Pique'n Yer Interest

When the dinos go on sale, you know people will do anything for money. On June 1, at around 1 p.m., ancient dinosaur skulls with eye sockets the size of dinner plates joined the list of Big Bad Things You Can Buy.

Two weeks ago Pique staffers attended a conference put on by the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ). It was a sparsely-attended event by national standards, owing to the sad financial state that media find themselves in today.

A lot of locals were disappointed two weeks ago when pay parking was introduced in the Telus Conference Centre underground, one of the last bastions of free parking in Whistler Village.

My debit card got skimmed this past weekend. Yours probably did too. I noticed it when I went to a Rexall in Whistler Village to buy a bottle of shampoo. My fast-receding hair doesn't naturally smell of roses so I need to wash the stuff.

Jackpot. We did it. We hooked them in. We got their pulses racing. Yes, just like that, we're thrust back in the Master's Chair, resuming our places as Keepers of Information and Sharers of Secrets.

Canada is not served very well by its party system, or our first-past-the-post electoral system. It's time to shake things up a bit. Federally, we have four centre-left parties if you include the Bloc, and one party on the right.

Casual observers of the news can be forgiven for seeing economy, environment and infrastructure as the most important issues in this year's provincial election.

The environmental movement can be extremely successful when it concentrates on a single issue. The ban on the pesticide DDT is one example. Reducing sulfur dioxide gas emissions to prevent acid rain is another.

Last Sunday, like clockwork, it happened again. I was standing in the Vancouver International Airport waiting to pass through the immigration department when the usual surge of panic I feel every time I enter Canada started flooding through my veins.

I've always been a common sense kind of guy, although that's not always a good thing.