These people didn’t notice that they weren’t alone until they looked at the photo on their computer.

The photo was taken in Campbell River, British Columbia.

The people in this photograph were hiking in Seal Bay Park. At the end of their walk, they found some butter mushrooms on a mossy log, and were inspecting them. One of them decided to take a photograph, but not being terribly good at photography, the photo was taken off center.

When they returned home and downloaded the pictures off of the camera they got quite a surprise – a large animal that appears to be a wolf heading straight towards them.

They theorize that the flash from the camera scared it off, although I don’t know if it would be a danger or not. Certainly, it’s not the kind of animal you would normally want to be too close to!

EDIT: If you think this photo is fake, check out the full sized version.

EDIT 2: Here’s the story behind the photo as told by the woman in the foreground whose back is to the camera:

This wolf picture incident has just been crazy! It’s spreading around like wildfire! For sure you can use the pic if you’d like. The story behind it is pretty ridiculous. I was visiting my brother, niece and my niece’s mother with my mom in Courtenay, BC. Me, my mom, XXXX and XXXX went for a hike at Seal Bay Park. This picture was taken at the end of the walk…me, XXXX and XXXX were inspecting some really cool butter mushrooms on a mossy log. My mom decided to take a picture, but she’s not very good at it, so it came out totally off center (imagine if she was actually good at taking pictures- we never would have even seen it!!!). We didn’t notice anything at the time, and the “wolf” wasn’t even noticed until after getting home, and my mom had put the pictures on the computer. She didn’t even notice at first, but my other brother was like “what the hell is that??!!”. So, yeah. I don’t even know if it is a wolf, but there were no dogs or anything! around. It’s just a pretty creepy picture- that’s all I know! And it was actually my mom who took the picture (I’m in it- in the gray jacket), so credit for the photo isn’t necessary. Well, that’s my story!

Having a baby has inspired me, I think, because I’ve managed to put pen to paper more in the last couple of weeks than in all of the last few months.

Literally pen to paper, since I’ve been writing on a pad, the old-fashioned way, while trying to soothe Oliver to sleep.

So, if you’re interested, read away.

I’ll take offensive words over deeds

The disgust heaped on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad since his speech at Columbia University in New York has been remarkable for both its ferocity and its hypocrisy.

Ontario Tories Putting Fund in Fundamentalism

It isn’t difficult to predict what would happen to religious schools if they were publicly funded. Existing religious schools would grow larger. The number of religious schools would increase, as it would suddenly become affordable and perhaps even profitable for even small religious groups to open schools.

Enrolment in public schools would drop. The more successful religious schools became, the more the public system would decline. This, in turn, would have a ripple effect across cities.

Dreschel dumps on pedestrian piazza proposal

Mayor Fred Eisenberger’s proposal to pedestrianize Gore Park is causing a lot of buzz among Hamilton residents, especially in the downtown core.

The idea is bold, innovative, and exciting. It’s an idea that has been proven to be effective over and over again in cities in other nations, especially in Europe. And it’s something that would never have been proposed under former Mayor DiIanni.

All that means that Spectator columnist Andrew Dreschel was bound not to like it.

On the other hand, if you were just dropping by to see if any new pics of Oliver were available, you came to the right place.

Oliver Mateo (Mah-TAY-oh – Spanish for Matthew) Duyzer was born last week Tuesday, August 7, 2007, at 3:04 pm. He weighed in at a whopping 10 pounds, 4 ounces.

Oliver at three or four days old – thanks to Tim for this great photo

I’m discovering that there are things people were right about and wrong about these early days of his life.

One of the most common remarks I heard before Oliver’s birth was how sleepless I’d be, and how much his schedule would dominate my life. I didn’t really understand exactly why this was, or how it could be – don’t newborns sleep most of the time? Can they really be that much work?

Well, they are, and then some. They live on an approximately 3-hour cycle: shit, eat, soothe, sleep, repeat. Sometimes he mixes it up with shit, eat, shit, soothe, sleep, repeat. Or the ever popular shit, eat, piss while changing diaper forcing change of clothes, soothe, sleep, repeat.

A cycle this short is taxing because we must constantly work to accommodate it. My personal schedule runs more along the lines of shit, eat, eat, eat, sleep, spaced out over 24 hours. You can see how these schedules are not very compatible.

But then there are times when he is quietly alert and awake and cuter than I could have ever imagined someone could be. Or when I lay on my side with his head nestled in my arm, warm body cozied up to my chest, occasionally murmuring or letting out a contented sigh, while I read a book.

Those are moments of quiet relaxation and enjoyment to cherish.

I cherish the other moments too. When I’m changing his smelly diaper and he’s wriggling around with his naked bum in the air, or even when he’s screaming full tilt, he’s still awfully cute.

The other thing I heard all of the time was how my perspective on life would dramatically change. I heard this from clients, from my father, from friends who have children.

That’s something I haven’t felt at all. Maybe it just hasn’t sunk in yet, but I suspect that the real reason is perhaps because I had already adopted that new perspective. Nine months is plenty of time for preparation.

The last week-and-a-half has been crazy. One thing that I think every parent I’ve talked to is right about is that it’s only going to get crazier – and that Oliver is going to keep me on my toes for life.

Bring it on, little man. Welcome to the big wide world.

PS Oliver has an online photo gallery.

I took a moment to blast some National Post editors on Raise the Hammer today. Check it out: Wrong Again: The National Post on Climate Change, Part 2.

Other semi-recent writings on RTH that I haven’t linked to from here include As Spring Arrives, Perennial Issues and Guerilla Gardeners Resurface and Vanishing into the American Gulag.

I hope you’re having a great summer!

Dan Gardner, who writes for the Ottawa Citizen, frames the atheism debate nicely in an article from last Saturday.

Those making this case [for atheism lately] have been dubbed the “new atheists.” They have also been called fanatics who are dogmatic, zealous and intolerant of other views — the mirror image of religious extremists. As one English university dean said in the Guardian, Richard Dawkins is “just as fundamentalist as the people setting off bombs in the Tube.”

Less Olympian thinkers have portrayed strident atheists as hacking away at the bonds of morality, which must inevitably lead to various forms of depravity ranging from the sexual to the genocidal.

Don’t you know Stalin was an atheist? That’s the way it goes. First you read Richard Dawkins. Then you have an abortion. Then you’re putting a fresh coat of paint on the Gulag.

This frames the debate in a pleasingly symmetrical way. Over on that side are the insane religious fanatics who fly jets into skyscrapers and march around with signs saying “God Hates Fags.” Over there are fanatical atheists. Between the two extremes are sensible moderates who take the Goldilocks approach to faith and reason.

He goes on to sum up the famous atheist Richard Dawkins’ message:

If you claim that something is true, I will examine the evidence which supports your claim; if you have no evidence, I will not accept that what you say is true and I will think you a foolish and gullible person for believing it so.

That’s it. That’s the whole, crazy, fanatical package.

Well worth a full read.