Wildlife Rescue Facts

Facebook shows me lots of videos of tourists/random people helping wildlife they've come across in trouble. Great. Glad to see it.

Just a quick note, though: you don't have to let the creature struggle and panic while you film it to show the dire situation it is in. You CAN put down the camera and just help the creature. (No, I'm serious. It is possible. I wouldn't lie about something so important.) You might want to sit down and prepare yourself, but wildlife can be helped without you filming it at all. Contrary to prevailing opinions, posting it publicly in a pitiful attempt to gain pats on your own back does not actually affect the survival rates of the wildlife you helped. (I know! I know! Blew my mind too!)

In fact:

In many cases, the rescue goes much quicker -- and is less traumatic to wildlife -- if you use both hands instead of keeping one hand on the camera and one eye on whether you've framed yourself well

If two people find wildlife in trouble, this should be a welcome development -- but not because it means one person can frame the shot while the other person tries to help. It should mean the creature can be helped that much faster because two people are doing it

The more you know (... do do do doooooo ...).

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A Picture Puzzler

A friend sent me another picture from the wrap party. As I looked at it, and recalled the good times, I was struck by something really unusual. See if you can spot it: I'll give you all some time to guess...

And they called me mad when I bought the bunker in the woods!

I had heard that one way of thwarting telemarketers was to make them think the number they have dialed is in fact a fax machine. I've tried different tones on my cordless phone, all to no avail. Then I had an epiphany: When I turned sixteen, my sister bought me a new-fangled telephone. It had push buttons, but it was still just a rotary phone - when you pressed each button to dial, you still heard the rotary "tat-a-tat-tat-tat" with every number. I had held onto this phone ever since. It's cute. It works. There was no reason to get rid of it. I was willing to bet that, in this day and age of advanced technology rendering yesterday's device obsolete on a daily basis, a telemarketer - who is likely going to be decades younger than my phone - would be unable to even identify a rotary phone by sight much less by sound. And voila! Answering the phone with my rotary phone, and constantly pressing the buttons, the telemarketer kept repeating "Hello?

Batten down the hatches -- we're in it for the long haul!

Given that the weather reports for Edmonton this weekend are grim grim grim (lows of minus 33, highs of minus 25 -- with wind chills of around minus 35 to 40), I woke up early this morning to get all errands for the weekend out of the way in one fell swoop. I barely needed a coat this morning as I headed out to my car to embark on my mission. With each passing hour, the thermometer dipped a degree or twelve. By time I was done driving around (and paused to catch a movie at the neighbourhood googolplex), it was chill-lay outside. I am now snuggly boarded up in my apartment, with no plans to so much as peek my nose out my window until Tuesday (when the temps shall return to a balmy minus 15). Groceries? Check. Toiletries? Check. Magazines to curl up with? Check. Christmas Presents? Check. Lessee, I got my father what he's been asking for since I was old enough for him to give me his Christmas wish list: And I think my mother will enjoy her bungalow by the stream: For my sister and he

A Skewed View

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