25 November 2012
Thud
25/11/12 04:52
There are some sounds that don’t bode well. Certain sounds are never associated with good news. Thud is one of those. This week was marked by several thuds, none of which were good news.
At Surrey Memorial Hospital near Vancouver, they are in the middle of a large expansion project. On Tuesday one of the contractors broke a water main. The resulting deluge flooded the first floor of the building. Nothing important there, just ER, surgery rooms and rooms housing equipment. X-Ray and MRI systems won’t be harmed by being under water, right? It didn’t help that the “first floor” is several steps below grade so they just became a duck pond with medical debris lillypads. That’ll take a while to clean up.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/11/19/bc-weather-hospital-floodingq.html
Near Prince Rupert, the largest port on the northern BC coast, on the northern BC coast there was a thud when a freighter ran aground. There is some dispute as to exactly what happened. Officially the word is that they were trying to avoid a fishing boat. The word from the fishermen up there is “Since when do freighters care if they run over a fishing boat?” Fortunately, the next high tide floated the freighter off of the sand bar and there was no damage to the ship or the environment. This has however added fuel to the anti-pipeline rhetoric around here. In case you hadn’t heard there is a plan to run a pipeline across northern BC to bring oil from the Alberta tar sands to tankers on the BC coast for shipment to China. Alberta wants it. Everyone in BC who is not being paid to support it and has a pulse is against this plan. The grounding of the freighter only added fuel to the opposition.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Giant+metre+long+container+ship+runs+aground+Prince+Rupert+Harbour/7589208/story.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/freighter-runs-aground-off-prince-rupert-stoking-oil-spill-fears/article5539124/
Then there was the incident a few days later. In our living room we have a half wall separating the living room from the stairway. Momiji was fond of walking along this ledge. Well this week we were in the living room when we heard a thud. Momiji had lost her footing and gone for a tumble to the stairs below. Fortunately the stairs are carpeted so she wasn’t hurt, physically at least. Her pride was another thing. We caught up with her downstairs where she was acting like she had not fallen and that she had never been anywhere near the stairs, ever. She is OK though and we’ve noticed that she hasn’t been up on the ledge since then. See, you can teach a cat new tricks.
The BC Lions played last Sunday. They had a fantastic record. They mopped the floor with every other team. They went into the Western Division Championship game against Calgary the heavy favourites. People were planning trips to the Grey Cup this weekend even before kick off. Everything looked great. It would have been even better if the Lions had bothered to show up. In this case the thud was more metaphysical than literal but it was bad news nonetheless. Do you know what it’s like when your home team just totally blows the big game that they really should have won with ease? Oh wait, what am I saying. Most of you are in Minnesota. You are rooting for the Vikings or the Minnesota Gophers. Of COURSE you do.
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/11/19/bc-lions-shocked-at-exit
A bit off topic but did you know that in the ’90s the CFL tried to expand into the US? They put a team in Las Vegas, the Vegas Posse and, not surprisingly it didn’t go well. They lost games, lost attendance, and lost their shirts, folding after just one season. I guess there is a reason the NFL hasn’t expanded into Las Vegas. You know things are going bad when the biggest thing people remember about the whole experiment was the National Anthem. For the last home game (as it turned out that they would ever play) the music played, the lights were on, TV was recording and only then did it occur to anyone that maybe a lounge singer from Las Vegas might not actually KNOW O’ Canada. He fought through it and actually didn’t do too badly, other than getting the music AND the lyrics completely wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpXzASiXX8U
Back here in BC there was a crash on the Cocahalla Highway. First a truck skidded and blocked the road. Then a tour bus full of senior citizens skidded trying to stop and ran into it. Then another semi and three cars skidded into the mass of metal. . This is Canada however. Sure there was a horrible multi-vehicle crash including a bus full of senior citizens, but nobody was seriously hurt. Everyone was driving carefully and cautiously so even when there is an accident it’s a polite accident. I really like this place.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/11/21/bc-coquihalla-accident.html?cmp=rss
Of course BC is not the only place where what could have been a bad accident wasn’t. In Nova Scotia a Canadian Forces SeaKing helicopter had a mechanical problem and had to make a forced landing. They were over the city of Halifax, not the kind of place you want to have to set down. Fortunately they did not hit any buildings or wires or people, ending up in a mall parking lot next to a grocery and a drug store. While they landed hard, there was no further damage. I guess if you’re going to be a downed pilot, you might as well be able to stop by Tim Hortons while you wait for rescue.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/military-helicopter-forced-to-make-emergency-landing-in-halifax-police-say-180521171.html
And finally, an age old question was answered: Will Twinkies last forever? The answer as it turned out is no. The run of Twinkies ended not with a thud but a whimper as Hostess filed for bankruptcy liquidation this week. The ultimate cause was management failure however they are trying to blame it on not being able to sign a contract with their bakers. They aren’t fooling me though. They have no bakers at Hostess. Bakers make, you know, actual food, a description that cannot be applied to Twinkies.
Doug and Marsh
PIX: Early Sunday morning at the beach. We were up early to go grocery shopping and heard the seals barking. Decided we'd head down to the beach to try to take pictures of the seals but they were far offshore. OK one did come in close and I got two shots of it. One with the camera turned off and the other with the lens cap on. Rats.
At Surrey Memorial Hospital near Vancouver, they are in the middle of a large expansion project. On Tuesday one of the contractors broke a water main. The resulting deluge flooded the first floor of the building. Nothing important there, just ER, surgery rooms and rooms housing equipment. X-Ray and MRI systems won’t be harmed by being under water, right? It didn’t help that the “first floor” is several steps below grade so they just became a duck pond with medical debris lillypads. That’ll take a while to clean up.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/11/19/bc-weather-hospital-floodingq.html
Near Prince Rupert, the largest port on the northern BC coast, on the northern BC coast there was a thud when a freighter ran aground. There is some dispute as to exactly what happened. Officially the word is that they were trying to avoid a fishing boat. The word from the fishermen up there is “Since when do freighters care if they run over a fishing boat?” Fortunately, the next high tide floated the freighter off of the sand bar and there was no damage to the ship or the environment. This has however added fuel to the anti-pipeline rhetoric around here. In case you hadn’t heard there is a plan to run a pipeline across northern BC to bring oil from the Alberta tar sands to tankers on the BC coast for shipment to China. Alberta wants it. Everyone in BC who is not being paid to support it and has a pulse is against this plan. The grounding of the freighter only added fuel to the opposition.
http://www.vancouversun.com/Giant+metre+long+container+ship+runs+aground+Prince+Rupert+Harbour/7589208/story.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/freighter-runs-aground-off-prince-rupert-stoking-oil-spill-fears/article5539124/
Then there was the incident a few days later. In our living room we have a half wall separating the living room from the stairway. Momiji was fond of walking along this ledge. Well this week we were in the living room when we heard a thud. Momiji had lost her footing and gone for a tumble to the stairs below. Fortunately the stairs are carpeted so she wasn’t hurt, physically at least. Her pride was another thing. We caught up with her downstairs where she was acting like she had not fallen and that she had never been anywhere near the stairs, ever. She is OK though and we’ve noticed that she hasn’t been up on the ledge since then. See, you can teach a cat new tricks.
The BC Lions played last Sunday. They had a fantastic record. They mopped the floor with every other team. They went into the Western Division Championship game against Calgary the heavy favourites. People were planning trips to the Grey Cup this weekend even before kick off. Everything looked great. It would have been even better if the Lions had bothered to show up. In this case the thud was more metaphysical than literal but it was bad news nonetheless. Do you know what it’s like when your home team just totally blows the big game that they really should have won with ease? Oh wait, what am I saying. Most of you are in Minnesota. You are rooting for the Vikings or the Minnesota Gophers. Of COURSE you do.
http://www.torontosun.com/2012/11/19/bc-lions-shocked-at-exit
A bit off topic but did you know that in the ’90s the CFL tried to expand into the US? They put a team in Las Vegas, the Vegas Posse and, not surprisingly it didn’t go well. They lost games, lost attendance, and lost their shirts, folding after just one season. I guess there is a reason the NFL hasn’t expanded into Las Vegas. You know things are going bad when the biggest thing people remember about the whole experiment was the National Anthem. For the last home game (as it turned out that they would ever play) the music played, the lights were on, TV was recording and only then did it occur to anyone that maybe a lounge singer from Las Vegas might not actually KNOW O’ Canada. He fought through it and actually didn’t do too badly, other than getting the music AND the lyrics completely wrong.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpXzASiXX8U
Back here in BC there was a crash on the Cocahalla Highway. First a truck skidded and blocked the road.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/11/21/bc-coquihalla-accident.html?cmp=rss
Of course BC is not the only place where what could have been a bad accident wasn’t. In Nova Scotia a Canadian Forces SeaKing helicopter had a mechanical problem and had to make a forced landing. They were over the city of Halifax, not the kind of place you want to have to set down. Fortunately they did not hit any buildings or wires or people, ending up in a mall parking lot next to a grocery and a drug store. While they landed hard, there was no further damage. I guess if you’re going to be a downed pilot, you might as well be able to stop by Tim Hortons while you wait for rescue.
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/military-helicopter-forced-to-make-emergency-landing-in-halifax-police-say-180521171.html
And finally, an age old question was answered: Will Twinkies last forever? The answer as it turned out is no. The run of Twinkies ended not with a thud but a whimper as Hostess filed for bankruptcy liquidation this week. The ultimate cause was management failure however they are trying to blame it on not being able to sign a contract with their bakers. They aren’t fooling me though. They have no bakers at Hostess. Bakers make, you know, actual food, a description that cannot be applied to Twinkies.
Doug and Marsh
PIX: Early Sunday morning at the beach. We were up early to go grocery shopping and heard the seals barking. Decided we'd head down to the beach to try to take pictures of the seals but they were far offshore. OK one did come in close and I got two shots of it. One with the camera turned off and the other with the lens cap on. Rats.