History, my ass.

Young Isoroku Yamamoto chillin' with Secretary of the Navy Curtis E. Wilbur.

History my ass.

One of the oft-quoted fallacies of history is that the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, December 7, 1941, was ‘inspired’ by the successful night attack by Swordfish torpedo planes on the Italian fleet at Taranto. This took place in November 1940. The British used a handful of planes, at night, whereas the attack on Pearl Harbour used 363 aircraft, timed for dawn or thereabouts on a Sunday morning.

While the Japanese decision to attack might have been encouraged by the success of the British attack, it was clearly not solely inspired by it. There are too many facts that speak otherwise.

This idea, and this might surprise the reader, has been largely promulgated by British historians.

The story is so much more complex than that, and while writers can be excused for national pride, the highlights of the full story are worth the re-telling.

U.S. Army Air Force General Billy Mitchell demonstrated bombing techniques against ships at anchor, (high-level, precision bomb-aiming) and his crews sank the Ostfriesland with 2,000-lb. bombs in 1921. This was under ideal conditions, with no air cover and the ship at anchor. There were no time constraints in the sense of a scramble of defensive machines or anti-aircraft gunfire.

In WW I, British cruisers engaged, out of sight of the enemy, using naval guns, German raiders hidden in creeks in East Africa, with the help of naval reconnaissance aircraft. I can’t find a specific link for this, but a friend’s dad served in light cruisers and escort carriers in WW II. He had a lot of books on the shelf, one of which was about British light cruisers. All the navies of the world were experimenting with the use and coordination of aircraft and fleet units.

The Bremen, a commerce raider of WW I.

In WW I, the British launched Sopwith Camels off of towed barges, as well as capital ships, to attack German dirigibles.

LZ 66 was destroyed on August 21, 1917. The British aircraft was launched from a platform on the cruiser H.M.S. Yarmouth.

There was no shortage of naval strategists between the wars. Japanese naval staff had read all the books, all the newspapers, all that was to be known about modern warfare when they began to have Imperial aspirations, and built up both a strong Army and a strong Navy. They knew all about Billy Mitchell, in fact Yamamoto spent time in the U.S. as a naval attache if memory serves.

Hans Ulrich Rudel, Stuka pilot and the Eagle of the Eastern Front in the German press, sank the Russian battleship Marat in September 1941.

In 1940, the German cruiser Konigsberg, damaged by coastal guns during the battle of Norway, was sunk in harbour by British bombers. They were light bombers at that.

Bombers were an important component of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, as shallow water and constricted space meant torpedoes were only of limited effectiveness, although deadly when the planes could drop them and running time was sufficient to arm the warhead. The Japaneses took special pains to modify the torpedoes for the conditions of the attack. They were really meant to attack ships at sea in the context of a classic naval battle, if such a thing can be said to exist. The Battle of the Coral Sea demonstrates this. (Described as the first battle in history when the fleets never saw each other.) That’s because the tactics of the previous war envisaged long lines of battleships and cruisers, engaging at extreme range (visually, hence the high observation towers on the vessels) with naval artillery, with destroyers laying smoke screens and racing in to launch torpedo attacks. In such an engagement, numbers and weights of ammunition delivered would be the deciding factor. Jellicoe crossing the ‘T’ at Jutland does nothing to contradict this notion. The weight of broadsides would always be superior to frontal guns only. In WW II, battleship engagements, with the exception of the Bismarck, (and to be fair, the sinking of the Hood,) were actually rare exceptions. The range of a battleship without refueling was limited, the range of the guns was limited, and the cost of a mistake was very high. The whole history of German commerce raiders bears this out. Sooner or later, a bigger ship, with bigger guns, would come along, or the raider would be swamped by force of numbers vectored onto a point of reference: last-seen here.

Aircraft, more specifically, aircraft carriers, would be decisive on the oceans in the same way as the massed panzer formations would be decisive on land. (Massed panzer formations were used against dispersed armour reinforcing classic infantry dispositions.) Their force could be concentrated when the enemy’s was dispersed, unprotected by strong and vigilant air cover of its own, on land as in the Maginot Line, or at sea and better yet, at anchor in harbour on a sleepy Sunday morning Japan’s doctrine at sea was one of mobility, just as the Germans’ doctine on land was one of mobility.

The Val dive-bomber was designed in 1936.

The Kate torpedo-bomber was designed in 1935.

These, along with the Zero fighter, were the principal aircraft used at Pearl Harbour. The great tragedy from the Japanese standpoint was the fact that the U.S. carriers were absent when the raid occurred. The Japanese were sobered by this realization at the time.

Long before the raid on Taranto, the whole Japanese Navy was predicated on aerial attack from the sea—Japan’s six large carriers, concentrated into one strike group, make this simple fact undeniable. These strike groups were not designed for a defensive war. They were designed for attack. Their only enemies of consequence could be the U.S., whose Pacific Fleet was anchored at Pearl Harbour, and the British Asiatic Fleet, based on Hong Kong and Singapore. The French and the Dutch, the other colonial powers in the region, had substantially smaller naval presences in the Pacific.

What is surprising is that the Japanese Navy did not go on to smash San Diego or disrupt (or even capture) the Panama Canal, surely logical objectives in any navy man’s book of strategy. A dozen large tankers in waiting positions would have sufficed to have achieved this objective.

General Isoroku Yamamoto was responsible for a number of innovations in Japanese Military Aviation.

‘In January 1941, Yamamoto went even further and proposed a radical revision of Japanese naval strategy. For two decades, in keeping with the doctrine of Captain Alfred T. Mahan, (an American) the Naval General Staff had planned in terms of Japanese light surface forces, submarines and land-based air units whittling down the American Fleet as it advanced across the Pacific until the Japanese Navy engaged it in a climactic ‘Decisive Battle’ in the northern Philippine Sea (between the Ryukyu Islands and the Marianas Islands), with battleships meeting in the traditional exchange between battle lines.

Correctly pointing out this plan had never worked even in Japanese war games, and painfully aware of American strategic advantages in military productive capacity, Yamamoto proposed instead to seek a decision with the Americans by first reducing their forces with a preventive strike, and following it with a ‘Decisive Battle’ fought offensively, rather than defensively. Yamamoto hoped, but probably did not believe, if the Americans could be dealt such terrific blows early in the war, they might be willing to negotiate an end to the conflict. As it turned out, however, the note officially breaking diplomatic relations with the United States was delivered late, and he correctly perceived the Americans would be resolved upon revenge and unwilling to negotiate. At the end of the attack upon Pearl Harbor, upon hearing of the mis-timing of the communique breaking diplomatic relations with the United States earlier that day, it is reputed Yamamoto said, ‘I fear all we have done today is to awaken a great, sleeping giant,’ however, there is no documented evidence the statement was made.
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The Naval General Staff proved reluctant to go along and Yamamoto was eventually driven to capitalize on his popularity in the fleet by threatening to resign to get his way. Admiral Osami Nagano and the Naval General Staff eventually caved in to this pressure, but only insofar as approving the attack on Pearl Harbor.’ > (Wikipedia.)
On December 10, 1941, the British battleships Repulse and Prince of Wales were sunk by Japanese naval aircraft using bombs and torpedoes. The ships were at full steam and underway at the time of the engagement. The Japanese needed little or no inspiration from the British, and this writer can state with some accuracy that their tactics, their strategy, and their doctrine had been a long time in the development.
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By the end of WW II, off the coast of Japan were over a hundred U.S. aircraft carriers. The tactics were by no means superior, the skill and bravery of the men by no means any more superlative than that of the Japanese pilot, sailor or soldier.
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What won WW II was industrial capacity—and the wealth to fuel it, and to sustain it, over a long war when the enemy was counting on a short one.
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Let us not forget the lessons of history, otherwise we are doomed to repeat them.

Paddling Ontario's Grand River.

Grand River at Cambridge. (JustSomePIcs. Wiki.)

The Grand is the largest river system in Southern Ontario. With its source at Wareham near the base of the Bruce Peninsula, the river flows south through the heart of southern Ontario to empty into Lake Erie.

This writer has kayaked small parts of the Grand River just below Elora Conservation. The author has also camped for a few nights at the Conservation Area and shot the rapids a number of times. This involves two vehicles, as the boats are launched up the road at the base of the falls. It’s a simple process, the two vehicles go to town, unload the boats, and keeping valuable gear in Car A, they go back to the campground and then drop off Car A. Car B returns within a few minutes to the launch site. Left locked and with nothing of value in it, Car B can be picked up at leisure as the trip downstream ends at the bridge at the west end of the campground.

Water levels can vary but in general, they’re pretty low. The rapids are all Class One or less although there is a slot under the walking bridge, about halfway through the campground, where if the boat goes sideways, an upset would be likely. There is a deep pool immediately after this with no bank for rescuers and sheer cliffs of twenty or thirty metres.

Always wear a life-jacket and helmet when shooting rapids. Have a buddy along. Make sure you both know what you are going to do in an emergency—bail out for sure, but are you going to hand onto the end of his boat or try to clamber aboard in a panic? If you’ve never done it before, take some lessons, go in a more experienced group or start off very small and work your way up.

Further down the Grand, the stream has a nice current and paddling and drifting can take you a long ways in a couple of hours. When exploring alone on almost any new river, this author usually goes upstream for a couple of hours. Then, even against the wind, it’s a lot less work to get back to the vehicle. Once or twice the author has had to track a boat, walking along the shore pulling it on a rope, into the wind and the current. Most of the time the banks are choked with brush and this simply isn’t possible.

Some rapids will be clearly beyond your abilities—don’t get talked into doing something stupid.

Knowing what you must do can help to avoid that panic.

For pure convenience, my buddy and I camped at the first campsite right there on the north side of the bridge.

Guelph Lake has a small sailing club, or it did years ago. I once dove overboard, swam to shore, and walked for miles, going the long way around (in my bare feet) when my buddy’s boat couldn’t make any headway against a light wind from the west and we were in the eastern arm of the lake. Without the author’s weight, he finally did manage to bring it ashore. That was a long time ago, when the author was young, fitter and better-looking even.

The recorded history of the Grand River goes back to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to the Attawandaron, or Neutral nation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_River_(Ontario)

After the destruction of the Neutrals around the time of the Iroquois attack on Ste. Marie, also destroying the Huron, the area was a hunting and trapping ground for the Iroquois.

After the War of 1812, when the Iroquois sided with British against the Americans, playing a key role in the defense of Canada, Chief Joseph Brant requested land from the Crown and the Iroquois were granted rights to the Grand River Valley.

Kayaking the Elora Gorge in March. This is clearly high water and only for experienced people with all the right equipment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmARsFVpkxg

You and the Law.

Zach Neal is not a barrister nor a solicitor, and
neither does he play one on the tellyvision......

     A surprising number of people will tell you, “I know the law, man…” What is even more surprising is how wrong they can be.

     At some point if you are subject to harassment, you may have to get the law involved. Yet the police can be ineffective when dealing with harassment. For one thing, it is

extremely time consuming. In one case the local police had to spend $14,000 in overtime in order to catch a man harassing a former partner. They also expended untold man-hours during their regular duties. All these resources, all this time has to be paid for by the taxpayers, and it takes the police away from other duties. “Little cases,” or cases where there is some doubt in their minds, do not get the highest priority, it’s fair to say.

     In the stated case, the police knew the victim, they knew where she lived. They new where the perpetrator lived. Since he was a firefighter they knew his work schedule, they knew where he lived, where he worked, they had his photo, license number, they knew his vehicle, phone number, et cetera. Why was it so hard to catch him? It wasn’t, really—they caught him a number of times.

    Because of the nature of the court system, they had to have enough evidence, but they needed more than that. They had to get enough evidence to convince a judge and jury to give the gentleman a serious sentence, a previous conviction not being enough to convince the perpetrator to leave the lady alone. We won’t discuss the particulars of the actual evidence. However it is sufficient to say that a suspended sentence was not enough, probation was not enough, fines were not enough.

    The gentleman was convicted of various harassment and stalking-related offences. He got a two-year sentence, and since he threatened a police sergeant, he got an additional six months tacked on. If I was the victim, I would be fearful when he got released, and while time may hang heavy on the hands while a person sits in jail, to those on the outside it actually goes by pretty darned fast. She will have to confront this issue at some point in the future, and she may in fact still have to move just to feel safe—even in the absence of further incidents. Even in the absence of further incidents, the harassment, the stress, the anger, the fear just keep on and on. With all due respect to the reader, as a writer it would be uncomfortable to go and ask her about it. But I feel it’s true. (I know damn well it’s true.)

     The local paper over the course of time is full of these cases. By reading “provincial court,” you can get a pretty good idea of the type and nature of crimes of harassment. 

     When I realized I was the subject of harassment, in my case more of a witch-hunt really, I sought out some professional advice. Typically, a lawyer will provide a half-hour consultation free of charge, and I suggest that is one of your first steps. Nothing in this post should be considered a definitive statement of law. You need a real lawyer for that.

     Interestingly enough, the law says it is illegal to be a “false witch,” and provides stiff penalties. It is not illegal to actually be a witch. Presumably the onus would be on the Crown to prove you aren’t! (Some interesting case law might be written here, but we’ll leave that one for another day.)

     I was told, “Document everything,” but I really didn’t ask enough questions.

     So when followed by a certain vehicle, I made a note of it when I had a chance; you can’t take notes when driving down the street very well, although I got better at it.

    I wrote down the make and colour of the vehicle, license number if I could get it, number of occupants, but to get a good look at a number of individuals in your rear view mirror; it’s hard to make a description or even get a proper look. At night, in bad weather, or in heavy traffic, I could usually distinguish “two males, about twenty-five or thirty years old, average build,” that kind of thing. “One guy had glasses,” that kind of thing. So I wrote down what I could, but generally speaking, you have to be able to identify the

driver, and you also have to be willing and able to testify against them. So you have to give up some of your time.

     Going to court even as a witness is fearful; and most people aren’t willing to do that “just for one little incident.” That was my problem. In the early stages, no one single incident was enough to get me to go the police. After a year and a half of “attentions,” maybe then I was ready, but not at first. Within three months of buying a house, I knew there was some kind of a problem. At first, it was just noise, and when I called up one night to the  police with a noise complaint, the dispatcher asked me, “Is it really important? We’re having a kind of a busy night…” Well, I hemmed and hawed and pretty quickly decided just to try and make it through with no sleep, try not to get mad, it’s just a party, you know the score. I think we’ve all gone through a noisy party night in the neighbourhhood.

     The dispatcher asked me, “Have you tried talking to them, sir?” I told her, “I’m not going out there in the middle of the night and confront twenty-five or thirty drunks…”

     I should not have backed down to the police dispatcher. I’ve never had a lot of confidence. I don’t know why. Cops are intimidating, or something.

     But the harassment was already there. That’s why I called in the first place. After only three months I knew there was some kind of a problem.

     Bearing in mind the theories of medical science; this behaviour had already been habituated in the minds of the perps. And by the time a year and a half of stress had begun working its little magic on me...and I was already stressed because buying a home is always stressful, and I didn’t have a lot of disposable to money to throw around. After three months there was a problem, it took longer for it to be clearly harassment.

    “The fear often expressed by clients is that, if they tell the full story, a lawyer may refuse to take the case. A lawyer, and ultimately a court, must be armed with all the facts to properly solve a legal problem. Full disclosure is essential to this process and must be encouraged.”—Les Vandor, QC, Frequently Asked Questions About the Law, ECW Press, 2002.

     Every case is different, every new fact puts a new wrinkle on the case. Provincial and federal laws often vary, and they change quite often as well. Don’t ever think that you can handle a legal problem involving harassment or abuse yourself. You need a professional.

     The law starts with some general rules. Section 6 of the Criminal Code of Canada says you are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Section 13 says that no person under the age of 12 can be convicted, as child protection laws kick in; Section 14 says that you cannot consent to being killed.

     Perhaps more relevant, Section 19 says “ignorance of the law is no excuse.”

     Perhaps irrelevant, the laws says, “you have to commit a crime intentionally to be convicted of it.” How the judge reconciles these conflicts is what we call “justice.”

     In Sections 25 to 33 police are given the power to arrest and to use force if necessary.

     If you are arrested for an offence, and you know you are innocent, do not make them use force. You will have to go with them, and take up a complaint later, unfair as it seems. I’ve been on disability for about eleven years, and lawyers are expensive, but that’s just the way life is sometimes. If you are innocent, what is the point of being tasered? The cops have always had guns and batons, but I have some concerns about

tasers. They are lethal in a small number of incidents, and that just doesn’t happen with pepper spray. But pepper spray is “uncomfortable” for the officers, due to persistent effects of a good dose of liquid, which is all over the suspect. And then the officer has to put the suspect in a vehicle and drive him to the station. But my real concern is that while a gun or baton may be a tool of last resort, the taser seems to be more a tool of

convenience. A time saver for the police. It seems to place punishment in the hands of the police and takes it out of the hands of the court. Why punish yourself? Funny thing is, the court would never punish someone by ordering them to be tasered. It’s too risky—too much chance of death by heart attack.

     Ignoring the possibility of a heart attack or seizure, if you are innocent it’s definitely not worth it.

     In Section 34, self-defense is allowed if you are the victim of an unprovoked attack. If you charge someone, they may claim that you provoked them. Far from a confession of guilt, it becomes a “he-said-she said” kind of thing. The court has to decide which party’s evidence is more credible, which carries more weight. Sheer number of witnesses can tip the balance, with unfortunate results.

     In a noise incident, to go out and confront a large party, well in court, they might not be drunk, and they’re not going to testify against a buddy, are they? Don’t get assaulted if you can help it. Certain situations are just trouble waiting to happen, especially if you’re upset and come on like gangbusters.

     Self-intoxication, when you have no sense of what you are doing, is not a defense to a charge under the Criminal Code of Canada, often referred to as the “triple C.”

     If the police ask you questions, you pretty much have to answer them, otherwise you could be charged with interfering with a police investigation. Here’s something I didn’t know. The police do not have to warn you that every thing you say can be used to charge you; “until you become a suspect.” This one troubles me a bit, my advice is “never try to explain anything to a cop.” Explain it to a lawyer, and let him explain it to a court.

     If you call the police, and all of a sudden they seem to be taking the other party’s side, that is exactly the time to shut up. You’re teetering on the brink and it is time to back off, unfair as it will seem at the time, I say this for your own protection.

     According to Les Vandor’s book, “you are allowed to fence your property, and you are allowed to post signs that it is private property. However if a neighbour refuses to respect your property, you should give him or her ample warning that you intend to take appropriate measures. They include calling the police and using reasonable force to protect your property.” More on this one later.

     “Many cases require funding from Legal Aid plans as people just can’t afford a lawyer or the cost of a trial. Unfortunately many of these plans are running out of money and many a plan, in an effort to save money, has set the threshold for qualifying quite high.”

     In some provinces you will only qualify if you make below $12,000 a year. A bare subsistence living, in other words. If you make more, you won’t qualify for aid. Recently many lawyers in some provinces have gone on strike in support of more funding for their clients. Legal Aid will not help you with a civil suit, only if you are charged with a crime; and only if certain thresholds are met. In my case, a lady once came and took my application for Legal Aid. I later received a letter rejecting my application. The reason given: “Not much of a chance of my going to jail…” Interesting, eh? The original application was taken in a jail, while awaiting a bail hearing. What if I had been convicted? Because I had part-time work, as well. I might have made $12,001.00 dollars that year. The charge was later withdrawn, after nine months on bail.

     The conclusion I drew is that disabled, mentally ill people, permanently unemployable people, the working poor, are easier to harass. They can’t afford to sue, and if accused of a crime themselves, they simply can’t defend themselves. Once they get a rap sheet, they are even more vulnerable to abuse, and to abuses of the system as well.

     In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, people have lived with the threat of terrorism for a long time, stemming first from the Irish Republican Army and more recently Al Quaeda. The right to privacy is often subject to the needs of society.

     In England, public video cameras are the norm, and people have become accustomed to the loss or invasion of their privacy. However in Canada, the debate is ongoing; as to how much of our privacy to give up. When I lived in Oakville and Hamilton a few years ago, there were about 1400 video cameras along the highway system of the Queen Elizabeth Way, the 401 (Macdonald-Cartier Freeway), et cetera. You would have no reasonable expectation of privacy while driving or parked on these roads.

     Now, Section 184 of the Criminal Code dispels a very common myth: you cannot record the conversation of another person without their permission. And most people think that only one person, one side of that conversation; has to give permission. I think that’s due to U.S. TV influences—most of what we “know” about the law comes from TV. The code sets out guidelines for when the police can get a wiretap, and when a judge can grant permission to set up a wiretap. When you call some agencies and companies, a

recorded voice will tell you “this call is monitored for quality control purposes.” You can hang up if you want, and send a letter, but for the most part you should never threaten, harass, swear or otherwise abuse the people on the other end of the call, although it’s very tempting sometimes when you want the telemarketers to get off your back.

     The important thing to remember for the purposes of this book, is that your neighbour cannot videotape your comings and goings. That’s because you have the right to privacy, and to paraphrase a recent Supreme Court decision, you cannot photograph a person without their permission unless they are part of a crowd. Tip: two is company, three is a crowd. As the photographer, you don’t count.

     If someone calls you and makes threats, you cannot record that call. You need permission orally or in writing, and abusive people are rarely stupid enough to give it. I suggest you ask them for it, if they don’t hang up, turn on your tape recorder. Keep the recording, do not tell the cops about it. Let a lawyer listen to it, but not the cops. They can’t use it anyway. Evidence that is not gathered by the police is tainted, they don’t know how and when it was gathered, or under what circumstances it was gathered. And it can get you in deep shit.

     Let’s say someone is going around telling everyone that you are a thief. You are innocent. What can you do?

     According to Les Vandor, “When someone makes a statement about you that is untrue, you have the right to an apology and the right to sue for damages to your reputation. Damages may include lost income or opportunity caused by the false statement. If it is serious enough, the police may well get involved. Your first step is to get witnesses to support your version of events. You should then write a polite letter asking for an apology. If you get a letter of apology in return, you should send it on to whoever heard the false accusation. If you don’t get an apology, consider dropping the matter, or as a last resort, suing the person.”

     Essentially, if you don’t get a letter of apology, but the behaviour stops, the best thing is to try to forgive and forget. Make sure you keep a copy of your letter, this is part of the documentation process, which I consider all-important. That’s why it’s a good idea to tell other people if you feel you are being harassed, “within limits,” and if you can’t afford a lawyer, at least take advantage of the half-hour free consultation. At the very least now some credible person knows about your problem. Document your trip to the lawyer. Keep notes of what you do. If you can remember the date of an incident, you have a lot more credibility than someone who can’t.

     “Take notes—they help you to remember.”

     Anyhow, Section 297 of the Criminal Code covers criminal libel, and the law provides civil penalties for libel, slander, and defamation of character. The law also makes it illegal “to spread false news.” Quite frankly if someone is going around saying bad things about you, it endangers you, physically, psychologically, and even financially.

     You can sue someone for damaging your name and reputation, if you have the means to do so. This kind of damage is called defamation; if it is by printed words, it is called libel, if by spoken word it’s called slander. Both are regulated by the Criminal Code and are subject to “civil liabilities and remedies.”

     Your neighbours can be your best friends, or your worst enemies. People say, “I don’t care what the neighbours think,” that’s very short sighted. Your neighbours can get you hung, or they can prevent a lynching. Anyone who goes around attempting to label you something bad, that might be a prelude to something they plan to do later on.

     “To dehumanize someone is often a prelude to further civil and human rights violations.” In short, Jack the Ripper preyed on prostitutes, serial stalkers prey on women and other vulnerable types, abusive men would seldom beat up a female co-worker in the workplace. The wife waiting at home is so much more vulnerable, isolated, and available.

     So much safer. She is often to blame for everything from a bad night’s sleep to financial insecurity to a spouse’s drinking problem.

     To beat or attempt to beat another without actually touching them is called assault, the beating of another that includes touching is called battery; hence “assault and battery” charges.

     Collection agencies are regulated by federal and provincial laws. They may not threaten you, your employer or your family. They may demand repayment, they may sue you, but they cannot threaten you. If a collection agent threatens you, call the police.

     In your community, there may be a free legal assistance clinic staffed by several professional lawyers and a number of paralegals. 

     Talk to them. Get them to help you write that letter. It’s part of your documentation process. (I wish I had done that.) If the behavior stops, all well and good. But if it doesn’t, you have a record of the first incident. And other people know about it.

     When the police find that an offence has been committed, they “lay an information”against a person. This might cause an arrest warrant to be issued.

     Anyone can lay an information. You don’t have to be a police officer. If you complain to the police about some kind of incident or activity, and they refuse to proceed, under Section 504 you can lay an information about a person. This goes before a justice of the peace, who examines the evidence. If they are convinced there is ‘just cause’, charges may be laid and the police will have to arrest that person for trial. However, even if you fail to convince the justice of the peace, at least you have properly documented your complaint.

     The basic rule of life here, is “cover your ass.” And your ass comes ahead of any perp.

     Under Section 264.1 of the Criminal Code, it is unlawful to threaten to cause harm to a person, their property or a pet. The statute provide for up to five years in jail. 

     If someone hits you once, and you let them get away with it, over time it gets harder and harder to lay a charge. Losing has become habituated in the victim.

    

     Statements from victims are useful to judges in imposing sentences. This information is also considered when the convicted person applies for parole. You need to provide ways to document harassment and abuse; and to protect yourself for a number of reasons.

     At first it may be hard to talk about, but over time, you may wish you had done a better job of documentation. A history or documentation going back a few years might carry a lot of weight with a jury. Without being unduly alarmist; it could even help solve a murder or disappearance.

     Speaking of parole, let’s go back to the lab rat studies. When females are taken out of a social group and isolated for a certain amount of time, then re-introduced to the group, there is no big spike in violent behaviour.

     But when males are taken out of the group, and isolated, then returned after a time; there is a significant spike in violent behaviour. Males don’t do well in isolation, and males with a history of violence do even worse in isolation. Jail is social isolation, with massive stress levels built in.

     As a society, we have not confronted the problem of violence with any knowledge of human nature. “We ignore the beast we are trying to tame.”

     Men and women who are in jail are in there mostly for the same reasons: murder, arson, assault, fraud, theft, etc. They commit those crimes for all of the same reasons.

    There are fewer women in jail, but that’s because the court treats them differently.

     It is true that women commit far fewer crimes that we would consider classic: bank stick-ups, “running numbers for the mob,” or “hit men,” but then crime is under no obligation to be an equal opportunity employer. It’s probably fair to say that a lot of women live off or benefit from the proceeds of crimes committed by spouses, and some at least must be aware of it. Women are much more likely to be perceived as victims in this scenario; rather than as accomplices.

     Women are far less likely to go to jail, because they often have dependent children, and the state is unprepared to care properly for them. Women are far less likely to go to jail for anything but a seriously violent offense.  

     Women are less likely to re-offend, while some may believe this is gender-based, I think it’s because they weren’t incarcerated in the first place. The opinion among professionals is that the more people diverted from the prison system, the more crime rates fall. Crime rates are good for conservatives, reactionaries, interested parties, just who you’d expect.

     For women, in the workplace, a situation may develop when a co-worker goes beyond the boundaries of normal friendliness. There is a huge grey area legally; in terms of sexual harassment. It’s scary for both men and women, but for a normal male of the gentlemanly type, certain hints will work, they accept and realize that “no means no.”

     But if a man always stands where he can see down your top, or the boss makes disparaging remarks, insults you all the time, then you either put up with it, move on to different employment, make a formal written complaint, or lay a charge.

     “No one wants to bring a charge, it poisons the whole atmosphere in the workplace, but that unfortunately is the only thing sometimes,” according to women’s advocates. Yet some practical advice might help to solve the situation in a diplomatic manner. Look at the set-up of the office furniture, it may help to move some stuff around, put a couple of good chairs by the desk. Stake out your personal territory and defend it symbolically.

     Play the game, snap a little at the guy and blame PMS. Tell him your boyfriend’s mom is real sick, describe her colostomy operation. “What with the kids, the dog, Harry’s skin condition, I’m just worn to a frazzle…” Keep a bottle of anti-gas pills, or something for fighting diarrhea prominently displayed on your desk, workstation or dashboard.

     If unwanted sexual advances are persistent, yet the guy is basically well-meaning and is merely infatuated, first try and have a private talk. Make your position absolutely clear to him. If you have to comment again, do it in front of witnesses, but not the big boss.

    You may need to use it later. This is a measured response to a situation you don’t have to put up with. If the guy is clearly not a criminal, just has a big crush, a little firmness laced with kindness will work most of the time.

    Whatever. If a man grabs you in the warehouse or something, rake his shins with the side of your shoe, step down smartly on his instep, or boot him appropriately. No court in the land will convict you.

End

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Collecting fossils in Southern Ontario.

Wilson44691

I have always enjoyed rocks. Whenever I’m at a beach, I’m at the water’s edge, looking down for all the coloured stones. When you reckon that all of them beach rocks basically came from somewhere else, the varying ages, the varying compositions and colours, the textures, the markings and the layers…it really is a snapshot of the cosmos. Or something like that…

Sometimes I see a white one with a certain look and I’ll pick it up to see if its igneous, with a vitreous, (glassy) look if you crack one open, which you can do with a bigger boulder to lay it on and a bit of judicious smashing.

Actually, flint has its own colour—it is after all, flint coloured, but I find pretty big pieces of that too, and right along the beaches of Southern Ontario.

I’ve got this little rock lying around here and I honestly think it’s a meteorite, but it really doesn’t correspond to any known type and so it probably isn’t. It’s probably just a rock, possibly a catalyst pellet for some chemical process, or even some kid’s slingshot ammunition. It’s kind of salmon red, porous, and has all kinds of shiny flecks of quartz or something in there. What with all the holes in it, it’s kind of asteroid-like, I have to give it that much. I guess I just like it.

Another thing I like is fossils. Many at the beach are eroded down to a nubbin of their former selves, yet there are some very crisp and clean specimens out there. It helps to know where to look. I only have a couple around the house at any one time but in some sense they’re common around here. I can always get more!

I’ve never been to Cragleith, but I have been to Rock Glen, Hungry Hollow, and a few other places where fossils are found, whether weathered, ground down by beach action, water-smoothed in a brook, or ‘fresh’ from a hillside, due to erosion by waterfall and frost. If you go back to a certain place you can often observe a fresh fall of the bluff or bank. The hillsides along a river are strictly temporary, and where you might draw a blank on one trip can bring a nice brachiopod or whatever the next time through. I’ve never really dug for fossils, I just pick ‘em up when I see them.

At Rock Glen, the waterfall is eating at a hillside, sitting on a shelf of rock, with a kind of grainy dark clay deposits under the ledge. It falls down and get washed clean in the bottom of the creek. The creek is small, and the waterfall and surface rocks are frozen in winter. At the mouth, where it enters the Ausable River, there is another huge embankment, to the south or the right, eroding all the time, again it is that clay. There are gravel and boulder beds right there.

Dlloyd



Digging or fossil collecting on private property requires the permission of the landowner although there is a trail system and some dead-end back roads in the area. Hungry Hollow is a gorge upstream (east) from Rock Glen, where there are extensive rapids, boulder gardens, and the only vertical cliffs in Lambton County. It’s composed of pale white limestone slabs with thick layers of clay under it. There are chunks of it lying all along the cliff base and it’s the cause of the boulder gardens and rapids to begin with.

Trees grow out of cracks, the looming hillsides are heavily wooded and the salmon come up in autumn to spawn. There is a trail going back from a dead end road, ‘Fossil Road,’ take a left on the north side of the Hungry Hollow Road at the bridge. Don’t go in if its heavy snow, a small car can do a three-point turn at the end if you’re careful. Otherwise, I have backed all the way out once or twice. There is an old quarry pit there, but the various sets of rapids, as well as gravel beds and the base of the cliff are possibilities as well, and I’ve been known just to roam along there for a kilometre or so along the north bank.

So here are some Bryozoans collected from the Trent River area, (Campbellford.) Nice work there, guys.

Here’s the fossil website of paleojk. Beautiful photos from all over the place. Says he collects fossils and friends. Fair enough.

Cougar tracking, coyotes and canids.

Puma concolor. Small head, long tail, this one is in the winter coat.

Is the fabled Eastern Cougar moving back into its natural range?

That’s what wildlife lovers are asking. In June of 2007, police in London, Ontario hired a wildlife expert to check out thirty-two reports of cougars in the city and environs.

Proof of deer, wild turkeys, raccoons, coyotes, and “possibly a bobcat,” was found. In late October of that year, a horse was mauled in Parkhill, Ontario. \

“The attack was made by an animal with sharp claws, consistent with a cougar attack,” according to Ontario Provincial Police sources. The horse had to be destroyed by a veterinarian. On October 31 of that year, Parkhill resident Adrian Cornelissen was driving to Watford and spotted a big cat.

“It was huge, yellowish-orange, and it darted right out in front of my car,” in the vicinity of Confederation Line just east of First School Line. “It definitely wasn’t a dog. It looked to be at least a hundred pounds. It had big paws and head…this was no barn cat.”

“I was afraid people wouldn’t believe me and they would laugh at me,” he said, so he called it in to police later, after thinking it over.

That same week the OPP also received a report of a big cat near Confederation Line and Mandaumin Road. Police searched the area but saw nothing.

London area farmer Bill Sweeney insists, “The big cats are for real.”

His encounter with the feline predators came one spring morning as he tiptoed the back forty acres of his farm hoping to get a look at some deer or wild turkeys. He saw a pair of tan-coloured cats, which he had previously seen only in books or in a zoo.

Sweeney watched them, “For a good eight to ten minutes.”

“They were beyond the open woods, just past a high hay field,” he said. “They were about two hundred  metres away.”

One sauntered along a fence line towards him, while the other stayed still.

MickaTP, (Wiki.) Note distinctive shapes.

“There is absolutely no doubt in my mind,” he says.

As he observed them, they bounded into a chase, and a covey of wild turkeys burst out of the tree line.

“People need to know that these are dangerous animals. Be alert, and be informed, especially as regards to your children,” according to Mr. Sweeney.

And on November 15, 2007, a 27-year old Port Franks woman saw a large, black, cat-like animal perched on a branch about thirteen metres from her home. She watched as the animal extended itself down to lower branches then dropped to the ground. She estimated it to be, “at least four feet long.”

When police officers arrived, the animal had left the area. They found no tracks or scratch marks. Police are asking the public to lock their barns and homes, not to walk in the bush or at night, especially alone. Keep pets and children indoors or under direct supervision.

The past five years have seen numerous big cat reports in Ontario.

Cougars are tawny, with reddish-white muzzle, chin and chest. They’re lighter inside the legs and on the belly, and have a black spot over each eye. The tail is the same thickness all along its length, and is comparatively long, while the head is relatively small compared to a lion or a tiger. The young have spots, and rings on the tail which disappear with maturity. With mild winters, there are plenty of rabbits, possum, deer, raccoons, wild turkeys and other small game to support them. It’s only a matter of time before some lucky photographer confirms it.

Rich Beausoleil. (Wiki.)

If you’re hiking, look for tracks to photograph, as a big cat should leave no claw marks. Most cats have retractile claws. Somewhere the big cat will rub up against a tree, and scratch at something just like any other feline. Try and get a sample, just put it in an envelope and label it. You could try sending it to a university zoology department somewhere. Cougar fur will be distinctive under a microscope, although DNA tests are expensive. The husk of a broken claw might be dislodged. If you find tracks regularly, come back later. Mix up some dry-type plaster-repair putty, and make a cast. I would think a big cat would have a pretty distinctive den, if you find one. A mother cat will defend the cubs, incidentally, so you’d better be careful. I found a deer kill once in the woods.

There’s not much to look at, unless it’s winter and you see some tracks leading away.

Then snow conditions dictate how clear the tracks actually are. As for other kinds of spoor, lots of other animals eat rabbits and other small game, and I don’t know how an amateur could really tell the difference. The size of a raccoon, or badger, or coyote ‘spoor’ can be quite startling. A cougar, like any cat will make some attempt to cover its business, and that’s a dead giveaway. No other animal that I’m aware of does that.

The existence of the cougars is not exactly confirmed, but there appears little doubt.

The question as to whether the animals are indeed wild animals re-populating an old range, or merely escapees from zoos and private collectors would seem to be academic.

The animals are clearly here and there needs to be some education as to how to deal with animal encounters in what is usually perceived as a pretty benign environment.

All big cat sightings should be reported to police. It is probably unwise to go looking for a cougar, but if you do, take a friend, and carry a big stick. If you see it first you’re probably okay; but if it pounces from above, it’s really going to hurt, or worse. Cougars usually kill their prey by biting down hard on the neck or throat area. If you’re driving down the road and see one, check the rearview mirror before stopping.

Safety first. I’ve gone looking for cougars two or three times, but I didn’t have any luck. If you have an unlimited budget and good camera, it would be a kind of labour of love to try and get some pictures…give me a call. I know this county like the back of my hand, and I know a couple of really good places to look!

I definitely want to see the big cat before it sees me. The odds of being able to swing up the camera, check the exposure, focus, and get a shot are almost astronomically small.

But it kind of grabs the imagination. The best time to track cougars is in the winter, in daylight, with good weather and visibility. You have to figure out where they will be. You need to get there first, quietly, with the wind just right. Then all you have to do is to sit there and wait and try not to freeze to death…you want to be under cover, with a good field of view in all directions. Don’t forget to look behind you once in a while, and check every big tree on the way in.

They say I’m half cat myself, don’t you know.

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Eastern coyote.

Canid tracks are quite distinctive as any dog, coyote or wolf will show claw marks. Based on size and length of toes, this is not a big possum! Note there are four toes and a large pad behind them which looks like two small ovals and one bigger, wider ovate shape in the middle. A raccoon has very long toes.; a possum will have much longer toes, a badger or any burrowing animal will have even longer claws. This animal weighed between thirty-five and forty-five pounds, and the tracks are about two inches wide, and three inches long.

Snow conditions, melting temperatures, and even simple air circulation at sub-zero temperatures will enlarge any tracks. It is a matter of knowing what local weather conditions have been like over the previous week. Generally speaking, any dog will have a human companion. If you find tracks like this without any corresponding boot prints, then some caution is advised.

Generally speaking, an Eastern  coyote is up to twenty-five percent larger than their western cousins, and they do travel in a small, nuclear family type of pack. Timber wolves are extremely rare in Ontario, although there are a number of confirmed packs in the region of Algonquin Park.

“Ki-ki-wah-pah min mino.” (Goodbye.)

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Coyotes kill Toronto singer, Cape Breton Island. (CBC.)

Hiking in Mountain Lion Country. (About.com, Hiking.)