Only .01 percent of earth's water available for drinking

Bob McDonald of CBC Radio's Quirks and Quarks was the keynote speaker Monday at the Water Environment Association of Ontario annual conference being held in London, Ontario. For the whole story on his address, check out my story in the Digital Journal.

Not to worry; Dad's a lifeguard.

Well little Fiona and an old Timex watch now have something in common --- they both took a lickin' and kept on tickin'. Years ago there was a Timex commercial in which the famous watch was dunked in water. When it was removed from the water and dried, it was still keeping time.

With Fiona she may be more marking time than keeping it. I'd watch out dad. When Fiona is twenty-five, you'll be nearing retirement. She might, just might, like to test the mammalian diving reflex on an old geezer.

We know she can hold her breath. The question now is: Can she also hold a grudge?

For an artist's look at the reflex, check out the embedded YouTube video. It is a little slow going at first but it picks up and is quite a wonderful look at parenting, kids and water. To see an early post on the swimming class, click here.

Cheers,
Ken

What's old is new again.

Yesterday I ran two new images, but they were accompanied by information from last year. I don't get that many hits and I thought I'd like to tell some new readers about the Southwestern Ontario Carolinian Forest.

Then I learned that The London Free Press recently ran some of my Easter Egg Hunt pictures. I haven't worked at the paper for more than a year.

Oh well, I felt no guilt running interesting but previously run information. Relying on what is called "fair use" in the United States, I am sharing my discovery with you. I'm in good company when I run old stuff.


I think the paper chose good pictures. Thanks LFP.

(Top) KEN WIGHTMAN The London Free Press     Michael Nicholds, 6, has his Easter Bunny ears askew after taking part in the Ryerson Public School Easter Egg Hunt. 7000 candies in 1000 bags were scattered about the playground and every one was picked up in moments. If only kids picked up their toys the same way.

(Right) KEN WIGHTMAN The London Free Press     Victoria Goldsack, 4, of London, was one of about 400 children at the Byron Optimist Club Easter Egg Hunt at Boler Mountain. 6000 hollow plastic eggs, stuffed with chocolates, ju jubes, and jelly beans, were scattered about three sites at the Byron facility. Close to a hundred eggs also contained tickets to be redeemed for a prize. Some of the money raised is donated to the Easter Seal Society.

Five bloomin' weeks early

 I shot these last year --- on May 25th! This year picture captures them in full bloom and it is only April 16th!

With herbicides banned, the grass has blossoms.

Are these trees native to southwestern Ontario? Quite possibly. Observing that hardwood forests in southwestern Ontario shared many characteristics with forests as far south as the Carolinas, botanists named this area Ontario’s Carolinian Zone.

The area's Carolinian forests were originally enriched by tulip, sassafras, Kentucky coffee, cucumber magnolia, black gum, and papaw. Sadly, more than 40 per cent of the national list of endangered and threatened species are found here. In some parts of southwestern Ontario, agricultural and residential pressures have destroyed more than 90 per cent of the original Carolinian forest.

. . . to ashes

Shortly after London Daily Photo ran some pictures of this abandoned home, it was torched by a firebug.

A home on Wonderland near Exeter burned Wednesday morning; fire officials are suspicious. The daily paper reports that it was the second home in the area to go up in flames in a week. The first home was a kilometre away on Exeter.

The fire destroyed home as it looked prior to being torched.

"Boarded-up houses don't go up on their own," said London Police Detective Greg Blumson.

According to the local paper, "A rash of fires in abandoned buildings spread through London last year." The firebugs look to be active again.

Both homes had been boarded up and abandoned.

As police and fire officials have made very clear, building fires can be dangerous. Folks can be killed by the blaze, even when the home is abandoned.

When the home is torched, at that moment, it is not empty; The firebug is there. They may not realize it, but they are putting themselves in danger as well as the firefighters responding to the fire.

Here's a link to the first appearance of this home on London Daily Photo with a shot of the living room and adjacent dining room area.

Placemaking in action

It is cool in London, Ontario, among those in certain groups to detest suburbia. Cookie cutter homes they say on streets that are far too wide. And those garages at the fronts are simply ugly, they say. I say, "Fuddle duddle!"

I'm not an expert on architecture and if I am way off I am sure I will hear about it. But, I think this suburban home, more than two decades old --- maybe closer to three --- is built in a style reminiscent of Colonial Revival which of course borrowed heavily from the Georgian.

It's funny. A home like this in north London, built possibly in the 1920s, is cool. But find one built 60 years later in a southwestern suburb and you may hear criticism.

There's a buzzword that city planners like to throw around: Placemaking. For me my neighbourhood with its streets lined with well maintained homes is a place that I and others like to walk. We find it a very pleasant part of the city. We believe our suburb a fine example of successful placemaking in action.

Fujifilm HS10 hits the stores in London

Shot with lens zoomed to a setting comparable to 720mm on a 35 DSLR.

It's here. The Fujifilm FinePix HS10 is in London stores. I don't want this to be an ad but it sure may seem like one. After more than four decades shooting pictures for a daily newspaper and carrying two camera bodies and up to five lenses, I have replaced everything with two point and shoot cameras: a Canon PowerShot S90 and a Fujifilm FinePix HS10.

With all those years of professional shooting, this may come as a surprise but I don't believe in anything but automatic when it comes to cameras --- not completely true but close enough to be true. Auto can fail big time, but generally you're pretty safe sticking with the automatic settings. If you're shooting for fun, that decides it --- shoot automatic.

A few weeks ago, I purchased a Canon S90; Yesterday, I picked up a Fujifilm HS10.

Today's shot, the chipmunk, is the just the third image shot with my new Fuji. It has a 30-times zoom and it is working at its max here. The camera was hand-held but braced against my kitchen door frame.

Years ago one of Canada's top newspaper shooters told me he always kept his cameras on automatic in order to be ready to shoot in an instant. Oh, he might use manual when shooting something that allowed time for finagling and fine tuning --- a fashion shoot for instance --- but for a sudden moment it was auto for this prize-winning shooter.

I think the image of my chipmunk, shot on automatic right from the box, says he was right.