Be wary when searching for lost treasure online
The world has certainly changed since I wrote my first edition of Treasure, British Columbia in 1971. Back then, I typed my manuscript on a typewriter; today it’s on a computer. Back then, my finished book was laboriously printed by offset press; today it’s digital. But something else has changed, something that has totally transformed publishing from what it was then. That something is the internet. Now virtually anyone can, at modest expense, speak directly to the entire world via the social media and/or by blogging. With these revolutionary innovations have come geocaching with its strictly-for-fun treasure hunts, and voluminous outpourings of information online. But there’s a distinct downside to the latter—misinformation, or what has come to be known as alt news. You’ve never been able to believe everything you read but this is particularly true of some websites...
Read MoreWhy I Write About Vancouver Island Coal Mining
I just can’t get away from Vancouver Island’s rich history of coal mining, it seems. I read about it, think about it, write about it and give every weekend I can to exploring abandoned minesites of the South Wellington and Nanaimo areas. Last weekend, it was a day with Jennifer at the old PCCM (Pacific Coast Coal Mines) townsite, at South Wellington. God knows, we’ve been there before, but at this time of year, with the fire hazard being what it is and access to much of the Island’s forest lands restricted, we have little choice but to ‘recycle’ some of our digs from the past. As it happens, a well-used hiking trail cuts right across the century-old townsite. I have to wonder how many hikers take notice of, and give thought to, some of the rusted rubble that...
Read MoreHow Publishing Has Changed In 20 Years!
I still find it hard to believe how far publishing has come, technologically, in this digital age. Just 20 years ago I was still writing my articles with a typewriter, putting them in the mail to magazines and waiting up to 90 days for a yea or nay. When I began a weekly column in a Nanaimo newspaper I’d post them by priority post or, if the deadline was really becoming tight, by courier! This meant the hassle of going to the post office, not to mention the expense. All the while, a friend was trying to convince me to buy a word processor (almost $1000) so that I could edit easily without having to use ‘white out’ or an eraser to correct typos or revise my manuscripts. A 1990s word processor, by the way, was an electronic typewriter...
Read MoreBritish Columbia’s mining heritage worth its weight in gold
I just finished reading The Lively Ghost of Howe Sound, a history of the Britannia Mine, once the largest copper producer in the British Commonwealth. A previous owner had used, as a bookmark, an editorial from The Northern Miner, dated April 15, 1996. Entitled “Our Mining Heritage: An Industry In Itself,” it’s an eloquent argument that our mining heritage is something to be treasured and is worth quoting: “Some of the more popular tourist destinations in rural Canada are former mine sites. Barkerville, a small British Columbia town which keeps alive the spirit and colour of the historic Cariboo gold rush, is one such attraction. “Another is Dawson City, in the Yukon, where tourists can enjoy a hand of poker and a few cold ones at Diamond Gertie’s, or pan for gold at one of the historic placer mining...
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