Those we Love and Those we Don’t

It is immensely interesting how we humans choose to differentiate between animal species (including other humans). Most often it seems it is the “cute and cuddly” factor that makes all the difference.  In the above picture, which would be the first and second choice for a pet?  Of course, who could resist that little pup seal, perhaps even a little piggy under the right circumstances, but a rat or a nest of snakes, very unlikely.

Now, take that seal pup. The WTO recently ruled the EU was justified in prohibiting the import to seal pelts and products based only on “public morals concerns” (National Post,). At the same time the WTO clearly stated there was no “legal, scientific or conservation” concerns with respect to seals.  In a word, “seals” are just so cute that no matter how much damage they do to the environment (fish stocks, etc.) or how much their overpopulation begins to degrade an area of other wildlife, they must be protected.

Pigs on  the other hand seem not so deserving of our consideration. I (and likely you) also think they are as cute a buttons when they are babies. Does if not seem strange that when they are treated badly (and in many cases very badly) we don’t raise any concerns. We so love our bacon, ham and pork chops that we don’t much care how they live and die. The same applies to cattle and all sorts of other ‘domestic’ animals raised as a food source. Compared to pigs, cattle, sheep and others held in captivity, seals live an awesome life of freedom, even if a few of them end up being killed for their pelts or taken down by a sea lion or killer whale.

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December 2010:  (Dallas Road, Victoria, at the Breakwater): The path to peace of mind and happiness can be elusive. When these two men were young, how did their lives intersect? It was just a Moment in Time.
January 2017 Update (1171)
January 2018 (1230)

Finding a path through life.

Just over a half century ago, at the tender age of twenty-two, I left Cold Lake, Alberta, to embark upon a new life in British Columbia. Only one time prior had I been more than three hundred miles from my home in Cold Lake, that being while attending the Fire Department, Crash Rescue Training at Camp Borden, Ontario (Firewalkers).

I had never been to the Rocky Mountains, never smelled the pungent odour of ocean air and never walked along a fog shrouded, craggy coastline. From my apartment on Michigan Street in the James Bay of Victoria, I can still remember the mournful sound of the foghorn at Trial Island. For a born and bred prairie boy, it was the stuff of dreams and I was living the dream – almost!

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Google Image Search

Since opening the McNeill Life Stories Blog in late 2009, over 400 life stories and articles have been posted.  Each post contains images (sometimes several) that relate to the particular post.

Google does an amazing job of indexing not only the stories, but also the images attached to the story.  An interesting feature of the index is that hundreds, perhaps thousands of the indexed images can be found in one location with one search and the order of those pictures can be altered by simply changing the search parameters. Following is screen shot of one image search. You can link to this particular full set at:  McLeish Chronicles + McNeill Life Stories.

As you scroll down the images you will likely find the faces of family, friends, acquaintances and others whose photo was posted. If your photo (or a group photo) appeared in a story (e.g. New Years Eve 2012), it will likely appear within the search results. Just click the photo and you will be taken to the story. Note: This is separate from the McNeill Life Stories Facebook Page.

In order to get this number of related photos combine two category names (Categories are listed on the left side of the blog). For instance, the above was search conducted using “MacLeish Chronicles + McNeill Life Stories“.  Different two-category, or a category combined with McNeill Life Stories will bring up different results.

Images will not appear in date order although  the most recent entries will often appear at the beginning. After going down several pages, images from other sources will begin to appear. You can tell whether it is a related story by scrolling over the top of the photo.

If you have a blog or post pictures outside Facebook, try the search technique.

Happy New Year
Harold

Sample from several pages down

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December, 2015. Crash Scene (AP File Photo) Before anyone panics and begins speculating about what caused the crash on Leney Place last week, please read the following information outlined in another version of The Night Before Christmas. It provides a few answers that should alleviate your immediate concerns. Some think it was pilot error (as usual), but it seems the weather played a large roll.

Summary of Known Details

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 The True North Strong and Pot Free —– Not
Vancouver, April 20, 2012. Over 20,000 people, the largest crowd to date, attended the Four Twenty Protest.
At 4:20 pm (precisely), a sweet smelling cloud lazily drifted over the Library and across downtown Vancouver.
Twenty thousand people just had a group toke.

It has long since been ordained that the ubiquitous Mary Jane would one day become, if not legal, at the very least a controlled substance sold in Government style Liquor Stores. Marihuana grow ops will be popping up across the country like dandelions on a newly planted lawn. Now that a few States in that bastion of extreme conservatism south of the border have begun to decriminalize the substance, can the Province of British Columbia’s five billion (that’s right five, with nine zeros) pot growing industry, be far behind? For BC  this is not a trivial amount of untaxed ‘free enterprise’ money by any count.

Seeing an opportunity in this trend, Medbox Inc., a U.S. based company, is set to introduce into Canada, automatic Pot Vending Machines (PVMs) for use by those licenced to toke as permitted under the Canada Health Act (link to story).  Apparently the PVMs provide easy and secure 24 hour access. Imagine, pot on demand at your nearest 7-11. It was also reported the RCMP is looking at installing machines in their remote detachments (link). City members, of course, will be able to pop by the nearest 7-11.

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Photo: View of the acropolis from the town square in Lindros, Greece

While the historical sites on Rhodes certainly provide an amazing experience, the old town section of the city (just a 100 yards from our cruise ship gangway) provides an endless array historic street scenes. Again, as time permits, within the next few days I will write up the notes from from Rhodes. Link in to the blog at McNeill Life Stories for the full story. I will provide the link when it is complete.

Link Here for Photographs
(All photographs Posted to this Point are on McNeill Life Stories
Open Facebook Page (link above)

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Photo: The people of Patmos certainly set a happy tone for Gartb, Estber, Lynn and Harold

Patmos, Greece:  Link to Photographs

The story of this amazing little Island (only 3,000 residents) will be written on the next sea break as  we are currently beginning several long days in Israel.

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Photo: This very amphitheatre had a capacity of 24,000.  When sitting in the upper part, you could hear
a penny drop on the stage below. This entire site remained undiscovered for 1500 years until a young man from
France made the discovery in the 1800s.  Even following the discovery, excavation did not begin until the early 1900s.

Part 5: A Visit to the Ancient City of Ephesus

Link Here for Pictures

The amazing history of the  Ancient City of Ephesus will be written in due course as at this time  we are into a series of 12-14 hour days, so there is not much time to even review the notes of our visits.

Cheers,

Harold

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