Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Dear God

Last month you took my favourite musician Prince.

Last week you took my favourite boxer Muhammed Ali.

This week you took my favourite hockey player, Gordie Howe.

I just want to let you know that my favourite presidential candidate is Donald Trump.

Sincerely yours,

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Part V: Hard Rock Cafe @ 30.96 Hastings: Annual Rock and Gem Show : Children Activities too: June 25th & 26th

Hastings Centre Rockhounds Annual Rock and Gem Show
You are invited to attend the Hastings Centre Rockhounds Annual Rock, Gem, and Jewellery Show on Saturday June 25 and Sunday June 26.

The show is held in the gym at the Hastings Community Centre, 3096 East Hastings Street, Vancouver. Admission is by donation.  Hours are 10 am to 5 pm each day.

We are very proud to show the public our unique and beautiful treasures our members have crafted with their own hands.  Each piece represents skill and patience along with a bit of creativity. We will also have various demonstrations in cabochon making and Jewellery making. Stop by and see how the craft is done!

Along with our members' tables, we have invited others in the rock and lapidary community to sell their products that are of interest to our hobby. You will find rough rock, mineral specimens, slabs, tools, finished products like tumbled stones and jewellery, as well as books and findings.

The Silent Auction, Grab Bags, and Spin and Win ensure that everyone can go home with something special.

We offer fun for the entire family and children can partake in a unique experience and take home their own hand made crafts. This year we will be continuing the highly popular soapstone carving and tumbled stone picture frame making. See our brochure for details on these activities: children's activities brochures.

Our concession table has lots fresh and tasty goodies available to indulge the senses and satisfy your taste buds.   Playing with rocks always work up an appetite.   Our annual show is also membership drive which connects us with people who may become active new members in our club. We welcome your interest and questions.

Please make plans to attend our show and bring all your friends and family since everyone is welcome. We look forward to spending time with you.



Children Activities














Club Website


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Past Posts

Part I Hard Rock Cafe 30.96 Hastings  Mike Ma MetalWorks Forum; Torch Fired Enamelling; SilverSmithing 


Mike Ma
 Part I Hard Rock Cafe 30.96 Hastings  MetalWorks Forum; Torch Fired Enamelling; SilverSmithing  

Mike Ma
Part II Hard Rock Cafe 30.96 Hastings  Torch Fired Enamelling; Silversmithing; Blacksmithing

Mike Ma
Part VI Hard Rock Cafe 30.96 Hastings  MetalWorks Forum:  Mike Ma



Part III Hard Rock Cafe 30.96 Hastings   Books

Part IV  Hard Rock Cafe 30.96 Hastings  Days of Old, Days of Gold

Part V Hard Rock Cafe 30.96 Hastings  Annual Rock and Gem Show : Children Activities too



Hastings Centre Community Rockhounds

Saturday, June 11, 2016

Far fewer pedestrians die from jumping off bridges than pedestrians being struck (killed) by cars. Politicians Answer ....

The Answer: .... Build suicide prevention fences on bridges ....  instead of providing treatment at Riverview.

Moot point here, but if the impact of a pedestrian falling onto the still waters of either Burrard Inlet or False Creek and doesn't kill them, but they are found to have died by drowning, then that statistic (drowning) is not included in official reports because it falls within one of the three realms of "natural causes, suicide, or homicide".

If the point of installing suicide prevention fences on Metro Vancouver Bridges is to save lives why doesn't the three levels of government go the extra kilometres and  fence in the interfaces between pedestrians and motor vehicles?   Streets and Sidewalks.  One example: Stanley Park Causeway

Huffington Post
Each year in B.C., about 65 pedestrians don't survive a collision with a vehicle.

The Pedestrians that do survive end up at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) with cameras rolling.  And if they don't survive?... its not like ICBC will step in and do a complete rebuild like they'll do with the car that caused the death, or will ICBC just write-off both?

Knowledge Network:  Emergency Life and Death






Sampling of Burrard Bridge's Suicide Prevention Fences and Nettings:


North Shore News
More people jump to their deaths from the Lions Gate Bridge each year than any other bridge in the province. They continue to do so despite a recommendation more than five years ago from the B.C. Coroners Service to retrofit the five bridges where people most commonly jump to their deaths with some kind of suicide barrier or netting.

In 22 years between 1991 and 2013, government statistics point to 78 people ending their lives on the Lions Gate Bridge. 


CBC
 About one person a year dies from suicide by jumping from the Burrard Bridge, according to Vancouver Coastal Health.

 Pedestrian drowning statistics
BC Drowning Report


 Includes only preventable (unintentional) deaths, not deaths due to natural causes, suicide, or homicide.


BC Coroners Service Child Death Review Panel
A Review of Road-Related Pedestrian, Cyclist and Boarder Deaths in Children and Youth
2005-2014

A net would have been a more efficient means for the prevention of suicides happening on Bridges.

As it is all that has to happen is to take one step ladder, or one part of an extension ladder, and just for safety, .... handcuff it to the fence.  Then wait for the police to arrive, meanwhile all the traffic would be at a standstill.

Monday, June 6, 2016

Behind the Smile: $50,000 Stipend and change

Why has McLean's made the point that former B.C. MLA Judi Tyabji penmanship is an unauthorized biography of the B.C. Premier?

Unauthorized???  vs Authorized, there's a difference?

Q: I’m considering writing a biography about someone relatively famous in my hometown. I’ve noticed that biographies fall into one of two categories: authorized and unauthorized. What’s the difference?

A:  The difference between an authorized biography and an unauthorized biography is this: An authorized biography is written with the help/cooperation of the person whom the book is about and an unauthorized biography is not.

In an authorized biography, the author typically holds interviews with the subject of the book, the subject’s family members and friends, co-workers, etc. The author is privy to information only attainable from the subject of the book. So, let’s say you wanted to write Brian A. Klems: Man, Writer, Softball Champion and wanted it to be an authorized biography. You’d contact me and ask for my blessing and cooperation, getting as much information as you can directly from me (and those around me). If I were deceased (yikes!), you’d need the blessing of my estate.

Also, depending on level of involvement, sometimes the subject will get a shared byline and possibly a share of the book’s revenue. Issues like that can—and should—be addressed before the book is started.

On the flip side, if you call for my help and I tell you to buzz off, you have two options: 1) to actually buzz off or 2) to go ahead and write the biography anyway without my help. Here you’ll have to gather info on your own from public records and other resources, but you won’t have to make any professional compromises or financial concessions.
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MacLeans
 Christy Clark bio goes beyond the smile

Former B.C. MLA Judi Tyabji pens an unauthorized biography of the B.C. Premier

Nancy Macdonald

June 4, 2016
 
....... She described for Tyabji the moment she was able to turn it around. She was swimming in the cold Pacific Ocean, near her family cabin in B.C.’s Gulf Islands. For the first time, I felt overwhelmed, thinking that I just didn’t know how we were going to win the election. She’s always been a nervous swimmer, she admits, wary of the creatures beneath her, and of the open ocean after her father’s and sister’s near-drowning in a boating accident. I remember swimming and thinking, I don’t know if I’m going to win the election, but it all depends on me, and I’m not going to be scared about the outcome, she tells Tyabji. I’m going to let go of all my fear about it..    In that moment, she “stopped being afraid.  ......
 
 ..... The biography was unauthorized, but it’s not clear the premier will appreciate the help.  ......

Thursday, June 2, 2016

A pedestrian tunnel beneath the Upper Levels Highway at Philip Avenue bars powered wheelchairs but favours Long Boarders

Looking North

Who would have guessed that at Philips Avenue, a block east of Capilano and intersects with the Upper Levels Highway there is a tunnel for pedestrians and cyclists.   Then along came the regulations regarding accessibility for all.  
Triple Barrier, Looking North
One enterprising wheelchairian ducked the bars but his headrest slammed into them and tipped the whole unit over backwards.....   911


Triple Barrier, Looking South

The pedestrian tunnel is large enough to accept motorcycles, and that's the purpose that some motorcyclist did  .... with STRAIGHT exhaust pipes announcing their presence.  Department of Highways responded with the Bars.

Two to the West, one to the East, North and South ends, hip height of an adult.  (Gas Tank level)



And then along came the LongBoarders.......   with nothing to stop them, not even the fear of being run over by cars, nor considering the safety of surprised pedestrians outside.


Looking South, downhill






From our perspective there could be another use for that tunnel, a toll for Smart Car owners....except for the barricades.

Wednesday, June 1, 2016

MLA J. MacPhail: May 17, 2004: Hansard: Mount Polley: BC Liberals zeal for cutting red tape may impeded proper environmental and regulatory oversight

A little bit of history for Mount Polley:

J. MacPhail:  (Opposition Leader)(May 17, 2004)

I think the minister mistook me for David Anderson.

           We were, though, in the 1930s and forties, price setters, and now in British Columbia we're price takers, not price makers. There was an example from the 1990s about mining, and it proves to be very insightful in relation to the growing economy. In June of '97 the Mount Polley mine was completed. Private sector investment–built, it took over 12 months and $115 million of investment. In September of 2001 the mine had to suspend operations because commodity prices had plummeted. Now those commodity prices are back, and hopefully this mine, which was built on time and under budget, will be put to useful production as well.

           What does make me a little bit nervous — and it's only a cautionary note here — is that as we know full well the mining industry is about commodity prices. We have to be ever so cautious not to throw the baby out with the bathwater and have a zeal for cutting red tape that may impede proper environmental and regulatory oversight, and then somehow be charged with improper activity in those areas in the world market.

           Certainly, a responsible, productive mining industry is a necessity for B.C. What we must do, though, is move forward to a modern, sustainable industry and not to the past where communities were devastated.


Highly likely, as Likely, British Columbia found out when the tailings pond broke because of the zeal for cutting red tape that did impede proper environmental and regulatory oversight......