Bay Roberts Worse Place to Live in Canada?

According to MoneySense - Bay Roberts is the worse place to live in Canada?! Anyone who has overlooked the bay from their marvelous pavilion would likely differ!
http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance/article/moneysense/1558/canadas-10-worst-places-to-live

Bishop's Falls makes top 5! Hockeyville 2010

Thanks to the overwhelming support of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians everywhere Bishop's Falls has made it to the top five of Hockeyville 2010.  That comes with a nice little monetary prize which the arena in Bishop's can certainly use.

Don't give up yet!  We have a chance to make hockeyville history and finally bring the show to Newfoundland and Labrador!

http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hockeyville/community/1019/en/
1-866-533-8066 01 (plus a two digit confirmation code when prompted)

Bishop's Falls IS Hockeyville

Please give us a few votes to bring Hockeyville to the home of the mighty Exploits and some of the most passionate hockey fans on the planet Bishop's Falls.


http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/hockeyville/community/1019/en/

1-866-533-8066 02 (plus a two digit confirmation code when prompted)

Miss Newfoundland and Labrador - Courage

There are two sides to the seal hunt issue, sure, but the faceless cowards that use hateful actions and language; attacking this spirited girl, need to look inside themselves.

Through it all Miss NL has been tremendously couragous, realistic and steadfast.

A clip from The National:
http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/indepthanalysis/story/2010/02/02/national-saragreen.html

UFO! No You F.O.!

Ed Hollett who calls himself a humble e-scribber appears on the NTV Pre-news as Newfoundland and Labrador's UFO expert.  Wow! I would not have guessed that UFO researcher was on his CV.  Maybe he is right, maybe the south coast UFO is just a plane.  I ran it by my own staff of experts here at NewfoundlandinCanada.  Here is what they discovered.  First off an enhancement of the original image shows three distinct lines of light and dark (a fusilage and two wings) as well as two distinct vapour trails (from the wings).  My expert Dr. Shagov concludes Mr. Hollett may be correct that this is indeed simply a commerical plane.

I had to dig further, as is my nature.  I had Dr. Shagov enhance the photo to the greatest possible enhancement (CSI would envy the talent I have here).  What she found was even more surprising than Mr. Hollett's epiphany...

Why the secrecy?  This is in fact a PeTA plane! Sent from New York for the PM's visit to St. John's.  PeTA was reluctant to give details as to the cargo but an insider informs NewfoundlandinCanada it is in fact a load of Tofu Pies and Wingnuts from New York.  The delivery obviously had to be expedited because tofu pies that are past their freshness starts to smell like puffin farts, and like the delicate orchid, wingnuts do not keep well in captivity.

So there is is, nuff said about the Harbour Mille Missle.

Nuff Said

"Never increase, beyond what is necessary, the number of words required to explain anything"
William of Ockham (1285-1349)

"Be brief"
BornNBred 2010

Just Like the Good Old Days

Protests at the Colonial Building in St. John's Newfoundland and Labrador. Harper has the great luxury of deciding if and when he wants to work. Who is his boss anyway?

Prorogue-ie Anyone?

The will be a protest Jan 23 in front of the Colonial Building to protest the fact that the prime minister of the country we find ourselves a part of decides if and when he wants to go to work

Colonial Building
St. John's, NL
1pm Jan 23, 2010

Speakers, Mary Walsh, Pete Soucy, Lana Payne

Help Haiti - Quick and Easy

Texting the word HAITI to 45678 from any Rogers Wireless or Bell Mobility phone donates $5.

See the Salvation Army site here for this initiative

http://www.salvationarmy.ca/2010/01/14/salvation-army-to-accept-haiti-relief-donations-via-text-message/

Newfoundland's Wizard Promoted from this Realm

Look into the lighthouse, the lens flares back into your eyes. It is a lens built with all the craftsmanship and thought of an engineer but yet never truly tangible. This was the world of The Wizard, Ron Pelley. Art that at once showed you how a fraction of light could pull detail from the most mundane surface of wave beaten cliff; yet brought you to see the finest detail of the silvery scaled salmon, or the translucency of a dragonfly wing casting its fragile shadow firmly on the rippling surface of blue water.

When the Wizard was stricken with crippling arthritis he transformed. The man that was reborn had traded tradition for innovation, paint for pixels and a brush for a mouse. But a wizard with a new wand is nonetheless still a wizard. I had the great pleasure of visiting this artist's study as he showed me the method of digital art. I saw the 3D wire images and textures. What could not be seen though was the magic that placed all of that mathematical form and function into our minds such that it evoked such familiarity. The scenes were real, the characters have personalities, the food has taste, and the canvas emotion. This is the magic that Ron Pelley could conger.

On the 27th of December he ascended from this realm taking his secrets with him, but leaving us with a renewed wonder in the world around us.

There is a place where the berries are fresh and the flowers bright. A lonely soul waits for the evening train, as the locals play pool across from the station. On the coast a lighthouse keeper fries some brook trout and sets an eloquent table of colourful dishes and flowers for one. Outside his window the sun sets; before dropping into the gray evening cloud it floods the sea with one last moment of brilliance.

Thank you for letting me into that world Ron. Thank you for making me believe again in magic. I will look curiously into the Fresnel lens whenever I see a lighthouse, hoping to see that which is beyond, to perhaps catch a fleeting glimpse of the Wizard.

Soul of the artist, and biker bud,
Darren

http://ronpelley.mosaicglobe.com

The Cod are Back! (But it's not ours anymore)

Portuguese Minister Antonio Serrano announced the renewal of fleet access to Canadian waters. (Photo: MARM)



Some 13 vessels of the Portugal fleet will once again operate in Canadian waters and fish 1,070 tonnes of cod as of next year, thanks to the re-opening of an area administered by the North West Atlantic Fisheries Organisation (NAFO).

“After 11 years [of the zone being closed], we recovered the quota of NAFO cod,” said Portuguese Fisheries Minister Antonio Serrano.

The Portuguese boats set to work in NAFO waters have an average capacity of 900 tonnes of fish.

Apparently the Cod are back - and anyone but the Newfoundlander and Labradorian can have it. Gail Shaea was quick to dispute that. Apparently Canada's Fishery Minister and the Portuguese Fishery Minister have a different take on things. They both seem happy enough though.

When Portuguese Cod fillets show up in Sobeys Gail Shea will be the first to get her fee and chee. So we may not be able to fish for our own cod, but maybe the white fleet will come ashore and buy a bottle of bakeapple jam or a wooden outhouse ornament - so at least we have that.

R.I.P The Fighting Newfoundlander

WWF NAFO and Newfies (unabashed)

I hate the word Newfie and refused to use it on my original piece on the Community Linkages blog. This version though is presented straight up

In the world of fisheries there is a widely accepted belief that the best to manage the resource are those closest to it. This is the simple concept behind what is commonly referred to as "Custodial Management."

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) stated: "Since 2005, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) had advised Canada to drop the NAFO agreement, because it does not protect the fish at risk, such as cod and flounder, and instead to adopt "... a new Regional Fisheries Management Organization." Canada's response was to officially adopt NAFO. The WWF stated last year that NAFO undermines the recovery of the cod fishery."

Indeed our current Prime Minister Steven Harper promised it.

Why then do we now find ourselves with a NAFO convention that not only does not give us custodial management but in fact does the opposite - deferring management away from Newfoundland and Labrador and even away from Canada. Instead marine management in the Northwest Atlantic now will be handled by NAFO - primarily European Nations who just last year banned our seal products and as the WWF eludes to above, consistently overfish their own quotas.

Why would Harper defer management of the 200 mile limit to European Nations and take it out of Ottawa's jurisdiction?!

Here my friends is the frank and honest truth. Someone has to keep an eye on the Newfies and Ottawa doesn't want that kind of expense. Even if that means having the panty-hose Spanish trawlers like the Estai policing Newfoundland and Labrador.

That's the mindset. Ottawa is not going to stand up for the Newfie and the EU believe us to be barbarians who savage baby seals.

If you are certain of only one thing be certain of this: If we as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians want to rise about the image of the Newfie we need to stand on our feet and be heard. No one is going to stand up for a Newf but Newf.

Prime Minister Opens the Waters to Foreign Vessels

Join the growing coalition against Harper's dicatorial stance on NAFO.

Harper stands against the majority of MPs, all seven Newfoundland and Labrador MPs, fisheries experts, municipalities and Newfoundlanders and Labradorians of all strips. Our outrage falls on Harper's deaf ears.

We have to be louder, we need your voice: email info@clccnl.ca

The New Border Breach - The 200 Mile Limit

Canadians should know their government is pushing through changes to Fisheries policy that will allow Foreign nations a say inside out fisheries zone off the East Coast.

Newfoundlanders and Labradorians need to stand together to get this message out before it is too late.

www.fisheriesforum.ca
newfoundland-labrador.net
email: custodian@newfoundland-labrador.net

Paradise Recycles

What do you do if an election comes up dead even? If you are the town of Paradise you dump the Pepsi bottles out of your recycle bin, throw both gents in there and see who pops up. The result may be Paradise's first truly recycled mayor.

Feds on the Rails

Every spring Home Hardware produces a flyer selling a very nice well priced hummingbird feeder. Only problem is that the island of Newfoundland has no hummingbirds. Sure there may be a scattered vagrant Ruby-Throated around Pasadena but that poor little creature is only visiting, and if one were to appear in Torbay he might likely be accompanied by a lion, tinman, and scarecrow. None-the-less they ship those humming bird feeders. That's the sort of head-scratcher that happens when Newfoundland and Labrador is perceived from a distance.

Not to pick on Home Hardware, it's the same thing with Walmart for example. On a particularly humid day this summer I remarked to a Walmart greeter "Bloody hot in here isn't it" (actually it was "Friggin' 'ot id-nit", but accent aside...) The blue vested lady replied, "we called the mainland - they won't let us turn down the heat." True! Local Walmart's don't have their own thermostat! But that's the way it goes isn't it: Can't trust a Newfoundlander to know what a comfortable body temperature is.

Someone, somewhere else calling the shots. That brings me to mother Ottawa. I get a flyer in my mail touting how great the federal government is for investing in rail transportation. Remember trains? They have them everywhere else in Canada except for Newfoundland. We did have trains, railway stretched from coast to coast, routes used for shipping paper to Botwood, a turnabout in Bishop's Falls. We put pennies on the track during recess, and when we heard the whistle we ran like hell to the nearest butman (that's what we called the piers on the tressle - Googling the word is a bad idea).



What happened to the trains? We traded the federal government's financial input into the rail system for some infrastructure money to upgrade highways. So it is difficult to applaud the fact that the rest of Canada is getting money pumped into its railway. It is even more difficult when the Conservatives send me a nice picture of a train to rub it in.

The investment in the railway is one that by default we cannot take advantage of in Newfoundland and Labrador. Given that Ottawa's has nar a clue when it comes to NL may I suggest we use our portion of investment into the TransLabrador Railway. It's a little different than VIA, it uses transport trucks instead of trains - but if a name change is what it takes then long live the TLR.

I think a great promotion would be to offer a free hummingbird feeder with every VIA Rail ticket. We can use the new TransLabrador Railway to ship all of those hummingbird feeders back west. It's a win win.

The Prime Minister Makes a Stand

Lanier Phillips: Discovery in St. Lawrence

From Community Linkages Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Lanier Phillips: Discovery in St. Lawrence

There are Newfoundlanders and Labradorians born and bred, and then there are those who have found meaning here entirely by accident.

Lanier Phillips was one of 46 men who survived the Truxtun disaster. His story is not a simple story of survival but a story of the power of humanity. In a world of segregation and racism Mr. Phillips credits the simple generousity of the people of St. Lawrence, NL, not only with saving his life, but with their compassion - changing it forever. As a black man in the segregated south of the 50's he has said: "To experience instantly love and humanity that I didn't think existed between the races — it just changed everything for me."

This is a story that begs to be told and has had some great interest in the Newfoundland and Labrador film industry. Now the story has caught the attention of the American film industry. It has even caught the attention of Bill Cosby who invited Mr. Phillips on stage and told his story. A full length feature film is finally in the works.

The story is remniscent of a film called "Amazing Grace" that Ray Johnson likes to quote when we meet with Community Linkages. Mr. Phillips story, like Amazing Grace tells of the power of the individual, when love and compassion are the motivating factors for change. The upcoming film will perhaps offer a rare glimpse of the true virtue of rural Newfoundland and Labrador and why we so passionately love this place.

Listening to Lanier Phillips on CBC:

http://www.cbc.ca/...st_lawrence.html

The Puffins and the Wolf

A long time ago when the earth was blue and green there was an island in the North Atlantic Sea, the prettiest you've ever seen. On this rocky coast of crag and scarp lived a colony of puffins. They made a meager but sustained life living off the sea, diving for fish off the shores. Some years were lean and their young grew weak, but in the good years they feasted on fish and danced through the evening.

One fateful March, they were cold and hungry and grew weary in wait for the capelin that would wash in with the waves of June. The sea would offer the bounty that had sustained them for generations, but the nights were long and the wait was proofing unbearable. Other fish had been scarcer than previous years and their young were disappearing in great numbers. The elder puffins assembled, unbeknownst to them the tiny island had been visited that year by a cunning wolf.

Our young are hungry, the puffins cried, and we are cold and fear we will not survive to see the warmth of summer. Just then as the puffins were assembled came a low rumbling that filled the air like thunder. The puffins shook and all at once swung their coloured beaks to the direction of the rumble. It was a voice, the voice of the wolf:

I know your problem, rumbled the wolf with wet fangs flashing in the low evening sun, and it is I alone who can help you. You can have all the comforts of the modern world, treasures and comforts that a bird with such poor useless wings could never dream of. You will be warm and your bellies full. For my generous philanthropy I would only ask for fresh eggs and a gift of fish. The puffins, anxious to see a better live for their children agreed to the terms of partnership with the wolf.

Daily the puffins brought their eggs and a share of their fish. Dear wolf, they would say as they knelt at the feet of the dog, dear wolf these gifts I bring to thee so that we may live in harmony with you. The arrangement between the wolf and puffins lasted many years, until at last the fish became hard to find. With the Wolf’s substantial share of fish the waters off the shores were being harvested heavily. The puffins caught as much fish as they could but the bounty at the feet of the wolf became less and less. At long last the poor puffins could not sustain themselves and the wolf. Their children were again dwindling in numbers and many were hungry.

The elders again went to the wolf who was not at all pleased. Why is it that your gifts have become so few? he asked, his snout thrust toward the puffins and his teeth bared. Dear Wolf, spoke the elders, our children are again cold and hungry the fish are harder to find, we must fly further and dive deeper to fish. Our eggs are left unguarded. Too often we are returning with no fish to find our nests empty. And... one puffin stepped forward, and dear wolf, if I may, some puffins have seen the sea gulls bringing you fish.

The wolf stood to his full eight towering over the leaders of the puffin colony. “You are puffins” he snarled, “you fish, that is what you do, if you cannot provide for me I will find someone who will.”

So the Puffins fished even harder. They flew longer and dove even deeper. But try as they might they could not provide for their young and also provide a modest gift to the Wolf.

All of the puffins this time assembled. Many cried out that they were better off in the years before the wolf. But the elders were divided, many could still remember March in the years before the wolf when they were hungry and cold. All agreed that they would return to the wolf to renegotiate the terms of their union. But just then their bodies shook and they swung their coloured beaks to the back of the crowd to the low familiar rumbling of the Wolf’s voice.

I told you he barked that if you could not provide for me I would find someone that would. He licked his salivating lips and in that instant he leapt into the assembled colony of puffins and devoured them one by one.

Looking around the tiny island the greedy wolf realized how desolate it had become. There was nothing now to sustain neither a puffin nor a wolf. He ran to the shore leaping into the water and swam to the big northern land where it was said the caribou traveled in great numbers like living rivers.

Something Else

This sign on the road to the Irish Loop warns against juggling while riding a unicycle on open water. Point well taken.