Are there some good video shots of the winter solstice?

It does make for a dull celebration if the sun doesn't come out on the days of the winter solstice. The sun didn't come out in Vancouver this year for the 3 or 4 days around the shortest day of the year. Oddly enough, it was snowing, not raining as usual this year, but there was still no sun, no shadows.

But we don't have any ancient monuments in the Vancouver area - that I know of - that show amazing sights when the angle of the sun is just right as sun rises on the solstice. In other areas of the world there are many monuments that relate to the winter solstice. So in this age of video cell-phones and YouTube are people donating video to the world of the sun rising on the winter solstice on ancient monuments?

The 5000 year old mound at Newgrange in Ireland has a webcast of the event. This year they didn't get sun for the solstice, so they "incorporated clips from the 2007 webcast into the 2008 webcast". That's a bit of a cheat, but it's fascinating to watch.

2,000 people gather around Stonehenge for the winter solstice to see the sun shine on the monument and cast it's shadows. This year, that was a bit of a bust because it was cloudy there as well. (Ten times the number of people gather at Stonehenge for the sumer solstice, but that marks the time when the days start getting shorter, a bit of a bummer, and you're a bit of a wimp if you make it to the summer solstice and not the winter solstice.) Check out some of the celebrations on YouTube.

But beyond that, there are very few videos of winter solstice at ancient monuments around the world. Is there any way to encourage people to video these events and share them? In the future I will be keeping my eyes open for opportunities while surfing to suggest those lucky enough to be close to ancient monuments to take some time to video them.

Will Vancouver run out of yogurt?

A couple of days ago we saw on the news a tragedy of major proportions: a tractor-trailer truck loaded with (gasp!) yogurt overturned in a ditch outside Vancouver. The snow we never have, but for some reason have a overwhelmingly huge amount of this year, is to blame. The driver wasn't hurt, and no other vehicle got damaged, but the loss of yogurt to Vancouverites is a frightful thought for many people.

Will there be panic in the stores as people search empty shelves for the milky delight?

If people hear a rumour of a store that has a stock of yogurt, will the store be overrun with hungry granola munchers who need the silky liquid to mix with the grains to create a complete meal?

Will people just stop getting up in the morning because their breakfast food is just not there for them? Will they skip the morning yoga classes? Will the sushi bars have to extend hours so "last call" is pushed back for people to drown their yogurt-losses in sushi?

The answer is of course not.

In Vancouver we have developed a huge network of sources of yogurt. When one source of supply is interrupted another one can be used to cover the deficit. This is something we take very seriously here.

Silly.

How badly do we want to photograph Snow Geese?

At this time of the year there are snow geese in the Vancouver area, but they don't stay around for long, so photographing them can only be done for a short time. We are getting quite into taking pictures of birds, so this sounds like a challenge we need to pursue. But should we?

It is very cold out there right now. There is snow on the ground, so it's difficult to drive safely. The birds are typically found in fields - last year many schools had to keep the children inside because the school grounds were covered in birds. But the fields they like are way outside Vancouver in the suburbs, so that means driving.

We were at the Reifel Bird Sanctuary a couple of days ago, but the birds were not. We did see some flocks of large white birds that were probably the snow geese while we were driving to the sanctuary, but there were no snow geese in the sanctuary, so we missed the opportunity to photograph them that day. On the way home we may have seen a flock flying back where we had just come from, but we weren't sure, so we decided not to go on a wild goose chase.

So now we have to decide how much more effort we will go to for photos of these birds... it is cold out there, but we didn't get any pictures last year, do we wait until next year? That's pretty long term planning for us! And if we get some pictures this year, will we have to get better pictures next year? Such pressure from these migratory birds!

This could be the makings of a multi-year wild goose chase!

What can you buy for 50 cents?

Interestingly, there is no easy key stroke to get the cent symbol anymore. Maybe that was just on typewriters.

So you're probably saying there is nothing you can buy for 50 cents... but there is something very valuable that provides for many minutes of enjoyment. It's bird seed!

We went to the Reifel Bird Sanctuary on Tuesday. It was a frigid -6 degrees celsius (yes, in Vancouver that's too damned cold and no one is used to it) and there was snow on the ground (which also doesn't usually happen in or around Vancouver) but it was sunny and it's a great time of the year to take photos of birds. So we braved the cold to take some photos. Because it is winter and it's very hard for birds to find food under the snow, we opted to get a couple of bags of bird seed at the entrance gate. It was 50 cents a bag!

When we got the bird seed the woman at the entrance said the birds would be happy to see us because very few people had been there in this weather. The mix of seed was good for the birds right now, so they could use the food and we were sure it was all good for them. Typically we don't get bird seed because it's not a great idea to make wild birds dependent on humans. Unfortunately, that's why the birds are at the sanctuary, so they already are dependent.

We saw many little sparrows and chickadees, the ubiquitous mallards, coots, and pintails, and 3 sandhill cranes! The sandhill cranes were almost as tall as me! They are graceful grey birds that introduced themselves by walking on water - the frozen water in one of the ponds. After a great photo shoot they flew off and we followed them. They were near some handy benches, so we got the bird seed out and had a wonderful time feeding the cranes (and some ducks too). The cranes have long thin beaks and very good aim to collect the bird seeds on the ground. So we took even more pictures.

It was good for the birds, and good for us too. So that's what 50 cents will buy.

What is that white stuff?

Yes, it's snow. Yes, we're in Canada, so we should know all about this. But we're in Vancouver!

When we moved to Vancouver 10 years ago it was fascinating to watch the snow removal efforts of people here. They actually moved the snow into the middle of the streets! That way it melted faster. It was guaranteed to rain soon after the snow had finished landing, and it would all be gone in a matter of a couple of hours.

Yesterday it started snowing in the afternoon and it kept accumulating. The snow is still here now, the next evening, and will likely be here for a few more days. This is just not right.

Of course there are compensations, we live at the top of a rather steep hill, and our windows face the right direction for viewing this hill. The entertainment value of watching people attempt to drive up the hill lasts for quite a while. Just some clues for the clueless:

1 - When driving in new snow, use the busy, most travelled street, not the back alley! The best surface you can get is the travelled street.
2 - Slow and steady works. Spinning your tires in a blind effort to go as fast as your tires will spin wastes gas, makes ice under your tires, and will not get you anywhere quickly. Those cars that are going slowly are actually...going somewhere, unlike those with spinning wheels.
3 - Park the car on the side of the road if you're going to give up on it and walk away from it. Abandoned cars in the middle of the road are only good for bumper-car games.
4 - Stay home when it snows if you can. It's the smart thing to do, and you don't want to die of stupidity.

What does 'oversharing' mean?

Oooooo, Webster's New World Dictionary has chosen their Word of the Year and it's "oversharing". It means "to divulge excessive personal information". Been there, sat through that, wondered how to politely escape from it.

It happens on buses. Some people like to talk to bus drivers as if they were bar tenders. This means there is way too much detail given about the person's life to the bus driver and everyone else within hearing distance. Maybe getting off the bus one stop early is a good idea today.

It happens in drug stores on weekday mornings. And you know the conversations in the drug store are going to be about health issues... it makes that product on the shelf way over there extremely interesting all of a sudden. I wonder if that's how they sell a lot of products in drug stores, they put the visually inviting products in strategic areas so people can edge away from other's conversations politely.

Oversharing is also at an almost epidemic level on the Internet. This very interesting article from the New York Times describes the experience of a blogging-addict, for lack of a better term (warning, it's a long article). I've been wondering how many people are actually hitting the wall and feeling that they are oversharing their thoughts and feelings with the world. If it's the word of the year, maybe it's a substantial number of people. Interesting.

Is running with a musical instrument safe?

"Don't run with scissors!" Was definitely something you learned as a young child. (I hope, for your sake.)

But how about running with other objects... like tubas, flutes or drums? Those could be dangerous as well - even though it's far more entertaining for onlookers, so there's got to be an embarrassment factor in there too!

The Vancouver Santa Clause Parade went off on Sunday in sunny skies and all! We live next to the start of the parade route. No, we didn't go out to see it, but we lived it for a few hours. Starting at about noon, we were woken up (hey, it's Sunday, we sleep in) by a set of drummers - about 10 of them - warming up in our back alley. They found an acoustically great place to make lots of noise in the loading bay / garbage area of the restaurant building next to us. So we were drummed out of bed.

And then the other bands in the parade started warming up - apparently we are living in the band practice area. In the alley, on the streets, everywhere you can stuff a marching band to warm up, there were marching bands. Do you know how many marching bands are in your average parade? LOTS.

The funny part was when one of the bands was a bit late getting into line to join the parade! Runners holding - and trying not to hit themselves with - wind instruments, followed by these poor guys carrying the tubas and drums. It was like a wrestling match! I bet on the instruments! Too bad it wasn't the bagpipers, now those instruments would have an unfair advantage!

Is that disapproval or admiration?

On December 5 diamonds valued at 85 million euros were stolen from a Paris retail store. From the description of the heist in this article it almost sounds like the police are admiring the work of the thieves. They describe the heist as "meticulously planned" "the biggest jewelry heist yet in France" and the thieves as "major pros".

They then go on to describe the market they expect the thieves to sell the diamonds at as a "new El Dorado for traffickers", which conjures up visions of legendary markets of wealth.

The writer of the article definitely was on an admiration kick. The store that was robbed was given a good write-up as well, it "specialises in ultra-luxury jewelry" and sells to royalty (both rulers and pop stars). And then recent record breaking or unique robberies in Europe were numerated.

It seems as if a really good heist of ultra-expensive items from the very rich is something to be admired.

Is painting in the dark with a flashlight good?

OK, so they are working into December to finish painting the outside of our condo building, which can be considered nice because they may actually finish this year. (It's already been a year and a half since they started.) BUT is it good that they are painting in the dark? Is it good that it's past 5 pm and they are still painting? The sun went down about an hour ago.

The building has gone through stages of men redoing the edges of all the windows, replacing tiles on open balconies (to the exact same colour tiles, just a bit bigger - why?) to painting the beige bits (with more beige paint, maybe a bit lighter, but essentially the same colour). And it's all been annoying as hell due to the construction debris that is everywhere (don't park your car near this building unless you want dents), the scaffolding which makes the place look terrible, and the bloody noisy, bad mouthed construction workers with the bad taste in music constantly outside our windows.

We have many paint spots on our windows already. I shudder to think what these men are doing to the windows in the dark. Is there any chance of ever having clean windows again?

What's over there?

It's not a deep philosophical question, but it's an energizing question that gets you off your butt to go exploring.

If it wasn't for that question, would any European have discovered North America? What about South America? What's over there? And Australia, what's over there then?

Would you ever find that great new restaurant or the coffee shop with the best views to sit and have coffee in without that question?

If it wasn't for that question, would everyone convince themselves that where they are is "good enough" and they never need to move again? And isn't "never need to move again" the definition of death?

Some questionnaire developers want to know the attitude of the responders, so they ask questions about your attitude towards change "Are you a change seeker or do you like things to stay the same?". In truth the answer is, of course, "It depends" on the situation. The orbit of the planet - yes, that would be a good thing to stay the same, we just don't want to know what would happen if the planet stopped moving. Changing newspaper boxes so you have one big one instead of a dozen little different colored ones all over the sidewalk - yes, you could change that and life would go on, be less cluttered, yup, change that.

But if they asked "Does the question 'What's over there?' get you interested in seeking out the answer?" that is much easier to answer, and may give them a better idea about the attitude of their responders. It would be easier to get rid of the "dead wood" that way, wouldn't it? Knuck, knuck, ooh, I like that one.

I think this has got to be one of my favourite questions. A whole world of possibilities are open to you when you ask this question.