HOME CONTACT AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER
Updated 20th August 2006. New Issue
"If you find an error, please understand it is there for a purpose. We try to write something for everyone, and some people are always looking for something to criticise."
A THOUGHT FOR AUGUST.
According to Health Agencies' Records,
people are in the most danger of receiving bites from other humans
on warm Saturday afternoons between 3:00pm and 5:00pm.
(The Old Farmer's Almanac Archives, 1986)
The Local Secretary Position is vacant, I am filling in, indeed most positions on The Executive are there for willing people to take them on. Peter has been producing the newsletters for 5 years and feels that it is time for new thoughts and ideas also.
From Your Editor.
I am very excited to announce - yes I know that I shouldn't get excited because of my blood pressure and heart rate etc. BUT ... We Will be getting a NEW LOOK NEWSLETTER. Peter Temple has graciously accepted the challenge ( to me it is a challenge, to him it is second nature) of revamping everything about this newsletter to really make it fit in with the new millenium etc. Work has started on it, so I expect it to be up and running for September.
Enjoy ...
As an observation here, I have duly copied out the dates of Meteor Showers faithfully for a number of years now, and I can quite honestly say that I must have copied more than 500 showers. Of those showers, some with rates of 100+ / hour, I have seen 2 meteorites!! Something seems to be quite wrong with my eyesight!! Just an observation!!
Peter - Editor
NTN TRIVIA NIGHT, at Melrose cafe,730 - 17thAve. S.W. has been cancelled until further notice, however, IF you would like to organise it, go ahead and let me know what time and which day, and I would be happy to advertise it for you.
Sunday Brunch,contact Daryl Richardson for details, Daryl.
HE NEEDS TO KNOW EXACT NUMBERS, RESERVATIONS ONLY, PLEASE CONTACT HIM VERY SOON.2nd Tuesdays as usual, a coffee and coversation evening. same time and place BYO everything Call Treena for details or questions about the event.
Treena.http://rense.com/general72/top.htm http://rense.com/general72/plan.htm
September meteorite showers. (source) http://www.amsmeteors.org/showers.html#2006 And Robert Lunsford
Piscis Austrinids . . . . . . . . . . .Jul 15 - Aug 10 . . . . .Jul 28 (peak) South Delta Aquarids. . . . . . . . . .Jul 12 - Aug 19 . . . . .Jul 28 (peak) Alpha capricornids. . . . . . . . . . .Jul 03 - Aug 15 . . . . .Jul 30 (peak) South Iota Aquarids . . . . . . . . . .Jul 25 - Aug 15 . . . . .Aug 04 (peak) North Delta Aquarids. . . . . . . . . .Jul 15 - Aug 25 . . . . .Aug 08 (peak) Perseids. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jul 17 - Aug 24 . . . . .Aug 12 (peak) Kappa Cygnids . . . . . . . . . . . . .Aug 03 - Aug 25 . . . . .Aug 18 (peak) North Iota Aquarids . . . . . . . . . .Aug 11 - Aug 31 . . . . .Aug 20 (peak) Pi Eridanids. . . . . . . . . . . . . .Aug 20 - Sep 05 . . . . .Aug 27 (peak) Gamma Doradids. . . . . . . . . . . . .Aug 19 - Sep 06 . . . . .Aug 30 (peak) Alpha Aurigids. . . . . . . . . . . . .Aug 25 - Sep 08 . . . . .Sep 01 (peak)
The 2005 August Perseids.
SUDOKU
I'm sorry Vicki (like hell!!) BUT, Only from Australia!! Although not as strong a deterrent as DEET, Biologists have found that some skin secretions from FROGS act in a similar way. So, IF you are allergic etc. to DEET, I suppose that you must have to smother yourself in Frog Juice to see IF that works for you!! (based on an article in The Globe and Mail, Sat. July 29th 2006, by Anne McIlroy)
(Perhaps frog juice doesn't eat at pickup truck dashboards when spilt, to the same degree that DEET does!!)
------------------------------------------------- This story on the BBC website brought back memories from 20 years ago.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/5213848.stm
You wouldn't believe it, BUT ...
This story is purported to be true, I know an even TRUER one!!
I flew aircadets around in C-FQSS a C172, and one day I was with some real rookies - girls at that - and we went to Drumheller. As you are aware, in that area in the bottom of the valley, are mounds of rock, with grass on the top, and one of the girls asked another how they got the cows on top of the mounds. By helicopter she was told!!
I just laughed and told them that they walked up, BUT the logic was there as there didn't seem to be a path!! The one girl was indignant that they were taken by helicopter, from mound to mound each day!!
My stories do come true in the end!! I chuckled reading this one, and the memories that it brought back almost 20 years ago. Peter
------------------------------------------------- (Yours truly correctly answered 2 / 10!!)
(I did 3 correct on this one also!! I predict that you will do a lot better!!)
As seen in a magazine that I subscribe to, it was stated that Westjet flies to 12 Countries. Name them!! Answers Below
www.KickComics.com
(Brian Lord is a washed up weekend warrior in addition to being an internationally read cartoonist and writer. His work can be viewed at www.KickComics.com)
Dear All: We're still working on the website. It turns out our host decided to call it quits, and I'm searching for a new one. Below is this week's column. We should be able to return to the strips next week. Brian
Attached is the last chapter of a childrens book I've been working on. I grew up a huge fan of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, etc (hmm...I wonder where Lewis and Tolks names came from?), and always wanted to try my hand at something like that- a kids story that adults could enjoy as well. I know this one chapter is more reading than a comic strip, so no offense if you don't read it all :).
Brian
Mario's Story
CHAPTER 2 (recap)
Mario looked down at his feet. He knew he didn’t like creepy, crawly things, and he was sure he didn’t like monsters, not even a little bit. But he really liked the Bear, and wanted to make sure he got home safely. And wouldn’t monsters think twice about attacking a little boy if he were with a Soldier and a Bear? In the end, Mario decided the most important thing was to help his friend. He took just a little drop of the Bear’s magic honey on his finger, put it in his mouth, and before he knew it, Mario was looking up, up, up at the Bear and the Soldier as a two-and-a-half inch tall boy. He grabbed onto the string, which was now as big as a rope to him, and began to climb. In the Big People World, he wasn’t very good at climbing (his Mommy would always stop him from climbing for fear that he’d fall and hurt himself.) But now that he was small, he found he could scramble up the string as fast as he could walk. When he reached the top, the Bear gave him a big Bear hug, while the Soldier busily pulled the string up. Then the Soldier turned and unwound the string down into the other side of the box. First the Bear started to climb down, then Mario, and finally the Soldier. And this began their adventure on The Way to Theryse.
CHAPTER 3
Mario reached the bottom and looked around. It was very dark. He turned around and looked up to see the Soldier coming down. The only light came from up above where the book held up the mattress over the box. Mario could still see just a little bit of the motor home wall. But now there were no boxes around him that he could see. He reached down and instead of wood, he felt cold, hard rock, and a few pebbles. On three sides he could only feel the rock wall, and on the other, only a slight breeze.
“Well, off we go,” said the Soldier as he strode forward into the blackness ahead. Mario stood, a little bit afraid (what 8-year-old wouldn’t be?), and watched as the Soldier slowly disappeared into the darkness.
The Bear, now much bigger than Mario, put his big fuzzy arm around Mario’s shoulder. “Don’t worry. You’ll be safe with us. We’re beginning a great adventure!”
“But I can’t see where we’re going,” Mario replied.
“There’s a big difference between not seeing where you’re going and not knowing where you’re going,” the Bear said. “We know that Theryse isn’t behind us, so it must be ahead of us, right?” They walked forward until the light from inside the motor home was just a speck in the distance, and they could hardly see at all. Mario was very close to asking if they could go back, when the Bear said, “Anyway, it’s a well known fact that there’s always a dark turn before you come into the light.” And sure enough, just then the stone tunnel made a sharp right hand turn, and he could no longer see anything behind him. But ahead, he could see sort of a grey light. They walked on together, with Mario holding the Bear’s paw, until they came out into the early morning sunshine. A blast of cold air hit Mario.
He turned and looked up to see a huge mountain. They’d walked out of a cave into the morning light. Mario turned and saw below a wide valley with very short grass and leafless trees, stretching off into the horizon.
“Looks like winter is just ending,” said the Soldier, who had been waiting for them at the mouth of a cave.
“No wonder I was so sleepy,” said the Bear, now yawning again. “I should have been hibernating.”
“There’s no time to sleep now, we need to get going,” said the Soldier, and so off they went, half-walking, half climbing down the mountain. Mario was really beginning to enjoy himself as they went down. Despite the cold, he was working up a good sweat. Back in the Big People World, he’d spent a lot more time watching TV, playing video games, and playing with toys than he had running, jumping and climbing, and hadn’t realized what he’d been missing.
Mario was looking down at rocks and grass and old leaves. Unlike back home, where most of the rocks were sort of grayish or brownish, the rocks here had many different colors. The rocks by the cave were a chalky color of red, while further down they were shiny yellow (which was very bright in the sunlight) or dark blue. The short grass that grew up around the rocks was a normal green in some places, but red and pink in others. The sun eventually grew warmer, and the rocks weren’t so cold.
When Mario wasn’t looking down at the rocks to make sure he didn’t slip, he was looking at his friends (at least the Bear seemed to be a friend) as the climbed down with him. The Soldier carefully chose his way down the mountain, and never lost his footing. He often paused to scan the area about them. Mario wondered if he was looking for friends or enemies.
On the other hand, the Bear had no time to look around at all. About half the time he would stumble and fall, and bounce off the rocks. But as he had a thick fur coat and a lot of extra fat for padding, it didn’t seem to hurt him a bit.
After what seemed like just a few minutes (but was really several hours), they reached the foot of the mountain. Mario looked up, and could just barely see the cave opening they’d left that morning. He couldn’t believe he’d climbed all that way down without any help.
“I’m exhausted” said the Bear. “I need to rest for a minute.”
“We can rest when it gets dark,” said the Soldier. “Right now we need to go as far as we can. There’s no telling how well we’ll be able to see tomorrow, if at all.”
Mario looked in front of him. The flat ground and the short green grass with red and pink patches spread out before him as far as his eyes could see.
“Do you think it will be foggy or something tomorrow?” he asked the Soldier.
“No,” the Soldier replied, and walked ahead a few steps.
Mario thought he’d ask the Bear. “Why won’t we be able to see well tomorrow?” he asked, but by this time the bear was lying on his back panting, and didn’t seem to hear. However, when the Soldier yelled back at them to get moving, he got up.
They walked on for a few more hours over the seemingly never ending flat ground and short grass. Even though it got darker, it didn’t get any colder, which was good- Mario hadn’t thought to bring his jacket from the motor home. In fact, it might have even been a little warmer. By this time, Mario was getting tired. Apparently, the Bear felt the same way.
“We have to stop,” the Bear moaned, and collapsed onto the ground. The Soldier gave in, and they called a halt for the night. Mario and the Bear lay down, but the Soldier sat up and said he’d keep watch. “Keep watch for what?” Mario wondered.
Just then his stomach growled. He’d walked all day and hadn’t even thought about eating! Now that was a first. The Bear had heard Mario’s stomach, and leaned over to him. “I’m sorry we didn’t bring any food with us. But I do have some honey. I don’t think it will make you any smaller, at least not in this world.”
Mario wasn’t sure if he wanted to try any. He worried that if he did take the honey and he got any smaller, he couldn’t keep up with the Bear and the Soldier. Just then, his stomach growled again.
“OK, I’ll have some.” He put some honey on his finger, looked at it one more time, and ate it. He realized for the first time how good it was. That morning, before he left on the Way the Theryse, he didn’t even think to try and enjoy the honey that made him smaller. He looked around, and saw that he hadn’t shrunk any more. “Well, nothing more to do but have more honey!” he thought. After he’d eaten as much honey as he wanted, he laid down beside the Bear. The Soldier continued his silent watch into the night. There weren’t many stars out. He looked back toward where the mountain must lie, hidden in the darkness of the night. He’d climbed down a mountain without help from any Big People, and had walked farther than he’d ever walked in his life. He knew his parents would be very proud of him.
His parents!
Mario hadn’t thought about them all day, at least not thought of being away from them. Did they know where he was? “Of course not,” he thought to himself. How could they? He wished he’d thought to leave them a note at least. Maybe they’d see the Bear and the Soldier were gone, too, and figure it out. “I don’t think so,” he mumbled to himself. As most kids know, grown-ups aren’t always that smart. Sure, they’re good with spelling and multiplication, but not talking toys and doors into other worlds. “Oh, well,” he thought as drifted off into a deep sleep.
For more entertainment options, a couple of my fellow writers/cartoonists and I have started a joint site of our works, www.thepennydreadfuls.com, with new short stories, comics, the odd limerick, etc.
www.thepennydreadfuls.com
Jim's Thoughts and Pictures and a book review and ...,
Jim
Friends Among other things, July in this region has three primary colors: blue for the sky, green for the grass and trees, and yellow for the fields of canola, which blossom in early to mid-July. Here are a few photos from our area, taken over the past few weeks. Pardon the variety of image sizes: I was playing with "crop" tool, and set the height for each image at 500 pixels, which gives varying widths, depending on how I treated the photo.
1. Poplars in canola field east of Highway 36, on 631. I captured these same two trees in January, carrying a heavy coat of hoar frost.
2. Canola fields in foreground and background, near Beauvallon. One can get a sense of the rolling parkland of the area, and note the trees which are scattered throughout, especially in the wet lowland, mid-photo. This isn't the prairie grassland, nor the boreal forest, but rather the meeting overlap of the two regions, which is known as "aspen parkland". Going 40 miles north, one would find dense poplar forests on the high ground, with abundant black spruce, birch and tamarack in the wet swales. Going 40 miles south, one would find the trees limited to stunted aspen around the sinkholes left in the knob and kettle topography, where the ice sheets died during the last long retreat north.
3. The river, and our backyard, from the Myrnam Bridge. You can't see our house from the bridge - the trees have grown since we moved here. If you could, it would be visible about 1.5 inches (40 mm) from the right margin, along the skyline. Conversely, we can't see the bridge from our house, either. Oh well: Who wants to watch traffic from two miles away, anyway? In the center distance is the St. Paul Community Pasture, which covers about 25,000 acres of rolling countryside. It was established in the early 1960's, in response to the inability of the farmers to earn a large enough income off of 160 acres to sustain a farming operation on the sandy, gravelly soil atop a terminal moraine. The province paid each farmer $900 for each 160 acre parcel, and the local old timers recall that those who received the money were happy to take it, and move on. Farming has not gotten any easier in the decades since, but the real estate prices have gone up. Nowadays, a 160 acre parcel in this area runs about $90,000 Cdn, or about $80,000 US - which is still pretty reasonable considering prices around the major urban centers of Canada.
4. Drilling rig in wheat field, near Vegreville. Note the gas flare of a flow test operation, where the volume of flow is gauged to decide whether the well is productive. Not all flares indicate a viable reservoir. I've seen much larger flares on wells which were plugged with cement, because the pressure readings during the test flow were dropping too fast. This indicated a small volume of gas, which would be exhausted within a short time, probably before the well paid out.
5. Evening clouds across the valley. This photo was taken at 9:35 PM on July 14. The days are getting shorter, having lost nearly an hour of sunlight from the peak in June. Currently, there still is a glow on the northern horizon at midnight, and morning twilight starts to lighten before 4 AM.
Enjoy,
Jim Szpajcher
For your Information / entertainment etc. Jim gets a variety of information from a variety of sources.
http://rense.com/general72/ilsum.htmFriends It is with great pleasure that I send out the following information.
"Exploring the Afterlife" - A workshop led by Bruce Moen,/b>
This is a 2 day workshop, which Bruce Moen developed, where participants can learn to easily access focused states of consciousness, and interact with non-physical entities in these states. By following simple, basic routines Bruce presents, one moves through a measured sequence of relaxation and breathing exercises to making contact with Helpers and engaging in working with non-physical individuals who need or desire assistance.
The premise which drives this workshop: When a participant interacts with those who exist in these realms, it is easier to know these states really exist. By lowering one's fear threshold regarding the afterlife, one can free up energy to enjoy our current lives more.
Date: September 16/17, 2006
Place: Ramada Inn, Airdrie, Alberta (403-945-1288) (Airdrie is 10 minutes north of Calgary, on Highway #2.)
Time: 08:30 am to 6:30 pm on both days.
Cost: $265.00, including tax, per person. This will cover basic beverages and morning/afternoon snacks.
What to bring: Bruce's workshops require little in extra material which participants might find useful, as his basic techniques can be learned while sitting in a normal chair. However, there are a few things which may prove valuable: 1) Bring a notebook or a journal, to write notes during Bruce's presentation and to recapture one's experiences during the exercises. 2) While performing relaxation exercises, a participant might feel cool or chilled. A light blanket or throw might be useful for comfort. 3) There is a Smitty's restaurant in the hotel, but if you have special dietary concerns or preferences, bring foods and beverages which suit your needs. 4) Some participants find that laying down while doing the exercises is more confortable. Feel free to bring a foam pad and pillow. There will be some "lounger"-style chairs available, for those who wish to recline. The general seating format calls for regular chairs.
How to register: Contact Jim or Annie Szpajcher at 780-645-5511 (home) / 403-803-4869 (cell), or via email mudman1@telusplanet.net.
Workshop Size: In order to allow Bruce and participants to interact, an ideal workshop size is 12 - 16 participants. If you are interested in attending, please ensure that you register in order to secure a place.
Note: If interested participants are constrained by financial difficulties, call or email Jim Szpajcher, in order to discuss optional arrangements.
Additional note: There will be a selection of Tapes/ CDs and books for sale, including material from the Monroe Institute.
Further information: Bruce has a website at:
http://www.afterlife-knowledge.com/The following is an excerpt describing the workshop in Bruce's own words.
http://www.afterlife-knowledge.com/explwksp.html-------------------------------- Annie and I ventured onto the road in early August, with a trip through parts of Montana and Wyoming, transiting through Alberta and parts of South Dakota along the way. Here are some images which stood out among the photos I brought home from the trip.
1. A tiny proportion of the population of both Canada and the U.S. lives on the prairies. The rest of us are interlopers, passing along the Interstate and local connecting routes. We view the scenes through windows, often bored with the lack of "interesting" landscape, when sometimes the power of the view is the sheer scale of the image. Here is a vast wheat field ready for harvest, with the Little Belt Mountains guarding the distant horizon. Photo taken mid-afternoon on a hot August 3rd, southeast of Great Falls, Montana.
2. Clear morning skies, and heat in the lower valleys give way to the coolness of altitude over the Beartooth Pass, with afternoon clouds bringing scattered showers to the sagebrush covered slopes on the Wyoming side. The peaks of Yellowstone National Park are shrouded and softened as the squall moves toward us. Photo taken to west, August 4th, above the junction of 212 and 296.
Check out:
http://www.cookecitychamber.org/ http://www.visitmt.com/whatsnew/roadsandweather/beartooth_info.htm3. History sometimes leaves little mark on the landscape. A sign to the left of the field of view states:
"On July 20, 1874, General George A. Custer, leading the first official government exploring expedition in the Black Hills, crossed at this point en route to the Black Hills to investigate rumors of gold in paying quantities. The trail in the foreground was left by his party which consisted of 110 wagons, 2000 animals and 1000 men, including engineers, scouts, geologists and practical miners. This expedition was in violation of the treaty of 1868, which guaranteed the region to the Indians. In 1875, after government negotiations with the Indians to purchase the Black Hills broke down, miners and settlers poured into this area." Photo taken August 6th, east of Hulett, WY., after a visit to Sturgis, S.D. to see if there were any Suzuki 80 motorbikes cruising main street. I didn't see any. This point is about 20 miles or so east of Devil's Tower, but we didn't see Richard Dreyfuss or any UFO's, either...
4. A large, severe thunderstorm moves over the Sweetgrass Hills, while sunshine brightens the hue of northern Montana wheat fields. There were a series of storms building over a period of several days on the front ranges of the Rockies along the international boundary. On this evening, a violent hail storm swept across the southern outskirts of Calgary. This photo was taken August 8th, north of Shelby, Montana.
5. The aftermath of the Calgary storm of the 8th, as we entered from the south the next morning. The fog is formed as the moist air is cooled below the dew point, by the hail on the ground. Photo taken about 10:30 am, August 9th, near Midnapore, a little town which has been absorbed in the past few years by Calgary. The next evening, the Red Deer area was battered with golf-ball sized hail in a similar show of nature's power.
Enjoy, Jim.
Westjet Answers. Canada, USA, Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Caman Islands, Panama, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Neth Antilles.
The 2005 August Perseids.
