BC Beekeepers 1918 Pure Honey - Italian Queenbees don't sting, they pinch!

We always believed that honey bees were native to British Columbia ..... "not so". But they've always been here, so they must be .... .... "NO,  ...... not so".

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Beekeeping has been practiced in British Columbia for nearly 150 years. The first 2 hives of honey bees arrived by ship at Victoria in May, 1858.  - Beekeeping in British Columbia A Brief Review

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In 1856, two years before Victoria got its first honeybees, Parisian Henri Harnet was given permission to set up 20 hives and teach apiculture in the Jardin du Luxembourg. The apiary and school are still active, now run by a non-profit society.  - Frances Backhouse

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In British Columbia, where the first hives arrived by ship in 1858, honey bee pollination is now responsible for more than $160 million per year in agricultural production. In comparison, the total market value of hive products, including honey and beeswax, comes in at a paltry $8 million. - AluminUBC Trek

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..... has reports of bees shipped to B.C. from California in 1858 and Oregon in 1860., and a lot of stories of the first settlers who kept bees - listserv entomology

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John S. Harbison (1826-1912) was one of the first beekeepers to import bees into California and was an inventor of innovative beehives and new methods of rearing queen bees. He authored An Improved System of Propagating the Honey Bee (1860) 

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John S. Harbison:  There he boarded the ship, Sonora, bound for San Francisco, and upon arrival transferred to the river steamer New World, and was taken up stream to Sacramento where he arrived on December 2, 1857 with a loss of only five colonies of his original 67 with which he had started.

 What triggered our sudden interest in BC Beekeeping was this book from 1918, which probably helped 1921 Gardening on a City Lot three years later, in Vancouver and the Gulf Islands.

Guide to Beekeeping

 We always believed that honey bees were healthy.... "No, .... not so".

Check out this Contents Page 63 (64) on Disease... and Vancouver BC "American foul-brood" (AFB)

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Vancouver, Surrey, East Burnaby and Kerridale (not part of Vancouver until 1929)

Instead of Burning or killing off the Queen Bee, is there a more humane method?

Yes, check out the FactSheet            Number 204

 The development of antibiotic-resistant American Foulbrood (r-AFB) demands that the drug should only be applied when brood disease has been confirmed or detected nearby. It is no longer recommended for disease prevention. Dependency on antibiotics can be sharply reduced through hygienic management practices, abundance of pollen and reduction of stress (refer to Factsheet #200). Do not use antibiotic extender patties.

 If Antibiotics causes cattle to gain weight quickly, and because We eat meat and are gaining weight quickly, does that then mean that we shouldn't be adding honey to our .... coffee/tea or porridge...?

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Women Bee-keepers:

"....women have given bee-keeping as much study as the would-be typewriter gives to stenography..."

Hmmmmm perhaps the author of "Guide to Bee Keeping" should have written "typewriterist" or "type writer" or "typist" instead of being penned as a "would-be typewriter".

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Google Search Criteria    bee honey goes with diabetes

Google Search Criteria    bee honey best served

Google Search Criteria    bee honey baking cooking

Google Search Criteria  bee honey production

Google Search Criteria  beekeeping harbison vancouver

British Columbia Beekeepers  of which Valley Gold Bee Co. is one

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Bad Bee Keeping    actually his blog is just the OPPOSITE

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Kootenay Lake 1924  Pages 9, 10 (Image), 11

 Agricultue in West Kootenay
William J. Bonavia Secretary, BC Agricultural Department
 1924

Snip

The bees are Italians, which do remarkably well, and some of the largest yields of honey per hive in the Province have been obtained in the Kootenays.  

Snip

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The Title, if you're wondering, came from "Hugh Murray", a North Vancouver District Teacher in the 1970s where the District had introduced an Outdoor School experience near Squamish, BC.  One field of endeavour was honey bees, and the fact that they were introducing a new "strain" of Honey Bees, from Italy.   To make the point of the proud announcement, Hugh contacted the local columnist Jack Wasserman with a tongue in cheek comment of: "These Italian bees don't sting, they pinch!"

School District 44's Outdoor School  Cheakamus Centre  nature is in session

• A Day In The Life at North Vancouver Outdoor School by Mike Shovar 

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Minimal-impact North Vancouver Outdoor School

First Nations Bighouse Program

From Superintendents Blog:

by Dawn Green

The new North Shore Credit Union Environmental Learning Centre, currently under construction at the North Vancouver Outdoor School (NVOS) inParadiseValley, has won a prestigious award of merit for sustainable design.

McFarland Marceau Architects Ltd., a Vancouver-based firm that specializes in sustainable design, won the award last month during the 2011 Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence. The Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence have been running since 1968. In making their award selection, the jurors considered geographical and social context, and evaluated physical organization, materials and environmental features of the short-listed projects.

Slated to be completed by April this year, the $5.8 million Environmental Learning Centre reflects the environmental principles adopted by NVOS. The 840-square-metre building, with its raised floor and forest setting, follows a “tree house” concept and is situated above the floodplain, elevating visitors to the forest canopy. The facility, which will replace existing infrastructure at the school, features an exhibition space, dining hall, commercial kitchen, learning spaces and administrative offices.  SNIPPED

1921 Gardening on a City Lot in BC: 35 cents per day or $127.75 per year

Life is so complicated now, because of the internet. It's all about security, including Tomatoes.

Biosecurity Guidelines for Post - harvest Greenhouse Tomatoes: Prevention of Post - harvest and Storage Rot  - March 27, 2013

 

Link to Ron Finley Ted Talk Plants vegetables garden south central LA

Updated 2024-03-05  via the WayBackMachine 

https://web.archive.org/web/20130527105459/https://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerilla_gardener_in_south_central_la.html

 
In earlier days, like the 1920's, there were more important objectives.... SURVIVAL of the fittest and we're not just talking about Tomatoes alone.

The City of Vancouver was incorporated on April 6, 1886, the same year that the first transcontinental train arrived.   There was no Costco or Safeways, maybe a "corner store" here and there, but if you had land, and there was lot of that around per capita, for the taking, then you could have your own source without depending upon California and a link via a Skagit River crossing.

All you needed was a 50' X 50' plot of land dedicated to your garden... Another 50' X 100' for the house and stable.

Gardening on a City Lot in BC

January and February, kale, parsnips, leeks, lettuce, and parsley;
March,spinach and broccoli;
April,  radish, onions, rhubarb, and broccoli;
May, asparagus and peas;
June, early cabbage, carrots, and beets;
July, early potatoes, parsnips, and beans;
August, tomatoes, cauliflower, onions, cucumbers, and summer squash;
September, cabbage, salsify, and herbs;
October, celery, brussels sprouts, leeks, and winter squash;
November, fall lettuce and early spinach;
December, same as for January and February.

Besides the fresh vegetables which may be had through the winter months, the gardener can have a large variety stored, including potatoes, beets, carrots, onions, celery, squash, and turnips.

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In 1921 the BC Government pegged the costs of food shopping at Thirty-Five cents a day  One Hundred Twenty Seven and 75/100 Dollars per year.

2013, taking into account Inflation.... that works out to  $1,536.76 ..... per year.  Does that sound about right?

Or does it mean that the Bank of Canada Inflation bean counters software is out of whack, has been out of whack for a long time.

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The early settlers but later than 1886, following the First World War, were encouraged to come to Canada, to British Columbia where they had to clear the trees, the stumps, plow the land, seed the fields, tend the fields, harvest the field, and have the resources, FOOD to last until the next year ..... like these Links to previous Posts here at the BBC.

Soldiers and Raspberries,  Stalwart Peasant,  Oats, Wheat and Barley Grows. Firsts for Women, Taxes and Tolls, Pigeon Phones, 125 year old Vancouver,  Tom Carter Gallery, Len Norris, Warner Loat, Trutch

Were City Lots dimensions determined by the need of its residents to fend for themselves, wholly dependent upon the land?   Were the backyard buildings still housing stables for horses, soon to be replaced by cars... which didn't create manure for the garden?  Up until 1950's Dairyland delivered their milk by HORSE... the manure was fantastic.... so Mr. D (our neighbour) used to say.... D is for Davis....

Today's residential Front Yards, now they could be used for a vegetable garden..... 26' setback X 50' wide or 33' wide... as long as there are not Horse Chestnut Trees growing on the front street ....  would the southern facing street front yards have more daylight than the their Northern facing front yards .... all depends on the size of the house, not by today's standards, but pre 1921.... is there an inflation counter for buildings...

A greenhouse would help....

Houseboating in BC. May 5 weekend weather: "Summer" like weather!

Kaslo Shipyard Company - Kootenay Lake

Cruise, fish and explore sensational Kootenay Lake from the unique vantage point of a houseboat. It's all yours to enjoy: the quiet hidden coves, vast sandy beaches, vibrant lakeside towns and superb freshwater fishing. Choose from our four seaworthy cruise vessels, each fully furnished with a spacious wheelhouse, full galley, full bathroom and complete sleeping facilities for four, six or eight people. Since 1970, this has been the holiday of choice for families, friends, couples, business groups and fishing parties from across Canada, the U.S. and abroad.

British Columbia's Kaslo Shipyard Company fleet has been in business for the past 33 43 years, and it's still going strong.

What's the drawing card for Kaslo?  Is it the owners?  Their clients?  The amenities?  The nearness to Alberta and USA?

Houseboating in British Columbia is Saltwater or Freshwater, it's your choice.   Don't forget about River  rafting.

We found the original document for this Post at the BC Legislative Library from 1980 and we thought it would be curious to know if the industry had gone from boom to bust, or holding it's own......   We chose not to do a tally of  HOW MANY vessels were in existence in 1980 (the data is there though) but one may only guess that today's fleet is much larger, based on tourism statistics.

You may have many fond memories of your first houseboat vacation, they are still there, waiting, to be rekindled.

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1980	2013
HOUSEBOAT RENTALS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA	HOUSEBOAT RENTALS IN BRITISH COLUMBIA
This is a courtesy list of private companies or persons with houseboats available for rental. It in no way implies supervision or grading by this Ministry. Listings are alphabetical  by City/Town. Rates are available from the individual companies only. The telephone area code for British Columbia is "604".	Browse the British Columbia houseboat directory for a complete list of houseboat rental companies in British Columbia British Columbia. Listings include houseboat information, contact details, amenities, photos and links to British Columbia houseboat web sites.
1980	2013
TNT Houseboat Enterprise
Cherokee Resort Ltd.	Okanagan Wake Tours
Mara	Kelowna
Delta Charters Inc.	Lajoie de Vivre Houseboat Dinner Cruises
Richmond	Kelowna
Happy Holiday Fishing Charters	AA Kelowna Houseboating
Burnaby	Kelowna
Balfour Beach Inn
Holiday House Boats	Sunshine Houseboat Vacations
Kootenay Lake	Lake Koocanusa
Kaslo Shipyard Company Ltd.	Kaslo Shipyard Company
Kaslo	Kaslo
Cruise Along Houseboat Charter	Bluewater Houseboat Rentals
Sicamous	Sicamous
Shandy Cove	Waterway Houseboat Vacations
Sicamous	Sicamous
Waterway Houseboats Ltd.	Island Houseboats
Sicamous	Victoria
Explorer Houseboat Rentals	Sproat Lake Houseboat Vacations
Chase	Port Alberni
Ben's Marina & Trailer Court	Island Houseboats
Youbou (Cowichin Lake)	Lake Cowichan
C.R. Western Electric	Lakeside Floating Vacations
Campbell River	Powell River
Wilcuma Lodge & Resort	Island Houseboats
Cobble Hill	Victoria
Birch Bay Resort	Solaris Houseboats
Horsefly	Sorrento
	Fish & Duck Pub, Marina & Houseboat Rentals
	Port Alberni

Germanium, not Geranium; Lithium and Epidolite, only on horseback you say

Modern Day Geologists in British Columbia may be able to cover a lot of ground via Helicopters, but when it comes to finding, what was first found 1860 - 1912, when the only means of transportation was on foot, or by horseback, why not go back and try it again... using Guide Operations.   Guide Operations may not be financially beneficial, but what about the possible spin-offs of staking claims.

 Germanium not Geranium


Germanium


Select Bibliography:
Page 5 of 5

Germanium and Other Trace Elements in Some Western Canadian Coals, John A. Fortescue, The American Mineralogist, Vol. 39, 1954, pp. 510-519


 Google Search Criteria:

Germanium and Other Trace Elements British Columbia Coals

Wikipedia on Germanium

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Industrial Minerals in BC

Canadian Deposits of Lithium

In British Columbia there is only one recorded occurrence of a lithium-bearing mineral;  i.e. (epidote),  lepidolite in quartz and calcite about 10 miles northeast of  Illecillewaet Station (Glacier National Park) on the Canadian   Pacific Railway main line in the Selkirk Mountains  (~  Geological Survey  of Canada Ann. Rept.  New Series  Vol. VI, p. 29R, 1893).

Few complex pegmatites have been reported in British Columbia but they undoubtedly  occur. Areas  rich in pegmatites,  most of  which  are probably  simple unzoned  ones  include  the  Horse Ranch Range

  Cassiar;  Wolverine Range,  Omineca; Big Bend and Bugaboo areas of Selkirk Mountains,  and others

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BERYLLIUM

**********

  columbian niobium and tantalum

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Prospecting for Uranium (1959)

BC Liberals Bitter Pills: Misleading Graphs leads to Graft

Sometimes, for Some people, swallowing a pill is not doable.  It's like learning how to ride a bike. Or rather, being told HOW to ride a bike by someone who learned how to ride bike fifty years ago.... what the hell do they know... they drive a frigging car..., or worse, horse and buggies!

I learned how to ride that bicycle long before I learned how to swallow a bitter pill, ..... Aspirin.  When I was TOLD i HAD to take the Aspirin it was an uphill battle for my Mother, she never did manage it.   She gave up finally, Crushed the Aspirin between two spoons, then loaded strawberry jam into the mix and said "Enjoy Dessert"    ....   I did, and spat out the gritty stuff.

At sixteen I was advised that for the rest of my natural life I would be on pills.... twice a day.....  and at that point I was still in the fight of my life, I hadn't conquered that bitter pill routine.  I'd asked pharmacists, you know, those guys and gals (not back then)...it's their product...pills... they would surely know how to ... explain  .... in detail... how to swallow a pill.  They had no idea...  I was really starting to wonder if they ever took any of the pills that they sold to others.... maybe I'm the only person in the whole wide world (1.42 Billion people back then) who didn't know how, to.

Along came a buddy, "JR", we both belonged to the same "Gang "... South Vancouver Scout Troop at Knight Road and 49th.   JR didn't have to take pills, no help there, but his twelve year old Kid sister, did know, but didn't have to, do it.

Here's what she said:  'you have to keep the tongue busy, because it will take that aspirin, so too the gritty crushed aspirin, and push it hard to the roof of your mouth, it's a gag reflex ..........   r-i-g-h-t ...'  the tongue has to go hard against the back of your lower jaw's teeth's gum line ...... r-i-g-h-t....'   now put the pill in your mouth...... okay??.....ah-ha....'  here's a glass of water....... keep the tongue busy..... swallow.
 
It worked, has worked since 1960.  Doesn't matter what size the pill is, it works.

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Why all of the talk about a "Bitter pill" when we're supposed to be writing about Graphs and Grafts? 

Because, back in the Fifties through to the Eighties my family NEVER voted for W.A.C. Bennett, nor Bill Bennett, nor his sibling "brother" Bill Vander Zalm.  We were a small business family, Newfoundlanders, came out in the 1860's.... to Vancouver.

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The Social Credit Party "died" out in 1990, remember ...... , first Gulf War was a happening, followed hard on it's heels was the Conservative Party of Canada's Brian Mulroney doing his popularity death spiral poutine because of his introduction of the GST!!!, a TAX that no one wanted..... but we still have it today.

BC NDP came to power in 1991 lasted through to 2001 where the BC Liberals ran a smear campaign extolling their ability to do things better.  The majority of voters bought into, all except two seats.

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In less than ONE year of our Personal Income Taxes being cut by 25% the BC Liberals' Finance Gary Collins felt that he was obligated to Raise MSP Premiums by 50%!  What a Bitter Pill that was.

Facts not Fiction

In September of 2004, Prime Minister Paul Martin signed an Agreement that gave the Provinces and Territories a Ten Year honey pot of a deal, tranquility in financing Health costs, whereby British Columbia's share of the pie was $5.9 Billion...... for Ten Years... and here we are one year short of 2014 and the BC Liberals have been bumping our MSP Premiums up since 2010.

Where's the missing Money Christy?  Four years worth.

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January 2013  Auditor General John Doyle:  Health Funding Explained

 

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Who was the Best Government for BC since 1987?

 Check out Will McMartin over at the Tyee...... with his Post in April of 2009.

Facts not Fiction

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

More Math from 2004    should be used in 2013     "We have increased health funding by nearly $6,000 per minute" - Kathrine Whittred

BC Liberal Fiction not Fact

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Weekend Reading material on MSP Premiums in 1992 $s

Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditures in Alberta and British Columbia: The Role of Sub-National Politics 1992 - 2002*

Daniel Cohn, Ph.D.
Department of Political Science
Simon Fraser University Burnaby, British Columbia 

Page 46 of 47

"Trutch" we never Trusted. How about Truce, Christy?

 What's in a name eh......    Names of landmarks have been changed across British Columbia like Chinaman Lake to Chunamun Lake and Boss Lake (Uranium Fame $30 million worth) to Bosk Lake.

A BC Government Website likes to hang onto the old names database, by listing off their "Alias", like it was a crime, a fraud and to a large degree, they were.   If Grandpa called the best fishing hole in British Columbia "Rum Cache", don't look for it on the map, the name is now Cicuta Lake, south-west of Vanderhoof, well before you reach the Nechako Reservoir.



Christy Clark is the MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey, although you'd never know it (RossK...... ). Within the next 33 days, before she leaves her three Offices as Premier of British Columbia, perhaps she would consider putting pen to paper and ask Vancouver's Mayor Gregor Robertson to delete the street called Trutch.    Doyle Street?

And please Christy, no more of your pandering towards specific groupings for votes with a Street name.


92% of 100% Reserve land was put aside for the 1% like Trutch, by Trutch, for Trutch!

Page 8 of  279

Land policy under Colonial B.C. 1850 - 1871

The first Indian (First Nation Land) Reserves were created in this period.  These reserves were located on southern Vancouver Island, the Fraser Valley, the Fraser Canyon, Kamloops, the Nicola Valley, the Okanagan,  and the Shuswap Lake areas.  Most of these were set up by Sir James Douglas in the early 1860's.

Douglas' reserve policy generally allowed Indians to select as much land as they wanted.  In 1861 Douglas directed the Chief Commissioner of Lands and Works, who had responsibility for laying out these early reserves, to "take measures to .... for marking out distinctly, the Indian Reserves throughout the Colony".  He added that "the extent that the Indian Reserves to be defined" was to be "as they may be pointed out by the native themselves".

This policy was dramatically reversed in 1864 - 1865 by Joseph Trutch.  As head of the colonial Department of Lands and Works, Trutch initiated a policy of reduction of the Douglas' reserves, of reluctance to allot additional reserves, and of non-recognition of the Indian's aboriginal claim  (native title).

An example of Trutch's policy of reduction can be seen along the Thompson River.  The Indians of Kamloops, Neskainlith and Shuswap Lake originally held a reserve along the north bank of the South Thompson River from Kamloops to Shuswap Lake.  This included Little Shuswap Lake and areas around Adams Lake.  In 1866 these reserves were "adjusted" by Trutch by reducing them to approximately their present size.

This policy was extended to the Fraser Valley in 1867.  It is difficult to get precise information on the location and size of the present reserves in the Fraser Valley are only remnants of the original reserves.

To learn more about these early "cut-offs" and other land grievances in the 1850 -1871 period, see the article, "Joseph Trutch and Indian Land Policy"  in B.C. Studies  (1971 - 72) by Robin Fisher.

Snip


CBC Lede: Sticker campaign targets Trutch Street signs

..... He (Trutch) also made sure Indian reserves were small, quickly overturning the generous and inclusive decisions of his colonial predecessor, Governor James Douglas.

"He reduced the reserves that Douglas had allowed for by 92% and changed the laws so that a Sto:lo family could only occupy about 10 acres of land," says Kluckner.
Trutch went on to be the first lieutenant-governor of B.C. in 1871, when the province decided to join Confederation.

"His policies and the policies of the government of the time were perfectly in keeping with serving the needs of the British government,” says documentary filmmaker Vince Hemingson.  .......

ShipPlotter: No Coast Guard? You too can Monitor Oil tanker traffic in Douglas Channel

Conversations over a Sunday morning Breakfast/Brunch at Burnaby's James Street Cafe and Grill covers many a topic.... from Morse Code to ... Semaphore (if Christy is looking for another way to skirt her Office's requirement according to the LAW which prohibits the shredding, deleting, burning of emails, documents, calendars, videos, notes, reports, etc..... MEMOs)  to Digital Decoders and eventually to digital decoder ship locations in Real Time.

For good measure we talked, He talked (same fellow) who came up with the Nelson "Galvania" Skalbania Post idea for the BlogBorgCollective ..... (Galvania's) using iron filings to "fertilize" the waters surrounding the Islands of Galapagos and Haida Gwaii.... DUMB move on the part of Planktos Corp., dumping 45 tons of the iron into the Galapagos, without consulting Marine scientists........ and then repeated their performance without informing the Federal Government of Canada.  Especially in light .... sunlight extremes between the two Islands.... Galapagos Island on the Equator.... with two seasons, SUMMER, and Haida Gwaii with two seasons WINTER.  


Mustn't forget to mention the other topic....keywords being:  Graph(ite) Accumulators... new technology.... with Toyota-like-Prius comes to mind because when that car's batteries goes DEAD, and they do, the price tag to replace the batteries is close to $4,000, and then there are the fees to dispose of them (the batteries)(extra).  Same holds true for the solar panels to assist the Province in creating access to BC Hydro's Net Metering (Smart Meter) system, whereby YOU, the homeowner, becomes an Independent Power Producer...... The problem lies not so much of the idea of having solar panels, typically on the roof of your abode, but more so with the storage of the accumulated energy.... the battery silos,  ..... like the Prius', need to be replaced.    The expected money"saved", is lost to maintenance charges.

ShipAIS

ShipAIS and "Ship Plotter" are two programs (hardware required too) looks like the perfect devices to track tankers and other resource transportation vessels like those two puny tugs that Enbridge is supposed to be tagging, afore and astern, on the mammoth tanker vessels for the Northern Gateway Douglas Channel run between Kitimat and the Open waters of the Pacific Ocean. ..... to and fro.    The system would also open a new hobby, one that complements HAM operators and chasers of Police and Emergencies, with Scanners that currently exist......

 Ship Plotter

.......The AIS system faithfully reported all the ship, tug, and ferry traffic and since it was a clear day, it was easy to relate the display to the real world. All the shipping info and positions seemed to be very accurate. In fact, a tug was returning from berthing a ship and as I approached Oakland outer harbor from the opposite side of the container pier, I noticed the tug being plotted on ShipPlotter on the other side. I couldn't see the tug since it was on the other side of the pier but knew it was there and took action to avoid the tug as we both "popped" out at the end of the pier.

Sailing the Bay (San Francisco) on Sunday was easier as well especially with ShipPlotter accurately showing course & speed for the high speed ferry traffic (30 - 35 knots) coming south from Vallejo, CA.

As far as performance, ShipPlotter was plotting shipping as far out as 25 nm. Much farther than the radar. But, when the radar did detect a ship, it was easy to identify and track. .......

 Communities along the shores, between Prince Ruper and Hartley Bay, could use the software, and hardware, to supplement the non-existent Coast Guard vessels which were sent to Newfoundland's treacherous Green Water coastline, complete with Icebergs.

UPDATE:  Anonymous 6:00pm recommends..... http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/   And it's certainly impressive!!!!  And... if you look from on high you can see the overall ship traffic going in, and out of the Port of Vancouver.... and then THINK about the marine traffic that is being proposed to go into Kitimat........

 There is one other source, the need to track up to date, real-time weather forecasts....real time???  HF Weather Fax Marine Radio

GoldBricking BC Budgets: Will Premier Bill Bennett's BCRIC Shares be worth more than Premier Christy Clark's Prosperity Fund?

Two Premiers, Two resourced based Public (Government) funds being used in the hope of recovering their political parties (BC Social Credit Party and the BC Liberal Party) from certain defeat ...... and along the way, damn the Taxpayers.

Premier Bill Bennett's Gold BCRIC-ing Version I  (value today ZERO)

The British Columbia Resources Investment Corporation, or BCRIC (pronounced "brick") was a holding company formed under the government of William R. Bennett.
The company took over ownership of various sawmills and mines that had been bought and bailed out by the government. The name was eventually changed to Westar Group Ltd.

The most famous aspect of the company were the five free bearer shares, dated August 7, 1979 that were distributed to all British Columbians, to promote investment in the province, and earn back a profit to the buyer. British Columbians and investors were encouraged to buy more. The company expanded, and bought numerous mining and logging installations. etc....

Unfortunately, because of significant investment in a North Sea oil play by a subsidiary, Westar Petroleum, as well as bad timing in a mining investment by another subsidiary, Westar Mining, the company ran into financial trouble. Investors saw their thousands of dollars dwindle to pennies.  Wikipedia

 Premier Christy Clark's Gold BCRIC Version II .... The Prosperity Fund

There's an old saying "Out with the Old, in with the New".....  Christy Clark's handlers, speech writers, cartoonists???, have used the word "New " to describe the "New Prosperity Fund" as if there was a predecessor, an older Prosperity Fund, that failed.

Strikingly familiar is how closely the Prosperity Fund and BCRIC promised to bring on a NEW ERA, just like the New Era of the HST.  Sky High spending without creating debt, that's what the BC Liberals are promising.  $56 Billion is the absolute tops.

Premier Christy Clark announced Tuesday the establishment of a new British Columbia Prosperity Fund to ensure communities, First Nations and all British Columbians benefit from the development of a new liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry.

"The safe recovery and export of our abundant supply of natural gas presents an opportunity for prosperity unlike anything we have ever seen before," says Premier Clark.

"British Columbians can secure tens of thousands of new jobs for decades to come by developing this clean energy resource, and protect this new wealth for the benefit of all of us today, as well as our children and their families, tomorrow."

Billions-of-dollars in new revenue will be dedicated to the B.C. Prosperity Fund. A key priority will be to eliminate the provincial debt over time, reduce the cost burden on B.C. families through further tax reductions, and make long-term investments in the services that people depend on, such as health care, education, employment and vital infrastructure.   Castanet News BC

Perhaps Christy Clark's true goal in May is to have a bridge or a building or a mountain or a NEW Deas Island Tunnel/Bridge named after her so as to attain the same status as the Bridge that bears the name of Bill Bennett...... in Kelowna, by then Premier Gordon Campbell on the eve of a Provincial election in 2005.... buying votes perhaps.

****************************

Tales from the Crypt: The British Columbia Resources Investment Corporation

by David Climenhaga on February 12, 2009

Snip   .... Perhaps thinking that the B.C. government’s involvement made BCRIC shares a little like Canada Savings Bonds, members of the public – mostly small investors without a great deal of sophistication about how markets work or who works the markets – gave their money to these Big Businessmen whose names escape me to invest and create wealth for them.

Alas, almost unbelievably, the Big Businessmen – despite the fact they had beautiful suits, great haircuts, Rolex watches, snazzy foreign cars and lots of MBAs working for them – made some very bad miscalculations! They sank some of the money – quite a bit of it, as a matter of fact – in North Sea oil at a time petroleum prices were going down, down, down. (Rather like right now.) They dropped more money down a mineshaft that turned out not to have a bottom. Whoops! Sorry, folks! Small investors who had put thousands of their hard-earned dollars into the Brick saw their investments drop like the company’s namesake. Before long, their thousands were worth only a few pennies.

By then, of course, the company, with its nearly worthless shares, wasn’t called BCRIC any more. It had a convenient new inoffensively corporate name: Westar Group Ltd. No need to remind folks that this was Mr. Bennett’s brainchild!   Snip

 ******************************************

From BC Business:

Christmas came early in 1979 when Premier Bill Bennett gave away 12 million shares of B.C. Resources Investment Corp. to British Columbians.

“As the son of one of British Columbia’s most iconic leaders, Bill Bennett not only emerged from his father’s shadow – he built his own legacy. He will be remembered as one of our greatest and most influential leaders. - Premier Christy Clark

“This government, with the most revolutionary proposal that’s been brought to public life in the last 30 years, has brought in an initiative through the B.C. Resources Investment Corporation to involve all our people in individual ownership where they will have a right, say, of collecting dividends and of buying more shares. I think this experience with ownership will encourage them to buy more. Not only are they getting free shares . . . they’re also being encouraged for the first time, on a ground-floor basis, to invest in their own company rather than send money to buy it from the government.” – Premier Bill Bennett, B.C. Legislature, March 30, 1979

Today the shares can be found in sock drawers and lining budgie cages throughout the province

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Google Search Criteria 

british columbia resource investment corporation

AND

Second version of the same criteria but under the heading of  BLOGs

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UPDATE:

Vancouver Sun's Craig McInnes  February 25, 2013

Fantasy gas fund built on shifting sands

Putting faith in LNG is like counting your chickens before they hatch - or banking on a future that may never arrive.

I put Premier Christy Clark's "plan" for a multibillion-dollar "Prosperity Fund" in the same category of wishful thinking. We don't have a single commitment yet for a major LNG export plant, yet we're already spending the money.

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Part II: Cobweb covered RCMP Reports kept safe and sound by the Legislative Library for 33 Years

 One can never be quite sure if one Blogger's writings effect the wheels of justice....... Our writings, work better if shared with others, like Laila Yuile, when she picked up on a Post here at the BBC.  It works both ways..... visa versus.

Back on October24, 2012 we wrote EXCLUSIVELY on the "Report on Rape in BC", and wondered out loud why the report had been kept secret for 33 years, and only came to see the light of day because of what we wrote. 

Was it something what we said that prompted others to speak  out?  or it was just bound to happen?

News | Feb 13, 2013 | 2:51  CBC

RCMP accused of rape in report

The RCMP says it wants to get to the bottom of abuse allegations against its officers in B.C. involving aboriginal women, but says individuals making the claims must come forward

From our original Post from October 2012, a portion is presented here.....

“The saddest part about British Columbia is that neither the Legislative Library nor the RCMP , have a clue as to what’s in their respective  “collections” of tales and Reports and even more Reports……, the public included…”

~snip~

“The RCMP appears to have turned a blind eye on past Reports ordered by  the Attorney General of British Columbia, specifically the one published in March of 1979.

Is there any Commanding Officer in Division E of the RCMP in British Columbia who can remember reading the Report from March of 1979?   Probably not, otherwise changes would have been made, the public educated on the Do’s and Don’ts of hitchhiking, lives would have been saved, cases closed, instead, the RCMP waited for someone to die in prison, in the USA.  While other serial killers are still walking Free.

The Report was made available to all Officers in 1979, even the most impressionable younger ones like the officer who has become the focal point for CBC’s: what an Officer should wear, WITH his boots, on.

SNIP

The “Report” that the Attorney General of BC (Garde Gardom 22 Dec. 1975 – 24 Nov. 1979) received in March of  1979, is titled, “Rape in British Columbia“, written by Nancy Goldsberry.  The document is available in the BC Legislative Library.”

 SNIP

Petroglyphs at waters edge, Threatened with Oil

Oil from Alberta;

Liquid Natural Gas from British Columbia...

......... leaving the Ports of  Prince Rupert (which has had three groundings of freighters in late 2012)  AND Kitimat.   The latter is expecting 10 major projects to get underway within a year.

There's been plenty of concerns raised with Enbridge's Northern Gateway Pipeline, from Watershed destruction, to fisheries, to the removal of 1,000 square kilometres of islands in way of Douglas Channel.  The Captains of industry will stop at nothing to gain riches.

Ecological Reserves....  are in Harms Way, so too is this:

Google Search Criteria    Alaska petroglyphs, Babbler Creek, Sitka

The rock art of the Northwest Coast. - Summit - Simon Fraser ...

summit.sfu.ca/system/files/iritems1/4415/b13752807.pdf

File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat
by DM Lundy - 1974
This thesis examines Indian petroglyphs and pictographs (carvings and ... of Alaska south to the Dalles of the Columbia River. ..... At Katlian Bay, (in the mouth of the bay) north of. Sitka. Kennedy 1974. At the village of Sitka, in Kalinin ... Reported located at Craig Boat Harbour, Kennedy 1974. .... Located on Babbler Point.

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These images, like most on the shores of Alaska and British Columbia, are at the water's edge... reached by canoes, originally..... power boats today, Oil and LNG tankers tomorrows.