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The reassurance these lights must have given to passing ships
Find a place where you live where history made its mark. Allow yourself to breathe, feel, contemplate and react with a photograph – Laura El-Tantawy
Given my shutter speed of 1/25 and the fact that the air fan is frozen there must have been no ventilation in this garment factory. I did however poke my head in through an open window. Photographed in central Havana, Cuba.
She pulled back the curtain to look outside. Not again, she said to herself. This winter had been particularly hard, given all the recent snowfall. She looked over at the woodstove that heated their small, run-down home, and wondered to herself if she would have enough stovewood to make it through the coldest part of the winter. She had already used more this winter than the past two winters combined. She knew the woodpile was getting low, too low for her liking. What was she to do? She didn't have the money to buy another load. She had to buy food to feed her family. Maybe if she didn't have all of those other financial obligations, but she did. And, she just had to accept that fact. No getting around it. She sighed, put on her coat to go outside for probably the last armload of stovewood. But, just as she opened door, the snowflurries slowed and a small ray of sunlight fought it's way through the clouds. As she looked up, a slight smile crossed her face, and a sense of calmness settled in. This wasn't her first battle and it wouldn't be her last. She knew and believed that with all her heart and soul. For she had the will. A strong will. Things would be find. She was positive.
Interesting information on bird species numbers, as given by our main Naturalist, Gus Yaki:
--Within Fish Creek Provincial Park there have been just over 200 species recorded ... 207 is the latest count.
--Within the Calgary city limits, in the year 2000, 257 species were recorded.
--Within the Calgary city limits, in the year 2010, after increasing land area by 20 %, 262 species were recorded.
--Within a 50-mile (80 km) radius of the Louise or 10th St Bridge over the Bow River, in the immediate Calgary area, there are just over 300 species. In a friendly competition completed in 2005, 295 species were seen.
--In Alberta, just over 400 species have been seen.
--In Canada, about 550 species have been noted.
--In North America, i.e., USA & Canada north of the USA-Mexico border, there have been about 950 species observed.
--On this tiny blue speck in the Universe called planet Earth, there currently are about 10,000 species of birds.
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On 20 May 2017, part of the morning was spent at our friend, Barb's, acreage, SW of Calgary, enjoying the variety of birds that visit her property. Thanks so much, Barb, as always, for letting us visit you. Such a joy to see birds like the handsome male Rose-breasted Grosbeak and the Evening Grosbeaks. Though feeder shots are not my favourites, I will gratefully take anything I can get, especially as I don't see Evening Grosbeaks very often.
We then drove the various roads SW of the city, as far south as Turner Valley, hoping to see a few birds. Beautiful scenery in the whole area. In Turner Valley, we called in to see another mutual friend and watch the birds that visited her tiny, but beautifully and thoughtfully designed, back deck. Thanks so much for having us, Jackie - and for the most welcome coffee! - especially at such very short notice!
On my way home from this enjoyable day out, I drove a few back roads, looking for any Mountain Bluebirds. Not much luck, though I did see one pair close to their nest box.
18.8.2016. The recently opened diversionary 'up and down' slow lines near Norton Bridge have given 'photters' a new location. However, take note of the shadows cast by the woodland to the right of the image. This shot taken at 17.52 on a bright August day shows how the shadows have crept over part of the line.
Freightliner Class 90 No 90016 heads north with a loaded Felixstowe North - Crewe Basford Hall working.
MSC's 'MSC China' and Evergreen's 'Ever Given' unload/load containers in the perennial race against time at the Port Of Felixstowe, Suffolk, England.
This very broad frontage is Hartlebury Castle, home to the Bishops of Worcester after it was given by Henry III to his Chancellor, Godfrey Giffard, Bishop of Worcester in 1268, along with the right to fortify it. It was loyal to Charles I throughout the Civil War - at least until May 1646 when Roundhead forces managed to capture it without firing a single shot. It then became a prison for royalist supporters. Parliament wanted to demolish it, but that proving too expensive, it was sold. With the Restoration, it was handed back to the bishops, but in an uninhabitable state. Rebuilding began and continued until the late 18th century.
It remained the home of the bishops of Worcester until the 21st century, and in 2007 the Church Commission sold Hartlebury Castle and the accompanying land, to Hartlebury Castle Preservation Trust. It houses the Hurd Library, still on its original shelves since 1782, and Worcestershire County Museum in its north wing, which has several interesting collections.
We visited on a thoroughly wet day, the rain only stopping about 20 minutes before we left...
Galloping Goose is the popular name given to a series of seven railcars (officially designated as "motors" by the railroad), built in the 1930s by the Rio Grande Southern Railroad (RGS) and operated until the end of service on the line in the early 1950s. They were derived from full-sized automobiles.
Originally running steam locomotives on narrow gauge railways, the perpetually struggling RGS developed the first of the "geese" as a way to keep its contract to run mail into towns in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. There was not enough passenger or cargo income to justify continuing the expensive steam train service at then-current levels, but it was believed that a downsized railway would return to profitability. The steam trains would transport heavy cargo and peak passenger loads, but motors would handle lighter loads.
Motors were not only less expensive to operate, but were also significantly lighter, thus reducing impact on the rails and roadbeds. This cost saving meant that the first Goose was paid off and making a profit within three weeks of going into service. RGS built more Geese, and operated them until the company abandoned their right-of-way in 1952
History
The RGS built its first motor in 1913, as a track maintenance crew vehicle. This was wrecked in 1925, but inspired the idea of using motors for scheduled service.
All of the "geese" were built in the railroad's shops at Ridgway, Colorado. The first was built in 1931 from the body of a Buick "Master Six" four-door sedan. It was more conventional in its construction than the later geese, though it had a two-axle truck in place of the front axle. Part of the rear of the car was replaced by a truck stake-bed for carrying freight and mail; this was later enclosed and partially fitted with seating. It was used for two years to carry passengers, US Mail, and light freight before being scrapped. A second "goose" was built in the same year from another Buick, but later versions used Pierce-Arrow bodies except for No.6, which was constructed partly out of parts taken from the scrapped No.1.
No. 2 and No. 6 were constructed with two trucks, with the rear truck powered on both axles. No.2 had an enclosed freight compartment (like a very short boxcar), while No.6 had an open bed similar to No.1 (but larger). It was used only for work train service. The other four had three trucks and were articulated in the same manner as a tractor-trailer truck. In these, the second truck was powered, and the freight compartment was essentially a conventional boxcar.
Initially, the "geese" were painted in black and dark green. In 1935 they were all painted in a silver scheme which they retain to this day, though the style of lettering and heralds changed over the years. In 1945, No.3, No.4, and No.5 were rebuilt with Wayne bus bodies (at least the front half) replacing the old Pierce-Arrow bodies. This provided more passenger seating and comfort. A year later they also received new war surplus GMC engines.
In 1950, when the railroad finally lost its mail contract (in favor of highway mail carriers), No.3, No.4, No.5, and No.7 were converted for tourist operations, and the "Galloping Goose" name was officially recognized by the railroad. Large windows were cut in the sides of the freight compartments, and seating was added. A figure of a running goose and the words "Galloping Goose" were added to the carbody doors. This service lasted only two years, and the last work of the "geese" on their home line was to take up the rails.
It is unclear exactly where the name "Galloping Goose" comes from. It is mostly commonly suggested that it referred to the way the carbody and the freight compartment tended to rock back and forth on the line's sometimes precarious track. It is also suggested, though, that the name arose because the "geese" were equipped with air horns rather than the whistles of the steam locomotives. The name was used informally for years before the tourist operations, though the railroad officially referred to the units as "motors".
A similar unit was built for the San Cristobal Railroad, and was rebuilt by RGS in 1934–35. When the San Christobal folded in 1939, this unit was returned to the RGS railroad and dismantled, with some parts going to rebuild and maintain Goose No. 2.
The Galloping Goose Regional Trail on Vancouver Island was named after a similar unit that ran on the Vancouver Island section of the Canadian National Railway from 1922 to 1931.
Galloping Goose No.5 (along with many local landmarks) was popularized in C. W. McCall's song, "Gallopin' Goose".
Surviving units
Of the seven "geese", only No.1 does not survive; it was scrapped in 1933. However, a replica was built in 2000 for the Ridgway Railroad Museum and is operational today. The other six are located as follows:
*Geese No.2, No.6, and No.7 are preserved at the Colorado Railroad Museum and are operational.
*Goose No.3 was sold to Knott's Berry Farm and is operated regularly during off-season periods when park attendance is low.
*Goose No.4 was on static display in Telluride, Colorado. It was restored to operation in Ridgway, Colorado, as of June 2012. With the restoration of Goose No.4, all of the Geese are now operable. Goose No.4 was moved back to Telluride in May 2013.
*Goose No.5 was bought by the city of Dolores, Colorado. After restoration in 1998 it is now operated from time to time on the Cumbres and Toltec and Durango and Silverton tourist railroads, as well as at the Colorado Railroad Museum.
(Wikipedia)
Given our huge amount of rain lately, weeds have taken over in places. The scaly-breasted munias (lots of them :-)) are happy about that. We don't spray, so they will have plenty of food until we get around to pulling the weeds.
All staged, given parties are a thing of the past and the future. I wanted light that was a bit dim and bleary, so I put everything in my tabletop light tent but kept the tent lights off (some light is coming through the back of the tent from a nearby window).
Crazy Tuesday: On Fire
A cupcake was harmed in the making of this photo. :)
A very pretty flower, much nicer that the one we have in our garden, which is this one : www.flickr.com/photos/44506883@N04/47735019002/in/album-7...
Better viewed large and thank you for your favourites.
Given some creative treatment: SCT’s 3MP9 with CSR013-002-009-005+EL57 drifts down through Goodwood, April 6, 2022. The steel loading now travelling on this train obviously warrants the extra locos to get the heavy train over the hills. Just visible to the left of frame are a rake of new Bluescope/SCT containers passing the Goodwood Station platform.(22J.5748_3MP9_CSR013_RedOnlyWt)
"I have given up on reality and am now simply searching for a good fantasy."
- John Jay Simmons
I tell myself...one day...soon...I will buy myself a macro lens ;))
Until then...I buy shoes lol
Happy Sunday, my sweet friends
Thank you all, for your kind support
Love
xxxx
ps: lol I tired uploading this four times off my phone...and it takes it now
am hoping there won't be 3 more of the same thing :)))
©All photographs on this site are copyright: DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) 2011 – 2020 & GETTY IMAGES ®
No license is given nor granted in respect of the use of any copyrighted material on this site other than with the express written agreement of DESPITE STRAIGHT LINES (Paul Williams) ©
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I would like to say a huge and heartfelt 'THANK YOU' to GETTY IMAGES, and the 35.000+ Million visitors to my FLICKR site.
***** Selected for sale in the GETTY IMAGES COLLECTION on March 26th 2020
CREATIVE RF gty.im/1214018442 MOMENT ROYALTY FREE COLLECTION**
This photograph became my 4,120th frame to be selected for sale in the Getty Images collection and I am very grateful to them for this wonderful opportunity.
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**** This frame was chosen on March 22nd 2020 to appear on FLICKR EXPLORE (Highest Ranking: #255. This is my 177th photograph to be selected.
I am really thrilled to have a frame picked and most grateful to every one of the 35.500+ Million people who have visited, favourite and commented on this and all of my other photographs here on my FLICKR site. *****
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The COVID-19 Corona virus has taken hoild all over the world, no less so here in the UK where we are now restricted on where we go, bars, clubs, pubs and restaurants closed until further notice, London almost set for s lock down.
In kent, the supermarkets are stripped bare by panic buying, stupidity reigns and the bad side of human nature comes to the fore. In the war we pulled together as a nation because we were nicer, simpler, more friendly people back then and we had nothing, but shared our last everything. Nowadays we are selfish and greedy, looking out for number one and I can't help but feel as the virus spreads, we will see and hear some terrible examples of human nature.
I got out onto quiet sunday morning roads, into the countryside away from people, just myself and Mother Nature, a sunrise that was underwhelming but none the less a treat to my eyes. Fresh air and my thoughts and camera equipment as company.
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This Thirteen seconds long exposure was taken standing in the River Cray at an altitude of Twenty two metres at 06:38am on Sunday 22nd March 2020, in the golden hour around sunrise, (Sunrise was at precisely 05:56am),off Rectory Lane in the grounds of Foots Cray Meadows, over the River Cray in Bexley, Kent, England.
Nikon D850 Focal length 20mm Shutter speed: Four seconds long exposure. Aperture f/16.0 iso64 Image area FX (36 x 24) NEF RAW L (8256 x 5504). NEF RAW L (14 bit uncompressed) Image size L (8256 x 5504 FX). Focus mode AF-C focus. AF-C Priority Selection: Release. Nikon Back button focusing enabled. AF-S Priority selection: Focus. 3D Tracking watch area: Normal 55 Tracking points.AF-Area mode single point & 73 point switchable. Exposure mode: Aperture priority. Matrix metering. Auto ISO sensitivity control on (Max iso 800/ Miniumum shutter speed 125). White blance on: Auto1. Colour space: RGB. Actve D-lighting: Normal. Vignette control: Normal. Nikon Distortion control: Enabled.
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Nikkor AF-S 16-35mm f/4.0G IF ED VR. Lee SW150 MKII filter holder. Lee 100 77mm adapter ring. Lee SW150 0.9 (3 stops) ND Grad soft resin. Lee SW150 Filters field pouch.Mcoplus professional MB-D850 multi function battery grip 6960.Two Nikon EN-EL15a batteries (Priority to battery in Battery grip). Matin quick release neckstrap. My Memory 128GB Class 10 SDXC 80MB/s card. Lowepro Flipside 400 AW camera bag. Nikon GP-1 GPS module. Hoodman HEYENRG round eyepiece oversized eyecup.Manfrotto 055Xprob Carbon Fiber Tripod 3 Sections. Neewer 9750 Gimbal tripod head with Arca Swiss standard quick release plate. Jessops Tripod bag.
LATITUDE: N 51d 25m 36.06s
LONGITUDE: W 0d 7m 50.46s
ALTITUDE: 22.0m
RAW (TIFF) FILE: 130.00MB NEF: 93.7MB
PROCESSED (JPeg) FILE: 50.00MB
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PROCESSING POWER:
Nikon D850 Firmware versions C 1.10 (9/05/2019) LD Distortion Data 2.018 (18/02/20) LF 1.00
HP 110-352na Desktop PC with AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU 64Bit processor. Radeon HD8400 graphics. 8 GB DDR3 Memory with 1TB Data storage. 64-bit Windows 10. Verbatim USB 2.0 1TB desktop hard drive. WD My Passport Ultra 1tb USB3 Portable hard drive. Nikon ViewNX-1 64bit Version 1.4.1 (18/02/2020). Nikon Capture NX-D 64bit Version 1.6.2 (18/02/2020). Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 (Version 2.4.5 (18/02/2020). Nikon Transfer 2 Version 2.13.5. Adobe photoshop Elements 8 Version 8.0 64bit.
----------------------------- JESUS ✝️ SAVES-------------------------------
SALVATION THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST - ALONE!
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
❤️❤️ IT'S ALL JESUS AND NONE OF OURSELVES! ❤️❤️
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the SALVATION of everyone WHO BELIEVES: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a RIGHTEOUSNESS FROM GOD IS REVEALED, a righteousness that is by FAITH FROM FIRST TO LAST, just as it is written: "THE RIGHTEOUS WILL LIVE BY FAITH." (Romans 1:16-17)
16 KNOW that a man is NOT justified by observing the law, but by FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be JUSTIFIED BY FAITH in CHRIST and NOT by observing the law, BECAUSE BY OBSERVING THE LAW NO ONE WILL BE JUSTIFIED. (Galatians 2:16)
1. Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2. BY THIS GOSPEL YOU ARE SAVED, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4. that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5. and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8. and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11. Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. (1 Corinthians 15:1-11)
7. Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9. I am the gate; whoever enters through me WILL BE SAVED. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10. The thief comes only to STEAL and KILL and DESTROY; I have come that they may have LIFE, and have it to the FULL. (John 10:7-10)
1 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
5 Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them." 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 "or 'Who will descend into the deep?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:1-13)
Jesus came to bring spiritual LIFE to the spiritually dead and set the captives FREE! FREE from RELIGION, ERROR and outright LIES, so WE might serve THE LIVING GOD! In SPIRIT and in TRUTH!
So you'll KNOW, and not think you're to bad for God to love. The Christian LIFE isn't about how good WE are, because NONE of us are! It's about how GOOD JESUS IS! Because JESUS LOVES US, so much he died in our place and took the punishment for all of our sins on himself. The wages of sin is DEATH, and Jesus took the death WE so richly deserved for us and died in our place. The good news is, there's no more punishment for sin left. WE, you and I were all born forgive as a result of the crucifixion of God himself on the cross that took away the sins of the whole world. All we have to do is believe it, and put your Faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. That my friends is REAL UNCONDITIONAL LOVE! YOU ARE LOVED. ❤️ ✝️ ❤️
For the best Biblical teaching in the last 2 centuries! Please listen to and down load these FREE audio files that were created with YOU in mind. It's ALL FREE, if you like it, please share it with others. ❤️
archive.org/details/PeopleToPeopleByBobGeorgeFREE-ARCHIVE...
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© All Rights reserved no publication or copying without permission from the author.
At any given point during the 14-year existence of the Wisconsin Central, there were always some diesels on the roster that didn’t wear the company colors of Maroon & Gold.
In this view at North Fond du Lac in early December of 1993, two of the big ex-Fox River Valley Railroad EMDs are parked side by side and seemed fine with working just the way they were.
Eventually the 2500 was extensively rebuilt at which time it did receive a handsome coat of WC paint, but the 2402 was never anything but the red and yellow that you see here. ~~ A Jeff Hampton Photograph ©
Given that this is an unusual bird to have here in St John's several birders & photographers will be seeking it out over the next few days. There were four us taking photographs at the same time yesterday - three of whom have already posted their shots. I did my best to post one that is different.
Having given up my career in medicine in June of this year have decided to indulge myself in adventures. Becoming a full time photographer was fueled by the belief that one should spend time where time disappears. In work that feels like play. In passions that result in bliss. With people who make hours feel like seconds. The more present you are the quicker the present goes. That is the paradox. Time that flies is time well spent. The 5 days I spent exploring the Son Doong cave system reiterated that belief. I did enjoy my career in medicine. Found it very satisfying and emotionally rewarding to be able to help make diagnosis that aided cure, and did that for over 20 years. I deeply respect those who continue in the profession. As for me my selfish desire for freedom from set schedule, exploration, the love for teaching, and the eagerness for adventure charted a new path, so I hung up the white coat and put on my hiking boots.
Given to Tom Watson MP/ British House of Commons (2008)
I want to give another layer to the paintings that I select to collage over. I try to give my own interpretation to the painting without denigrating the original.
Painting:
Virgin Annunicate 1475
by Antonello da Messina
Palermo, Galleria Nazionale della Sicilia
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL.
Sunset over Sriharikota Backwater Lake - Andhra Pradesh India.
I am sorry I could not keep the front boat intact, as I had to maintain so many constraints while focussing the photo, that I forgot about the boat in front !
MY LAST SUNSET PHOTO BEFORE THE CHRISTMAS .
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL.
THIS IS UPTIL NOW THE BIGGEST SUN I COULD DO.
TO AVOID ANY APPREHENSION & CONFUSION & DOUBTS, I HAVE GIVEN UNDERNEATH , THE TECHNIQUE TO MAKE THE SUN BIG, IN THE FORM OF SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS, WHICH I REPLIED LONG BACK, IN ANOTHER PHOTO OF MINE ( www.flickr.com/photos/59670248@N05/7033025805/ ). THE TECHNIQUE IS SIMPLE BUT NEEDS PRACTICE. THANKS.
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All rights reserved. All images contained in this Photostream remain the property of learning.photography and is protected by applicable Copyright Law. Any images from this Photostream may not be reproduced, copied, or used in any way without my written permission.
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Main Exif Info :
Camera - Canon EOS 7D
Lens - EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM
Exposure - 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture - f/9.0
Focal Length - 400 mm
ISO Speed - 100
Exposure Bias - 0 EV
I am repeating the Exif shown to you here 8 months ago :
…………………………………………………………
You seem to be very very concerned about how do I make the Sun look so big !
Before I write something on this, please tell me in your photo attached, why you did not crop the top portion of the photo? That would have made the Sun look still bigger ! Please try to understand that, excepting Camera & appropriate lens, you have to apply some other techniques also !
Now please read the following :
Tanmoy Das [https://facebook.com/casualphotograph]
Many people have asked me about the same many a times and I have replied also.
Step 1 - Make your composition first focussing and try to guess how big the Sun you can make keeping other things more or less proportionate.
Step 2 - Leave the focus, physically come out of your composition place and focuss the Sun separately appropriately bigger. For this you need at least 70-300 or 100-400mm lens. Only Sun being focussed separately, it will obviously come out neat and blurrless, no other objects being in the Frame.
Step 3 - Lock this focuss or hold the focuss by pressing shutter button halfway, don't snap any photo at this stage. This is tough and you have to practice this.
Step 4 - Now come to the place of your original composition frame, still holding the same focuss, and after getting the original composition in the Frame, choose an angle, from where the other objects in the Frame, seem to be not as big as the Sun. Now snap the photo with the same focuss you were holding so long.
Result - All the objects in the frame will be sharp, no background or foreground blurrness will come and the Sun will also look big.
Other application - You can also take a Moon shot in the night (you need to practice a lot, it is very tough at night without any tripod) in the same way, whereby objects at infinite distance (Moon) and objects at finite distance (say tree leaves) will all come out sharp & clear and there will be no blurr at all, anywhere in the Frame.
Now some more Clarifications :
Hi Gautam,
I inserted my questions in your original text where I have inclearities:
Step 1 - Make your composition first focussing and try to guess how big the Sun you can make keeping other things more or less proportionate.
QUESTION: what does first focussing means here? having the corect composition of the picture or having the (autoforcus) being set correctly?
Step 2 - Leave the focus, physically come out of your composition place and focuss the Sun separately appropriately bigger. For this you need at least 70-300 or 100-400mm lens. Only Sun being focussed separately, it will obviously come out neat and blurrless, no other objects being in the Frame.
QUESTION: At the beginning you say "leave the focus" then you say "Sun being focussed separately". Do you make a separate photo only containing the sun?
Step 3 - Lock this focuss or hold the focuss by pressing shutter button halfway, don't snap any photo at this stage. This is tough and you have to practice this.
QUESTION: "Lock this focus" (which focus? the one of the separate sun?)
Step 4 - Now come to the place of your original composition frame, still holding the same focuss, and after getting the original composition in the Frame, choose an angle, from where the other objects in the Frame, seem to be not as big as the Sun. Now snap the photo with the same focuss you were holding so long.
QUESTION: "still holding the same focus" means here: still the same focus of the sun? and do zoom out to have a new composition?
Result - All the objects in the frame will be sharp, no background or foreground blurrness will come and the Sun will also look big.
The overall question is:
How much photos do I have to take? One with the sun and one with the entire composition (also containing the sun???). If I do two photos: how are the beeing merged? In photoshop?
Or do you have a camera which allows you to shoot two frames that are in one resulting photo?
Thanks in advance for a clarification of those questions.
Answer 1 - Making a correct MEASUREMENT of composition of a picture, to take an idea. nothing else.
Answer 2 - Only focuss the Sun separately appropriately bigger by zooming in - remember only the Sun, nothing else.
Answer 3 - Yes, with the separate Sun.
Answer 4 - Still holding the same focuss of the lone Sun. I repeat only the focuss. No photo involved.
Answer 5 - Please do not change the focuss any further now. Not to zoom out or zoom in , nor to touch the zooming ring. Already the earlier focuss is zoomed big which you are still holding on.
Answer 5 - Press the shutter now with the old focuss (without any change). Only one photo will be snapped. No question of any two photos or photoshop.
Answer 6 - I do not merge or shoot two photos for merging.
Thanks & Best regards
Gautam
At the beginning of the demonstration against the so-called Akademikerball ("Graduates Ball") in the Hofburg in Vienna. This ball is given every year by a union of right-wing and far right fraternities, the official organizer being the FPÖ, which is a government party now.
Many FPÖ politicians are members of such right-wing and far right fraternities, the vice chancellor H.C. Strache for example or the top candidate for next Sunday's elections in Lower Austria, Udo Landbauer. He's also the vice chairman of a fraternity, in whose songbook outrageous text passages have been discovered: there Holocaust victims are scorned ("Come on, we'll achieve the 7th million..."), and war crimes of the Nazi army are glorified.
"Omas gegen Rechts" is a movement founded by the retired Protestant priest and psychotherapist Monika Salzer (I think she's the woman being interviewed in this picture). She founded it, because she felt obliged to support the young in their fight against the rightist division of society.
Sebring was founded in 1912. It was named after George E. Sebring, a pottery manufacturer from Ohio who developed the city. The village of Sebring, Ohio, is also named after George E. Sebring (1859–1927) and his family. It was chartered by the state of Florida in 1913 and was selected as the county seat of Highlands County when the county was created in 1921.
Sebring is a city in Highlands County, Florida, United States, nicknamed "The City on the Circle", in reference to Circle Drive, the center of the Sebring Downtown Historic District. In 2010, the United States Census Bureau reported a population of 10,491. It is the county seat of Highlands County and is the principal city of the Sebring Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Sebring is the home of the Sebring International Raceway, created on a former airbase, first used in 1950. It hosted the 1959 Formula One United States Grand Prix but is currently best known as the host of the 12 Hours of Sebring, an annual TUDOR United SportsCar Championship race. Nearby Highlands Hammock State Park is a popular attraction. Additionally, the house where novelist Rex Beach committed suicide is located on one of Sebring's main lakes, Lake Jackson.
Credit for the data above is given to the following website:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebring,_Florida
© All Rights Reserved - you may not use this image in any form without my prior permission.
The small seaside resort of Ballybunion, Kerry, has two beaches, divided by the Castle Green. The Ladies Beach is to the left and the Mens Beach to the right – names were given in a bygone age when both sexes were required to bathe on separate beaches on the orders of the local parish priest, who walked it daily ensuring the rule wasn't broken.
On October 11 2024 the comet was a tough spot especially given the poor dusty air quality in Tucson AZ yielding vivid red Sunsets. This image was captured with a Nikon Z8 and a FX 180 mm ED Nikon lens. This is a lens that was made more than 25 years ago, and has been an oldie but goodie for astrophotography. An adapter fits to the new mirrorless camera. The comet should get easier in the next days. After seeing it at Sunrise on Easter Island I was very pleased to capture it on the other side of the Sun.
Just taking a photo of my Waifu who had to deal with ppl all weekend. this seems to settle her mood. no Fks Given! IDK lol. She's pretty right? :) I Loves her.
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Pose: .:*NDI*:. Newly Discovered Ideas - Goodbye Haters
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BackDrop - FoxCity - Vacant Photobooth.
Pair of Barred Owls are nesting in the neighbor's tree. Given lots of chances to say hello & try to get a portrait of them.
Dogs have given us their absolute all. We are the center of their universe. We are the focus of their love and faith and trust. They serve us in return for scraps. It is without a doubt the best deal man has ever made. ~ Roger Caras
A couple comments on my spooky houses mentioned that I had a darker side. Thought I should lighten things up a bit. These three darlings were waiting, quietly and patiently, while their owner ran into the beauty shop to make an appointment. They were quite accommodating as I took several photos of them. Cesar Milan would have been impressed.
Given the pleasant warmth of the Arizona climate in general, I was surprised to encounter so much snow lying in April. Still, the highest summit is 3480 m above sea level. From a slide.
220709 005DN
Given how rarely I upload this will probably be my last one before Christmas. So I wish you and your family all the best this Christmas season! Thanks for stopping by :)
"Teach me your way, Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name."
-Psalms 86:11
I was given the opportunity to take a tour of the place, Burns Harbor, or part of maybe? Anyway, cool as hell. Industry stacked on top of industry. A place you could spend all day watching them shuffle cars around. A pair of long gone pups shoves coils up and around the corner for spotting before heading off to the next task.
Recently inaugurated monument in Islamabad, Pakistan has been given the status of National monument. After a competition among many renowned architects, Arif Masood’s plan was selected for the design.
The blooming flower represents Pakistan while the four petals of the monument represent the four provinces and the remaining three small petals (only two visible here) represent the northern areas, Kashmir and the country’s tribal areas. The star (center) and crescent (along the inner walls of petals) represent the star and crescent on Pakistan's flag.
The Monument has been designed to reflect the culture and civilization of the country and also depicts the story of the Pakistan Movement, dedicated to those who sacrificed themselves for future generations.
What love we've given, we'll have forever. What love we fail to give, will be lost for all eternity. - Leo Buscaglia
The opportunity is often lost by deliberating. - Publilius Syrus
Not all those who wander are lost. - J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
Life is painful and messed up. It gets complicated at the worst of times, and sometimes you have no idea where to go or what to do. Lots of times people just let themselves get lost, dropping into a wide open, huge abyss. But that's why we have to keep trying. We have to push through all that hurts us, work past all our memories that are haunting us. Sometimes the things that hurt us are the things that make us strongest. A life without experience, in my opinion, is no life at all. And that's why I tell everyone that, even when it hurts, never stop yourself from living. - Alysha Speer
Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! xo💜💜
----------------------------- JESUS ✝️ SAVES-------------------------------
SALVATION THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST - ALONE!
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
❤️❤️ IT'S ALL JESUS AND NONE OF OURSELVES! ❤️❤️
16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the SALVATION of everyone WHO BELIEVES: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel a RIGHTEOUSNESS FROM GOD IS REVEALED, a righteousness that is by FAITH FROM FIRST TO LAST, just as it is written: "THE RIGHTEOUS WILL LIVE BY FAITH." (Romans 1:16-17)
16 KNOW that a man is NOT justified by observing the law, but by FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be JUSTIFIED BY FAITH in CHRIST and NOT by observing the law, BECAUSE BY OBSERVING THE LAW NO ONE WILL BE JUSTIFIED. (Galatians 2:16)
1. Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2. BY THIS GOSPEL YOU ARE SAVED, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4. that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5. and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8. and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9. For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them--yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11. Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed. (1 Corinthians 15:1-11)
7. Therefore Jesus said again, "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. 8. All who ever came before me were thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. 9. I am the gate; whoever enters through me WILL BE SAVED. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. 10. The thief comes only to STEAL and KILL and DESTROY; I have come that they may have LIFE, and have it to the FULL. (John 10:7-10)
1 Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. 4 Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
5 Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law: "The man who does these things will live by them." 6 But the righteousness that is by faith says: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 "or 'Who will descend into the deep?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile--the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (Romans 10:1-13)
Jesus came to bring spiritual LIFE to the spiritually dead and set the captives FREE! FREE from RELIGION, ERROR and outright LIES, so WE might serve THE LIVING GOD! In SPIRIT and in TRUTH!
So you'll KNOW, and not think you're to bad for God to love. The Christian LIFE isn't about how good WE are, because NONE of us are! It's about how GOOD JESUS IS! Because JESUS LOVES US, so much he died in our place and took the punishment for all of our sins on himself. The wages of sin is DEATH, and Jesus took the death WE so richly deserved for us and died in our place. The good news is, there's no more punishment for sin left. WE, you and I were all born forgive as a result of the crucifixion of God himself on the cross that took away the sins of the whole world. All we have to do is believe it, and put your Faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. That my friends is REAL UNCONDITIONAL LOVE! YOU ARE LOVED. ❤️ ✝️ ❤️
For the best Biblical teaching in the last 2 centuries! Please listen to and down load these FREE audio files that were created with YOU in mind. It's ALL FREE, if you like it, please share it with others. ❤️
archive.org/details/PeopleToPeopleByBobGeorgeFREE-ARCHIVE...
CLICK ON THE LETTER "L" TO ENLARGE.
My THANK'S to all my Flickr friends who've favored and/or commented on my photos, I very much appreciate you're kindness! ❤️
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This shows Otter Cliff viewed from the north side on Mount Desert Island, Maine in Acadia National Park. (image m1a2133) Please also visit: acadiamagic.com.
NOTE: All images are Copyrighted by Greg A. Hartford. No rights to use are given or implied to the viewer. All rights of ownership and use remain with the copyright owner.
Given the right conditions, snowflakes can exhibit beautiful geometric repeating patterns. While snowflakes possess six-fold symmetry, this symmetry usually breaks down the further the crystals grows away from its center.
This snowflake has shocking similarities to one I photographed in early February of this year, 314 days apart from one another. Here’s a link to the earlier crystal: plus.google.com/111166628430361488384/posts/aXxv35Pm9gg
Every snowflake is unique, but the underlying physics often creates very similar features on different snowflakes. Each of these two crystals have very strong symmetry in the center that falls away as the branches begin to grow. This can be due to a number of factors, including growing together with other crystals in a clump, or simple environmental shifts that change the conditions from one side of a crystal to the other. Small changes will become amplified as the snowflake grows, losing its symmetry in the process.
The brighter area in the center of this crystal is easy to explain – there are more layers of ice here to reflect light back to the camera, making it appear brighter. What likely happened is that a cavity began forming along the edge of the snowflake, but instead of closing off to form a large bubble, it split the snowflake in half and the bottom half continued to grow outward. The top half might have continued to grow, but at a much slower pace. This crystal splitting can also explain the resulting asymmetry of the branch sizes.
When the snowflake splits into two independent surfaces, they will each compete for water vapour until one gains the upper hand and grows beyond the edge of the other, allowing for accelerated growth. This is commonly seen in snowflakes that grow from a “capped column” origin. This neck-and-neck competition might have lasted a little longer on the bottom left branch, slowing down the growth progress of the branch. If the other branches one the race earlier, they would continue to grow outward at a rapid pace.
For me, the science is as interesting as the photography (but you probably already knew that). If you’re interested in reading about the science of snowflakes with beautiful photographic examples, check out Sky Crystals: www.skycrystals.ca/ - a third of the 304pg book is also dedicated to photographic techniques. :)
The Prologue: One Ring to Rule Them All... Youtube
-The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air.
(I amar prestar aen, han mathon ne nen, han mathon ne chae a han noston ned 'wilith.)
Much that once, was is lost, for none now, live who remember it.
-It began with the forging of the Great Rings.
Three were given to the Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings.
Seven to the Dwarf lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls.
And nine, nine rings were gifted to the race of men, who, above all else, desire power.
-For within these rings was bound the strength and will to govern each race.
But they were, all of them, deceived, for another Ring was made . . .
Pic taken at The Trace, The Celestial Realm SL
I had given up on this guy and then a couple days later, there he was sitting on his favorite rock in the neighbors’ yard. Caught this one late in the day and he gave me an entirely new look. It always fascinates me that they can turn their head entirely around. I continue to be amazed that a Red-Shouldered Hawk would continue to frequent my backyard. If this should continue, we will have to write a check for modeling fees.
Best viewed on black.
"Lord, may your love transform me that I may truly desire nothing more than life with you. May you always be first in my thoughts and intentions, and in my words and actions."
Copyright© 2010 Kamoteus/RonMiguel RN
This image is protected under the United States and International Copyright laws and may not be downloaded, reproduced, copied, transmitted or manipulated without written permission.
I uploaded the pad a few days ago… what happened next?
Due to the heat given off by the lights in the studio, the pods started to open and the pod opened and released the seeds.
Hundreds of seeds fluffing from that one pod.Here TWO!
In a matter of minutes all of the seeds floated out of the pods.
Once the process of release started, it could not be stopped.
I loved shooting this small miracle of nature in my studio.
Gomphocarpus fruticosus: Asclepias fruticosa is the old botanical name, Narrowleaf cotton bush, Swan bush, Swan milkweed the popular ones.
Here: the seedbox/seeds
Inflated green and later light brown, papery pod or follicle; short bristly hair cover the outer surface; dark seeds have silvery cotton wool-like attachments that facilitate wind distribution.
Asclepias fruticosa is a species of milkweed native to South Africa.
It is also common in New Zealand where it is the main host of the monarch butterfly.
The plant's tissues contain sufficient cardenolides that consumption of significant quantities of the plant's leaves, stems, or fruit may lead to death in livestock and humans.
Brought this from Sardinia to photograph in my studio.
Thanx for your comments and time, M, (*_*)
A MUST LARGE and View On Black
For more of my other work visit here: www.indigo2photography.com
IT IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN (BY LAW!!!) TO USE ANY OF MY image or TEXT on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved
FlickrFriday theme #Nostalgia
Given to me due to my interest in cameras, but not much I can do here. Here is a short bio on the owner,
Dr. Arnold Burden, 96, Springhill, NS, served overseas during the Second World War. He was part of the first medical team at Normandy, and later treated victims at a concentration camp.
Burden’s bravery continued when he went underground to treat miners during the Springhill, NS, disasters in 1956 and 1958.
“He was pretty brave,” says 95-year-old retired miner Herb Pepperdine. “If you seen the mess that was in that mine, for him to go down there and help all those miners, yup.”
Pepperdine says Dr. Burden meant a lot to the community.
“Oh he meant a lot. Good doctor,” says Pepperdine. “He'd come right to your house.”
Later in life, Burden became involved in promoting the Miner's Museum and the town's coal mining history. It was said all he had to do was be asked, and he would attend any event.
Burden kept a book about his work underground. He also had a knack for knowing names.
Historical Society president Russell Fisher helped nominate him for the Order of Nova Scotia.
“He spoke to everyone. When he went to the post office or anywhere on the street, he spoke to you and he called you by name. It was different. A lot of professional people today, they haven't got time," says Burden.
Burden also received France's Legion of Honour and the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award.
01 April 2018
Its into the 9th year since I shot this and the situation in the DTES has only deteriorated. Governments have worsened the situation by piling more social housing in the area adding to the “customers with no cash” syndrome. The area is named “Canada’s poorest postal code” by activists and the poverty pimps love the situation making the area one of “Canada’s richest postal codes”, the only differenence being the pimp money goes home at night. Helpful groups support too many by offering them food daily with zero obligation. Its become an impossible sitiuation to address given the current state of political governance.
I wish this was just a sick April Fools Day joke but unfortuantely not.
Sleeping on a sidewalk in the Downtown East Side (DTES) of Vancouver BC takes on a different sense of survival than is observed in many west side sleepers. A combination of mental issues, drug sale and use, area resident poverty and the resulting community of "Customers With No Cash" combine for a perfect locale to take advantage of people on the edge where living is not comparable to what most of us bring to mind in our own comfortable world. Prostitution and drugs are a large part of this community. One can not help feel sorry and remorseful this exists in self important Vancouver.
The irony of this photo is it was shot about 10 feet from the entrance of BC Housing's recently opened Orange Hall office (open 10 am to 4 pm Monday to Friday) 297 Hastings Street at Gore Ave. This situation has steadily gone downhill since the Federal Governemt cut back funding for social housing.
BLAH, BLAH, BLAH:
From BC Housing website:
October 3rd, 2014
VICTORIA – The B.C. government is strengthening the non-profit housing sector by transferring provincially-owned properties to non-profit housing providers.
The Province owns approximately 350 parcels of land throughout British Columbia that are currently leased long-term to non-profit housing providers who own and operate social housing buildings on these properties.
The non-profit housing sector has been asking for this step for many years. Having ownership of the land will improve a non-profit’s ability to support better long-term planning and selfsufficiency. Owning the lands they operate on will also help non-profits secure the financing they need to be sustainable.
In order to transfer title, the Province will end these leases, and then transfer ownership of the land to the societies. The properties will be transferred at fair market value. The Province will assist the societies to secure mortgages on the properties. The current operating agreement that BC Housing has with each non-profit society will remain in place. Approximately 115 properties will be transferred by March 31, 2015, and the rest will be transferred over the next three years.
In addition, the Province is looking to transfer ownership of two properties currently managed by BC Housing to non-profit societies. The Province will begin the process by posting Expressions of Interest for Nicholson Tower and Stamps Place in Vancouver shortly.
Tenants will not be impacted by these transfers, and the amount of affordable housing stock will remain stable. Non-profit societies have been providing social housing in B.C. for more than 60 years. Today more than 90% of social housing is managed by non-profit societies.
THE GLOBE & MAIL:
FRANCES BULA
VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Oct. 13 2014
Vancouver won’t solve street homelessness until both the city and province focus on targeting the limited supply of expensive social housing to those who need it most, say experts.
That means help can’t go to anyone who passes through a shelter or an outdoor camp or even to someone who sleeps outside temporarily. In the vast majority of cases, people who become homeless experience it briefly and are able to avoid losing housing again.
But people working on eliminating homelessness do not always understand that the thousands of people who experience homelessness in a year don’t all need expensive subsidized housing. That should be reserved for the chronically homeless, who are not sufficiently helped by temporary assistance with rent or other social supports.
“For nearly 90 per cent of people counted as homeless, they’ll get themselves out of homelessness on their own,” says Tim Richter, who led Calgary’s 10-year plan to end homelessness and is now the president of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness. “It’s critical to set priorities. It shouldn’t be first-come, first-served.”
One of the region’s most experienced homelessness researchers, former Vancouver city-hall staffer Judy Graves, said the city is reaping the results of city and provincial staff not always setting the right priorities for the past six years. This past winter, Vancouver still had a count of 533 people sleeping outside (less than in 2008, but more than in 2011), even though the province and city have opened up thousands of new social-housing units rented at welfare-level rates.
It’s an issue that is returning to haunt Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson, who promised in 2008 to end street homelessness by 2015, during this fall’s civic-election campaign.
His administration, which has pushed the issue non-stop since he was first elected, has recently exceeded previous efforts by jumping last month into paying for all the costs of converting a downtown Quality Inn to transitional housing, as well as all the costs of a new shelter nearby. Usually the province covers the majority of costs for both of those kinds of housing.
But Ms. Graves said even that unusual effort, accompanied by several hundred other new provincial units about to open, isn’t going to solve the problem by January, 2015.
That’s because the province is only committed to using half of the incoming housing units for the chronically homeless. And city staff also don’t always correctly identify who is the most in need.
“Both the city and province have bought into housing by wait lists,” said Ms. Graves. “It just can’t work. You have to work as though you’re in a disaster zone.”
She said she had doubts that the majority of people who camped in Oppenheimer Park over the summer were homeless, but they got priority for the scarce number of rooms available.
As well, in the early stages of the province’s big social-housing construction push, which will see 14 towers completed with around 1,400 units by the end, non-profit operators were simply moving people from residential hotel rooms into the new buildings.
That meant the housing didn’t go to the chronically homeless and the most in need, but worse, it then allowed landlords in the residential hotels to do renovations, raise rents, or refuse new low-income tenants once the former tenants were relocated to social housing.
That then reduced the overall number of private, low-cost housing units in the city. Ms. Graves said the whole region is experiencing an acute shortage of those kinds of private units now. It has become a game of musical chairs for housing-outreach workers to get a low-cost unit for someone trying to get out of shelters or off the street, she said.
All cities are grappling with constant pressures that create more homelessness at the front end: low working-class incomes that can’t keep up with gentrification and rising rents key among them, said Ms. Graves. That has left cities trying to solve the problem at the back end, trying to house all the people made homeless as a result of many larger forces.
24 HRS VANCOUVER - 16 OCT 14
16 Oct 2014 24 Hours VancouverJANE DEACON Comment at vancouver.24hrs.c
Laura Dilley, PACE Society Action Week, PACE plans to draft housing recommendations for city council before the coming election.
“Oftentimes we will create housing models not including the voices of those we would be housing,” said Dilley.
Rising rent prices that force people out of SROs is a significant factor, as well as landlords who refuse to rent to sex workers out of legal concerns, said Dilley. Low- income housing conditions that require tenants stay in at night or guests to sign in are also significant barriers. She estimates between 10 to 15% of sex workers fall under the category of “survival” or street- based prostitution. For that vulnerable population, simply switching professions is often not an option, said Dilley.
“They’re really forced and entrenched to continuously do that work because they have no options out of it, because we have such stigma in our society that they can’t seek help, they can’t find affordable housing, so they’re really stuck in that situation,” she said.
17 April 2019:
B.C. drug users demand clean supply, but fear they won’t live to see it happen
By David P. BallStar Vancouver
Tues., April 16, 2019
VANCOUVER—Several hundred Vancouverites marked three years since the province declared a public health emergency over the thousands of people killed by overdoses.
But as they marched Tuesday from the safe-injection clinic Insite through downtown Vancouver, advocates say “contaminated” drugs have taken a toll on their own leaders.
For B.C. Association of People on Methadone member Garth Mullins, the losses are mounting, and it’s been destabilizing and “disorganizing” for the drug-reform movement.
“We’ve lost rank and file members and leaders in such high numbers over the last five years,” he said, wearing a distinctive black case of the overdose-reversing drug naloxone on his belt. “It’s hard to organize or think strategically when you’re always doing triage, planning a memorial.”
Just last month the president of his organization, Chereece Keewatin, died from a fentanyl overdose. Mullins knew Keewatin for at least six years, and invited her to join the editorial board of the podcast Crackdown, of which he is executive producer.
“Chereece was really little, but she had this tremendous capacity to lift people’s spirits,” he said in an interview. “You’d have meetings where we talk about really, really bleak subjects, but she had these funny asides to cut through the bleakness.
“She made people laugh. In that way, she took responsibility for the whole collective emotional state of the group.”
It’s not just the B.C. Association of People on Methadone that’s seen the direct “casualties” of what Mullins called “a war.” The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users and the national Canadian Association of People who Use Drugs have also lost high-ranking board members in recent years.
Since 2016, nearly 11,000 people have died across Canada from opioid overdoses, according to the most recent federal and provincial data. The majority of those deaths were from opioids such as fentanyl or its more deadly variants, but B.C. remains the epicentre for roughly a third of those deaths, 1,500 of them last year alone.
On average, four British Columbians died every day from overdoses last year, much higher than the national average and largely unchanged since the province’s April 2016 declaration of a public health emergency.
11 May 2020
.
A wall mural in the DTES poses a valid question, "how do we end the drug crisis"? A more basic question, how did we get here?
Vancouver, B.C. is consistently ranked at the top of the list for the world’s most liveable cities - but not for many in the DTES.
The city has a dirty little secret that it has been trying to suppress for decades. The historic four-block area near East Hastings and Main Street — the DTES — known as one of the “poorest postal codes” in Canada, has a combination of drug use, HIV, homelessness, prostitution, mental illness, and crime all making up this poor off neighbourhood.
To be successful as a drug lord you need a steady, reliable, cheap supply of product, a location where you can operate relatively free from prosecution and away you go. The prime location ingredients Vancouver offers is the DTES.
Over the decades continuing city administrations have built a community of “customers with no cash” by loading the DTES with blocks of not for profit social housing. Along with the myriad of Single Room Occupancy hotels (SRO's) the area is prime territory for the drug trade.
Social housing should be spread throughout the city to provide a society of different financial means for common support - IMO.
Administrations over the years have been loath to attempt social housing in the rich city enclaves due to onerous push back. It was and still is more expedient to keep adding more social housing in the DTES where there is minimal opposition.
***** Today there are at least 6 City of Vancouver development permit applications on file for more social housing in the DTES.
The process is welcomed by the myriad of DTES support service groups who like their clientele close at hand and the clientele are fine with it as services are nearby.
DTES government and service support groups along with poverty pimp lawyers who have a hissy fit if anyone tries to change the dial, while also making money off the situation, has resulted in the perfect condition for drug dealers to flourish.
Social housing residents, many older, Asian and often mentally challenged are living in a hell hole neighbourhood with little individual voice.
In recent years, the area is seeing an east creeping gentrification. This is causing the DTES street population to be squeezed into a smaller footprint resulting in more confrontation and the appearance of a worsening situation even though overall the numbers of street people remains fairly constant.
The amount of taxpayer dollars spent in the area is staggering with little to show for the investment.
Vancouver has always had a drug problem. The opioids of choice — and the increasingly staggering death toll — have changed over the years.
In 2017 Fentanyl killed so many Canadians it caused the average life expectancy in B.C. to drop for the first time in decades. But for crime kingpins, it became a source of such astonishing wealth it disrupted the Vancouver-area real estate market.
SOME BACKGROUND:
Excerpt from the Province Newspaper by reporter Randy Shore 18 March, 2017.
When members of the Royal Commission to Investigate Chinese and Japanese Immigration came to Vancouver in 1901, they got an eyeful.
“There were whole rooms of Chinese lying stretched out on beds with the opium apparatus laid out before them — all unmindful that their attitudes and surrounding conditions are being taken note of to assist in keeping the remainder of their countrymen entirely out of Canada,” reported the Vancouver World newspaper.
The fringes of Vancouver’s Chinatown have always been the centre of Canada’s opiate trade. Ever more potent and easily smuggled versions emerged through the decades, culminating in the scourge of synthetic opiates — fentanyl and carfentanil — thousands of times more powerful and many times more deadly than opium.
Opium was a source of revenue for governments of the day. A federal duty imposed on importers fetched hundreds of thousands of dollars between 1874 and 1899. In B.C. ports, and cities charged hundreds of dollars to purveyors in the form of business licences.
Between 1923 and 1932, more than 700 Chinese men were deported for drug-related violations.
Under constant pressure from the police, opium users began to inject their hit, as the technique created no smoke or aroma and used smaller equipment, which could be easily hidden. In the 1920s and 1930s, white users tended to be young criminals, “racetrack hands, and circus and show people” who smoked opium or sniffed heroin.
By the mid-1930s, heroin was one of the most common drugs in circulation and white users were increasingly taking the drug intravenously, especially as prices rose due to scarcity brought about by vigorous law enforcement.
The outbreak of the Second World War put opiate addicts into a state of crisis, as opiate drugs were required in great quantities for the war wounded. The street price of a hit — whether heroin, morphine or codeine — shot up and crime along with it.
In the post-war period, right through to the mid-’60s, Vancouver was ground zero for Canada’s intravenous drug scene, made up mainly of petty criminals, troubled youths fed by drug lords.
Before the ’40s were over, highly refined white heroin had appeared and it was coming from overseas to satisfy a hungry market in Vancouver, home to half of the country’s drug users.
Heroin use remained a constant undercurrent in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside during the ’70s and ’80s, even as alcohol was the neighbourhood’s real drug of choice.
But a flood of a new and even more potent “China White” heroin arriving into the city reignited public outrage in the early ’90s. A spate of 331 overdose deaths in 1993 spurred B.C. coroner Vince Cain to call for the decriminalization of heroin and addicts be prescribed the drug to legally maintain their habit.
It would be nearly 15 years before the Study to Assess Long-term Opioid Maintenance Effectiveness (SALOME) began in Vancouver, just about the time a new threat emerged.
Up to 80 times as powerful as heroin, fentanyl hit the streets and reduced the risk for traffickers as it was so concentrated, transportation was easier.
The carnage wrought by fentanyl has been without precedent.
Heroin seized in drug busts is routinely cut with fentanyl and in recent months the presence of carfentanil.
SUMMARY:
Where will this go next, who knows ?
The richest of societies should be especially judged by how they treat their least fortunate, and Vancouver has its challenge set out for the foreseeable future.
UPDATE 23 MAY 2020 - VANCOUVER SUN
John Mackie: The Downtown Eastside is a war zone disaster — stop ghettoizing it.
John Mackie, Vancouver Sun 23 May 2020
Twenty years ago local musician Kuba Oms was recording at the Miller Block, a now defunct Hastings Street recording studio near Save-On-Meats.
He jaywalked and was stopped by a cop, who handed him a ticket.
“I said ‘Are you kidding me?’” Oms recounts. “You know there’s a guy shooting up over there, and a crack dealer over there. And the cop said ‘That’s a health issue.’”
That story pretty much sums up the city’s attitude toward the Downtown Eastside over the past few decades.
In some ways the cop was right — it is a Vancouver health issue. But letting people openly do drugs in public and turn Hastings and the wider Downtown Eastside into a ghetto is political correctness gone mad.
Drive down Hastings Street between Abbott and Gore and you’ll see dozens, even hundreds of people hanging out on the street, in various states of sobriety. They are definitely not social distancing. It’s a miracle that COVID-19 hasn’t swept the entire area.
The height of this madness was the recent occupation of Oppenheimer Park. Vancouver has real issues of homelessness, but to some degree Oppenheimer was about a fringe group of politicos manipulating the homeless.
Many police resources were diverted to the park and there was a crime wave in nearby Chinatown — one business closed because they were being robbed a dozen times a day.
The province recently made hotel rooms available for the homeless people occupying Oppenheimer Park, so things have calmed down somewhat. But the big question is what happens in a few months? Is government going to find permanent homes for them?
Odds are if they do, it will be in highrises in the Downtown Eastside. For decades that’s where the city and province have been concentrating social housing, especially for the mentally ill and drug addicted.
Their argument is these residents feel comfortable there. But the reality is the more poverty is concentrated, the worse the area seems to become.
Maybe it’s time for the city of Vancouver to give its head a shake and realize that its much-ballyhooed Downtown Eastside Plan is actually part of the problem, not the solution.
Part of the plan decrees you can’t build condos on Hastings between Carrall Street in Gastown and Heatley Avenue in Strathcona, or in historic Japantown around Oppenheimer Park.
Development in those areas has to be rental only, with at least 60 per cent social housing. This pretty much ensures that no market housing is built in the poorest area of the city.
When the plan was unveiled in 2014, Vancouver’s former head planner Brian Jackson said the aim was to ensure that low-income people in the Downtown Eastside weren’t displaced.
“The plan is attempting to achieve balance,” he explained then.
In fact, the plan does the exact opposite. There is no balance in the Downtown Eastside: It’s been turned into a ghetto. A friend who’s worked there for two decades calls it a war zone.
The city desperately need some market housing, co-ops and development on Hastings and around Oppenheimer. The anti-poverty activists will scream blue murder that it’s gentrification, but it’s actually normalization. You don’t have to displace anybody, you just have add a different mix to make it safer.
I live in Strathcona, where about 6,500 people live in social housing and about 3,500 in market homes. It’s a close-knit neighbourhood that has the balance Brian Jackson was taking about — it’s diverse and features a variety of incomes.
Japantown and the Downtown Eastside could be a real neighbourhood again if the city retained its stock of handsome historic buildings but allowed some development of its many non-descript structures.
It could be like Strathcona, even the West End. But I fear it could get even worse, if the planners and politicians continue to concentrate all the Lower Mainland’s poverty and social ills in one small area.
jmackie@postmedia.com
John Mackie is a veteran Postmedia reporter who has written several stories about Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Plan.
13 JULY, 2020
Vancouver can’t catch up to its housing crisis
ADRIENNE TANNER
SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL
PUBLISHED 13 JULY 2020
It is obvious now the cheers that erupted when Vancouver’s longest running tent city was dismantled were wildly premature. Fearing a COVID-19 outbreak would take hold in the overcrowded inner-city camp, the provincial government in April acquired emergency housing in hotels for homeless people living there and cleared the site.
Many camp residents embraced the offer of a clean room. Some refused and relocated outdoors. The camp shifted, first to some empty Port of Vancouver land, and when a court order quickly shut it down, finally landed in Strathcona Park. With each move, it grew.
Today there are about 150 tents Strathcona Park, roughly double the number there were in Oppenheimer Park. How many inhabitants are truly homeless is anyone’s guess. Some of the tents were erected by activists with homes. Others belong to people living in single room occupancy hotels, the worst of which are noisy, bug-infested and so hot that some residents prefer to spend summer outside.
There is already an air of permanence to the camp; the city has installed porta-potties, fresh drinking water and handwashing stations. Park rangers drop by a few times daily. The area is reasonably clean, but these are early days.
Strathcona residents are largely sympathetic to homeless people, but are understandably unhappy about losing a large chunk of park space. They fear the same violence and social disorder that cropped up at Oppenheimer is inevitable; there has already been a small fire and there appears to be a bike chop shop on site. There are cries for the city to sanction a permanent tent city location – elsewhere, of course.
So how exactly did the province’s efforts to shut down a tent city and house homeless people backfire so badly? The city and provincial officials have been out-manoeuvered and out-organized by anti-poverty activists who seized a COVID-19 opportunity when they saw it.
The pandemic raised fears the Oppenheimer tent city would turn into a reservoir of disease that could overwhelm the health system. The activists know that’s why the government cleared the camp and purchased hotels for social housing. They understand this is the moment to highlight society’s failure to solve homelessness, even if their end goals seem to differ. Some are calling for permanent housing – others prefer the idea of a permanent, free-wheeling tent city.
The sorry truth is, even with the addition of 600 units of temporary modular housing and, more recently, the purchase of three downtown hotels, there are still more homeless people than homes. Successions of governments at all levels have allowed this crisis to grow. They’ve failed to build enough social housing. Failed to provide adequate mental health services. Failed to fund enough drug rehabilitation programs for those who want to quit and provide a safe drug supply for those who can’t.
So, now here we are with the largest homeless camp the city has ever seen and another stressed-out neighbourhood. Legally, the new tent city may prove more difficult to dismantle – it’s a large park and the tents are well spaced so the pandemic may not wash as a valid reason. And unless housing is available for everyone who is homeless, it is unlikely the courts would grant an injunction.
Solving problems associated with homelessness is a huge challenge. We can start with housing, but that alone is not nearly enough. Many of the people living in the hotels and park are drug users. Many are mentally ill. Some are both. It takes money – and lots of it – to provide decent housing and supports for this segment of society.
But to cave to demands for a permanent tent city is an American-style admission of defeat. The park board seems resigned to tent cities in parks and is considering a bylaw seeking to control locations. City council has resisted sanctioning a permanent spot, instead offering up land for new social housing. The province has stepped up with money for temporary modular housing and purchases of hotels.
It will be tough to keep neighbourhoods onside if more parks are rendered unusable for recreation. There is only one palatable solution; the provincial government must stay the course and keep adding decent, affordable housing. It won’t be cheap or easy. Catchup never is.
01 APRIL 2022
More than 2,200 British Columbians lost to illicit drugs in 2021
The toxic illicit drug supply claimed the lives of at least 2,224 British Columbians in 2021, according to preliminary data released by the BC Coroners Service.
“Over the past seven years, our province has experienced a devastating loss of life due to a toxic illicit drug supply,” said Lisa Lapointe, chief coroner. “This public health emergency has impacted families and communities across the province and shows no sign of abating. In 2021 alone, more than 2,200 families experienced the devastating loss of a loved one. In the past seven years, the rate of death due to illicit drug toxicity in our province has risen more than 400%. Drug toxicity is now second only to cancers in B.C. for potential years of life lost. We cannot simply hope that things will improve. It is long past time to end the chaos and devastation in our communities resulting from the flourishing illicit drug market, and to ensure, on an urgent basis, access across the province to a safe, reliable regulated drug supply.”
The last two months of 2021 saw the largest number of suspected illicit drug deaths ever recorded in the province, with 210 deaths in November and an additional 215 in December. The 2,224 total number of deaths is 26% more than the 1,767 illicit drug-related deaths investigated by the BC Coroners Service in 2020, and equates to an average of 6.1 lives lost every day.
The provincewide death rate in 2021 was 42.8 per 100,000 residents. Every health authority in B.C. experienced a record loss of lives.
Since the public health emergency into substance-related harms was first declared in April 2016, more than 8,800 British Columbians have been lost to toxic drugs.
Toxicological testing once again underscores the reality that the illicit drug supply continues to be unstable and increasingly toxic. Fentanyl was detected in 83% of samples tested in 2021. Carfentanil was present in 187 results, almost triple the number recorded in 2020 (66).
Additionally, 50% of samples in December tested positive for etizolam, more than three times the rate of detection in July 2020 (15%). Benzodiazepines create significant challenges for life-saving efforts as naloxone does not reverse its effects. As with previous reporting, almost all test results included the presence of multiple substances.
“We need decision-makers at all levels to recognize and respond to this public health emergency with the level of urgency it demands,” Lapointe said. “The reality is this: every day we wait to act, six more people will die. COVID-19 has shown what is possible when goverments act decisively to save lives. And in order to save lives in this public-heath emergency, we need to provide people with access to the substances they need, where and when they need them. Time has run out for research and discussion. It is time to take action.”
Additional key preliminary findings are below. Data is subject to change as additional toxicology results are received:
In 2021, 71% of those who died as a result of suspected drug toxicity were between 30 to 59, and 78% were male.
The townships that experienced the highest number of illicit drug toxicity deaths in 2021 were Vancouver, Surrey and Victoria.
By health authority, in 2021, the highest numbers of illicit drug toxicity deaths were in the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities (765 and 615 deaths, respectively), making up 62% of all such deaths during this period.
By health authority, in 2021, the highest rates of death were in Vancouver Coastal Health (49 deaths per 100,000 individuals) and Northern Health (48 per 100,000).
By Health Service Delivery Area, in 2021, the highest rates of death were in Vancouver, Thompson Cariboo, Northwest, Northern Interior and Fraser East.
By Local Health Area, in 2021, the highest rates of death were in Upper Skeena, Merritt, Enderby, Lillooet and North Thompson.
Quotes:
Dr. Nel Wieman, deputy chief medical officer, First Nations Health Authority –
“The number of deaths due to toxic drug poisonings for 2021 translates to devastating losses of First Nations people: daughters and sons, aunties and uncles, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, and grandfathers and grandmothers. These are people who loved and were loved. In every year since this public health emergency was declared, B.C. First Nations people have been over-represented in toxic drug-poisoning events and deaths. We must change our understanding of the root causes of substance use and addiction, and work together to address the stigmas surrounding toxic drug use and the people who use drugs. We must continue to invest in Indigenous-specific, culturally safe harm-reduction, treatment and recovery services that are accessible, timely and free from discrimination and racism.”
Guy Felicella, peer clinical adviser, Vancouver Coastal Health –
“I join the thousands of British Columbians who are heartbroken, frustrated and angry over this unfathomable loss. Every one of these deaths was preventable and represents a failure to act, a failure to learn from mistakes. Change nothing and nothing changes. That’s been the story now for years as the approach throughout this crisis has been to meet policies where they’re at, rather than meeting people who use drugs where they’re at. This approach is killing and continues to kill people. Who has the courage to step forward and make this stop?”
AUGUST 2023
Today’s release of the report on drug toxicity deaths for the month of July 2023 by the BC Coroners Service is a stark reminder that the ongoing toxic-drug crisis continues to have a devastating impact on communities across our province. We hold in our hearts the memories of the 198 people lost in July in British Columbia.
The coroners service said the 1,455 deaths from January to July are the most ever reported in the first seven months of the year since a public health emergency over drug poisoning deaths in the province was declared in 2016.
It puts the province on pace to potentially exceed the 2,383 deaths recorded in 2022. A total of 12,739 people in the province have died from drug overdoses in the seven years.
30 NOVEMBER, 2023
At least 2,039 British Columbians have died from toxic drugs so far this year, according to preliminary figures released by the B.C. Coroners Service on Thursday, 29 November, 2023.
Of those, 189 people died in October, which is about 6.1 deaths a day. Most of the dead were between 30 and 59 years of age, and more than three-quarters were men, according to the coroner.
While the largest number of deaths reported so far has been in urban centres, such as Vancouver, Surrey and Victoria, the health authority with the highest rate of death in 2023 is Northern Health, with 61 deaths per 100,000 residents, according to the coroner.
As in previous months, fentanyl was found in most — 85 per cent — of the illicit drugs tested, often combined with other opioids or stimulants such as cocaine and methamphetamine.
Earlier this month, Interior Health issued a drug advisory warning for people who use drugs that some substances being advertised as hydromorphone on the black market contain isotonitazine, a drug the coroner says is as potent as fentanyl.
Unregulated drug toxicity is the leading cause of death in B.C. for people aged 10 to 59, accounting for more deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents and natural disease combined, the coroner said.
Since a public health emergency was declared in 2016, more than 13,000 people have died.
JANUARY 2024:
Jennifer Whiteside, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, has released the following statement regarding the BC Coroners Service year-end report on illicit drug toxicity deaths:
“Today, as we reflect on the year behind us, our hearts are heavy with the loss of 2,511 people in British Columbia to toxic drugs. Each of these lives was precious and important, each with their own story, their own dreams and people who love them. They were part of our community, and their loss is felt deeply by us all.
So what is the game plane to stop it?
C. seeks to keep cash seized from Downtown Eastside gang
Courtesy Kim Bolan and the Vancouver Sun.
Kim Bolan is an experienced and award-winning journalist who has covered gangs in British Columbia for the past 40 years. Bolan also investigated the Air India bombing for 25 years until the publication in 2005 of her book, Loss of Faith.
The B.C. government has filed a lawsuit against a group of alleged Downtown Eastside drug traffickers, seeking the forfeiture of more than $150,000 seized from them.
The lawsuit, filed this week by the director of civil forfeiture, names four defendants that it alleges are part of a criminal organization investigated by the Vancouver Police Department.
While the group is not named in the statement of claim, details of the VPD probe outlined in the court document match an investigation into Zone 43 — a gang that originated in Montreal but has taken over the Downtown Eastside in recent years. Zone 43 has connections to B.C.’s notorious Wolfpack gang alliance.
In June, the VPD announced arrests of several Zone 43 gangsters, though they were released pending approval of charges.
The VPD said it had seized firearms, 24 kilos of drugs and $150,000 in cash during searches on May 14 in Vancouver and Burnaby.
The civil forfeiture lawsuit refers to three VPD searches done on the same date in the same cities and alleges Shayne Cozier-Flanagan, Evantee Jevontee Eustace Stoney, Tristin Johnson and Raimon Geday were “participating in the activities of a criminal organization.”
When police searched Stoney’s apartment on the 30th floor at 2388 Madison Ave. in Burnaby, they found $143,910.75 in Canadian currency and $607 in U.S. currency, the lawsuit said.
Officers seized another $5,800 at Cozier-Flanagan’s suite, also on the 30th floor, at 5665 Boundary Rd. in Vancouver, it said.
About $3,417 was seized from Johnson, who also lives in the Madison apartment, when he was arrested in the 300-block of East Hastings. Another $1,920 was found in Geday’s room in a supportive housing building on Kaslo Street, the lawsuit said.
The VPD also seized a 2017 Acura RDX, of which Stoney is the registered owner and which was used “to facilitate the trafficking of controlled substances,” the civil forfeiture director alleged.
The statement of claim notes that both Stoney and Geday have previous trafficking convictions and are banned from possessing firearms.
All four men named in the lawsuit “trafficked in controlled substances in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver and the surrounding areas,” the lawsuit alleges.
In the Boundary apartment, police also found a money counter and business cards with the number to call to purchase drugs — known as a ‘dialer’ number.
In the Madison suite, the VPD also found dilaudid pills, oxycodone pills and “score sheets” documenting drug sales, collection and debts.
In Geday’s room, police found crack cocaine, powdered cocaine, crystal methamphetamine and another 275 dilaudid pills, as well as score sheets, bear spray and “miscellaneous drug packaging materials.”
The cash and car should be forfeited to the government because they are proceeds of or were used for unlawful activity, the lawsuit alleged.
The crimes committed include possession for the purpose of trafficking and trafficking, committing offences for the benefit of a criminal organization, conspiracy, money laundering and failure to declare taxable income, it alleged
No statements of defence have yet been filed on behalf of the four men.
Vancouver Police Insp. Phil Heard said at the June news conference that Zone 43 gangsters “pose a very significant risk to the public. They’re involved in a well-documented conflict ongoing in the province of Quebec with a rival group.”
Sources say the gang is still selling drugs in the Downtown Eastside.
AUGUST 2025:
The law protects the rights of the most vulnerable among us to live in filth and despair
Pete McMartin: I'm tired of how homelessness and addiction take up so much oxygen in the social discourse.
Published Aug 03, 2025
In 2014, Vancouver Sun reporter Lori Culbert and I wrote a weeklong series of stories identifying the government social welfare programs — and their cost to taxpayers — in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
Over 100 programs existed just for housing. Thirty provided health care, 30 offered family services and a miscellany of another 100 services — including a food bank for pets — brought the total to 260 social welfare agencies operating solely within the eight square blocks of the DTES.
Those 260 programs served just 6,500 clients.
Five years earlier, in 2009, Province reporter David Carrigg also did a survey of the programs available in the DTES, and he identified 174 social welfare agencies offering services to about 5,000 clients.
In other words, in the five years between Carrigg’s survey and Culbert’s and mine, not only had the number of people needing help grown but so had the number of agencies serving them.
And the cost to taxpayers?
Over $360 million annually.
That astounding figure — almost a million dollars a day — did little to satisfy the DTES’s voracious appetite for tax dollars. More to the point, it did nothing to eradicate the misery and living conditions of the people who lived there.
Rather than winning the war on poverty — and what a quaint phrase that seems now — governments engineered a truce, with the unstated understanding that if they couldn’t solve the problem or spend their way out of it, they could contain it. Those 260 social service bureaucracies weren’t solutions to an intractable problem; they were barricades. They ghettoized their impoverished clientele by concentrating the services on which they depended.
And let’s be honest: The public was complicit in this, and content for it to continue as long as the misery stayed confined within the borders of the DTES.
And yet here we are. The squalor spreads. It corrodes a once-vibrant downtown core. It infiltrates the suburbs. Daily acts of random violence and vandalism have become normalized, while a cornucopia of drugs — some decriminalized, some tolerated, many deadly — act as accelerants.
In 2016, a year after our survey, provincial health officer Dr. Perry Kendall declared a public health emergency under the Public Health Act due to the alarming rise in opioid-related overdose deaths. Since then, over 16,000 people have died from those opioids. That’s not progress. It’s a plague.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, has worked. Over the decades, the problem has been studied to death — admittedly, a poor choice of words — with consultants and academics and the legions of poverty industry advocates offering up solutions that ultimately fail. They fail because they’re predicated on two simple criteria:
1. Give us more money.
2. Give us more of everything — housing, hospital beds, food banks, drugs, injection sites, counselling or — and this is always implicit — empathy, with a side order of collective guilt.
I’ve seen this in my own newspaper.
In one recent opinion piece, the author laments that it has been the public’s and governments’ norm “to daily bypass our downtrodden, our homeless, our addicted or mentally ill on the street as though they are either invisible or merely equivalent to lampposts” — to which I have to reply: ‘Are you f—ng kidding me?’
The public and its governments have done exactly the opposite and, short of bathing their feet with Christ-like piety, have directed billions of tax dollars not only to ease the suffering of the homeless, the addicted and the mentally ill, but also to make them completely dependent upon those dollars.
Another Sun story — this one again by Culbert — examined the merits of involuntary care through the experiences of three addicts who underwent the process, and while two saw it as beneficial and helped them get clean, the third condemned it as “dehumanizing” and a cause of her PTSD. Though she no longer does drugs, she said that if she relapses she would prefer to take her chances with street drugs that could possibly kill her rather than be readmitted to hospital against her will.
Well, OK, I thought, ‘You’re an adult. Good for you for having the honesty to express that choice, however idiotic I may find it.’
But what I thought was missing in her testimonial was (a) any appreciation of the monumentally expensive efforts governments and the public had tried to make on her behalf, however ill-informed she may have believed those attempts to be, and (b) her failure to recognize the destructive effects that a relapse would have not just on her own health and family, but, more importantly, also on the collective health of the public, who would be asked to offer up yet more money, and deal yet again with her relapse — providing she survives it.
Finally, in The Sun, there was another column, this one by Sam Sullivan, who wrote that, after 52 years, it was time to end the DTES “experiment” and the restrictive housing policies that he believes led to the homelessness and violence bedevilling it.
Funny thing about that.
Between 1993 and 2005, Sullivan was a Vancouver city councillor, and for three years after that, he was mayor. Yet despite the fact that his 15-year tenure at city hall placed him in the midst of that DTES experiment, if not close to its helm, it is only now, 20 years later, that he publicly declares the experiment to be a failure, and — as far as I could tell from reading his opinion piece — without taking any responsibility for it.
I will refrain here, in my own column, from claiming to speak for the public or with any inkling of what popular sentiment might be.
But this is how I feel:
My patience is Exhausted.
I’m tired of the endless, self-regenerating calls for more studies and more funding when all I see is a colossal waste of money and effort leading to no improvement. I’m tired of how homelessness and addiction take up so much oxygen in the social discourse. I’m tired of civil rights that supersede my own, and treat the right to defecate in the streets with greater regard than my right to be offended by it.
Finally, I’m tired of a social welfare system that not only encourages dependency, but refuses, out of moral timidity, to also admit its complicity in it, and which shies away from asking hard questions about personal responsibility and the consideration of measures more draconian than safe injection sites — measures like a return to complete drug criminalization, a higher threshold of minimum sentences for trafficking, the establishment of rehabilitation centres or work camps exclusively in wilderness areas far from the temptations of cities, the discontinuation of any efforts that facilitate drug use, and yes, the robust expansion of an involuntary care system.
It’s also my opinion that none of these measures, given the current legal climate, will become reality, at least for the foreseeable future. Under our Constitution and the Criminal Code, the law, in its majestic equality, protects the rights of the most vulnerable among us to live in filth and despair, and, as so often happens, bring about their own deaths.
How enlightened we have become! What progress we have made! We’ve reached that point when now sleeping under bridges, begging in the streets and stealing one’s daily bread are no longer evidence of a system’s failure.
They are the system.
Given all the lovely blue sky and sunshine we would have liked to have gone for a long walk this morning but the canal paths were sheet ice so we decided to walk around the common where at least the grass under the ice/snow gave a bit more grip.
The thought of taking a tumble and ending up in A&E did not appeal!
Cilantro is the name given to the leaves of the coriander plant. It is also known as Chinese parsley. The leaves spread from stalks and are sold in bunches, as here. Coriander is a herb. Cilantro is used as an uncooked side-addition to many meals, especially Asian meals. It is usually added late to hot meals to preserve the identity and flavor of the cilantro.
I’ve never played with b&w but seemed fitting given the contrast is textures. The colored version was fantastic but love this one.
Given the heavy mining industry which Laxey was so well known for in the past. Blacksmiths played a key role and so were located close by. This local workshop is still running and providing services, but maybe not as blacksmiths once did.
Located on the east coast of the Island of the Isle of Man in the village of Laxey, the Laxey Blacksmith was founded by Allan King in the early 1990s, his speciality being the design, forging and creation of both functional and artistic ironwork.
Allan has more than 30 years experience working with steel, wrought iron, cast iron, copper and aluminium, and uses traditional hammer, anvil and forge alongside twenty-first century technology.
Laxey is a village who's name derives from the Old Norse Laxa meaning 'Salmon River'. Its key distinguishing features are its three working vintage railways and the largest working waterwheel in the world. It is also the location of King Orry's Grave.
The village lies on the A2, the main Douglas to Ramsey road, and on the vintage Manx Electric Railway, and Snaefell Mountain Railway. Laxey Glen is one of the Manx National Glens; another glen, Dhoon Glen, is about 1 1⁄4 miles away. The Raad ny Foillan long distance coastal footpath, opened in 1986, runs along the coast of Laxey Bay through the village.
www.iomguide.com/laxey/laxey-blacksmith.php