Distributed in kind of a webGIS format, the webpage presently incorporates parcel data, forest covers, health services into Microsoft Bing Maps.  Fairly basic data set at the moment, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it expanded in the future.  Some data analysis is available via a link to BC Hectares .  There is also some free .kmz files which can be downloaded and inserted into Google Maps as an overlay.  I haven’t played around with that too much yet.

The real benefit is the high quality ortho images.  I was able to drill right down to the building level.

Mackenzie BC – Land Fabric

Azu, BC – Land Fabric

Powder King and Azu Subdivision…kind of 3D ( old photos of the area)

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Construction is slated to begin in 2008, with completion in 2010. I’m curious regarding the decision to blast a new line through above Monkman Park and through to Bear Lake instead of expanding the existing Pine Pass line. Different companies? Presence of seismic and minor pipelines in the Tumbler Ridge TSA? More direct route? Easy route access given the removal of Lodgepole Pine?

The New York Times recently ran a piece on the “Great Oil Game” between China and the West (namely the United States) over reserves in Central Asia, and to a lesser extent, Africa…although the west appears to have lost that match. But little is mentioned about Canada’s role as a massive supplier. In fact, little if anyone I’ve spoken to here (both foreign and local) seem to be aware of the oil reserves of Middle East proportions inhabiting the boreals of Northwestern Canada.

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Again, this ties into my thesis that Canadians need to get out of their moral limousine discard the traditional notion of peacekeeping. When a soldier dies overseas, I often hear simplistic and disrespectful comments like “oh, why are we there, they died for nothing. We should get out”. At times, I am at a loss to comment on such statements, as I feel they demonstrate a complete lack of knowledge on the subject.

“Dying for nothing” is a rather subjective, yet (although I am not a member of the CF) I would bet my salary that every single man and woman in Kandahar wants to be there and believes in what they are doing. The soldiers killed died believing that what they were doing was right. In suggesting that we withdrawal our forces because of this, is an insult to their service.

Cpl. Paul Davis , who was killed Thursday near Kandahar, turned down an assignment that would have kept him home in Canada because he wanted to join his friends in Afghanistan, his family said.

Jim Davis and his son Cpl. Paul Davis, a Canadian soldier from Bridgewater, N.S.
“He had this sense of duty, but [also] comradeship with the other people he had been training with. He felt he wanted to go with them,” Jim Davis said in an interview from his home in Bridgewater, N.S.

“I am an extremely proud dad,” he added. “I’m very proud of my son Paul. I believed in what he was doing, 100 per cent.”

Canada is a developed nation, one of the richest in the world. We live in our houses, drive our two cars, drink our Tim Hortons, complain about taxes and debate about Olympic medal counts.

We need to be in Afghanistan. The alternative? We can let it burn and disintegrate into a land devoid of human rights and endless poverty. A land which will continually breed terrorism and intolerance. I’m at a loss to why someone would choose the latter. Throwing money at Afghanistan is not a solution; neither is donning blue helmets and painting our trucks white. We are going to take casualties; this is attached to the high risk nature of the project. Canadians are not special (although, for some reason, many think they are). We can no longer hide behind the so-called peacekeeping roots, and I fear that we have been using this excuse to shield our nation from the harsh reality of the real world. A veil, which allows Canadians can rest happily in their homes, convinced that they are not being apathetic, that they are making a difference. Lets’ get some balls, Canada.

There have been rumblings regarding a vote on the Afghan mission. I’m not a fan of the Conservative government, but I hand it too Stephen Harper for the following :

“I am very distressed, I was very distressed to read suggestions from some Liberal MPS this week at their caucus meeting, that they might now want to question that involvement, and might now want to have a vote,” Mr. Harper said.

“You do not send men and women into harm’s way on a dangerous mission, with the support of our party and other Canadians, and then decide, once they’re over there, that you’re not sure you should have sent them.”

Lacking the creative buzz I had yesterday (although I am still an extremely embarrassed Canadian) I end with this from the Globe .

Whatever the tenor of the debate, however, no one should forget this: Canadian troops in Afghanistan are not politicians. They are soldiers, all volunteers, doing an extraordinarily dangerous job because they believe in it. They are risking their lives to help people who desperately need help.

They deserve nothing less than strong, unqualified support.

Technorati Tags: afghanistan, bc, canada, train

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Watch the video , it’s totally worth the wait. Trust me.

I’d be embarrassed if I were an American.

More Coulter on Canada.

Technorati Tags: bc, canada, travel

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The agreement comes as talks between Chinese and Canadian energy firms gain momentum, with Husky Energy Inc. being eyed by one state oil company, and pipeline operator Enbridge Inc. aiming to ink a deal with a Chinese company.

The Enbridge deal would give the Chinese company a 49 percent ownership stake in a pipeline designed to carry crude from Alberta’s oil sands to British Columbia — and across the Pacific.

The ” Gateway ” pipeline will transport 400,000 barrels of crude daily straight through Northern BC to the coast where it would continue its journey to China. Construction could begin in 2008.

Technorati Tags: bc, china, energy, oil, pipeline

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I want to see you explain to your grandchildren why you not only stood by and did nothing while innocents were tortured and murdered, but you actually supported it. Shame on you, and may you reap what you sow.

Followed so elegantly by:

Why do some people consider it acceptable to support a murderous and expansionist regime, while maintaining that their hands are clean? You can’t have it both ways. If you support it then you’re complicit in institutionalised torture and mass murder of civilians, perversion of international law and the military annexation of sovereign states under nothing more than pretexts. The blood of innocents is on your hands. It’s inescapable. At least have the nuts to take responsibility for your perfidity.

Outside of being one of the most hypocritical statements I’ve ever come across in my life, I am completely at loss at understanding a person who would make an accusation such as that. Their are completely oblivious to their hypocrisy. It is absolutely incredible. I almost feel silly stating that by NOT doing anything, that practising apathy (as my accuser is suggesting) is a far worse crime. I suppose I wrongly assumed that most educated people would realize the dangers of apathy and the obligation of developed nations.

This totally brings back memories from last year at UVic when I came across a booth set up in the Student Union Building protesting Canada’s involvement in rebuilding Afghanistan and demanding the complete withdrawal of Canadian forces. Aside from showing insanely bad taste (one of our boys was killed by a suicide bomber the day before) their mentality was mind-boggling. One may find an argument in stating that US forces are their as an occupying force as they are essentially just hunting down Taliban and terrorist elements, but ISAF has a completely different mission. Essentially, ISAF is the only thing between stability and anarchy in Afghanistan.

This is for those of you interested in what is really going on in Afghanistan.

And lets not forget about the Canadian Army doctor who found this little boy .

Djamshid Popal began his journey home Friday night, five months after the boy arrived in Canada from Afghanistan for emergency heart surgery.

“I came in a wheelchair and I’m leaving on foot. This is because of their help.”

I just don’t understand, and it sucks even more when people elude to the idea that because I support such efforts, I am in turn supporting murder and torture. It bothers me a lot.

Technorati Tags: afghanistan, bc, canada, law

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Traffic is pretty bad here, and so are the drivers, but for some reason, despite all of this, everything and everyone seems to tolerate one another and I haven’t seen any accidents…until today.

The roads outside my apartment are rather narrow, very alley like. Despite this, a high number of vehicles navigate through on a regular basis. The majority drive slowly and it’s not really a problem…I’m more worried about the bikes.

I was walking to campus in the early afternoon when a black Audi approached from my left side. The driver gave a semi-friendly honk to let me know he was there. I subsequently moved to the left and let him pass. About 50 meters down the road the same vehicle clipped a pedestrian on the right side of the road. This guy got hammered too. The car hit him with the right bumper and spun him into the wall beside the road. He appeared ok and got up right away. The driver hops out with a pack of cigarettes and offers one to everyone around, helps the pedestrian up, some words were exchanged and then the driver go back into his car and drove off. Everyone was extremely cool about it.

As I was walking by (I didn’t stop, no point as I don’t speak the language) I kept thinking to myself “That dude just got creamed by a vehicle! And nobody seemed to be very upset about the whole incident!” If that happened in North America there probably would have been some baseball bats, some fists…some blood…lawyers…lawsuits…

Here’s a question….Why does everyone think I’m religious????

Technorati Tags: bc, google, law

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The seedy, illicit air of this cafe belies the fact that these venues are under official scrutiny. All customers must register with identity documents, ensuring that the country’s Internet police force — alleged to be 30,000-strong — can track them down easily. The government has also ensured that cafes install local filters to reinforce the nationwide censorship system dubbed “the Great Firewall of China.”

Logging on at home is not necessarily safer. Individuals are being arrested and detained for lengthy periods, often without trial, for disseminating information judged to be seditious via the Internet.

It’s more of an annoyance in my case. I’m not really to worried about the fuzz knockin’ on my door an arresting me.

What really was interesting about the article though was this:

Not that this would have interested the other users, who were mostly deep in multi-player games.

“The west thinks that people here wake up every morning and think, `Oh, I wish I had democracy,’” says Tuinstra, whose Connecting China project aims to encourage Chinese users to discuss their lives with the global online community.

For one of my classes we were discussing the British Parlimentary System and as a comparison, I wanted my students to tell me about the Chinese government. “We don’t like to talk about politics” was the most popular answer. They are quite young, and didn’t think their interest levels in politics would be too high anyway. However, my director (who is a master’s student) sort of gave me the low down on politics and the Chinese people.

“Only politicians worry about politics, not common people. I’m a teacher, not a politician”.

Technorati Tags: bc, beijing, china, internet, politics

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If the FCO wants to issue advice in this area, that’s the way to go: If you’re kidnapped, accept you’re unlikely to survive, say “I’ll show you how an Englishman dies”, and wreck the video. If they want you to confess you’re a spy, make a little mischief: there are jihadi from Britain, Italy, France, Canada and other western nations all over Iraq – so say yes, you’re an MI6 agent, and so are those Muslims from Tipton and Luton who recently joined the al-Qaeda cells in Samarra and Ramadi. As Churchill recommended in a less timorous Britain: You can always take one with you. If Mr Blair and other government officials were to make that plain, it would be, to use Mr Bigley’s word, “enough”. A war cannot be subordinate to the fate of any individual caught up in it.

And, if you don’t want to wind up in that situation, you need to pack heat and be prepared to resist at the point of abduction. I didn’t give much thought to decapitation when I was mooching round the Sunni Triangle last year, but my one rule was that I was determined not to get into a car with any of the locals and I was willing to shoot anyone who tried to force me. If you’re not, you shouldn’t be there.

Heartless and cold blooded commentary? You bet it is. But it is absolutely true. It’s literally the wild west out there.

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A National Guard F-16 fighter jet on a nighttime training mission strafed an elementary school with 25 rounds of ammunition, authorities said Thursday. No one was injured.

Alright…is it just me, or does anyone else think the National Guard should stop flying multi-million dollar high performance combat aircraft?

Technorati Tags: afghanistan, bc, train

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