What Do You Call A Fly With No Wings?

July 3rd, 2008 Thomasso

Well, I just got a reply on my post from June 29, 2008 called “As the Bugs Bite, I Run Inside,” and it appears that someone has been listening to our cries, whines and harping about the fly problem. The pest control people could be taking care of our little Fly Infestation sooner than I thought–like possibly today.

Here is what the Langley Township have to say on their Town Hall Blog called Langley Politics Dotcom:

The mosquitoes in Fort Langley have been terrible this year. The Township has been spraying (including, I understand from our staff, using a helicopter on parts of McMillan Island, with Kwantlen First Nations permission), but the GVRD has thus far refused to spray on Brae Island or in Derby Reach park.

That is about to change: Township staff told Council today that the GVRD has agreed to a more balanced approach to mosquito treatment that considers the interests of the surrounding community. As a result, they are moving forward with assessing and treating Brae Island as soon as possible.

To help speed the process up further, we have offered the services of our mosquito control contractor, Culex, to get onto Brae as soon as possible (hopefully today).

This has been a terrible year for mosquitoes along the Fraser, but we will continue to do everything we can to make things better.

So it looks like there could some relief in the near future from the all the biting that has been going on from the evil fly. I can’t say that I’ll miss them, but wait—yes, I want to miss them, I never want to see them again!

I know that there are people who oppose the spraying because of the chemicals that are put into the environment. After all this is an issue that I’m sure the GVRD/Metro Vancouver posed with its decision not to spray in the first place. I’m really caught between a rock and hard place on this one. On one hand I hate being bitten alive by the fly, yet on the other hand, I see spraying as concern to the environment. I guess in this case spraying wins the argument for now–until the long term effects start to show up….

[ADDED] Jordan adds: “…that bug bites, and the diseases spread through them, are a public health concern. We spray with the cooperation and consent of the Fraser Health Authority.”

Thanks to Jordan Bateman of the Langley Township Council for the news.

**The answer to the joke in the header is: You call it a “Walk.” becuase it can’t fly any more.

Posted in Blog Bugs, General | 1 Comment »

I Want Out! @#*!-off Fly

July 1st, 2008 Thomasso

Sitting in my easy chair, I am looking outside at the summer morning as the tops of the trees begin to light up from the sun and the birds start chirping like a freeway of back-up beepers, I am sad because I am under siege from the army of mosquitoes that hover around my windows and doorway. The street is empty and barren as the Canada Day holiday starts. There are no kids playing in the front lawns running through the lawn sprinklers, or the sounds of the ice-cream truck playing the mono-tone version of Turkey in The Straw through its loudspeaker. There is emptiness.

Last night when I was watching the sun, one of those cloudless days, but with lots of hazed or smog, the onslaught of bite after bite was too much to stand on one spot and snap a few photos. When I walked onto the grassy area, the swarm was so thick that I actually in-hailed a fly through my nostril. Oh, I blew it out–I am not gonna die—*smerk*.

Sadly, regrettably and relentlessly I am sitting in my easy chair with the air conditioner humming away watching summer through the tinted glass out from my living-room. My only hope is when high-noon comes around because that is when even the evil fly cannot stand the heat and will retreat back into the swamps from which is came from–until evening when it is dinner time again.

Posted in Diatribe, General | No Comments »

As the Bugs Bite, I run Inside

June 29th, 2008 Thomasso

It sure has been a hot the last couple of days around here? It is like we jumped from cool wet weather, right into summer all of a sudden, reaching 30 plus Celsius with skin burning sun. Now I hear that there could be forest-fire warnings issued very shortly, and water advisories are right around the corner–better get that lawn watered. But there is one irritant that seems to make forest-fires and water shortages pale in comparison: Mosquitoes!

I took a walk to the beach today, Fort Langley’s best kept secret, along the river where I thought I would take off the shoes and feel the sand between my toes, maybe wade in the water for a bit. At first I thought something was wrong…, there were hardly any people, no sun worshippers, boaters and water-skiers. It didn’t take long for me to realize why no humans were around the water on a super hot day like today. When I started my walk down the path that takes me from the bridge to the shore, I was attacked by thousands of mosquitoes–all parking themselves on any bare-skin they could find. Then they stared injecting me with their inch-venom, and then drawing blood as fast as they could. I ran back up the hill twice as fast I had walked down hoping to outrun them. They followed me home–the dirty bastards!

I have about thirty bits along my arms and the back of my neck. The itchiness it unbelievable. Now I know why people are staying away from the water and bushes by the river.

When I went into the IGA to grab some items for my lunch tomorrow, there were flies coming in the store to feast on the people standing in the checkout lineup. They must have recognized me because they all seemed to gang up on me. I must of looked weird as I was trying to squish as many of them as I could hoping to put a dint in their population.

Posted in General | 10 Comments »

Taking A Break & Giving A Review Too….

June 25th, 2008 Thomasso

It is way past my bed time and I still have a ton of homework, so I’m just going to write a little here on the old blog and then call it quits for the day, even thought it is close to 1:00am in the morning. I’ll be working all day to morrow on papers, so any thought of enjoying the sun is just wishful thinking–self punishment or what?

So, review of the CBC Radio program called Canadia2056. Canadia2056 is written by Matt Watts, who has done other ventures on CBC and stuff on TV too, but I think this is by far his best work. Matt also plays the main character, Midshipman Max Anderson. The clever Canadian cultural whit with lots of American snips is a classic for me. Matt has gone all out spoofing the Canadian identity and adding so much humour that only a true Canadian would or could appreciate it.

I love sci-fi, and I love Radio, so it is really awesome to have the two elements fused together with an explosion humorous puns, plots and characters that creates some really great entertainment. The writing is clever enough that someone who is not Canadian will still appreciate the humorous elements of the plot. An example of the cultural aspects of the program presented itself for me today when a fellow College student and I were talking about languages and Canadian ascents. I thought she should listen to the last episode of Candia2056 to hear some French, East-coast and Western Canadian English ascents. She loved it, I think, but she was laughing. My friend really loved the character Margaux Faverau, a French Canadian who is second in command on the Canadia, played by Stephanie Broschart.

This is radio drama unlike the traditional radio from the 1950s that people seem to reflect upon. One of the noticeable traits of this show is that it stays away from musical scene-scapes, so you are focused on character and environment with specific sound cues. What really sets this audio-cast apart from traditional radio is the level and sophistication of the sound effects. Not only is there the essential practical sound effects, but room reverberations and background noise that meshes quite well without overdoing and drowning out the voices of the actors. The Sound Director, Wayne Richards and Recording Engineer, Anton Szabo do a really great job creating and putting the sound together.

My favourite character has got to be Doc Gaffney played by Paul O’Sullivan. Also, I have a soft spot for Shauna MacDonald who plays The Computer on the ship. She was formally Promo Girl on CBC Radio One for a few years back–I miss her.  Check out the full list of characters and the actors who play on the show at the CBC Website.

Lastly, this coming Friday will be the seasons finale of the second season. I really hope that the CBC gives the show a third season. This is really great entertainment. Who knows, maybe the American’s will want to buy it, move it to Hollywood, and call it their own?

There are VIDEO CLIPS too. Here is the link to see the cast and crew of Canadia2056.

Posted in General | No Comments »

A Mid Semester Crunch

June 24th, 2008 Thomasso

The Mid Semester Crunch is upon us now and the nice quiet world of “la-de-dha” is now broken with thoughts of panic-shrieks, hysterical laughter, uncontrolled pacing, sleep deprivation, writer’s cramps, writer’s block, writer’s psychopathy, writer’s envy, writer’s denial, writer’s headaches, sporadic normlessness, hyper criticism and static daydreaming. Oh does it get any better after this?

So over the last week I’ve been going like mad cranking out assignment after assignment, trying to keep up, keeping the grades up to my personal satisfaction, all this while trying to maintain a social life–very difficult to do under these circumstances. Predominately, the mid semester crunch is when the rules of the College/University say that at the mid point some form of grades must be present so that students can decide whether or not they should withdrawal from a particular course. So, the result is that you have a flurry of assignments just before the withdrawal date, and on top of that, the first bunch of exams start to appear. I should also point out that this is indicative of third and fourth year classes, not the undergraduate ones where exams are laced throughout the term.

Last night, my CRIM4900 class, we had to watch a video, a Holly-weird one, and then start writing an reaction essay about it–due next week. The CRIM4900 class is a seminar style class that has a specified topic that varies from term to term, so this term the topic is on Sexual Deviancy. The video called The Woodsmen staring Kevin Bacon, is about a convicted child sex offender who has just finished his sentence and is starting to reenter the community. For non-criminology students, and post graduates, this movie would no-doubt raise a lot of temperatures. Surprisingly, for me anyway, the “big scene” was not that shocking, it was a different scene that shocked me where the main character was just about ready to re-offend and his victim, an eleven year old girl–Robbin, started talking to him about her experiences, and he changes his mind and tells Robbin to go home. I will not spoil the plot for you. But surprisingly my personal reaction to it was totally different when compared to my first reaction of when I first saw the video a few years ago. I see that dealing with sex offenders academically has change my viewpoint–I see it as more of a science rather than an emotional reaction. Still, no matter how many cases I’ve read on these topics, emotion is always present. It is very hard for me to get into the mind of a person who does these acts and try to explain it.

Well, Time on the blog is running out and I must close. Other then that, I spent some time listening to the CBC Radio drama-series called Canadia2056 written by Matt Watts (spelling)?… I Love it–it is pure Canadian. It is worth a listen–very funny and well written.

Posted in Criminology, Diatribe, General, Homework and deadlines | 4 Comments »

Summer? Maybe….

June 20th, 2008 Thomasso

Well, it’s official, summer started at 5:00pm local time today, and the sun did come out and warm up the place a bit, so I really can’t complain too terribly much. But like all typical BC weather you only need to wait a short time and it will change–at least for 2008 anyway.

The really great thing about this time of year are the long days. I hardly ever get tired, and I seem to have a lot more energy. So tonight I’m going to stay up watch the sunset over in Abbotsford, up on the hill by Bradner Road. This should be taking place around 11:21PM tonight. [Ooops, that should have been 10:21pm ] :O [I'll get it right sooner or later..... 9:21PM!!!]

Yes-Summer!

Tomorrow it looks like we will have some good old rain comming with lots of clouds, and a slight dip in temperature. What else is new this year? It seems that the weather petterns are totally backwards. We should be having lots of sunny days by now….

Posted in General | No Comments »

The Linux Hybrid Desktop

June 17th, 2008 Thomasso

I thought I would juice up my desktop today, you know, add a little eyecandy to it because I like to change things around a little each time. No sense looking at the same picture day after day after day. I sometimes use one of the MACs in the Labs at the Computer Science classroom in G-Building on campus. When I found out that I could have the AWN (Avant Window Navigator) Docking bar on my Desktop, it was a must have. I really like the idea of the floating icons for docking than the traditional PC Desktop Menu look. So I have the Linux Hybrid Desktop working.

For Ubuntu, I would follow these instructions for the set-up because what is in the repositories does not have all the applets that are found here in these recompiled downloads. Also, you need to have the 3D Desktop, so a 3D Graphics card is a must. The Desktop will need a lot of RAM too, so don’t be surprised if it crashed because you only have 250MB–I warned you.

Some of the applets are very cool, such as the weather applet which not only displays the weather in real time, but it also shows you a five day forecast too.

All the Icons are animated and you have settings for 3D, Bounce and Glow, plus more. And you can change colour, reflection and size of the background bar.  I can see some room for improvements; like it would be neat to have the bar sit at the top of the Desktop, but for now you only have the option of having it at the bottom of your screen for now. I’m keeping my ear to the ground for new up dates.

I should start doing some homework before it’s due next class, in about 24 hours…. But the Desktop looks neat!

Posted in General, Homework and deadlines, Photographs | 3 Comments »

It’s Time for Change: Rewriting Old Money Laws that Suck

June 16th, 2008 Thomasso

I’ve always looked at the cheque cashing outlets as evil business people who take advantage of the poor who use their services. When I talk to people who don’t use cheque cashing stores as part of their banking, and explain what it is they do regarding their business practises, most seemed shocked. Also, I find that it doesn’t seem to matter what political ideology they are, there is a general consensus that it is wrong.

Today it was announced on CBC Radio that The NDP’s Libby Davies is going to put forth a private members Bill in Parliament that will target businesses like Money Mart. A couple in Vancouver had hired a contractor to do some work for them, and when they found out that the contractor was a fraud, they asked their Bank to cancel the cheque they wrote which was post-dated before it was to be  cashed. The Fraudsters cashed the cheque at one of the Money Marts in the Lower Mainland and Money Mart went after the couple for the cost of the cheque after it was cashed–even though it had been cancelled.

The MP for Vancouver East is proposing to amend the law to force businesses like Money Mart to verify the validity of cheques before cashing them, and to prevent them from going after people like the Greens.

The current law says that a company like Money Mart has the right to take the money from the issuer of the cheque after the fraudsters cashed it. So not only is the person who writes the cheque a victim of the fraudsters, but a victim again because they now have to pay the amount on the cancelled cheque to the cheque cashing outlet.

I really hope that the Conservative Minority Government in Ottawa embraces this bill because it is unfair to Canadians and lets criminals legally harm people for their actions and profit from it. We talk about getting tough on crime and stopping people who commit fraud–I think all four parties in Ottawa could see this as an issue that needs to be addressed for the common good.

Posted in General | No Comments »

Wow, the Sun Came Out

June 14th, 2008 Thomasso

It’s official, the sun is out in Fort Langley, BC! When I came back from work this afternoon I saw the Sun. In fact the down town area was buzzing with people enjoying the outdoor events, the street side vendors and the window shopper. There is more traffic in Fort Langley than at the By-Pass & Glover Road in Langley City when I drove through both areas.

There are a lot of people in town today. The sun just gets everyone out. Of course the summer garb is passé because of the return of fall, spring, winter, type weather, but now you can get the vitamin D thing going between the clouds.

But then there is driving through the town–that can be interesting–there are so many J-Walkers. And the cross walks are like playing Russian Roulette–you never know….ouch!

I had to make a left hand turn at that the Intersection of Glover Road and Mavis. It does have light, but only Glover Road has the light facing it. For the people travailing on Mavis, all they have are stop signs. So when it is busy and there is lots of traffic, when you want to turn onto Glover Road and the traffic stops, you take the opportunity to make your left hand turn but only need to stop, then go without any waiting. The problem is that this stopping of traffic could be due to a pedestrian using the cross-walk bottom to cross the street, so when you think you have a clear path to make your left-hand turn, you may take out a pedestrian too.

People driving just hate sitting while waiting at a crossroad or intersection. I can relate to someone taking the opportuniy to cross the road while there is a stoppage, or slowdown in traffic, but remember that there could be a person also crossing on foot. I know that this intersection (Glover and Mavis) is poorly set up for the amount of traffic it gets durring the weekend, but please, give the person a break when they are walking accross the road while the whilte signle light is on. You guys driving on Mavis (88 Avenue) can see the traffic signle too you know.

Posted in Diatribe, General | No Comments »

Friday The 13th

June 13th, 2008 Thomasso

I just could not pass up an opportunity to post on a Friday the 13th, I mean why not? Well, lets see, so much work, so little time, have so much to say. Damn, blogging can be tough with just a 24 hour day to work with.

So let me jump right in there with both feet and talk about Bill C-61. Yes, for all those who are happy with the Conservative Government’s proposed legislation, well, I hope you are dancing in the street. Once I cut through the Government’s Spin, and I do mean SPIN, the Criminologist jumped out of me. You see, I asked myself why we need more ways to invite Canadians into the Criminal Justice system. I can see little kids with their Ipods, being inspected by the RCMP, along with any other form of contraband, and then have the book throw at them. That was my 1984 Moment.

The Copyright law sounds really great, but could it be that effective with the way the Internet works? Come on. If they can’t stop Peer to Peer file sharing now, are they going to ever stop it with this new Bill? It all sounds great but what it means to me is that someone is going to need to continually check up on what you and me are uploading and downloading, at all times. The only way I see can this working is for the police to monitor all of us and our URLs. Great, the Attack ads never talked about this during the last election? How are we going to be policed?

The Internet is a buz with Bill C-61 talk. It has being a while since I seen so much activity geared towards one topic, and I think it is good. People need to be exposed to politics like this. This is healthy for Canadians because it get people involved. Hey, voter turnout may go up because of this…

Will Bill C-61 become law? Who knows. So far when the House of Commons goes through the process of creating laws, the watering down varies from session to session. Now it is up to the Liberals and Senate to pick thought this.

Of course there are some who are just are tickled pink, and there are some who are very happy that their issues are being addressed through this copyright legislation. Some publishing firms are probably delighted with the proposed Bill. I can understand the Music Corporations who are upset the Internet has stolen their profits away–or so they think…. And I can see the US Movie industry sitting back with a big smile on their faces, all hoping that illegal file sharing of their products will carry a stiffer penalty and get people back into the theatres. Might even slow it down some too?

Is my College/University Library going to suffer? I use a lot of reference material when writing papers, and it sometimes means that I need to photocopy pages from book and journals–will this end as we know it and put students at risk of violating and receiving a criminal convictions with $500.00 (or more) find?

I’m writing my MP. Although I never voted for the guy. I think he needs to hear from Canadains like me. He must know that there are more than just corporations in this country, there are also people in it too. Everyone that I have talked to since the Bill was persented two days ago thinks that this is a bad one. Not becuase it helps out the artists and companies that creat the content, but becasue it criminalizes most offences associated with cpoyright violations.

Posted in Criminal Law, General | 1 Comment »