For 60 years RainSoft has been treating, testing water around the world. During the last 16 years I have been the Dealer here in Ottawa, Ontario. We sell/service all RainSoft water systems: Water Softeners, Reverse Osmosis Systems, Whole House Carbon Filters, Chemical Free and Chemical Iron & Sulphur Removal Systems, Sediment Filters, UV Light Systems and MOST IMPORTANTLY PEACE OF MIND! I have an A+ rating with the BBB and have won the Consumers Choice Gold Awards for 5 years in a row. This is a family run business and we especially care about the water you and your family drink and live with. www.rainsoftofottawa.com
When I began work on this blog I had a link to an absolutely fantastic YouTube video that I received in an e-mail, but unfortunately I can’t use it in this blog in Canada. I hope that some of you in other countries may be more fortunate and will be able to watch it ~
The second video features the World Multiple Kite Flying Champion – Canadian Vancouverite Ray Bethell. You will be amazed by his mesmerizing and seemingly impossible art of bringing life to his kites.
In the following video Ray Bethell shares a very personal insight into his life from approximately 60 years to the present.
This means that dolphins and whales will be subjected to constant dynamite-like blasts about every 10 seconds, 24-hours a day, for weeks and months on end.
Even the government admits that the industry’s airguns could injure hundreds of thousands of marine mammals and disrupt marine mammal feeding, calving, breeding, and other vital activities more than 13.5 million times.
Dolphins and whales rely on sound for feeding, communication, and navigation. If we don’t act now, these sensitive creatures will be exposed to an intense acoustical assault.
Seismic exploration involves arrays of high-volume air guns that are towed behind ships, continuously firing intense impulses of compressed air — almost as loud as explosives.
Opening up the Atlantic Ocean to seismic exploration for offshore oil and gas would cause incredible harm to ocean wildlife like whales and dolphins and to multi-billion dollar fishing, tourism, and recreational industries that support hundreds of thousands of American jobs.All of this just to make it easier for oil companies to find new sites in our oceans for offshore drilling.
Please do your part to stop this devastatingly harmful act and sign the petition!!!
We simply cannot allow it. If you live in the United States, click below to tell the Secretary of Interior to abandon plans to allow seismic testing in the Atlantic. I am writing to Oceana to ask if they will amend their info fields in the petition to allow people from other countries to help.
The following excerpts are taken from WaterCanada’s July/August issue of, “The Trickle-Down Effect” – Industry, agriculture, and government have voices about water in Alberta. But who speaks for the environment’s needs? by Susan R. Eaton
“Heralded as the economic growth engine of Canada, Alberta has recently discovered that its most strategic resource may not be subsurface oil and gas reserves. Perhaps more critical to future economic development will be the existence of abundant and predictable quantities of water. As the prairie province deals with water allocation for a burgeoning population and expanding industrial sectors – oil sands, agriculture, petrochemicals and power generation – it is feeling the impacts of climate change, including droughts, destructive floods, and reduced contributions from rapidly receding mountain glaciers that feed Alberta’s waterways and aquifers…”
Uploaded by thinkwatercanada on Dec 7, 2007 – A TV SPOT in a series for the United Nations Canada Water for Life initiative. The Bow River Basin Council and the Oldman Watershed Council are providing leadership and solutions to how water is conserved and protected. Visit thinkwater.ca for more information.
“In August 2006, four of five rivers in southern Alberta’s South Saskatchewan River Basin were closed to new water withdrawals, due to over-allocation by the provincial regulator.
In northern Alberta, oil sands companies continue to seek increased allocations from the Athabasca River to support their rapidly expanding, water-intensive bitumen mining and upgrading operations. Current withdrawals may have already compromised the river’s healthy inflow capacity during the low-flow fall and winter months… Critics accuse the Alberta government of approving amendments to senior water licence agreements—often without public input—and of diverting unused volumes of water to third parties, for purposes other than originally intended and to the detriment of Alberta’s waterways. The Province created its Water Act in 2000, legislating, for the first time, the monetization—through the sale, transfer, or carving up of senior water rights—of Alberta’s water resources… Andy Ridge is the director of water policy for Alberta’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development…”
“Water mastery Ridge says, when it comes to meeting that water needs of Alberta’s diverse stakeholders, “it’s always circumstance specific.” “We apply water mastery when there’s an issue,” says Ridge. “Water mastery” is his term to describe the Province’s balancing act of meeting the water needs—current and future. “In tough times, we get involved to ensure that everyone is less harmed,” says Ridge. But tough times have existed for more than a decade in southern Alberta, where the Province has ordered junior water holders to reduce or stop water withdrawals, enabling “first in time, first in right” senior holders to maintain their draws… In 2010, the Province approved a request for an amendment of the City of Calgary’s senior license to divert treated wastewater to a new gas-fired power plant being built nearby by ENMAX Corporation. In 2007, the Province approved an amendment to the City of Edmonton’s water senior license, enabling it to sell wastewater to Petro- Canada Ltd. (now Suncor Energy Inc.) for use in heavy oil upgrading operations east of the city. In both instances, Donahue explains, the amendments of senior water licences resulted in negative benefits to Calgary’s Bow River and to Edmonton’s North Saskatchewan River, as wastewater was diverted for industrial purposes and not returned to the river systems. He adds that Petro-Canada and ENMAX avoided costly public environmental hearings and idn’t have to apply for low priority, junior water licenses. Return it to the rivers For the past decade, the City of Calgary has encouraged its residents to conserve water, even providing financial incentives to purchase low flush toilets and install water meters. However, Calgarians who believed they were contributing to improving the aquatic health and trout habitat of the Bow River— billed by Travel Alberta as the world’s premier trout fishing stream – might be surprised to learn that the water conserved had been sold for industrial users or to ther municipalities in southern Alberta… The Calgary-based Water Conservation Trust of Canada is working toward ensuring conserved water gets back to the stream…The Trust’s mandate revolves around holding water conservation licenses. However, according to Ridge, “The concept of a license that’s being held for the environment – that’s what the Water Conservation Trust of Canada is promoting – is contained in the Water Act.” To date, only the Province olds these conservation licenses in trust, but the Water Act doesn’t specifically prohibit other groups from doing so, too. Just as Alberta’s homesteaders developed the province in the early 1900s, Bell, a native Albertan, is ioneering a new vision for prosperity which includes an innovative tool to achieve the healthy aquatic ecosystems contemplated within the provincial Water Act. “We’ve spent six years breaking trail,” said Bell, “and we’re close to a breakthrough.”
Water as a Limited Resource
Got Thirst? Will Alberta’s Water Law leave you high and dry?
2011 Halloween Light Show ~ This Is Halloween from The Nightmare Before Christmas – 4 singing pumpkin faces, tombstones, hand carved pumpkins, strobes, floods and thousands of lights. Most all lights have been changed from incandescent to RGB LED so power consumption is a lot less than previous years. Also DMX added to show. All lights, faces and props are custom made (DIY) by me except for the roof line which are CCRs. Controlling channels have gone up 8X from last year. 1144 channels. Riverside, CA
Stepwells, also called bawdi or baoli, are unique to India… and are often of architectural significance, just like Chand Baori.
Searching the web and YouTube I found numerous short videos of many different stepwells in India and chose this one as the photography seems to be the best:
Youtube video, “india, chand baori reservoir”, uploaded by fluglehrer on Mar 25, 2008 ~ “gigantic sight ! a must!”
Chand Baori in Abhaneri village in eastern Rajasthan, India, is one of the most overlooked landmarks in the country. It is one of the oldest stepwells in Rajasthan… among the biggest in the world… This incredible square structure is 13 stories deep, and lined along the walls on three sides are double flight of steps… Built during the 8th and 9th century by King Chanda of Nikumbha Dynasty, the well provided the surrounding areas with a dependable water source for centuries before modern water delivery systems were introduced. As the green water at the base attests, the well is no longer in use, but it makes for an interesting stop-over to an architecturally impressive structure that is over 1000 years old. There’s also a temple adjoining the well for visitors to explore… The well’s sheer endlessly appearing geometric complexity made of stairs and steps ensured that Rajput people had access to water at any time of the year, and from all sides… The large mouth of the well functioned as a rain catching funnel that contributed to the water seeping in from the porous rock at the bottom… At the bottom the well the air is always about 5-6 degrees cooler than at the top.
The steps surround the well on three sides while the fourth side has a set of pavilions built one atop another.
The side that has the pavilions have niches with beautiful sculptures including religious carvings. There is even a royal residence with rooms for the King and the Queen and a stage for the performing arts.
The creative mind filled with childhood memories of joyful play comes up with an extraordinary proposal ~ Je suis très impressionné.
In Paris, an inflatable trampolinebridge has been proposed by the Paris-based architectural studio Atelier Zündel Cristea firm to span the Seine River. This would allow travellers a unique and fun method of crossing the Seine River near the existing Pont de Bir-Hakeim. The three 30-meter-round inflatable modules are held together with a cord to form a self-supporting structure. Under the right amount of tension, each circle’s sides flip up, keeping Parisian bouncers at play from flopping into the river. Trampoline mesh is stretched along the inside of each ring, and floats above the water, where participants can enjoy the Seine without dipping into it.
CNet reports the proposal is part of a contemporary bridge design competition named “A Bridge in Paris,” sponsored by Arch Triumph. Mesh trampolines would stretch almost 100 feet across giant PC rings inflated with approximately 130,000 cubic feet of air.
Quoted from The Huffington Post: “It appears to us that Paris has the bridges and passages necessary for the flow of vehicular and pedestrian traffic across its waterways” said architecture firm AZC on its website. “Our intention is to invite its visitors and inhabitants to engage on a newer and more playful path across this same water.”
Within days, governments could begin turning wide stretches of the Antarctic ocean into the world’s largest marine sanctuary, saving the habitat of whales, penguins, and thousands of other polar species from industrial fishing fleets. But they won’t act unless we speak out now. Most countries support the sanctuary, but Russia, South Korea and a few others are threatening to vote it down so they can plunder these seas now that others have been fished to death. This week, a small group of negotiators will meet behind closed doors to make a decision. A massive people-powered surge could break open the talks, isolate those attempting to block the sanctuary, and secure a deal to protect over 6 million square kilometers of the precious Antarctic ocean.The whales and penguins can’t speak for themselves, so it’s up to us to defend them. Let’s change negotiators’ minds with a massive wave of public pressure – Avaaz will surround the meeting with hard-hitting ads, and together we’ll deliver our message to delegates via a deafening cry on social networks. Sign and share this urgent petition.– Leonardo DiCaprio, with the Avaaz team
Please click below to sign the petition ~ we can make a million (almost there) signatures with your help.
“British Columbia has plans to update its 100-year-old Water Act and finally regulate groundwater use… It’s almost impossible nowadays to open a newspaper… without finding at least one article or report focussing on the criticisms of shale gas development, particularly as it relates to the heavy reliance on water… Concerns over water are the forefront of the debate on multi-stage hydraulic fracturing (or ‘fracking’), the key technology behind the recent shale gas boom. in British Columbia, an over 100-year-old (…outdated) Water Act is seen by some as an impediment to water protection in the province.
The stated objective of the proposed Water Sustainability Act is to focus the legislative framework on risk, competing demands, and scarcity of water, and to implement an area-based approach to water management… policy goals include: protecting aquatic environments, regulating groundwater use, regulating use during scarcity, improving security, water-use efficiency and conservation…
The Water Sustainability Act will differentiate between groundwater users making large withdrawals. Regulation of large groundwater users will be stricter: all existing and new large groundwater users will be required to obtain a licence…smaller groundwater users, by contrast will not be required to obtain a license…The categorization of a large withdrawal is … expected to be in the range of 250 to 500 cubic metres per day for wells in unconsolidated aquifers, and 100 cubic metres per day for wells in bedrock aquifers… after a long process, the Province has indicated that it is moving to bring the proposed Water Sustainability Act in the legislature… time is running short. With the next provincial election set for May 2013… whether it is the proposed Water Sustainability Act , the Water Act will be replaced….
Living Water Smart Team member Ted White explains the Water Sustainability Act framework and invites you to participate in building a sustainable future for British Columbia’s water. This video outlines the seven key proposed policy directions: Protect stream health and aquatic environments, Consider water in land-use decisions, Regulate groundwater use, Regulate during scarcity, Improve security, water use efficiency and conservation, Measure and report water use, Enable a range of governance approaches. To comment on the WSA, and to join the conversation on the proposed Water Sustainability Act, visit http://blog.gov.bc.ca/livingwatersmart
Hector’s dolphins and their close relative the Maui’s dolphin live only in New Zealand and are both the smallest and rarest marine dolphins on earth.
Entanglement in gill and trawl nets has devastated the species to near extinction and is killing them faster than they can breed. Since the introduction of nylon filament nets in the 1970s, Hector’s dolphin numbers have dropped from 29,000 to less than 7,000. The situation for Maui’s dolphins, a subspecies of Hector’s dolphins, is even worse. More than 90% are already lost. With fewer than 80 survivors and less than 20 breeding females, Maui’s dolphins are facing imminent extinction.
Hector’s and Maui’s dolphins breed very slowly. Even under ideal circumstances a population of 100 individuals can only grow by two animals a year at the most. Saving this species is a race against time that can only be won if fishing-related mortality is prevented by excluding gill and trawl nets from the animals habitat. New protection measures introduced in 2008 were a significant step in the right direction, but fall short of what is needed to facilitate population recovery and avoid extinction.
Hector’s dolphins continue to decline because protection measures are inadequate. Unless things change, the species will become extinct. Yet, in the absence of fisheries bycatch, Hector’s dolphins could recover to at least half of their original population size within a few decades. But for over 25 years Hector’s dolphin protection has been marred by unsuccessful half measures, lack of political will, delays, the unwillingness to translate the best available scientific knowledge into effective management decisions, and an unhealthy reliance on information from New Zealand’s fishing industry.
About the size of a human child Hector’s Dolphins are among the smallest dolphin species in the world. Found only in the coastal waters of New Zealand, where there is a very active fishing industry, they are also among the most endangered.
“At the moment there are about 27 percent of the numbers there were in the 1970s,” said Liz Slooten a marine biologist at the University of Otago. “Many Dolphins you’d expect there to be tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of individuals. But Hector’s Dolphins? There are just over 7,000 individuals.”
Hector’s Dolphins and a subspecies called Maui’s Dolphins are frequently killed when they are inadvertently trapped in the fine mesh of gill nets. Despite resistance from the fishing industry researches aim to create protection zones to prevent the extinction of this threatened species.
WHAT A HOOT! OR SHOULD I SAY, ‘TOOT’? (As in ‘toot your own horn’ ~ ha! ha!)
LONDON’S VERY OWN PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA PAYS TRIBUTE TO TEAM GB.
Fresh from recording all 205 National Anthems to be played at this summer’s games, the London Philharmonic Orchestra has teamed up with MINI for one more performance. All stand please for conductor Gareth Newman and the London 2012 Limited Edition MINI’s unique tribute to Team GB. With just 2,012 made, you can test drive a genuine piece of history by clicking here.Published on Jul 3, 2012 by MINIUnitedKingdom
YouTube links for those of you who might have missed watching these spectacular events ~
The Queen Sequence – Opening Ceremony – London 2012 Olympic Games ~ a very humourous video with Daniel Craig, AKA James Bond, accompanying Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth to the Opening Ceremony of the Games in a most unusual fashion!
On July 27th, 2012, Daniel appeared alongside the Queen in a short film titled Happy and Glorious. Directed by Danny Boyle, the film was the highlight of the Olympic opening ceremony. It was actually the Queen’s first ever acting role, a joint celebration of 007’s 50th anniversary in film, and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
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