Holy Buck!

Yesterday while out paddling in Esquimalt harbour, Paula suddenly saw something and pointed. "What's that swimming in the water?" she called.

We looked over and there was something swimming. Our first thought, of course, was that it was a duck or a seagull, but it was moving too fast. Our brains were trying were trying to match shapes we were familiar with to this totally unfamilar shape. Dog? Cat? Ocelot? Hippoptamus? This picture is blurry, but it gives a sense of the puzzlement we felt as we tried to figure out what we were looking at. Finally, I said, "Deer!"

I was close.

It was a deer, alright.

A big buck with a big rack.

If you've ever wanted to see a big buck shake himself dry after a swim, here's your chance.

I'm no good for estimating the size of this guy, but he was big. And fast. If we had been racing in the water, him swimming and me in my kayak, I'd be hard-pressed to think that I might win.

Just when you start thinking that this kayaking business is getting ho-hum...oh yeah, more seals and eagles...like, I'm so booored of that scene....nature gives you another gift.

VCon 32

We spent last weekend at VCon 32 in Vancouver. We had a, um, interesting ferry crossing. 20 minutes out of Swartz Bay, the ferry slowed down and then made an usual sharp turn south. The ferry had lost an engine and was to continue to the Tsawwassen terminal on its remaining engine, but the captain didn't want to take it close to shore through Active Pass on only one engine, so he changed course and we went down around Pender and Saturna Islands which I had never seen before. Needless to say, we were well over an hour late, but we got to see dolphins playing and a really cool rainbow.

The hotel was nice with a good view. Here we see Stephanie breaking into her car.

Paula seemed to be wide awake with her eyes open....

...while local best-selling and award-winning author Dave Duncan was quite excited to be photographed.

Karl and Stephanie man the Neo-opsis table.

Even Roy put in an appearance. Man, now I know why it's called the Red-eye flight.

Still, he was a satisifed customer.

Some people just get so wrapped up in their books.

William Shatner - He. Is. Canadian.

Here's an oldie but a goodie....

Star Trek vs. Monty Python

The mind boggles....

Eagles

I took these yesterday while kayaking around Albert Head.

Star Trek Cribs, Y'all. Yo. This is Chillin.'

We'll Keep Trying Until We Get It Right

This came my way courtesy of the print version of Curious Times...
William Blum notes in his book Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II that the United States has bombed 23 nations since the end of WWII. The countries bombed include China (1945-6), Korea (1950-3), Vietnam (1961-73), Libya (1983), Panama (1989) and Iraq (1990-present).
Of the 23 countries bombed by the US during this time, exactly zero have formed democratic governments as a result of the bombings.

Mirror, Mirror....

According to this CNN report, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is quoted as saying, "In any country, if you don't have countervailing institutions, the power of any one president is problematic for democratic development."
She added, "I think there is too much concentration of power in the Kremlin. I have told the Russians that. Everybody has doubts about the full independence of the judiciary. There are clearly questions about the independence of the electronic media and there are, I think, questions about the strength of the Duma (the Russian parliament)."
Has she looked in a mirror lately?

Finally, Congress Takes Some [CLASSIFIED] Action

Heron's Looking at You, Kid

Took a couple of nice pics of a heron while kayaking today....

My Mom

I was playing around with some settings on my camera when my mom walked by.

 

Sputnik @ 50

Sputnik, the first artificial satellite turned 50 today.
Arthur C. Clarke, who first put forth the notion of communications satellites, comments here.