Category Archives: Uncategorized

Sad That TV Japan is Leaving Cable & Doubling in Price

We’re sad that TV Japan will no longer be available via cable. We’ve had a subscription here in Canada for many years at around C$18/month.

It’s the channel we watch together the most (my partner is Japanese),  and it likely takes up the most PVR recordings.

It’s got amazingly photographed documentaries and nature shows.

Heart-warming family shows like Kazoku ni Kampai with Tsurube, and travel/history/geography/geology fave Tamori.

Morning talk show Asaichi that explores interesting places in Japan, good food, and social and health issues.

The quirky Instruction Manual Theatre.

Natural Grandeur of the East with its mind-blowing nature videos.

Somewhere Street that travels the world to document cities and their historical sites and local food. . .

Kokoro no Tabi in which we follow a crusty old dude who cycles around Japan to visit sites suggested by letters from viewers for sentimental reasons. . .

“My late mother loved walking a path to a beach near . . . .”

“The best years of my life were in elementary school in . . . where we’d climb a hill . . .  ”

They are moving to an online streaming service — at US$25/month, or nearly C$40/month. Sigh. That’s over double. . .

We’ll probably cough it up, but sometimes “progress” sucks, eh?

Three-Hour South Burnaby Birding Ramble

I walked from our place near Edmonds Skytrain Station all the way to Fraser Foreshore Park and back. With nature photography included, it was a nearly three-hour ramble.

double-crested cormorant byrne creek burnaby bc
This Double-crested Cormorant was in Byrne Creek just upstream of the bridge into Riverway Golf Course.

great blue heron byrne creek burnaby bc
There were several Great Blue Herons along the way, some fishing, some snoozing.

hooded merganser fraser foreshore park burnaby bc
Male Hooded Merganser scratching an itch in the pond just west of the outfall of Byrne Creek.

female hooded merganser fraser foreshore burnaby bc
Female Hooded Merganser

eurasian collared dove fraser foreshore burnaby bc
Eurasian Collared Dove

wood duck fraser foreshore park burnaby bc
Male Wood Duck

female wood ducks fighting fraser foreshore burnaby bc
Two female Wood Ducks having a spat over dating rights to the male pictured above 🙂

ring-necked ducks fraser foreshore burnaby bc
Ring-necked Ducks

bald eagle near nest fraser foreshore burnaby bc
Bald Eagle and nest

bufflenead byrne creek burnaby bc
Bufflehead

Dismayed by Western Leaders’ Meek Response to Putin

I’m finding the overall namby-pamby Western response to Putin’s manipulation toward WWIII dismaying.

Have we not learned anything? He’s a bully, and thrives on bullying. Perhaps we need some kindergarten teachers to step in where our political leaders will not.

This is bully behaviour, and needs to be nipped in the bud.

You name the metaphor, inch/mile, whatever.

He’s clearly stated he misses the days of the USSR when millions were killed, or enslaved, or sent to moulder in prison gulags in Sibera — by their own government.

The past he seeks to restore was horrific.

The past he seeks to restore benefited the Russian 0.5% — take your era, be it Tsars and the aristocracy, be it the Soviet leaders and their dachas, be it today’s toadies and corrupt “elite.”

Surpassed 1,000 Observations Reported to iNaturalist

I passed 1,000 observations reported to iNaturalist today, with 232 species so far.

I think this puts me at the Pee-Wee or Bantam level 🙂. I know some folks who post hundreds per week!

I have to shoot, and learn about, more plants and flowers etc. The bulk of my observations are birds and mammals, with the occasional insect or reptile. . .

You can see my contributions here.