Walking in a Winter Wonderland - II

...still trying to.

I still like the snow and am sad to hear that it will likely not be with us here in Metro Vancouver in a week or so at most. But... you were waiting for the "but" weren't you? ...I am getting more disgusted at how pedestrians are being treated out here every day.

Understandably for out here, we have had a lot of snow in a short time that has lasted a long time... as contradictory as that might sound. What I mean is that we had a number of snowstorms in rapid succession -- in a short time -- and that the snow has lasted longer than it often does. People out here are used to getting 6 in - 15cm of snow and the rain washing it away after a day or two. Rather we have had 60-80cm - 24-30in of snow in a week or so without any appreciable thaw and now with the raising of temperatures to freezing and a bit above, the rain is being absorbed by the snow -- much like a sponge absorbing water -- rather than the snow being washed away. That is leading to the snow just becoming heavier and more prone to collapsing roofs, capsizing houseboats, and impeding traffic. It also is blocking catch basins turning streets and highways into impromptu lakes and streams.

Still what has got my goat is that very little provision is being made for pedestrians!

(Image to right from Image*After)

I was lucky enough to have been given a ride to my Parents for Christmas by my Sister and her Husband or I probably would not have been able to get out for Christmas. The sidewalks are piled high with snow, not just from the snowfall, but also from that ploughed from the streets and people clearing their driveways. Truely there are some souls who have shovelled their sidewalks and there are some folk who have shovelled their walks, but have no sidewalks along the roadway to keep clear other than to attempt to shovel away what the highway and city have ploughed to the side of the road.

People are forced to walk in the narrowed street or through snow deeper than their knees, and very often that is the brownish grey sort of snow that is scraped up off of the streets.

Even if a person were to make it to the bus stop -- if the are taking public transit -- they are faced with that same mountain of snow to hurdle in order to climb onto the bus from the curb.

While it is true that this has happened during the holiday season with less dependence on commuting by transit to work, I can only imagine what people are doing presently to get onto the buses. I do know that anyone with a mobility impairment is likely simply stuck at home unless they have some access to a car, whether a friend or relative to drive them or cash enough for cab.

I am very disappointed that the City and Chamber of Commerce are dropping the ball on this issue... but perhaps they all have their nice SUV with snow tires to travel with...

Later!
~ Darrell

152.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

...or trying to.

I rather like walking in the snow. I think snow is beautiful although it seems many of my friends do not care for it. I know they have their reasons and perhaps I might change my mind in time... or maybe I just have too many good memories of it.

(image to right from Image*After)

Unfortunately -- though when young I used to shovel our walks within 24 hours of every snowfall back when I lived in a city where snow actually came every winter -- here folk don't seem to care much about whether their walks are cleared of snow and ice regardless of municipal bylaw or the convenience of passersby. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that here it snows only for a week or three a year and that the snow most often disappears on its own a day or three after the fall. Sometimes the snow lingers and even when it doesn't it can be a very large problem for some folk.

There are folk who are quite fine travelling on foot on good dry pavement and sidewalks that find ice and snow to be an effective barrier for them even on journeys of a block. Some might have nearly invisible mobility issues like balance problems or coordination problems that you'd never note. They might never even use a cane. Others might use walkers or scooters which are stymied by nearly any level of snow or ice. Some scooters are better at handling it than others in case you are recalling seeing folk using scooters on snowy sidewalks.

(image to left from Image*After)

I know of some people who have artificial legs who can not walk on ice and snow and whose wheelchairs can not navigate it either. They go from independence to requiring special transit either by "Handidart" or specially equipped taxi.

You can't blame all the folk who don't clear their walks...

I often come across a nasty situation where the city and highways departments plough the roads and the icy half melted snow is left on the sidewalks and shoulders of the roads creating near glacial coverage as the dumped ice and snow hardens. It is almost like concrete and probably nearly impossible to shovel without a small tractor. It is also very hard to walk on because of its rough nature and tendency to have hard crust over softer under-layers -- difficult to walk on for able bodied folk, impossible for less able bodied, nearly impossible for a home owner to remove.

(Image to right from Image*After)

I can't really think of a solution for it all. For those places where the city or highways department ploughs the road, perhaps they should be less exuberant and take care not to cover the sidewalks or to provide a service to use municipal or highways equipment to clear the sidewalks. For other sidewalks... well there should be some way to get folk to actually clear their walks. Perhaps if someone actually followed through with one of those small city tractors and cleared the uncleared walks for a special price which would be outlined in a bylaw?

I really don't think people should be trapped in their homes because of inconsideration.

Later!
~ Darrell

150.

Tub Needs a Plug!

Ships in Harbour a Source of Air Pollution -- To be Plugged... In.

Commerce and tourism are two important parts of the economy of many communities and MetroVancouver¹ is one of those places where it plays a very important role. With that importance comes a price and there are prices in polution to be paid to do with the port.

Something many people might not consider -- when looking at the powerful freighters moored in the harbour or docked at the term; or watching the graceful cruise ship sailing under Lions Gate Bridge (image to left -- image from Dubman Tours) to dock at the passenger terminals --  is that those ship while parked keep engines running the whole time in order to run generators for electral works and other systems on the ship the whole time in port. Undoubtedly they aren't running their main engines and producing the same amount of exhaust as they would at sea, but they do produce a substantial ammount. I was surprised recently reading how substantial it is and on a percentage basis how much it might become.

The Vancouver Sun²:

Collectively, ship exhaust emissions comprise one of the biggest sources of air pollution in the Metro-Fraser Valley region - port electrification would allow marine vessels to switch off their engines
and plug into the grid instead.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer³:

But the image also has a less obvious, troubling aspect. For every day it's in the harbor, the ship's smokestacks may be spewing as much nitrogen oxide into the city's air as 12,500 cars, as much as an oil refinery.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer³:

A 2003 British Columbia study said marine vessels have produced more than a million tons of pollutants in a year, more than half the total there. The Greater Vancouver Regional District, which put together the study, predicts the marine industry will produce a growing percentage of key pollutants in that region as ship traffic grows and auto pollution is reduced.

A partial solution is to provide some sort of method for ships to connect to the electrical grid of the port that they are docked at. Metro Vancouver is towards implementing that. Port Metro Vancouver wants to see cruise ships plugged in for the 2009 summer cruise season. One of the large issues is a lack of federal money. There is a need for $4 million needed to add to contributions from Metro Vancouver port authority, the region, the marine industry, and the province.²

The system of providing shore power to cruise ships is something that was first implemented on the West Coast at Juno Alaska in 2002 and since then Seattle has provided shore power plugs to tow of their three berths. In  Long Beach, San Pedro, San Francisco and San Diego there are plans to do so as well.⁴

In addition to ports providing the infrastructure to allow ships to plug in to shore power there must also be provision for the ships to be able to take advantage of this as well. Holland America and Princess Cruise ships are able to plug-in in Seattle.⁴

Power provided by the shore electrical grid costs about the same as that generated by diesel on the ship if you discount the investment for a transformer on the ship required to plug-in to the grid.

The cruise ship industry has been a first step because it is in the public eye seem to be more willing to comply with requests. Two container terminals in the inner harbour -- I am assuming that is referring to Coal Harbour or elsewhere on Burrard Inlet between First and Second Narrows -- have the infrastructure in place for wiring to go to the dockside. The new third berth at Deltaport on Robert's Bank will have that infrastructure when it is completed.⁵

There are some hurdles to do with BC Hydro and the BC Utilities Commision in order to develop pricing schems for these customers. The port authority has formally applied to BC Hydro for the interconnecting service.

(image to left, 2005 registration of merchant ships - image from Wikipedia⁶)

There are greater difficulties in dealing with pollution issues in the shipping industry as most of the oceangoing ships are "foreign-flagged" so reducing emissions takes significant amounts of time.³ This action would help with emission issues for when the ships are travelling in and out of harbour -- and of course at sea -- as well as if they have to be running engines for power at anchor. But acting on merchant shipping is something that has to be initiated on an international level -- the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a United Nations agency.³ When regulations are put into effect by the IMO they would be enforced by individual nations and ports. The IMO was looking at revising their 1997 regulations in 2006.⁷

(image to right from Wikipedia⁶)

Plugging into shore power will solve problems of idling ships which are docked, but for ones at anchor in the harbour... Personally I wonder what solutions might there be other than improved air-pollution standards internationally. Somehow I think that providing docking stations in the harbour at anchorages so that ships could plug in would be prohibitive in cost. Perhaps tenders or barges with huge hydrogen fuel cells might provide these plug-ins? They'd be refuelled and moved where needed. Perhaps in future ships might have hydrogen fuel cells or solar panels for in port and other needs on their own? Perhaps a power barge might have fuel cells, solar panels, wind turbines, and wave power generators all in one? (I can really be a dreamer.)

Perhaps someday there might be solutions for ships at sea, but for now while we think globally we have to act locally and work on the pollution on more local selfish levels like the increase to pollution burdens in our cities.

Later!
~ Darrell

137

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¹Metro Vancouver is the name of what was once known as the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) or colloquially as Greater Vancouver and which Statistics Canada defines as "Vancouver CMA" (Census Metropolitan Area) "having perfectly coterminal boundaries with Metro Vancover" -- Metro Vancouver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

² "Plug-in power a key to cleaner air" Scott Simpson, Sept 4, 2008; Vancouver Sun.

³  "Air pollution from cargo ships stirs growing concern" Larry Lange, January 20, 2004; Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

⁴ John Hansen, President of the NorthWest CruiseShip Association - Vancouver Sun "Plug-in power a key to cleaner air" Sept 4, 2008

⁵ Darryl Desjardins,  Environmental programs director for Port Metro Vancouver - Vancouver Sun "Plug-in power a key to cleaner air" Sept 4, 2008

⁶ "Ship transport" Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

⁷ "Plan May Ease Air Pollution at Ports" Dan Weikel, July 6, 2006; Los Angeles Times

Unattributed images from Image*After.

Eco-Green -- Eco Blues 2

Too Good is Too Bad?

While Metro Vancouver is trying to travel a path for a "zero waste"¹ situation -- where nothing goes into a landfill to be "buried and forgotten" -- there are odd issues that come up en route.

En route, one hurdle is that not everything is simply recycled: Some items are contaminated and technology to reasonably decontaminate them to return them to the standard recycling stream do not exist. These can be things like paper that is contaminated with food waste. Some items are ones that there are no reasonable recycling stream for -- at the moment or very near future. Some items are made of complicated combinations of materials which would be difficult to separate to go into their individual recycling streams even while other seemingly difficult ones such as those tetra-brick packages already can be.

One solution to those problem materials is to use plasma-based technology to break the materials up into more elemental components. One municipality in Metro Vancouver -- the one I live in, Port Moody -- is seriously looking at some fairly new technology offered by a company called Plasco Energy Group². (image to left for illustration purpose only -- image from Zero Waste Vancouver)² Their solution uses the plasma-based technology to reduce the waste to its composite materials. It creates a number of byproducts including a bio-gas which is burned to fuel the plasma torch and generate "megawatts" of energy in the process. It does generate some carbon dioxide in the process, but reduces carbon emissions by two tonnes for every tonne of waste through the process with this energy production.

I can't say for sure how good the Plasco Energy Group process is, but if it is as good as they lead us to believe it introduces another rather obscure hurdle...

Will people -- if they know that anything not put into their recycling or compost bins but into their garbage bins will be plasma-torched -- stop sorting and simply toss things out into the general garbage and not other with the environmental "Three Rs" of "Reduce, Re-use, or Recycle"? (image to right from Chris Chen dot See Eh!)

I have heard one view that if we are able to generate net energy wouldn't we be better off to convert as much of our waste as possible to electrical energy and that smaller amount of "construction aggregate, salt, sulphur and clean water"² that the process produces in addition to the "synthetic fuel gas"²?

I would imagine it matters what goal you are looking at. If you look at a purpose of reducing waste of land you might see one thing. if you look at financial cost you might see another. Still others might look at ecological balance. I know of many who will not recycle because they have seen shows on TV which showed some recycling programs where much of the material sent to the program simply gets dumped into the landfill and they assume all recycling programs are the same. I know others who don't separate their recycling the way their municipality asks them to because somewhere else they did it different or they saw some show which showed it all getting mixed together anyway or they see how it all gets dumped into one truck. They don't realize the trucks have separate sections or that different municipalities might have different handling facilities or companies which do the sorting and recycling.

I must admit to be disappointed that the glass being recycled does not get recycled into new bottles and jars. I figured that would be a simple thing, just as recycling aluminum, steel, copper, or other metals to new metal products is. I do understand how each time paper is recycled it is degraded and how plastic might not be chemically reclaimable to be the same plastic... at least not easily.

Still they are for the most part made into useful products.

I guess energy is a useful product, especially if it reduces dependence on another source that might create greater cost and problem.

But the issue of one good program detracting from others is a new hurdle that I hadn't heard of before.

Later!
~ Darrell

121.

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¹Recycling 101: The Zero Waste Challenge in Metro Vancouver | Chris Chen dot See Eh!

² Zero Waste Vancouver -- About PlascoEnergy Group.

Where's the Caboose?

Road Trains!

You might think that reducing fuel costs is a new thing which has been spurred on only in recent times by talk of the environment and increased oil prices -- but any freight company owner or manager who has any idea of keeping their business profitable has been interested in this all along. I can imagine that even in the days of the original teamsters -- the ones who drove and took care of teams of horses and possibly oxen -- kept their eyes on how many coins it cost to haul oats.

One of the ways that were used in bygone days -- probably before the days I remember of my Dad's trucking in the 60's and 70's -- was to pull more than one trailer with a tractor. When I say tractor, you would possibly say "truck" or perhaps "articulated lorry". "Tractor" being a term for the truck that pulls a "semi trailer truck unit". That basically means that the "trailer" doesn't have front wheels of its own, but instead rests its weight on the back axles of the "tractor". That is done through a pivoting plate called a "fifth wheel".

Here is a shot of a "Semi" or "semi trailer truck" from the same company my Dad drove for many years ago in the 1970's. (image to right -- image from Ken Goudy's Collection)* I think most you are familiar with those sorts of rigs on the highways nearly anywhere in the world.

Something that some might be less familiar with are multiple trailer or semitrailer units which are called different things in different places. In some places they are called "Road Trains" in others: "Truck Trains" "Doubles" "Triples" "Rocky Mountain Doubles" "Turnpike Doubles" "Turnpike Triples" "Queen City Triples". Those are some of the Canadian names for them, I guess legally they tend to be called Longer Combination Vehicles (LCVs), Extended Length Vehicles (ELVs), or Energy Efficient Motor Vehicles (EEMVs).

In Canada and the US you get A, B, and C-train variants which can be two and more rarely three trailer units. The three designations refer to how the trailers are attached to each other. Some places in Canada and the US allow them and some do not and there are differing restrictions as to just where and when they can travel; who can operate them; and how big they can get.

In the first half of the 1970's and perhaps later '60's my Father drove A-train doubles through the Rocky Mountains between Calgary, AB and Vancouver, BC as well as A-train triples between Calgary and Edmonton, AB. He was driving for B-Line Express at the time though with a bit more modern equipment than in this picture of single axle tractor with twin pups. (image to left -- image from Ken Goudy's Collection)* Dad always drove a tandem tractor and often both trailers had tandem axles too -- although the converter had only the single axle if I recall correctly.

Dad mostly hauled hanging beef from Calgary to Vancouver. That meant a load of beef hanging in refrigerated trailers from the roof of the trailer on hooks. You have to keep in mind that the entire load hung from the ceiling of the truck and could swing. Dad just called them "A-trains" or "Doubles" at the time, but I think today they would call them "Rocky Mountain Doubles" like the one to the right. (image to right -- image from Rigs, part of Bear's Trucking Glossary)** The "Triples" might have looked something like this to the left. (image to left -- image from Rigs, part of Bear's Trucking Glossary)** I wasn't sure if the "pups" were single or tandem axle trailers.

That was back in the 60's and 70's though and it was done because it was more efficient from the viewpoint of wages, equipment, and fuel. Perhaps you might recall there was an "energy crisis" back then too...

But that is history. Still history really isn't something to forget and really we are no different from people back then. (Some of us are people from back then.) Some of use were already environmentally conscious back then as well.

These "Truck Trains" or "Road Trains" are nothing compared with what they do in places like Australia. I don't mean everywhere in Australia. Their cities are no different than cities in Western nations anywhere else, they'd be too congested for even the shortest "trains". (There have been shown to be benefits to using short tractor-trailer units in cities rather than larger body-trucks/lorries though.)

In the "Outback" just like in Canada's North long straight stretches beg for interesting transportation solutions. This is where "Road Trains" come into their own and where they really were invented... (image to right from 009's Car Blog) Though this is even just small compared to some of the record setting ones in Australia that I have read about in another blog: Youngistan - Incredible Road Trains!!!

While more typical road trains might top out at 200 tonnes with the majority being between 80 and 120 tonnes - 80 - 120 being similar to Canadian and US sizes.

Monster trains in the outback in Guinness Book of Records in 1999 was for 45 trailers and 603t (601m long) in 2003 87 trailers (1,235m long) (no weight given) in 2006 112 trailers (1,474m long).

It all started out with someone buying a very powerful army surplus tractor and a bunch of army surplus "Bren-gun carriers" and wanting to carry more bulls across the outback.

Wikipedia - Road Train, History***

Australian Kurt Johansson is recognised as the inventor of the road-train. After transporting stud bulls 200 miles (320 km) to an outback property, Johansson was challenged to build a truck to carry 100 head of cattle instead of the original load of 20. Provided with financing of a couple thousand pounds to develop the vehicle, two years later his first road train was running.

Something different are the "Trackless Train" used in parking lots or fairgrounds for pedestrians or similar to the luggage trains in airports. There are also bus systems which actually put buses on track-like systems and articulated bus systems. But I will talk of them elsewhere.

It is a way to reduce the amount of fuel used in transporting goods on the highways, though it does take a bit of planning so that these long rigs can mix with other traffic.

Later!
~ Darrell

110

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* "Ken Goudy's Collection", Ken Goudy's Canadian Trucking Pictures -- Canadian Carrier Collection; "Hank's Web Site".

** "Bear's Trucking Glossary"

*** "Road Train" Wikipedia

What Happened to the Creamy Filling?

What Happens When the Filling Disappears?

Will Cities Become Shells?

Did you know that houses have a lifespan?

There is a lifespan for buildings. They are built to last a given number of years on average. Perhaps it is 75 years, perhaps 50, perhaps 100, but they do have a lifespan. I am not sure about the lifespan of current residential construction, but I suspect many residences built since the Second World War were built with a 75 year lifespan. I am not sure what happens when a building exceeds this lifespan.

I know that there are buildings aging with grace and good upkeep that have become heritage buildings. But I know others don't and have been torn down or rebuilt. However, since WWII there have been huge residential districts where the whole district has been built over a period of perhaps 5 years. What happens to those districts when nearly all the houses reach the end of their functional lifespan at the same time?

I don't have any solutions of course and haven't heard too much of it being a problem. Perhaps it isn't one and something that takes care of itself?

I just remember hearing how houses had a lifespan and was surprised -- thinking they were immortal for some reason. I guess it might be because of all the heritage homes I have seen. The only "falling down" sorts of houses I have seen were abandoned ones.

I do imagine if you own a house you might come upon walls with studs that need replacement because they have rotted, or plumbing that needs to be redone. You might renovate and replace whole walls already and know what is within. Foundations might need to be re-poured. I think that buildings once lasted longer and districts were not built up all at once. Neighbourhoods maybe grew a bit at a time?

We do see apartment blocks come down in groups, but that is because it is time to replace them with newer construction -- the old ones are no longer viable. That works with rental buildings, but what of the more modern idea of strata-condo buildings where each owner might have to be bought out before a building comes down?

So you have a city growing outwards and the core is gradually a cluster of uninhabitable buildings destined for destruction, and whole neighbourhoods might be ready for wrecking ball... what will replace them? I have seen some whole blocks replaced with "monster houses" -- houses that are outsized to the lots -- built to the maximum outmoded bylaws might allow -- which don't suite the character of the neighbourhood at all.

I know that cities that do plan, are working on actual bylaws that fight things like those "monster houses". At the same time they work to solve problems of increased population, transportation, and other pressures by intelligently increasing population density while keeping neighbourhood character.

I don't think that some neighbourhoods will end up like a hollow left if you squeezed the filling out of a doughnut when the houses have reached retirement ages. Land is far too valuable... still the transition will be... is interesting.

Later!
~ Darrell

109.

All day I face the barren waste without the taste of water*

Cool Water -- What if Water Drives City Growth?

I used to live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and our drinking water came from the Glenmore Reservoir which was fed by the glacier fed Elbow River. I used to figure the water supply pretty secure as the glaciers had been their for tens of thousands of years as opposed to aquifer supplied ground water in areas where the water tables seemed to be dropping regularly as consumption exceeded local rainfall or areas where river fed systems were reliant on winter snowfall and rainfall in watersheds.

But now with glaciers shrinking at what I am led to believe are alarming rates it makes me wonder...

While it is true we might get desalination plants running economically and at scales where it is useful to supply cities with and conservation efforts would make huge differences -- perhaps many cities in some areas of the World might have populations slowly shrink while others would gain based on the availability of water?

Coastal cities may grow at much larger rates than projected and landlocked cities while not shrinking might stay at current sizes -- shrinking relatively speaking.

Of course in a sense over decades you might move a city's population, but what about food production? Perhaps the bread baskets of the world might simply shift north or south a number of degrees latitude which will make some farms boom while others bust, but it might be more drastic. I just watched a news piece on grape harvest in Spain having problems. You see they are at the southern-warmest-driest limits for wine grapes and with weather getting hotter and drier the varieties of grapes they have been growing traditionally have started producing less well. For instance there is increased activity of pests associated with the grape vines and the picking is happening days and weeks earlier in the season. Growers are starting to plant new vineyards higher up the slopes of the mountains than ever before because it is cooler up there. Northern producers of wine are having excellent crops though with the weather improving for them.

I am sure that some varieties of some foods might be a problem.

However how will this effect the cities of our World? In addition to populations perhaps moving to places where there is more water -- and perhaps that being where salt water might be desalinated -- those might also be the areas more prone to problems of storm surges and flooding with any rise in world sea levels?

It makes you think.

Later!
~ Darrell

96.

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*Lyrics to Cool Water -- Sons of the Pioneers is on CowboyLyrics.com

It's a Bird! It's a Plane!

It's a Swallowtail Butterfly!

For a moment they look like a bird, then like a toy, then like a bird again before you realize that these majestic creatures are beautiful butterflies!

Yesterday I was surprised to see them. I am not sure I have really noticed them in previous years - perhaps I have? - normally I am fairly observant and would see such an creature flying around my airspace. I spy eagles and errant kites and balloons from the park, I spot jets, helicopters, and other aircraft - especially the unusual ones. Of course I don't normally know which ones I might miss.

Yesterday was a glorious early summer day without a cloud in the sky which was still a brilliant blue rather than the faded blue that it can become when the temperature has climbed to our higher ones. I was on the balcony talking to my oldest friend - I have known him for over 40 of my 50 years - and I saw what looked like a golden bird, even perhaps like some sort of canary coming over the edge of the apartment roof and flying downwards. It almost seemed phoenix-like with the way the wings were. It didn't quite move fast enough for a bird which puzzled me and I thought about those old canary toys which had cellophane and paper canaries that you might twirl about your head on a thin bamboo stick. Then I realized that it was a butterfly.

Of course, the size of it faded like the afterimage of the Sun when you glance past it in the morning or afternoon. I saw a few others through the day, but further away and with nothing that I could compare their size to until just before supper time when I was in the meat market across the lane.

I was in there talking to the butcher, an acquaintance of mine, and the clerk seemed to be getting upset about something. Both front and back doors were open to the shop because they were repairing the central airconditioning and the clerk was upset because a butterfly was trapped between the counter and the front window. She was worried it would be trapped their and die or it might harm itself trying to get out.

I figured I might try to help, but the butcher calmly walked up and I watched as he gently placed his hands between the window and counter and this huge butterfly was coaxed onto his thumb. He carefully walked to the door and with a gentle move of his finger, he encouraged it to fly to freedom.

It did look wonderful taking wing with the mountains and sky as a backdrop.

I knew it wasn't a Monarch for though it had a similar black design in some ways, it was a golden yellow rather than red-orange colour. (image to left - image from Mountain Loop Highway, Glacier Peak Region, Washington - ©Tom Dempsey Photoseek.com)

The clerk asked how the butcher had done it and I joked, "Well he knows how to speak 'butterfly'. I learned a bit once too."

The butcher said, "Well actually years ago at one of the nurseries I ran we raised butterflies."

We chatted a bit and I found out they bought the cocoons and placed them on appropriate plants and let them emerge. They had an aviary of sorts with plants and birds and turtles and things and raised the butterflies in there.

I mentioned I figured it wasn't a Monarch but wasn't sure what it was. The name "swallowtail" stuck in my mind, but I wasn't sure from where. The butcher told me that it was what the butterfly was and you could tell by the tail end of the wings.

I have a few pictures from around the web of swallowtails. You can click on the thumbnails to get to the sites that host the pictures. (image to right - image from wwwJosephGregoire.ca taken at Deer Lake, Burnaby, BC)

I really wish I had had a decent camera at hand, but then the chances of taking the pictures here were fleeting. Even had I the camera in my pocket - except for the incident at the meat market - I likely would not have been able to catch an image of the swallowtails. I think better luck actually knowing when they would be about and being about where they likely would be about.

It did make for an interesting addition to a relatively peaceful June 30th.

Later!
~ Darrell

73.

Benthic, I'm Sure

I Don't Think It's Pikachu?

They say that the surface area of either Mars or the Moon is greater than that of the Land-surface of the Earth. Whether it is Mars or the Moon is of little consequence here, but it points out something - the Earth is much bigger than the Moon or Mars in total surface area, but most of it is covered by the very thing we consider a prime requirement for life when we search for life out there in space.

The life we know most about clings to the skin of the surface of the world - even considering the tallest of trees or life creeping the deepest into caves or the earth. There is a vast amount of the earth that lays beneath the surface of the ocean even if we only consider the surface area. But consider this - the ocean is deep and creatures of the deep can live throughout the entire volume of the ocean, not just the top surface or the bottom.

Here is a quote from a collection of images from the dark depths of the oceans. The passage comes from "Animals in the depths of the sea (26 photo) / Biology / Science ReaDigg.COM":

On dry land, most organisms are confined to the surface, or at most to altitudes of a hundred meters—the height of the tallest trees. In the oceans, though, living space has both vertical and horizontal dimensions: with an average depth of 3800 meters, the oceans offer 99% of the space on Earth where life can develop. And the deep sea, which has been immersed in total darkness since the dawn of time, occupies 85% of ocean space, forming the planet’s largest habitat. Yet these depths abound with mystery. The deep sea is mostly uncharted—only about 5 percent of the seafloor has been mapped with any reasonable degree of detail—and we know very little about the creatures that call it home. Current estimates about the number of species yet to be found vary between ten and thirty million. The deep sea no longer has anything to prove; it is without doubt Earth’s largest reservoir of life.

It does make me wonder about the thin skin of life living on the surface of the Earth and what the total effect of rising oceans might be.

True changes might effect the deepest depths, but there is so very much variation of life in the depths that much might be survived even as it has in the past through total globe encompassing ice ages. (Not the less all inclusive ones most people know about which mankind survived and which todays shrinking glaciers are remnants of.) Of course that doesn't help mankind too much other than knowing life might survive in some form or another on the Earth even if we leave this mortal coil.

The life in this light-less world is pretty incredible and barely within our wildest dreams. Some seem to nearly mimic some dreams... or fiction in any case. Is it live or is it Pokemon? This one sure is reminiscent of Pikiachu. (image to right - image from Wikipedia) The critter in the picture to the left is a "Dumbo Octopus" - Grimpoteuthis (image to the left - image from science.readigg.com) and can be found in that collection of photos that the quotation above was from. There are a whole bunch of images on that site... they count 26 in their page title. I chose one of the cuter ones.

I do think we have to be better stewards of the environment and take care of our home, or our home might take care of us leaving others to come up from the depths to replenish the Earth. But I also think that with the weird and wonderful wildlife way below the waves we might have to really be careful on what we ascribe to habitable planets in our searches for life.

They say that at one time the earth - after life had developed already - had gone through an intense climatic change where there was runaway cooling and the whole of the surface of the earth was covered with a continuous sheet of ice. Yet, life survived in the oceans. The current theories are that Europa, (image to right - image from Wikipedia) the sixth moon of Jupiter, might have a water ocean beneath its icy crust kept liquid by tidal heating. Perhaps it is not unlike the ocean under the ice of that icy Earth of one time.

Of course life would have had to get its foothold and of course there would be less solar energy - though perhaps thermal and chemical energy might suffice... but it does leave room for thought and imagination.

Look at some of those undersea creatures of our own dark ocean environment and realize that even with our own technology we have hardly dabbled our toes into the depths. Look what we have seen so far and then use your imagination.

Later!
~ Darrell

70.

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Image of Moon used with permission from Image*After.

If You Go Into The Woods Today - Urban Jungle

Urban Jungle - or Forest Anyway

Yesterday morning I was almost in for a bit of a surprise! I think I have mentioned that hear from the Old Gnomestead in Port Moody Centre I can see Bald Eagles soaring while I am sitting in the comfort of my living room or bedroom-office. I can also see the occasional coyote on a quiet very early morning and can walk to the inlet to see harbour seals swimming or sunning themselves on log booms. If I can see eagles and coyotes seen from here in my suite in this three story apartment building I needn't mention the squirrels, raccoons, seagulls, pigeons, crows, and occasional raven need I?

However yesterday morning I just missed seeing another visitor to our neighbourhood! A juvenile black bear. At least I am told it was probably a juvenile by my apartment mate who sometimes has odd views on how big or small things are that she sees. Definitely a black bear however as this morning they were putting up signs to let people know that bears were prowling the neighbourhood and reinforcing the bylaws already in place which prohibit garbage being brought to the curb on garbage day before 7am and encouraging wise composting practices which would not attract bears into your yard.

I'd think it prudent to keep dogs and cats named Hotdog, Burger, Peanuts, Popcorn, Crackerjack, Wiener, and Picnic indoors and safe from these refugee Yogis and Booboo bears who might be on the lookout for pet takeout. I guess it would be wise to be wary even with the occasional coyotes and racoon who sneak about.

Now if you don't know it, I do not live in some small logging or mining town in the deep woods. Nor do I live in a community like Beautiful Banff, Alberta nestled in Banff National Park with its mountains, forests, hostsprings and so forth and wildlife galore that perhaps are no longer to be found much in the Continental US lower 48. (They were the only 48 when I was born, but that is another story.) Port Moody is a part of Metro Vancouver which has a combined population which I believe is over 2 million and if not is nearly 2 million. It could be between 2 and 3 million depending how far up the Fraser Valley you go. But even between 1 and 2 million it is a fairly large metropolitan area. Metro Vancouver is Canada's 3rd largest city for that matter.

We do live on the edge of wilderness. I guess in a sense on the edge of two wildernesses if you consider the ocean a great wilderness on it's own. There is virgin forest north of the city with wild tracts running south towards Seattle as well. There is also open farmland opening to the east and beyond that mountain and wild forest. I have heard there is a pack of wolves who have moved in to areas at the far end of one of the lakes that nearly come into contact with Metro Vancouver - yes wolves, not coyotes or wild dogs, but wolves. I believe they are timber wolves or grey wolves. They haven't been seen in the area for quite a while and it isn't a matter of them being "reintroduced" from elsewhere through the action of preservationists. Probably just beyond one of the mountains I see out my window there might be grizzly bears and of course deer, elk, moose, fox, bobcat, mountain lion and you name it... If they exist, there are likely sasquatch-Bigfoot out there too for the area is know to have had sightings.

I'll have to keep my eyes open over the coming days. The fellow putting up the sign about the bears said the the bears are probably living in the wilderness area in the slopes above our neighbourhood. If I can cox some more pictures out of my ancient digital camera - so ancient it only talks via serial cable and I don't think I can get it to talk to my MacBook - I'll see if I can catch a picture of the black bear - from the safety of my balcony of course.

It won't be a picture of a grizzly bear of course, but I am content with it just being a black bear walking down my lane.

Later!
~ Darrell

64.

Toot Toot - Make Way!

Make Way - Make Way!

Wow those electric bikes are neat! A fairly inexpensive one might cost $750 (CDN) and it would have a range of 30-40 km carrying around 91 kg at up to 25 km/h. (200lbs at 16 mph). You can charge it in 6-8 hours (6-8 hours ;-) ) for pennies and you can pedal to assist the range and enhance the performance. I was taking specs off of one sold by Daymak. It is their "Paris" model (on the left). That is a very bicycle looking electric bike. You could possibly put its 40-43 kg weight on one of our transit bus bike racks and take it with you on board public transit to extend its useful range - especially useful if there is a freeway bridge between you and destination even if it is well within your 30 km range. I am pretty sure there'd be little problem taking it onto our automated light rail tranport - SkyTrain - considering it is electric and little different in that aspect from an electric scooter or wheelchair.

They have ones that look more like Vespas and other scooters as well which I am a bit more intrigued by. The Smart E-Bike (on the right) is one I really like the looks of. The Smart E-Bike has the advantage of not only looking smarter, but it also has a braking system that puts energy back into the battery so that when you are coming to a stop at a traffic light or cruising down a hill you are not only saving power you are regaining some. There are trade-offs of course - the battery alone weighs 26 kg. I suspect there might be greater problems with getting permission to put the E-Bike on the bike rack of the public transit bus. It might still be possible to take it onto the SkyTrain, but there might be problems with that since it looks so much like its cousin, the gas powered Motor Scooter. It does travel a bit fster at 32 km/h (20 mph) and has a larger range of 80-100 km (50-60mi) so there is less need to drag it onto public transit... but still it wouldn't be allowed on a freeway and would you really want to be on it on a freeway?

Which brings me to the point of this all.

I was nearly run down this afternoon by someone walking their mountain bike down the apartment hallway. While they weren't riding it, between their elbows and the wide handlebars, there wasn't a lot of room for passing. That is what got me thinking, just where do alternate methods of transportation belong in our cities?

I frequently commute to and from the museum I volunteer at on foot. I walk the kilometre to and from it walking along the sidewalks and over an overpass that crosses the Canadian Pacific Railway mainline. The overpass is a bit older and so the sidewalks perhaps are not as wide as current ones tend to be, so when someone comes down it on bike or skateboard it can be a bit of a squeeze. It is an issue too if someone is running, pushing a stroller, using a mobility scooter, wheelchair, or even a walker. There is a need for people to be able to get from point-A to point-B and that means particularly people with strollers, baby carriages, mobility scooters, and wheelchairs. But there is also a need for ways for people on bicycles to travel safely and more of a need for folks with things like skateboards and roller blades because people are actually using these as modes of transportation.

Some of these things have had to play with cars for years. Many cities have had laws forbidding cyclists from using bikes on sidewalks with exceptions only for paperboys making deliveries and for small children's bikes. Many cities had bans on skateboards from both road and sidewalk to the consternation of boarders over the decades. It seems to me that a lot of those laws are not being enforced now or at least don't seem to be. I am often nearly forced to stand aside when I am crossing that railway overpass for cyclists, skateboarders, roller bladers, and runners. On wider sidewalks it is not so much an issue though some of the quicker traffic on the sidewalk don't seem to realize that they really don't fit in. As a driver I know how difficult it is to make allowances for someone coming down the sidewalk at roadway speeds. You can yield to a pedestrian easily enough, but you don't have time enough to yield to a hurtling bike or boarder. There are reasons why hedges and obsticals like them have to be a certain distance away from the corner. That is so you can see the quicker moving cars approaching. Slower moving pedestrians you don't need quite so much room to see so it is okay for bushes and such to be a bit closer to the sidewalk than the street.

So, where do alternate forms of transportation belong?

Many cities are putting together special bike routes to divide bikes from cars and some walking paths are being split to separate cycles from pedestrians. I think that in the natural order of things boarders and bladers have opted for the cycle side of things and strollers and carriages are on the pedestrian side. Electric wheelchairs and mobility scooters stick on the pedestrian side, though I have noted that some scooter users run their scooters in high gear which gives them a very high speed and they seem to expect special treatment on the sidewalk with everyone jumping to the side as they approach.

How many strata will future roads have? Today we have road and sidewalk with perhaps a sidewalk on both sides a parking lane on both sides with 2+ lanes of traffic. In future... two lanes for cycles might be added? Would boarders be welcome? What about electric bikes? What about low powered electric scooters? Some areas allow low power electric cars, essentially golf cart sorts of vehicles modified for street use with proper headlights and tail lights.

What about the Segway PT (on the left) and those two wheeled Razer scooters (on the right) and Razor Electric Scooters (on the right - green) and relatives of the earlier foot powered ones? (on the left - red) I imagine that some of the pedal powered vehicles like recumbent bikes would travel in bike lanes.

There are many forms of alternate transportation, but I think we shall have to think of just where they will fit in. I wonder if there is room for horse drawn chariots in this world? Make Way!

Later!
~ Darrell

61.