billions of aspen trees in the far north are a critical food source for beavers and moose. Beavers regenerate aspen forests by breaching their damns and flooding the land – aspens respond by growing new forests for existing mature root systems. 

The fire-loving lodgepole pine forests of the north provide habitat for the gray shadow of the northern woods – the lynx. A powerful cat that thrives in the snow, occasionally hunts in packs and is an exceptional swimmer.

In the autumn, the deciduous subalpine larches of southern British Columbia turn golden; they are home to the most complete and supreme mountaineer on the continent – the magnificent mountain goat. 

The intricate web of life in the forest provides an essential place for every organism whether it’s a 2,000-year-old coastal yellow cedar or a glorious yellow glacier lily or microscopic soil bacteria. 

SAVE THE HONEYBEES http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6w-Z7XlnHI

Dr Reese Halter is a public speaker, conservation biologist and founder of the international conservation institute Global Forest Science. His mist recent book is The Incomparable Honey Bee http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=The+Incomparable+HoneyBee+reese+halter&x=0&y=0  Contact him through http://DrReese.com

I’ve previously mentioned the unseasonal November we were having in Winnipeg. So you know, it’s over.

It snowed yesterday, blanketing everything in a thick layer of the stuff. Today, the mercury has dropped to a crisp -8C. Winter is here – and it looks like she’s staying. Until June, no doubt.

So much for that.

This past weekend Kayla and I had the pleasure of being in Winnipeg connecting with some of our Advocates.  It was a great time to connect with some new Advocates and get re-acquainted with those who have been a part of the Network for some time. I have to admit that even though I had a great time with these Advocates talking about what was new in their lives and their upcoming plans for Christmas, my favourite conversation was with someone who isn’t an official Advocate – yet. His name is Liam!

Liam Winter is 6 years old. We talked about books – Scaredy Squirrel and Walter the Farting Dog and about things he likes to do. He is a violin player and loves to swim. His mom Jodi told me that he was like a fish – I tried to find the fin on his back but we came to the conclusion that it only comes out when he is in the pool. This kid was cool. We looked at pictures of my son Christian and talked about what he was like.

What impressed me about this little person was that he already has a heart for the poor. When he grows up he wants to be a doctor, an animal doctor, a pet store owner and a violinist and he wants to do all of this in the country where his sponsor child lives.

I loved Wess Staffords’ Facebook status yesterday. It said, “Look where a child is looking. You will almost always see something amazing that you would have totally missed.”

Over the  next week, spend some time with the little people in your life. What is God calling them to do? Where are they looking? What are they seeing that we are too busy to see?

God reminds us of the importance of children to Him in Matthew 18. “At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Last November 26, a man tried to hijack a car from a woman here in Winnipeg.

The lady handed the key and asked, “This is standard transmission. Can you drive?”

Then the car-jacker looked, and tossed the key back to the lady and ran.

So, I strongly recommend you to drive standard transmission car to prevent your car from hijacking.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/calm-mom-watched-carjack-fail-75724152.html

지난 11월 26일, 이곳 위니펙에서 어떤 남자가 자동차를 강탈하려던 사건이 있었다.

차에 침입해서 아줌마 운전자에게 위협을 해 자동차 열쇠를 넘겨 받았다. 그런데 그 아줌마가 한다는 소리가,

“이 차는 수동인데…. 운전할 수 있어요?”

차를 살펴보던 그 남자는 수동임을 확인하고 한숨 한 번 쉬고는 열쇠를  돌려주고 달아났다고 한다.

그러니 차량 강탈을 방지하려면 자동이 아니라 수동을 타는 게 최고. ^^

오늘의 영어는, 수동기어는 Manual Transmission보다는 Standard Transmission을 쓴다는 것. 물론 Manual Transmission도 통하지만. 그리고 변속기는 미쑝보다는 Transmission.

자동은 그냥 Automatic Transmission.