Migration etc.

 Canada Goose, Pelicans and Monarch Butterfly

Geese:

     From the vantage point of our residence on Crescent Lake we can observe the spring arrival of geese on their migration north. We have always watched with interest and amusement the raising of families of geese – usually one or two families per season each consisting of two parents and usually 4 to 6 goslings.

The view of migrating Canada geese from our porch in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba

    

As summer comes along they become more organized into groups as they move around the lake training to “follow the leader” in straight and evenly spaced lines in preparation for their fall migration south.

    This spring we observed a pair of geese with more than twenty goslings, some of which were obviously hatched prior to others. This is referred to in the literature as, “adoption, creche or mixed brood, gang-brooding and kidnapping” which isn’t very helpful in knowing how this feat is accomplished. The probable answer is in the susceptibility of goslings (and other birds and even animals) to filial imprinting (from the German for "stamping in") during the first few hours after hatching. The parents wanting a lager family need only be the closest moving large object at the right time and the young goslings will follow them as their "imprint" parents. I imagine this could happen accidentally as a pair of geese swims past groups of goslings at the opportune time and have them added them to their family as they go by.

A pair of geese and their expanded family

      Imprinting was popularized in the movie Fly Away Home (1996), based on the actual experiences of Bill Lishman, who in 1986 started training geese to follow his ultra light plane and succeeded in leading their migration in 1993.

    Research fostered around imprinting has led to related learning about the importance of very early experiences in the development of the brains and activities of animals in a wide range of activities affecting them throughout their lives, even to the “negative imprinting” in human siblings (raised together for at least 6 years) that makes sexual activity between them unthinkable for them.

Pelicans:

    Most years we think it is a major event to see a few pelicans on Crescent Lake for a day or two in the summer. This year we have observed as many as 58 pelicans on the lake (actually an ox bow of the Assiniboine River) at one time.

   They staying day after day to feed in a group frenzy (presumably on the little fish accidentally pumped into the lake from the Assiniboine River). We have no idea why the sudden increase in their numbers here.

Pelican flight coming in

Pelicans feeding as a group

Monarch Butterflies:

   

      In spite of a worrisome decrease in 2010 in the Mexico population of Monarch butterflies, there has been a breathtaking increase in the general butterfly population in western Canada in 2012. 

     Their migration between Mexico and other countries is complicated by the fact that although the species migrates north and south every year (like birds) their life cycle dictates that no one individual completes the entire journey which is spread over a number of generations, The ones that return to overwinter in central Mexico are at least great-grandchildren of the one who had left that same 60 square miles but have never been there before themselves .

 

    The following diagram from Parks Canada may be helpful, but if it is still confusing take comfort in knowing you are not alone. The transfer of route information through the generations is unusual to say the least. 

Monarch Butterfly migration to overwinter

Life Cycle of Monarch Butterfly

 The End

MODERN PROGRESS ??

The Swiss Army Knife

It has always been the ultimate survival tool. They hope to have a model available around September for under $3000 to bring their previous USB models up to 21st century standards with a one terabyte flash drive. For my low tech readers, one terabyte of storage is adequate for about 330,000 photos, 220 million pages of text, or two years of non-stop music – more than enough to survive any emergency situation.

Your data is safe from hackers with the drive’s AES256 technology and fingerprint security. And, to avoid heavy-handed attacks, it also has a self-destruct mechanism that burns the CPU and memory chip if there's any attempt to force the drive open.
An interesting addition to these drives is a small LCD display on the side probably for showing.

Zambonis

The 8.5 km ice trail on the Assiniboine and Red rivers in Winnipeg is maintained by a “Zamboni" (actually an Olympia) with a 6.5L turbo diesel engine fueled with used oil from cooking French Fries. It is reported to race at 80 km/hr when it is not cleaning the trail.
As an aside, both the Assiniboine River Trail and the Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa are experiencing significantly shorter skating seasons. Also, people across Canada seem to be finding it impossible to maintain “back yard” skating rinks. A five year study at McGill and Concordia universities has found a “significant shortening of the out door skating season..

FYI – both Zamboni and Olympia have electric models of ice cleaners and they were used in the Vancouver Olympics.

 

MOBILE PHONE AS SELF PROTECTION (?)

You can now buy stun guns (tasers) disguised as cell phones for as little as $65.
It seems to be “common knowledge” that there are 4-shot  22 caliber cell phone guns available somewhere for the past 10 years. My research does not provide any site from which to purchase one. However, if someone points their cell phone at you, maybe you should look to see if there are four parallel holes in the end of it – they might be gun barrels.

If you aren’t concerned about getting through airport surveillance you might want to check out a gun disguised as a knife – maybe not the best way to disguise a gun.

CONGRATULATIONS TO JUSTIN BIEBER ON HIS 18th B.D.

                           (just one of our famous Canadian performers)

His Fisker Karma car (a gift from his manager) is expensive and fancy, and also tries to be environment friendly. It is a hybrid with solar panels, uses reclaimed, recycled and reusable materials throughout the interior cabin, and comes with either leather upholstery or with non-animal materials.
But if you are planning to buy me a car for my birthday, please consider the Telsa.  It does 0-60 mph in 3.7 seconds,and goes 245 miles per charge. Any model would be fine but gull wing doors are always nice.

HOW THINGS HAPPEN (Ozone Part 2)
Environment Canada may not be concerned about the ozone layer and its polar holes but James Drummond (Dalhousie University) reports that the 2011 ozone hole formed in February and March, and eventually grew to two million square kilometres, about twice the size of Ontario. It swung across northern Canada, northern Europe, then dipped down to Central Russia to Northern Asia, prompting scientists to issue warnings about excess ultraviolet radiation.  For more than you ever wanted to know about the Ozone hole check http://www.theozonehole.com/ and its links.
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99 STUPID THINGS THE GOVERNMENT SPENT YOUR MONEY ON (reported by Macleans magazine January 16, 2012).
     Check the links for a list of weird, annoying or funny (depending on your mood)expenditures from all levels of Canadian government in 2012.

 items 1-18: questionable spending on subsidies and infrastructure

items 19-34:  food and job creation

items 35-55:  environment, animals, and money for nothing

items 56-73: when spending is music to a politician’s ears

items 74-99: employee expenses, patronage, makeovers, studies, polls and surveys as well as lawsuits and lawyers.

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ONE MAN’S OPINION – WITH WHICH I SEEM TO AGREE
Winnipeg Free Press January 14, 2012  (Letters to the Editor)
IGNORING THE EXPERTS
Re: Pipeline hearings stacked? Well, yes (Jan 12). Am I living in Canada? Perhaps I woke up in Wonderland. The federal minister of Natural Resources, the guy we pay to protect our air, water and wildlife wants to limit environmental reviews and participation by non-Canadians.
I quote: “These groups threaten to hijack our regulatory system to achieve their radical ideological goals.” In other words, the use of smart, articulate experts who care for the future of the environment and do not hold the same opinions as our minister are now considered radicals.
Enbridge, the company that plans to build the pipeline from the tarsands to B.C. may look Canadian, but six of its 12 directors are American. Last year, an Enbridge pipeline leaked 840,000 gallons of crude oil into the Kalamazoo River in Michigan.
The Harper government says the pipeline is in the nation’s interest. They are responding to the oil industry lobby by promising to shorten the review process. When did the health of our children, our land, air and water become less vital to the nation’s interest than an oil pipeline? When did we become a country that listens only to those who agree with us?
LARRY ISACOFF
WINNIPEG

HOW CHANGE HAPPENS (or doesn't happen)

Preamble 
     During my some four decades working in  the educational system in Manitoba I have often wondered how major changes in teaching methods and philosophy kept suddenly happening . For example, in teaching reading the swing to and away from various methodologies ("sight word",  phonics , "whole language", etc) occurred on a 10 year cycle. Now I realize that I understand how very few of the major changes in the world come about.

      I do know how VHS succeeded over the cheaper and technically superior BETA format, but I am not telling you.
      I have also been bewildered as to how obvious changes do not seem to happen. For example, financial institutes do not seem to notice that the order of digits in dates can be confusing.  Unless you know the format used by the institution, 01/12/10 can be either Jan 12 or Dec 1 (assuming most institutions always have the year last). There has recently been a move by the printers of cheque blanks to take initiative by indicating "20yy/mm/dd" on each cheque. So much for the idea that the year is always the last two digits, but it is a set toward consistency and it does make sense.

      Another widespread annoyance is the confusion between a capital "O" and the numeral zero "0". The use of a slashed zero (Ø) actually existed in the 12th century and was in common on the very early home computers and printers.  It even exists on your own computer (use ALT 0216 on keypad).  Why isn't it shown on the modern keyboards and used? 
     Have you ever had an airline reservation number or software code like "M10Qbl0"? The letter "l" and numeral "1" and "V" and "U" are also confusing depending on the font. Have you noticed telephone operators refer to an number like "401" as four-oh-one" even though "oh" is number 6 on the keypad?


The Metric System in Canada
    Up until a few weeks ago when I was researching for his blog I thought that Napoleon made France officially metric in 1840 by saying something like: I am the emperor and we will now change to the metric system. It appears that in fact he had less trouble in implementing the Napoleonic Code than he had with getting acceptance for the metric system (maybe because he voted against it once), but it did happen.
    In 1971 the Canadian government appointed the Metric Commission Canada with a mandate of implementing metric measurements in every aspect of national life by 1980. Metric measurements were to be required (usually with imperial measurement subtitles) in an increasing number of goods. The conversion process was well under way until the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney brought it to an abrupt halt by abolishing the commission in 1985. Many regulations requiring metric measurements were either repealed or no longer enforced. As a result, we Canadians today use a confusing and inefficient mix of metric and imperial measurements with no hope of a single system being developed.
     As Grampa of the Simpsons show said: "Metric is the work of the devil! My car gets 82 rods to the hogshead and that's the way I likes it! " If you work out the conversion to miles per gallon (either Canadian or US), you will see he has a very inefficient car.

The Ozone Layer Study (an example of how something happened and is now being killed)

     The year 1957-58 was designated by the scientific community as the International Geophysical Year. A worldwide network of observation centres was set up to measure the thickness of the ozone layer, based on the inference that the heating of the stratosphere was caused by the absorption of ultraviolet solar radiation by ozone. 

     As luck would have it, I was hired as a relief person in Moosonee, Ontario at one of Canada's newly established Dobson Spectrophotometer observation stations as part of its contribution to the ozone layer study which is still going on.  For my personal experience there see pages 97-102  of my autobiographical stories, “It’s Not Where You’re Going”. 

     In 1979, after much resistance from industry interests, the US, Canada, and Norway banned CFC-containing aerosol cans in 1979. But when scientists discovered an ozone hole over Antarctica in the mid-1980s, countries around the world began phasing out the ozone-destroying chemicals. A new class of ozone-friendly molecules called hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) replaced them. This just one of the benefits to the world of this type of research which has been going on for some 54 years with Canada as one of the original and continuing contributors. BTW - if you have been reading the recent spate of arguments against even the existence of the ozone layer you might like to check some referenced information on a few of the recent myths.

    It is now 2011, and Canada will be discontinuing its contribution to the environment. This will happen with no discussion - not even a statement that it will happen - or how it happened.  It will be done by simply laying off staff at Environment Canada. The only way to find the deliberate sabotage of this ozone research project is to read between the lines of the fine print in the 2011-12 Budget.

  

     I guess that is how some changes happen in our Canada these days.