Remember when

We were winning Winter Olympic medals every day. Yea, that was fun. But in all seriousness, this is probably our best year ever. Sochi2014!

Winter in Cowtown

I saw this picture and I laughed. Then I cried. Because it's true.

Happy New Year

December brought the most snow the city has seen in 100 years. July brought the most rain in the same amount of time. For the first time ever there will be residential snow removal. The cost will be astronomical (same folks who hate higher taxes scream for better residential snow removal in the deep deep suburbs.) Check out the picture of some of the work being done:

Nenshi Again

If you're a fan then things only get better. http://globalnews.ca/news/981353/calgary-mayor-named-one-canadas-most-important-people/ If you're not a fan, which is a vocal minority, like the suburban developers, then you won't really care.

Nenshi in Landslide

Did you vote? Chances are you didn't. 6 out of 10 eligible voters didn't get out. Not that it would've made a difference. Having said that, if the entire readership of the Calgary Sun actually voted things might be different, but alas, they don't (plus how reads the Sun nowadays anyways?)

Post flooding Calgary 2013

But with devastation there's a will to get back to normal. Although stampede had the best resources available to get ready, they still made it in time.

Source: www.flickr.com/the_kav

Calgary post flood pics 2013

Memorial drive underwater. Flooded every house to the ridge.

The train tracks from the C Train bent out of shape. The tracks were back up in running in under 2 week.s

Calgary Flooding pics 2013

10 st bridge on the Friday near the height of the flood. The river flow as a mere couple hundred cubic meters/second less than Niagara Falls..... The water is usually 20+ feet lower than what you see.

Alberta Floods Devastate Calgary and high River

It's the week of June 17th. The rains have been relentless. The snowmelt in the mountains above in the Rockies is starting to seep and flow into the rivers. This coupled with unprecedented rainfall combined for a perfect storm for a flooding disaster. The rivers swelled, and the cities built on floodplains (Calgary being the largest, High River taking the greatest devastation) were hit hard. 100000 people displaced in Calgary. Shockingly most of the displaced were housed both in High River and Calgary by friends, family, and strangers. The community combined for unprecedented response. Flooded areas, rich (it's hard to help someone who's cleaning off 10,000 bottles of wine to keep from their basement when there's a poor family next door, but people did it!) and poor were hit the same. Bowness, Sunnyside, Elbow Park, all underwater (high river too). A week after the rains subsided all but high river were saved. In fact, under two weeks later the Calgary Stampede, that was entirely underwater, opened for guests. The city has prevailed, but the question looms, how will we approach the prospect (certainty) of future flooding? No more building? Flood mitigation plans? And how much will that cost? And what is the cost of our current environmental impact on future flooding?

Snowden and Whistleblowers - America's Travesty

Republicans for their part a bit strange. They want less government but also highly praise expansive military pursuits. NSA was given legs under Bush and pretty much approved under Obama. Turns out they're spying on EVERYONE. Interestingly, not much coming out of Canada, and you have to be essentially assured that if France, Germany, all those Euro zones, were being targeted, Canada was being watched by the NSA, and CSIS is undoubtedly in the mix. Scary to know nothing is sacred.....