And now for something completely different again

 This is a dump of a build up of stuff I am too lazy to file in appropriate folders. They are not in any particular order because I cant figure an easy way to sort them. Click to enlarge

The Photograph

The phone rang at 2:47 in the morning.

Why me, Lord? Drunk with a wrong number, I thought, and was not going to answer it. Something told me this might be real, so I reluctantly picked it up. “Yeah?”

“You have to help me. My daughter has disappeared”, woman’s voice, crying and scared but still in control.

“Missing persons is a police case, why involve a PI”?

“They think I’m crazy. They just laughed at me”.

“Ok, when did your daughter disappear?” “Yesterday. . . tomorrow, I don’t know. There is this strange photograph…and it frightens me.”

A photograph shouldn’t set a person off unless connected to kidnapping or blackmail. This didn’t sound like it, or she would have said so. “OK, lady, we better meet but not here. There is a Bar and Grill on Kenneth and Matilda. Meet you there in half an hour. And it will cost you $500 dollars just for getting me up in the middle of the night”.

It was only 15 minutes from my flat, but I wanted to get there first to see what I was dealing with before I was cornered into something. I ordered a Scotch and sat at a corner table where I could see all sides, back to the wall, and waited. She came in looking behind her as though fearing pursuit.

She introduced herself, “My name is Francine Devries. My daughter Isabella has disappeared. She found a strange photograph of herself sound asleep, in a strange room. It was dated three days from now. The room looked like our attic. Curious, she went in and never came out. The attic door is sealed from the inside”.

“I’m Rick O’Shea and you owe me $500”. She slid the bills across the table, “Next month’s grocery money”. Make me feel guilty, will she? I tucked the bills in my shirt.

“Tell me about the house and this attic. I’ll go and see it in the morning. Not much I can do tonight. If your daughter is in that attic she will still be there in the morning”.

“It is an old house, kind of run down on a side street, Cul de sac. We have only lived there a couple of years. Just since her father died. We had no money. It was shelter and it was cheap.”

“Nothing strange ever happened there before? Sounds, footsteps, anything missing from the house?”

“Old houses always make weird sounds, especially when the wind blows.”

We went back to my flat. Francine wasn’t going to sleep anyhow, so I poured us both a drink, and threw a blanket on the couch for her. Next morning we had breakfast and went to this mystery house with the seemingly one-way attic door.

It was one dilapidated place, no wonder it was cheap. We went upstairs to the attic entrance. As Francine said, the door was sealed, like it had been glued to the frame.

This time there was a note on the door on very old, yellowed paper, “Do not attempt to force this door. You cannot know what horrors await you on the other side”.  

Force the door? I’d have needed a sledgehammer and a cutting torch. But who placed the note? It had to have been done last night when we were not here. Were they back inside the attic?

“OK, I am going to sleep up here and see what happens”.  I didn’t believe in ghosties, and ghoulies, long legged beasties, and things that go bump in the night. Yeah, right...and O’Shea is an Italian name.

“I’m staying right here and taking no chances on unknown person(s) showing up with more notes for the door. Can you bring me some food and a couple of blankets, please?” I should have brought my Scotch, a too-late afterthought.

By the time it got dark, I was bored out of my mind. No sounds, no nothing. I lay down and tried to sleep. At 3:00 am I was instantly alert, my hair standing on end. They say there is nothing sweeter than a baby’s laughter, except there was no baby. Laughter…then silence, so thick you could pour gravy on it.

I turned on my flashlight and looked at the door. Another picture, another note. The picture was Isabella, looking very happy. It was dated today. The note said, “Thank you for sending her to us. She will be very happy here and we will look after her.”

I grabbed my things, raced down the stairs, flung the money at Francine, and ran. Dealing with the other world is a job for an exorcist, not a PI. When I got to my office, I poured myself a tumbler of Scotch to steady my nerves. After two more tumblers I was so steady, I couldn’t move.

Cuurent information on Ukrainian Agriculture

 Russia's genocidal war against Ukraine continues with terror bombings of residential areas in Ternopil and Zaporizhzhia. Gas and electic infastructure is also attacked to ensure Ukrainians suffer from cold this winter. Ukrainians are fighting back, sending rockets and drones deep into russia, destroying oli refineries and now power generation and distribution in line with Russian attacks. Gasoline and diesel are in short supply in Russia. Areas around Moscow are cold and dark. Yet no matter how much destruction Ukraine inflicts on Russian drone and rocket factories they still keep coming night and day. The Russian economy is staggering but propped up by Iran and China, though the latter claims not to be involved. 

Ukraine was once the breadbasket of Europe (some claim it is the bridebasket of Europe but I digress). Now it provides grain to nations in the Middle East and in Northern Africa. Russia has attempted to cut off Ukraine's grain trade and replace it with their own wheat or wheat stolen from Ukraine. Ukrainian export of wheat and corn has been able to resume by hugging the Black Sea coastal waters of neighbouring countries. 

And Ukrainian farmers are fighting back. One farmer carries a shotgun to use against incoming drones. Ukraine is adapting to Russia’s genocidal war by going digital.  The scale of adoption is striking. This is not limited to the huge Oligarch-controlled farms over which Brussels is obsessed. They only make up 10% to 20% of farmed area in Ukraine.

Use of digital technology on Ukrainian farms

Some of these farms are adjacent to active combat in Sumy and Kherson oblasts. They use the same satellite imagery systems to spot crop stress and avoid freshly mined areas.

Digital technology chains together. Sixty-eight percent use yield mapping in combines, feeding data into next year’s variable-rate seeding plans. Fifty-three percent automate grain truck routes from field to elevator. Forty-two percent eliminated paper waybills, and 38% use electronic queues at delivery points—no drivers idling for hours while Russia launches missiles at grain infrastructure.

Russia wants to wreck Ukraine’s economy through bombardment. Ukrainian producers are building the infrastructure to do the opposite—feed more people with fewer inputs, using farmers’ phones and satellites instead of more land and diesel.

Russia’s energy warfare strategy has proven more effective at inflating food costs than destroying Ukraine’s agricultural capacity, revealing a sophisticated shift in economic warfare tactics.

Inflation in the food group is 22%. Electricity, logistics, and fuel costs for businesses are constantly rising, as is the need to raise wages. All these factors shape wholesale prices at bakeries much more than grain costs.

Current retail prices reflect this inflation: rye bread averaging 45.83 hryvnias ($1.11 USD) for a 300-gram loaf in major Ukrainian supermarkets as of August 2025, while standard loaves (450 grams) now cost an average of 36.7 hryvnias ($0.89 USD)—nearly 9 hryvnias ($0.22) higher than the previous year.

Ukraine’s National Bank raised interest rates to 14.5% in January to combat overall inflation, which reached 15.9% in May before moderating to 14.1% in July 2025.

Ukrainian exports dropped 33% in the first two months of the 2025/26 marketing year compared to the previous season. Yet grain prices are rising, with wheat climbing from 7,350 UAH/t ($178 USD) in mid-September to 8,750 UAH/t ($212 USD), driven by Russian attacks on energy infrastructure rather than supply shortages.

Medium-sized and family businesses account for about 80% of agricultural enterprises, while only 20% operate companies with more than 10,000 hectares. The 8,600 medium-sized farms of 200-2,000 hectares—not the massive holdings that dominate headlines—produced over 50% of cereal output before the war.  Farms under 1,000 hectares account for 58% of production.

While Russian forces steal grain from occupied territories and systematically target food infrastructure, Ukrainian farmers continue producing crops that feed both domestic and global markets.

This agricultural persistence represents more than economic necessity—it demonstrates the resilience and institutional capacity that make Ukraine’s European integration both possible and strategically vital—if Brussels can move beyond its misconceptions to recognize the complex reality of Ukrainian agriculture fighting for survival and a European future.

Sources:

https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/10/03/ukraine-agriculture-digitization-war/

https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/09/18/ukrainian-grain-exports-plunge-33-as-eu-integration-advances/

https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/09/08/ukraine-bread-prices-surge-russian-energy-attacks/

Dinosaurs

 After a week with my 3 year old grandson, I now know more about dinosaurs than I did before. I learned about Brontosaurus, Pterydactyls, Tryceratops and T. Rex. The latter two are his favourites. He even knew they lived at the same time and fought each other. His two stuffies of them fought incessantly, mostly on my lap. I had to Google them to learn they lived at the same time and according to archaelology actually did fight each other. 

What is with toddlers, both boys and girls, that they are fascinated with dinosaurs as soon as they are old enough to go "ROAAAR"? I cannot remember what my kids were obsessd with at that age. My Little Pony? Cabbage Patch dolls? Someone help me. Late 70s, early 80s. What were toddlers into? 

Anyway, I found the perfect Christmas gift for him. Send a picture of the child and they stick it riding on either a T. rex or a Triceratops. I will ask him what his favourite is. 

https://www.amazon.ca/Duckbe-Custom-Photo-Blanket-Giganotosaurus/dp/B0CG932295/ref=sr_1_14_sspa?th=1

The SS Edmund Fitzgerald

November 10th marked the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald in Lake Superior. I was reminded of this when my social media was flooded by people who did remember and were quoting Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald. The following has been adapted from Wikipedia to provide background.

SS Edmund Fitzgerald was an American Great Lakes freighter that sank in Lake Superior during a storm on November 10, 1975, with the loss of the entire crew of 29 men. 

When launched on June 7, 1958, she was the largest ship on North America's Great Lakes. The Edmund Fitzgerald was the first laker built to the maximum St. Lawrence Seaway size, which was 730 feet (222.5 m) long, 75 feet (22.9 m) wide, and with a 25-foot (7.6 m) draft. The vertical height of the hull) was 39 ft (12 m). The hold depth (the inside height of the cargo hold) was 33 ft 4 in (10.16 m).

Edmund Fitzgerald's three central cargo holds were loaded through 21 watertight cargo hatches, each 11 by 48 feet (3.4 by 14.6 m) of ⁵⁄₁₆-inch-thick (7.9 mm) steel. Loading Edmund Fitzgerald with 26,535 t of taconite pellets (a variety of iron ore) took about four and a half hours, while unloading took around 14 hours.

For 17 years, Edmund Fitzgerald carried taconite from mines along the Minnesota Iron Range near Duluth, Minnesota, to iron works in Detroit, Michigan; Toledo, Ohio; and other Great Lakes ports, passing through the Soo Locks (between Lakes Superior and Huron) and St. Clair and Detroit rivers (between Lake Huron and Lake Erie),

A round trip between Superior, Wisconsin, and Detroit, Michigan, usually took her five days and she averaged 47 similar trips per season. The vessel's usual route was between Superior, Wisconsin, and Toledo, Ohio. By November 1975, Edmund Fitzgerald had logged an estimated 748 round trips on the Great Lakes and covered more than a million miles, "a distance roughly equivalent to 44 trips around the world."

Edmund Fitzgerald left Superior, Wisconsin, at 2:15 p.m. on the afternoon of November 9, 1975, under the command of Master Captain McSorley. She was en route to the steel mill near Detroit, Michigan, with a full cargo of taconite ore pellets and soon reached her full speed of 16.3 miles per hour (26.2 km/h). Around 5 p.m., Edmund Fitzgerald joined a second freighter under the command of Captain Jesse B. "Bernie" Cooper, Arthur M. Anderson, destined for Gary, Indiana.

The weather forecast was not unusual for November, and the National Weather Service (NWS) predicted that a storm would pass just south of Lake Superior by 7 a.m. on November 10. At 2:00 a.m. on November 10, the NWS upgraded its warnings from gale to storm, forecasting winds of 65–93 km/h. The NWS later altered its forecast, issuing gale warnings for the whole of Lake Superior. Arthur M. Anderson and Edmund Fitzgerald altered course northward, seeking shelter along the Ontario shore, but sailed directly into the storm at when the wind shifted. Edmund Fitzgerald reported winds of 52 knots (96 km/h; 60 mph) and waves 10 feet (3.0 m) high.

Routes usually taken vs actual trackline

After 1:50 p.m., Arthur M. Anderson logged winds of 93 km/h, wind speeds again picked up rapidly, and it began to snow at 2:45 p.m., reducing visibility; Arthur M. Anderson lost sight of Edmund Fitzgerald, which was about 16 miles (26 km) ahead at the time.

Shortly after 3:30 p.m., Edmund Fitzgerald began taking on water and had lost two vent covers, both radars, and developed a list. Shortly after 4:10 p.m., Captain McSorley said that he would slow his ship down so that Arthur M. Anderson could close the gap between them to within a 10-mile (16 km) range so she could receive radar guidance from the other ship.

For a time, Arthur M. Anderson directed Edmund Fitzgerald toward the relative safety of Whitefish Bay; then, at 4:39 p.m., McSorley contacted the USCG station in Grand Marais, Michigan, to inquire whether the Whitefish Point light and navigation beacon were operational and was informed later that the light was active, but the navigation beacon was not.

By late in the afternoon of November 10, sustained winds of over 93 km/h were recorded by ships and observation points across eastern Lake Superior. Arthur M. Anderson logged sustained winds as high as 107 km/h while waves increased to as high as 25 feet (7.6 m) by 6:00 p.m. Arthur M. Anderson was also struck by 130 to 139 km/h gusts and rogue waves as high as 35 feet (11 m).

 In a broadcast shortly afterward, the United States Coast Guard (USCG) warned all shipping that the Soo Locks had been closed, and they should seek safe anchorage.

Sometime after 5:30 p.m., Edmund Fitzgerald reported being in difficulty; at 7:10 p.m., Captain McSorley sent his last message, "We are holding our own". Shortly after 7:10 p.m., Edmund Fitzgerald suddenly sank in Canadian (Ontario) waters 530 feet (88 fathoms; 160 m) deep, about 17 miles (27.36 km) from Whitefish Bay near the twin cities of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario—a distance Edmund Fitzgerald could have covered in just over an hour at top speed. Her crew of 29 perished, and no bodies were recovered.

She was located in deep water on November 14, 1975, by a U.S. Navy aircraft detecting magnetic anomalies, and found soon afterwards to be in two large pieces.

Position of the wreck in a relatively small area

In 1976, the U.S. Navy dived on the wreck and found Edmund Fitzgerald lying in two large pieces in 530 feet (160 m) of water. Navy estimates put the length of the bow section at 276 feet (84 m) and that of the stern section at 253 feet (77 m). The bow section stood upright in the mud, some 170 feet (52 m) from the stern section that lay capsized at a 50-degree angle from the bow. In between the two broken sections lay a large mass of taconite pellets and scattered wreckage lying about, including hatch covers and hull plating.

The exact cause of the sinking remains unknown. Several hypotheses have been put forward (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Edmund_Fitzgerald from where this post was extracted and adapted. None explain satisfactorily how the Edmund Fitzgerald  split almost exactly in two and came to rest with half upside down and half right side up, with iron ore pellets scattered over only 2 acres.

Edmund Fitzgerald is among the largest and best-known vessels lost on the Great Lakes, but she is not alone on the Lake Superior seabed in that area. In the years between 1816, when Invincible was lost, and 1975, when Edmund Fitzgerald sank, the Whitefish Point area had claimed at least 240 ships.