Archive for November, 2010

Gabriola poachers?

Somebody on Gabriola has gone to the work of making and posting these report poachers signs. How much of a problem is poaching on the island? Have you seen any evidence of poaching on Gabriola?

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Rescuing native languages

Following on from some earlier conversations on this blog about disappearing languages (not just native ones), I recommend this article to those interested in learning more about the subject. About BC’s native languages, the article says:

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Gabriola sociologist to study unplugged people

Phillip Vannini lives on Gabriola, and teaches at Royal Roads University in Victoria. Here’s an article from Goldstream News Gazette about a project of his: Plugging into the unplugged. A Royal Roads University professor is plugging into the unplugged world of people living off the grid after receiving a $500,000 research grant. RRU school of [...]

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Canada Revenue Agency Charity Listings

It’s that time of year again to think about making a charitable donation, as the income tax year is coming to an end on December 31. The Globe and Mail carried an article, How to make an informed choice for charity today, November 29, about this topic and mentioned Canada Revenue Agency’s Charity Listings page [...]

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Friends of Michael Brophy hope justice finally served

From the Daily News: Friends of Michael Brophy hope justice finally served. Friends of the late Michael Brophy applauded the B.C. Court of Appeal for a decision to order a new trial for two men acquitted of manslaughter in the harrowing and notorious death of the young Gabriola Island man. [continue]

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Gabriola mushroom pickers, better learn this shroom!

Paul Kroeger first documented the world’s deadliest mushroom a short walk from his home on East 40th Avenue in Vancouver….Kroeger said death cap mushrooms (Amanita phalloides) have entered Canada through the roots of non-native trees. They showed up in Mission in 1997 and are now also found on southern Vancouver Island….In Europe, deaths caps are [...]

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Gabriola winter hammock

Back in July, I showed you my new hammock. It’s just the perfect thing for naps amidst the trees! When rain came, I added the tarp. When cold came, I added a hammock under-quilt. As the quilt is outside and underneath the hammock, it doesn’t get compressed by the sleeper. It’s just astounding how warm [...]

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Peering out into the snow

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Glowing trees

I like dark at night, so our unlit Gabriola street suits me just fine. Still, this is a fascinating idea: glowing trees instead of street lights. From New Scientist: Imagine taking a midnight stroll, your route lit by row upon row of trees glowing a ghostly blue. If work by a team of undergraduates at [...]

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Gabriola medical clinic site

Gabriola’s medical clinic will be built on this site, assuming everything goes according to plan. It’s at the end of Church Street, past the Gabriola ambulance station.

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On freezing to death

We’ve had more cold than we expected on Gabriola lately. It’s a shock to us, especially since our dahlias were blooming two weeks ago. We see callow young ‘uns taking short-cuts through the Gabriola forest wearing things that can’t possibly be warm enough. I don’t know these kids, but I want to wrap them in [...]

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Greyhound update

You’ll remember that Greyhound recently decided not to drive aboard BC Ferries, but instead to dump passengers and their luggage off at the ferry terminal. Suddenly the bus part of your Gabriola to Vancouver trip became way less convenient. Well. If this issue is important to you, you may want to read the update from [...]

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Dairy farm on Gabriola?

Is there a dairy farm on Gabriola? This is what I was wondering this afternoon as I listened to the first part of CBC’s In the Field program. (You can listen to audio files from today’s program, if you wish. Part one actually starts at 2:04. Everything before that is superfluous, especially the background percussion [...]

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Gabriola car graveyard

Today we went for a walk in Gabriola’s snow-clad forest, and followed some deer tracks. All the deer seem to love this place, where there are at least two (and probably several) old wrecks. Maybe the deer live in them! Oh, and what colour are they ALL? Yup. They’re turquoise. Like this turquoise and that [...]

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Deer tracks in Gabriola snow

On walks, the dog thinks I am dense: how can this human possibly miss all the great smells? How can this human walk right by the place where deer romped, and ignore the route deer took into the Gabriola woods? How stupid is that? And then snow comes, and I can see where the deer [...]

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Snow-covered

Ah, Village Food Market. There you in in the dying light of late afternoon, covered in snow. The white becomes you. I’d suggest that you wear white more often, but then all of Gabriola would have to wear white more often, and that wouldn’t do.

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Genetically modified mosquitoes

Oh my. Popsci.com reports on Genetically modified mosquitoes: An Oxford-based research firm has announced the results of a release of genetically modified male mosquitoes in the Cayman Islands, the first experiment with GM mosquitoes to take place in the wild. From May to October of this year, Oxitec released male mosquitoes three times a week [...]

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On octopus brains

Do Gabriola’s octopuses have distributed minds? Maybe. Consider this article from Harvard Science: Thinking like an octopus. If you were an octopus, would you view the world from eight different points of view? Nine? The answer may depend on how many brains an octopus has, or, to say it another way, whether the robust bunches [...]

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