Up to Parr?

So here are a few unrelated thoughts and I settle in for a long sleepless night.

The photo is of two of the coolest bosses I've ever had. One, Mike, is in Africa working on some development/engineering project - I believe with Engineers without borders, but I could be wrong. Cool world view - thanks for many fascinating conversations on the way up to the "gouche".

Pete, note the crazy bush beard, is still in New Brunswick, but has about a million of the best and craziest stories about Vermont, New York, Seattle and some jobs that made my employment record look mundane. The two of them, after a previous stint doing research with yet another grad. student in Thunder Bay and my boyfriend's own tendencies, compspired to turn me into a CBC listener.

Here they are, after a rather long and intense week of work, stretching poor tormented backs at the end of the day. As for the Parr... well those are the little 1-2 year old salmon we were researching. Coolest fish ever!!

In a completely unrelated thread - note the link above - The court's thankfully tossed out a lawsuit blaming the Provincial Government for the death of a family member owing to West Nile Virus. Not that I don't feel sympathy for the family, however, the government isn't not responsible for preventing every unforseeable disaster from coming to our lives. Besides, in the case of West Nile - utter prevention would likely have required drastic measures with unpalatable environmental and human health effects. Perhaps the blame should fall on travellers who brought the disease here (lots of people are relatively irresponsible about preventing transmission of disease home from abroad. )....... The Sueing bug (with its permenent source in the States) is ruining our society - taking individual responsibility away along with the freedom to take risks. The cost - we can't do anything, costs of operating spiral out of control and often the benifits don't warrent the cost incurred merely to prevent being sued when someone decides to take a risk - often going against posted rules - hurts themselves and sues anyone they can get their hands on. Growl!! Okay.. to rephrase that - decisions are frequently made based on litigation prevention rather than for practical reasons... not a good way to think or plan or spend money. Nor is it healthy for individuals who believe that everyone but themselves are to blame when their decisions cause them personal injury.

Safety and due diligence are important, but individuals should be held responsible for their choices and their consequences.

Jenn