Feb

2016

Random chance matters in real life

In the closing days of January, five snowmobilers died when an avalanche roared down the slopes of Mt. Renshaw, east of Prince George. Ordinarily, when I hear of these accidents, I tend to rant about human stupidity. About overgrown boys with too much horsepower and too little common sense, testing the limits of their machines’ performance on unstable slopes, failing to take reasonable precautions… Not in this case, apparently. Although some early reports called the avalanche “human caused,” later reports didn’t repeat that allegation. Later reports also described the snowmobilers – 17 people, in four separate groups – as well prepared and experienced back country sledders. Indeed, their safety equipment saved most of them. Two GPS tracking devices indicated their location instantly when the slide hit. Search and Rescue teams already in the area were able to reach the disaster site in minutes. A helicopter was on its way soon after. The survivors were already digging out their buried friends. Even so, they were too late for five people.

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Categories: Sharp Edges

Tags: chance, real life

10

Feb

2016

Breathe in, breathe out

Author: Jim Taylor

My telephone was the victim of a hit-and-run accident about a week ago. A pair of moving trucks came down the lane that runs beside our house. I happened to be looking out the window, just in time to see an upper corner of the leading truck hook the electrical lines that run between a pole and our house.
The lines snapped.

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Categories: Soft Edges

Tags: breathe

7

Feb

2016

Confessions of a CBC addict

Author: Jim Taylor

My name is Jim, and I listen to the CBC. It didn’t start that way. When I was young, my parents listened to the CBC, so of course I didn’t. Because I grew up in Vancouver, I listened to Red Robinson. I coveted Jack Cullen’s enormous personal library of 78-rpm records. My first full-time job was in private radio. The CBC was our publicly-funded enemy. That all changed when I got a job as program producer for a tiny CBC station in Prince Rupert, on B.C.’s north coast. With only 250 watts of power, its signal barely reached beyond the city limits. But it was the only radio station for 100 miles. There was nothing else to listen to. And I began to discover two things – the wealth of thought that went into CBC programs, and the motivation that drove them.

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Categories: Sharp Edges

Tags: CBC

3

Feb

2016

Reclaiming the goodness of darkness

Author: Jim Taylor

A while ago, my wife Joan had to get up early for a hospital appointment. Very early -- her alarm went off at 5:30 a.m., when the world outside was still as dark as, well, my thoughts about getting up that early.
Joan tried to make as little noise as possible, which of course made every noise more intrusive – the click of a light switch, the rush of the shower, the buzz of the electric toothbrush….

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Categories: Soft Edges

Tags: goodness, darkness

27

Jan

2016

The difficulty of overcoming inertia

Author: Jim Taylor

My cat’s brain runs on a very early version of Windows. I can almost see the sensory inputs working their way through his mental programming:
“Oh look, a door is opening. I might like to go out.
“I don’t want to seem too eager. I’ll take my time.
“The door is still open. Oh oh! It’s starting to close.
“Perhaps I should hurry!
“Ow, that hurt! Who shut the door on me?”

Comments (0) Number of views (1112)

Categories: Soft Edges

Tags: inertia

Jim Taylor's Columns - 'Soft Edges' and 'Sharp Edges'

Random chance matters in real life

Breathe in, breathe out

Confessions of a CBC addict

Reclaiming the goodness of darkness

The difficulty of overcoming inertia

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