Happy BC Day

Some background on this day:

The first Monday of August is known as British Columbia Day, BC Day or B.C. Day, in the province of British Columbia. It is a statutory holiday and gives Canadians in the province the chance to celebrate their achievements or relax with friends and family members.

The British Columbia Day Act, R.S.B.C. 1996 c.34 was first introduced in 1974 as Bill 61 by the Hon. Ernie Hall, the Provincial Secretary under Premier Dave Barrett. The explanatory notes prefacing the bill states: "The purposes of this Bill is to recognize the pioneers of British Columbia by declaring the first Monday of August in each year to be a public holiday known as British Columbia Day."

From the B.C. Debates, 4th Session, 30th Parliament, May 1, 1974, the Hon. Hall states, "August 1, or the closest working day to it, is a statutory holiday in every other province in Canada. By coincidence, an Act to provide to the Government of British Columbia, which changed us from the Colony of British Columbia, was passed by Parliament in the United Kingdom on August 2, 1858....

"We feel that British Columbia, like every other province could benefit and should have a holiday around August 1. We feel that the holiday should be dedicated to the pioneers who built the colony of British Columbia into the great province it is today..."

The aim of the Bill was to create a statutory holiday on the first Monday in August to recognize the pioneers in the province and the act gained royal assent in 1996.

Enjoy the day, as we remember the pioneers who built this beautiful province

Tips to Survive High Gasoline Prices

Gasoline prices have seen its highs just recently. It seems for a moment that there would be no let up for the recent experience of rising of gas prices. It is a good thing that the price of crude oil might have gone down a bit. But it seems that this might just be for a little moment.


There would be no guarantee that the recent rise in gas prices already had reached its plateau and on the way of going down. It would only be some time before the crude oil prices may again be rising to record levels. Although the demand for oil in the world has gone down a bit, it does not mean that less and less people might need it. In fact, the demand for oil is still great and that this demand may once again bring a rise in crude oil and gas prices.


And with the recent rise in gas prices, car driving has become quite an expensive activity.  Cars, for the most part, are a necessity for a great number of people. Only a few might be thinking of giving up driving because of the high gas prices. More people would instead be thinking of surviving the recent rise of gas prices. Surviving for some might be applying some means of saving up on the fuel used when driving. One way that this can be done effectively is by improving the car's mileage. Apart from buying a new car with better mileage, it can also be possible to improve the mileage of your current car. Here are some tips that might help you out.


A car's mileage can be substantially improved by simply becoming more efficient at car driving. Efficient car driving is developing careful but effective driving skills. Avoiding aggressive driving may be one. Driving aggressively is handling or driving the car with sudden accelerations and braking which can waste a substantial amount of fuel. You can waste from 5 to 33 percent of fuel of your car. This waste can add up pretty much and can worsen with the rising gas prices. Surviving the rising gas prices can mean driving more carefully and avoiding sudden accelerations and stops. Driving this way can help improve gas mileage.


Another way to improve the car’s gas mileage is by getting rid of accumulated excess weight. Some cars can easily accumulate a lot of junk inside its trunk over time. Some people may just ignore them, but the excess weight can actually lessen the car's mileage. By simply making the car lighter by removing some unwanted weight, using less gas on each trip may be possible.


Carrying extra weight on the car means that it may require more power and energy to move. The extra energy needed means more fuel being used. Just by getting rid of the heavy junk or extra weight inside the car may be more than enough to help improve gas mileage.


Another way to maintain a car’s good mileage is to have it regularly checked. Cars may go through wear and tear every time it is being used. Over time, this could accumulate and affect the car’s mileage. One way of trying to prevent this is by following a car’s preventive maintenance schedule.


Most cars follow a certain maintenance schedule that allows them to remain efficient over time by keeping it properly maintained. A well maintained car can still enjoy good mileage even after many years on the road.  Regular maintenance checks will allow even an aging car to be properly tuned up can help it run with good mileage. That can greatly help car owners survive the rising gasoline prices along the way.

Proper Care of Your Fish Pond during Summer

Summer is such a perfect time to sit by a body of water and relax. Summer is also equated with times when you can pull your favorite chair, drink your favorite ice cold drink and enjoy the wander of your yard because of your labor. A scenario like this is such a bliss that nobody can ever resist. Although, these wouldn’t all be possible without the proper care of your pond especially during summer.

There are a lot of things to consider from the inside to the outside environment of the pond. Before you sit on that favorite chair of yours, embracing the fruit of your ecstatic labor, perform the required labor first. Get up and gather your tools. Work begins here.

Give your fish sufficient air
Who can live without air? Aside from anaerobic bacteria and creatures living in water, approximately, there are about 80-90 percent of creatures living inside planet earth that is in need of air. This principle includes your pond fishes. During summer, it is inevitable that water has the tendency to become warm. And as it gets warmer and warmer, the lesser and lesser the oxygen content becomes. Furthermore, another effect of the heat of summer is that the metabolism of fishes are increased. One very good reason why oxygen is badly needed. If you have a wide pond with only a couple or a small number of fishes, this wouldn’t be a problem. But, if you have a crowded pond, oxygen can soon be depleted. If the owner has allowed something like this to occur, his fishes can suffer severe levels of stress which can occasionally lead to acquiring diseases. Fishes can die overnight if put under extreme situations and the owner neglected it.

To solve this problem, the owner can use aerating devices, he can also choose to clean-up the fish pond making it free from debris and algae or, if worse comes to worse, he can lessen the population.

Feed them right

Since the heat of summer contributes to faster metabolism, it is advisable to provide fish food that is high in protein. This will help them grow faster and live healthier. This is the best time to feed them with protein to enhance rapid, beautiful growth and development. And as the fishes store fat, they are preparing themselves when winter comes. Body fat can get your fishes through long, cold nights of winter.

When feeding, always see to it that fishes are given only minimal but frequent servings. It is better to give them several feedings a day than one big serving. Fishes tend to die when given large amount of food. If you wanted to introduce something different, mix it together with a small amount of their standard meal. This will make their unfamiliar taste of food become more acceptable.  Keep the pond clean

Always see to it that their pond is without algae, fallen leaves or wasted food. Keep your pond filter running to ensure the filtering of debris and maintain the cleanliness of the water inside the pond. Fishes can be more irritated with their environment and experience sickness. Furthermore, a dirty pond can cause bacteria to grow and contribute to your fishes’ disease.

If all these are properly set and arranged, you can be more confident in watching your fishes swim happily. Proper caring of your fish pond not only contributes to your fishes but to you, as an owner, as well

Time to stop bashing the Boomers

On July 30th, Brent Green, in his interesting and insightful Blog--Boomers wrote the following as a response to an op ed piece by Bill Keller of the New York Times. The full post is here. I think the bashing will continue as it is easier at the political level, to blame someone for the mess, rather than take responsibility for trying to fix the problem. Boomers are an easy target because we are a large group, and we are somewhat unaware of parts of our own history. This is an interesting blog and many more of boomers should be speaking out as Brent is doing.


Bill Keller, an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, painstakingly summed up his baby boom birth cohort as “The Entitled Generation.” This snippy criticism is typical of jeremiads written by and for Boomers to portray unseemly conclusions about the nation’s largest generation.



So writes the columnist from on high, “We are an entitled bunch.”


Keller’s views fall way short of balance. For example, while warning of and alleging future entitlement fund shortfalls to be imposed by the generation, he neglected to mention the Greenspan Commission, which in 1983 increased Social Security withholding from 9.35% in 1981-83 to 15.3% by 1990.


...Keller also trotted out a cursory summary of Boomer bashing, from Paul Begala’s Esquire diatribe “The Worst Generation” to ignoble actions of Clinton and Bush, the Boomer presidents who were either morally clumsy (Clinton’s Monicagate) or brashly deficit inflating (Bush’s Medicare Part D drug benefit).

Keller’s snarky criticism skirts mentioning the extent to which the Boomer generation has propelled the consumer economy for the last forty years, while standouts from the generation have created enduring business legacies such as Microsoft, Apple, Starbucks and Whole Foods.

Encouraging the Boomer generation to take corrective action by rubbing faces into threadbare criticisms of this generation’s alleged turpitude is not the way to motivate Boomers. Boomer bashing articles lacking journalist balance are neither fair nor accurate nor potentially effective.