The above Euchre hand was accomplished with a very big “IF” that left Lynn McNeill on pins and needles for seven consecutive passes.  In the game, Lynn was dealing, followed by Harold, Garth (her partner) and Esther. Lynn had dealt herself that perfect hand in Diamonds. No, she did not cheat folks, Lynn would never do that in this lifetime. A Club was turned as trump so, of course, Lynn could only count that perfect hand if she had a chance to bid in another suit – that was the big “if”.

The bidding began:

Harold – pass (crap hand)
Garth – pass (crap hand)
Esther – pass  (so, so, but not in Clubs)
Lynn then turned down the initial trump card

Second Round:

Harold – pass (same crap hand)
Garth – pass (same crap hand)
Esther – considered whether she was strong enough to take in another suit, then, after some hesitation, ‘passed’
Lynn erupted (uncharacteristically I might add) by calling Diamonds and throwing down her hand. Lynn never lets us throw down a hand as she wants to play fully play out each round.

Not one of us had ever been close to the perfect hand in either Euchre or Cribbage.

What were the odds of that hand coming up?

A check of Internet sources suggest the odds of getting that hand as something in the order of 1 in 100,000. The fact Lynn was dealing and could not use the trump card significantly decreased her chances as it seemed possible someone might grab the Club (in the first round) or Spades or Hearts in the second.  As it turned out, no one else held a strong hand.

The odds are likely beyond that for the initial hand, as it seems likely they would have increased significantly by having to wait for those seven passes.  If someone picks up on this post and can suggest the final odds, that would be appreciated.

Oh, just to mention, Lynn did go alone with the hand and that resulted in she and her partner, Garth, picking up 4 points to win third set and the three game series.

As congratulations were in order, Garth popped the top on another bottle of Champaign to complete our New Years 2014 Celebration.  Oh well, the 9:00 am ferry will work just as well as the 7:00 am, as we are all on our way to Seattle, then San Francisco to further celebrate the winning hand.

Happy New Year Everyone

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March 21, 2018 (547).  Update.  With the current furore over data mining on Facebook, this post is again brought forward from December 2014. Was has increased in frequency in recent months and years is the number of posts asking you to find out something about yourself.   Each such post often asks a number of innocuous questions, that help to define you and your interests.

Every link you share and every comment you make helps to define who you are as a person and under the current setting profiles, that information can be mined. Anyone who shares information about themselves must be aware that information can be used to help define how best to influence you on a wide variety of issues.

Perhaps this article has even more relevance four years after it was written.

Cheers,

Harold

Privacy Notice by way of the Rome Convention

This post is brought forward and updated from a Tim Horton’s Morning Post of September 2012, as almost every day I see another comment invoking this privacy warning. While it only takes a moment to check SNOPES or other sites to find out whether the Rome Convention has some standing, many still accept it at face value. Even if it did have some effect, does that really make any difference?

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The following letter was first published on Facebook following a rant by an Island resident, Sean Smith of Nanaimo.
After making the post it seems many FB friends also think highly of the service.

November 15, 2014
Victoria, B.C.

Dear Sean Smith,

Re: Your Rant about BC Ferries (Link Here)

I went through your rant point by point and while some of what is said seems superficially reasonable, if one delves in deeper, I think you’re wrong on almost every point. Having ridden various coastal ferries thousands of times over the past fifty years, I find the service to be exceptional and would stack it above every other ferry service in the world (e.g. England, NZ, Mediterrean, USA, etc.). Many of the others provide good service, they just don’t match BC Ferries.

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Facebook Screen Shot
(Double Click to Open in Full Size)

Facebook Photo Albums Easy Access

Have you ever tried to locate a specific Photo Album in your Facebook files?  When writing stories, as well as at times on the request of others, I have had to locate a specific photo album. If the file was a few years back, it can be a tedious process. Those who are more experienced in the technology, you may have a quicker method, but after sitting down one day in an seemingly endless search for one album in the 400 or so on my regular FB and another 150 on McNeill Life Stories FB pages, I decided to index.   It took me only an 45 minutes.  Given I have wasted that much time on a single search, I can now do the search in less than a minute.  How?

Bookmarking: Am I just slow or what?

Starting at the top (or bottom if you wish), hover over the name of the album, and the drop down box allows you to index on your Bookmarks Page.  Simple stuff I know, but until I figured this out I had wasted dozens of hours finding specific albums.  Below is one same of the albums uploaded back in 2008 at Mom’s 90th Birthday Party.  It is so nice just to be able to click on the specific file and be taken back six years to the exact file.

Cheers,

Harold

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In Memory of Herbert W. Ramsden
1921 – 2014

On November 3, 2014 Pilot Officer Herbert (Bert) W. Ramsden, passed away peacefully at his home in Saanich, British Columbia. The young war hero and others who fought with him in the Second World War shall not be forgotten.

“At the age of 93, Bert joins his beloved wife, Marie who predeceased him in 2004, as well as parents, Joseph and Mercy and brothers, Cal (Eleanor) and Cec (Bess).  Born in Castor, Alta., Bert is survived by his son, Don (Nancy); daughter, Karen (Chip); grandchildren, Andrea (Chris), Jennie (Trevor), Jon, Jamie and Jeff and great-grandchild, Zachary.” (McCall’s Funeral Chapel)

A memorial service will be held at 1:00 pm on Friday, November 14, 2014  at
St. Aidan’s United Church, 3703 St. Aidan’s Street in Victoria.  

After a chance meeting at a Son’s of Norway dinner in early 2012, I continued to meet regularly with Bert over that spring to learn more about his years as a bomber pilot with the Royal Canadian Air Force.  Bert still had many photographs along with all his log books from the time he began training, until he mustered out in 1945.

His service with the RCAF included dozens of missions into the Fjords of Norway, where, in one battle that became known as Black Friday, eleven of Bert’s fellow pilots and navigators were killed. Bert and his co-pilot along with a few other aircraft from the 404 Beaufighter Squadron  managed to escape and return to base.  Over the course of several meetings Bert told me the full story of his war experience.  Thaty story, titled Black Friday in Norway, was written and posted in June, 2012.

Ninety-one at the time of our meetings, Bert was ever the affable pilot officer who was still more than able to charm the young women at our various coffee stops and restaurants we frequented along the way. While his vision was failing, his mind remained sharp as a tack and his easy going manner made him a hit.  Bert was also a humble man who did not think his actions in war were anything extraordinary – he was just doing his job.

The photos in the post and in the photo album attached to the post were copied mainly  from Bert’s personal files and from various Web Sites that carried information about Black Friday battle.  During the period of research and writing, an amazing coincidence became apparent with that coincidence being written up in a separate post (linked in the main story).

Tomorrow we shall take some time to remember Bert and the thousands of other young men and woman who left their homes, families, farms, businesses and careers to join in the Second World War effort in Europe and other parts off the world.  While Bert returned home without injury, many of his comrades in arms were not so lucky and it is on November 11 of each year we celebrate these young men and women whose sacrifice made to made our world a better place.  While I say that Bert returned without injury, it is clear he still carried with him, even at the age of 91, great sadness that he returned while so many of his flying comrades died in the battles in the skies above Norway and elsewhere.

We shall remember Bert.

Harold McNeill
November 10, 2014
Victoria, B.C.

Link to Black Friday in Norway

Link to an Amazing Coincidence

Remembering Viet Nam

Link to Remembrance Day 2012  (with photo of Lynn’s Dad and Mom at their wedding, in England, just before Lynn’s Dad left for the front in Italy).

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New Years Eve 2013 (Brentwood Inn):  While young people are always a big part of the spirit of every community, the current demographic is a new breed committed to maintaining and improving small communities and they have the power to greatly influence how life in the Capital Region will unfold by Keeping the Spirit Alive.
By coincidence, there are thirteen young people in this photograph. We have worked, travelled and partied with many of these young people during a good part of their lives.
(March 3, 2018, 535)

November 9, 2014: A new post on McNeill Life Stories Facebook Page:
Thirteen Communities and Ninety-Two largely Volunteer Councillors 

The Real Costs of Amalgamation (Time Colonist November 23, 2014)

Another Post on this Blog: Amalgamation, Searching for the Truth

To our younger family members and friends in the Capital Region,

Do you think it possible that one morning you might wake up and your community, as you know it, was suddenly changed forever?  I am not referring to a natural disaster such as an earthquake or hurricane, but to a political change that would affect the fabric of your community and the social glue that holds it together.  Please take a few minutes to digest the attached post and other links provided in the footer.

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Cartoon (Modified Web Source):  It is amazing how good information can change the complexion of an entire debate.
Join in A Search for the Truth.

Update March 30, 2016,  The Research Paper referenced in this post was first published in 1999 by Dr. Robert L. Bish, as he neared the end of his career at the University of Victoria, School of Public Administration.  Seventeen years later, in 2016, Dr. Bish collaborated with Josef Filipowicz at the Fraser Institute to provide a complete update of the information presented in the original study.
Link to the Fraser Institute Study

(Link to Photo Album of this amazing place we call home)

Link to the Next Post in Series: Local Communities: Keeping the Spirit Alive

November 9, 2014: A new post on McNeill Life Stories Facebook Page:
Thirteen Communities and Ninety-Two largely Volunteer Councillors 

The Real Costs of Amalgamation (Time Colonist November 23, 2014)
March 2018 (Count 609)

Dear Reader,

This post provides a short overview and links to four studies that will likely answer many questions as to whether amalgamation of some or all the Municipalities in the CRD or of the Police Services in the Capital Region, is warranted.

These excellent works, written by a world-renowned expert in the field, Dr. Robert L. Bish, provide not only an in-depth review of the comparative costs and operational efficiencies in the Capital Region, it also compares the BC Regional District system with other city and municipal systems across Canada and the United States.

These studies provide clear evidence the Regional District system as developed in British Columbia, is the most inclusive, efficient and cost-effective form of Government in North America. In that regard, British Columbia was, and continues to be, a leader in the field and is often cited as a model for others.

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College (L to R): (T) Langford, Sidney, Victoria, Saanich, Highlands,
(C) Esquimalt, (Malahat), (CRD) Oak Bay, Metchosin,
(B) Colwood, Sooke, North Saanich, Central Saanich, View Royal
(Link to Photo Album)
Link to original Post: Amalgamation in Victoria

Note: After this Question and Answer post was written and published, and by pure chance, while doing a further search, an astounding discovery was made: The Bish Papers.  These papers, written by a renowned Economist and researcher into Public Administration, pulled away the veil of opinion and conjecture that defined the debate on Amalgamation. You may still wish to read this post and the one previous (linked above), however for solid, reliable information read the papers Dr. Robert L. Bish.  Link here:

Amalgamation: A Search for the Truth

The Real Costs of Amalgamation (Time Colonist November 23, 2014)

Introduction:

Since posting the original Amalgamation article in 2011, then updating it in October 2014, a number of exchanges regarding the content have taken place. The updated original (linked above) spoke to the many advantages of living in the Capital Regional District.  Clearly, not everyone agreed: dysfunctional, costly, over-supplied, cronyism, duplication, poor-decision making, hidden incompetence, poor media coverage, etc. These were just a few of the words used to describe the CRD and its members.

The words were spoken by otherwise thoughtful, intelligent individuals who are totally committed to the cause of amalgamation. On the other hand, I am equally committed to preserving the best of what we have. Most often the comments on either side appear only in posts where an individual is preaching to the converted.  In this post, the contrasting ideologies are placed side by side. Whatever may be the outcome, I don’t want CRD members or electorate, being pushed into making a decision based on faulty information or the whims of a few people. The four situations in #7 involving bad and very expensive outcomes pushed forward by persons in a position of power, as outlined in the final section of this post.

First, a sample of the questions asked and the answers given:

1. Question: 

There is a thing you refuse to answer in your posts and that really hits at the core of the matter: if you were drawing municipal boundaries from scratch based on what would serve the people of the region best, would you draw the lines where they are today?

Painting:  Watercolor painting of the southwest bastion of Fort Victoria with harbour to the left by Sarah Crease (wife of Henry), 8 September 1860.  It was from these humble beginnings other communities began to take shape along the Saanich Peninsula and West to a community now called Sooke.

Answer:

I have mixed feelings about ‘what might have been’ questions. I seldom ask them of myself, as the question never helped me to move forward. My gut feeling, based upon 55 years of living in this area, is that had this city began and remained just one city from early in the last century, many of the CRD areas would not be nearly as well developed, and filled with citizens who were generally satisfied with their lives, nor would they be as close to their government as they are today. Even within the core, when Oak Bay, Esquimalt and Saanich began to emerge, they ended up with their own districts rather than as part of Victoria.  I spoke more to this matter in Part 6 of Amalgamation in Greater Victoria

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