To the seasons of life
Happy holidays…
The winter solstice is on us again, December 21st at 2:23 PM pacific time the earth will begin its swing to equal daylight and night in March and then its 23 degree tip toward the sun giving us the longest daylight hours on the June summer solstice. The trip to spring is 88.99 days.
Snow White an animated film is shown
The Nicola Naturalists Society conducts a Christmas bird count every year here in the Nicola Valley. This years effort is on Sunday December 16th 2018. The 2017 results are on their site: http://www.nicolanaturalists.ca/2018/02/22/merritt-christmas-bird-count-december-2017/
You don’t have to be an expert birder to participate in Christmas Bird Counts. Participants spend all or part of the day in a group covering a specific section of the 22-km diameter count circle. It is a great way to get to know the local winter birds and contribute to the world’s longest-running citizen science project. For more details on the Merritt CBC keep checking this website or contact nicolanaturalists@gmail.com
Source Nicola Naturalists Society
The UNESCO convention against discrimination in education is adopted in Paris:
Divided States of America
Time life chooses the news maker of the year at about this time without judgement on Merit however the fact that the person was a dominant newsmaker makes it worth documenting. Trumps claim to fame relies partly on being a disrupter, he ended two dynasties and promised to “drain the swamp” it certainly seems to fill Times criteria for Newsmaker.
It’s hard to measure the scale of his disruption. This real estate baron and casino owner turned reality-TV star and provocateur—never a day spent in public office, never a debt owed to any interest besides his own—now surveys the smoking ruin of a vast political edifice that once housed parties, pundits, donors, pollsters, all those who did not see him coming or take him seriously. Out of this reckoning, Trump is poised to preside, for better or worse.
Time life
Donald Trump made 2016 POY as its ninetieth subject. Jamel Khashoggi still missing Washington post Journalist and 2018 featured newsmaker has the dubious distinction of being Times first dead POY. Today the United States Senate, December 13th 2018 voted to end support for the Saudi led war in Yemen probably a direct result of Trumps and the Khashoggi dynamic.
We hope that the effect of the media on this situation will bring positive results from this tension.. PP America first.
North Yemen Earthquake kills over 2000.
Time selects a person of the year every year and makes no judgement on good or bad but how did they effect the world. This year a group of detained journalists have made the pick with the slain member Jamel Khasshoggi’s image being featured . Khasshoggi’s the first newsmaker Time has used that was dead at the time of selection.
The Paris accord is adopted by the UN framework on climate change.
Voyager 2 left the solar system on December 5th 2018, it becomes the second interstellar craft to leave on an observation and contact mission. Voyager 1 preceded it on August 25th 2012 after doing its primary mission of data collection from Jupiter and Saturn. It also collected data on the Saturn’s moon Titan. The December 5th entry in to the Interstellar medium was reported by NASA on December 10th. the two twin probes were launched 16 days apart.
Voyager 2 now is slightly more than 11 billion miles (18 billion km) from Earth. Mission operators still can communicate with Voyager 2 as it enters this new phase of its journey, but information – moving at the speed of light – takes about 16.5 hours to travel from the spacecraft to Earth. By comparison, light traveling from the sun takes about eight minutes to reach Earth. Together, the two Voyagers provide a detailed glimpse of how our heliosphere interacts with the constant interstellar wind flowing from beyond.
Source NASA
Each Voyager space craft carries a golden record that could last billions of years and carrying photos, recordings and messages for possible contact.
Bill Wilson a principal founder of Alcoholics anonymous enters treatment for the last time.
The local Merritt Junior hockey team is having a Teddy bear toss at their game with the Nanaimo Clippers on Saturday the 8th of December 2018.
Fans are to be ready to through their bears on the Ice at the first goal.
The game starts at the Nicola Valley Memorial arena at 7:PM
The first lethal injection capital crimes remedy is used in the US.
The crown corporation BC hydro conducted a poll about the feelings of people on the state of severe storms in BC. The utility claims people believe that there are more storms and weather events that may effect service.
Some meetings in Poland, Ottawa, and BC’s Economic Plan are in the fore front now luckily we have a lot of hydro capacity to cushion against the current energy crisis and future ones with out as much dependence on fossils…
The impact of storms in B.C. has not gone unnoticed by British Columbians. A recent survey commissioned by BC Hydro found more than 75 per cent of British Columbians agree that storms in the province are getting worse and 20 per cent indicate they have experienced more outages in their neighbourhood in recent years.
In B.C., falling trees and branches are the primary cause of power outages. B.C. has three times more trees per kilometre of line than anywhere else in North America. The combination of trees and adverse weather account for nearly 60 per cent of all outages.
Source BC Hydro.
Hydro has some suggestions for the interim to be prepared for outages:
BC Hydro recommends British Columbians prepare for weather-related power outages by having a well-stocked emergency kit on-hand that includes:
The Everglades National Park is dedicated.
A one term president and the son of a US Senator Bush 41 passed from this life at the age of 94, still in good humour and without malice. The last of the
George Herbert Walker Bush is to be the last of the World War Two US presidents and his passing will solemnity that era in the sense of history as written now is less likely to be changes as it is viewed from the view of the US Commander’s in Chief to follow. The last living witness from that chair is gone.
Bush 41 was the son of a US Senator he is remembered as 41 because his son and namesake served two terms as the 43rd US president. Another son Jeb served as the governor of Florida and was a candidate for the Republican nomination in 2016.
George Bush senior in his 4 years made a smooth world wide transition for the states of the former Soviet Union after the end of the Cold war including the reunification of west and east Germany. Working with Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney he was responsible for the Free Trade agreement that regulated up to 2 billion dollars in trade between the two countries for more that 2 decades. Bush also got a large coalition together and enforced a United Nations resolution to expel the aggressive occupation of Kuwait from the forces of Iraq’s dictator, Sad am Hussain .
The 1992 race riots in Los Angeles sparked by an incident of a police beating of Rodney King left a stain on his term. Sixty three deaths and more than 2 thousand injuries were the result of arson, looting and vandalism. The six day mayhem ended with military intervention. Rodney King won over 3 million dollars in civic damages and died two months after he published his memoirs. The King beating and subduing was captured on a 12 minute video by George Holiday and became a bellwether for video access to police activities. Bush completed his term January 20th 1993 after the office was won by democratic candidate Bill Clinton.
The body of American president number 41 is flown home to Texas for burial after lying in state in the capitals rotunda.
There is a recital on December 8th at the local Merritt Library. The music starts at 1 PM , enjoy an afternoon of seasonal music, they say everyone is welcome.
The Grateful Dead have a concert performance under their new name.
Since 1988 today has been computer security day. Recommended day for updating malware etc.
.Folies Bergere opens
.
Hey Merit what do you say?
Kevin Griffiths
percypaschal
The Proprietor Review 