meggo

darren won a ton of awesome camping gear one year on the roll up the rim. he feels that he earned more than 'won' it, but nonetheless!

cool word though! guanooooooooo..

way back in the 1800s perhaps...?? chile made a shitload [pun intended] of money from selling guano. i forget what they sold it for - fertilizer maybe?

WOW.

hahahah.. tell that to the alberta gentleman who died from bat rabies 2 years ago!

anyway, if you wanna sleep with a bat, that is your choice. you'll probably be fine. but if you start foaming at the mouth, don't say i didn't warn you!

PS did y'all know they put out rabies-vaccine-baits for raccoons and foxes to stop the spread? so interesting! apparently doesn't work with our bat friends b/c they just like to eat buggies.

heather you are a machine!! i love it.

i would SO SO love to go, but i have prior commitments [and no money] .

please bring back a semi-detailed review!

what are you talking about drinking the drool out of your mouth? this comparison is confusing to me.

anyway - i'm no bat-hater. i'm not going to go on a bat-killing crusade. but if it comes down to listening to highly educated doctors or bat conservationists, i'm going to go with the doctors.

edit:

" Rabies infection can occur even when there is no noticeable animal bite involved. Bats, in particular, are generally very small animals, and in many cases their bites or scratches may not be noticeable. If you or your children come in direct physical contact with a bat, or a bat is found in a room with a sleeping or unconscious person, contact a doctor immediately.

Talk to your children about avoiding bats and other wild animals."

Author: Caroline Rea, RN, BS, MS

Medical Review: William M. Green, MD - Emergency MedicineW. David Colby IV, MSc, MD, FRCPC - Infectious Disease

edit #2 - here is one from the MNR that should be satisfying for all:

* Human rabies from bats is a concern, but a relatively rare occurrence. In Canada, since 1925, five of the 26 cases of human rabies have been due to contact with an infected bat.

* The last fatality in Canada was a 73 year old man from Alberta in April 2007 after contact with a rabid bat.

* Careless handling of bats is the primary source of rabies exposure from bats.

What's the current situation with bat rabies in Ontario?

* Despite large numbers of bats in southern Ontario, rabies is infrequent. From 2001 to 2005 there have been 314 bats confirmed with rabies in Ontario. Fewer than 2% of bats submitted for testing have rabies (2% of all bats acting strangely, dead, or have possibly bitten a human or pet). In the overall population, this percentage would be much lower.

* Although the percentage of rabid bats is low, any bat encountered should be considered rabid unless captured and proven otherwise. Bats have small, needle-like teeth and claws. Bites or scratches from a bat can easily go undetected.

#3 from the CDC in the US [some of this is just funny]

Most of the recent human rabies cases in the United States have been caused by rabies virus from bats. Awareness of the facts about bats and rabies can help people protect themselves, their families, and their pets. This information may also help clear up misunderstandings about bats.

[...]

Rabies can be confirmed only in a laboratory. However, any bat that is active by day, is found in a place where bats are not usually seen (for example, in a room in your home or on the lawn), or is unable to fly, is far more likely than others to be rabid. Such bats are often the most easily approached. Therefore, it is best never to handle any bat.

People usually know when they have been bitten by a bat. However, because bats have small teeth which may leave marks that are not easily seen, there are situations in which you should seek medical advice even in the absence of an obvious bite wound. For example, if you awaken and find a bat in your room, see a bat in the room of an unattended child, or see a bat near a mentally impaired or intoxicated person, seek medical advice and have the bat tested.

People cannot get rabies just from seeing a bat in an attic, in a cave, or at a distance. In addition, people cannot get rabies from having contact with bat guano (feces), blood, or urine, or from touching a bat on its fur (even though bats should never be handled!).

[back to st pierre & miquelons] - apparently some of their earliest visitors/settlers were basque, and they still have basque festivals there.

verrrrrry interesting....!

right on, thanks bouche. that one is actually really close to where we live, i walk the dog past it all the time. it kinda smells when you walk past the fans on breezehill.

hahaha.. no worries!! that truck was a piece of crap!

eh?

very interesting proposition! i will make sure my friend hasn't rented a truck yet and PM you the measurements ...

i am helping a friend get some furniture for her new place. trying to work out the best plan for transporting it. i have only rented a truck once and it was from uhaul, and i vowed to never give them my business ever again because they pissed me off so very much.

any suggestions for alternatives? it's not any huge furniture, the biggest things would be smallish dressers.

thx

i would prefer not to take my chances. i've seen old yeller!!

Link

excerpt:

"Bats, raccoons, skunks, foxes, and coyotes are the most common hosts of rabies. Small mammals such as mice or squirrels almost never have rabies. And there is no known case that they have spread it to humans. Larger rodents, such as woodchucks, are more likely to be rabid. The animals most likely to be infected with the rabies virus vary by region, although bats are becoming a main source of infection among humans in many areas of Canada and the U.S.1"

the reference is:

Plotkin SA, Clark FH (2004). Rhabdoviridae: Rabies virus. In RD Feigin et al., eds., Textbook of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, 5th ed., vol. 2, pp. 2347–2364. Philadelphia: Saunders.

good job myrna!

i don't know about harmless -- tons of bats carry rabies. a friend of our fam is an infectious disease doctor, he told us if you ever wake up with a bat in your room you should automatically get rabies shots! eeek!

they are kind of cute, though.

innnnnteresting... where are your favourite places to shop?

what are your favourite meals to make when you're on a tight budget?

we tend to go for chicken & rice concoctions and soup, but we need some fresh ideas.

thx!

happy birthday daddio!

i used to love the timbertoes. and goofus and gallant.

hey kk, why don't you come up and come hiking with us this weekend?

super! i'll start training.

reviving this thread to see what kind of free stuff i can do while i'm still on summer holidays!

does anyone know if dogs are allowed on the trails in gatineau park?

*also* what are your favourite hiking trails in the gats? i always seem to end up on the same one [mackenzie king? something like that].

hah, no worries. if you want to see some interesting comments you can read the ones after the article on the g&m website.

it was a relief to see that for most of the readers, 'gay rights' is basically a given.

we're getting there!

oof! someone dropped the ball on this one..

Tims axes plan to sponsor anti-gay marriage event

Rhode Island event organized by National Organization for Marriage

Susan Krashinsky

From Tuesday's Globe and Mail Last updated on Monday, Aug. 10, 2009 08:22PM EDT

When Tim Hortons (THI-T32.760.752.34%) decided to peddle its coffee and sugary treats in the northern U.S., the chain was betting that no one ever went broke overestimating the appetite of the American public. But in its cross-border expansion, Tims was not prepared to feed a political controversy.

The company is now reckoning with the quagmire of American family values politics, after creating a stir with its plan to sponsor an anti-gay marriage event in Rhode Island.

After local blog the Providence Daily Dose reported Tim Hortons' sponsorship of the event, the negative attention reached the company's head office in Oakville and it withdrew its support. “It has come to our attention that the Rhode Island event organizer and purpose of the event fall outside of our sponsorship guidelines,†the company said in a statement released Monday afternoon .

“Tim Hortons can not provide support at the event,†the release said.

The Marriage Day Celebration, which is to be held this Sunday in the shadow of a stately mansion in Warwick, R.I., is organized by the National Organization for Marriage, a group that lobbies against the legalization of gay marriage, and the sponsors behind an ad campaign released in April that famously equated the gay marriage lobby to a gathering storm. Plans for the event include a barbecue dinner and an ice cream social, as well as live worship music.

Tim Hortons' sponsorship guidelines specify it does not sponsor “religious groups†or “political affiliates.†The regional office in Rhode Island originally approved the sponsorship.

“Major error by the regional manager, here,†said Alan Middleton, a marketing professor at York University's Schulich business school. “This is an operational slippage by Tim Hortons. Sex, religion and politics are things you try as a corporation not to engage in. This is particularly thorny because it deals with all three.â€

The issue also highlights how difficult it can be for companies such as Tim Hortons to market themselves in local, national and international arenas simultaneously, while keeping a consistent brand image across the board.

A local gay marriage advocate said this move could hurt Tim Hortons in the region.

“This is an inclusive community,†said Kathy Kushnir, executive director of Marriage Equality Rhode Island. “People don't have a lot of money. The money that they have, they are going to use to support the businesses that put together the kind of society they want to be living in.â€

But Ken Hardy, a professor emeritus of marketing at the University of Western Ontario and an expert in the coffee industry, said he is surprised to see such a sharp departure for Tim Hortons from its usual practice of sponsoring such benign events as children's charities and little league games.

“It's a real anomaly,†he said, adding that there are much bigger payoffs for supporting local events that are not political, since it reflects better on the business to endorse “things no one could really argue with.â€

As of May, four states in New England have legalized same-sex unions or given those couples some legal rights. Rhode Island, however, has resisted such change.

Regardless of the political makeup of a region, companies will always try to sit on the fence when it comes to addressing controversial issues, said York's Prof. Middleton. That makes this a difficult public relations challenge for Tim Hortons, because they may not want to be seen as either opposing or condoning gay marriage, he said.

“If you're seen as coming down too hard on somebody with that viewpoint, then the Christian right is likely to take this up as a cause célèbre and do things like boycotts,†Prof. Middleton said. “You have these policies which say you don't support either side. They're going to try to have their cake and eat it. It's a difficult position to take.â€

For now, Tim Hortons has taken a clear position – its release shows the company is trying to mitigate any damage.

“Tim Hortons and its store owners have always welcomed all families and communities to its restaurants and will continue to do so,†the statement reads. “We apologize for any misunderstanding or inconvenience this may have caused.â€

The National Organization for Marriage did not respond to interview requests Monday.

Jenny Lewis

http://www.myspace.com/jennylewismusic

you probably already know this, but just in case! jenny lewis is the singer for rilo kiley. they're grrrrreat.

that is some sad news! i have to confess we only made it there about once a year but i loved it so...

thanks for that. so interesting.