Kootenay National Park, British Columbia

Just three weeks ago I posted about the beautiful Fay Hut designed by my good friend Simon Statkewich (featured on the cover of last month’s Cottage magazine) and re-built with thousands of hours of volunteer effort after a forest fire took the original structure with it in 2003. Today I received the sad news that a group of alpine skiers discovered the hut burned to the ground on Saturday, two days after a previous group departed (they have “assured us that the fire was extinguished, as were all propane appliances before they left the hut” according to an ACC e-mail I received)—the pristinely located hut was “self-insured” by the Club… so it remains to be seen whether it will again arise from the ashes. My feelings go out to you Simon…

From silhouettemasterpiecetheatre.com…

On this day in 1948 the Marshall Plan came into effect. Much of Europe was devastated with millions killed and wounded during World War II. Fighting had occurred throughout much of the continent, and sustained aerial bombardment meant that most major cities had been badly damaged, with industrial production especially hard-hit. Many of the continent’s greatest cities lay in ruins. The region’s economic structure was also ruined, and millions had been made homeless. Especially damaged was transportation infrastructure, as railways, bridges, and roads had all been heavily targeted by air strikes, while much merchant shipping had been sunk. Although most small towns and villages in Western Europe had not suffered as much damage, the destruction of transportation left them economically isolated. None of these problems could be easily remedied, as most nations engaged in the war had exhausted their treasuries in its execution.

The only major power whose infrastructure had not been significantly harmed in World War II was the United States (it had entered the war later than most European countries, and had only suffered limited damage to its own territory). American gold reserves were still intact as was its massive agricultural and manufacturing base, the country enjoying a robust economy. The war years had seen the fastest period of economic growth in the nation’s history, as American factories supported both its own war effort and that of its allies. After the war, these plants quickly retooled to produce consumer goods, and the scarcity of the war years was replaced by a boom in consumer spending. The long term health of the economy was dependent on trade, however, as continued prosperity would require markets to export these goods. The Marshall Plan aid would largely be used by the Europeans to buy manufactured goods and raw materials from the United States.

(Read more here).

Images: Marshall Plan poster (created by the Economic Cooperation Administration, an agency of the U.S. government, to sell the Marshall Plan in Europe—the blue and white flag between those of Germany and Italy is an incorrect iteration of the flag of the Free State of Trieste, a City state created by the United Nations Security Council in 1947); Burned out buildings in Hamburg after the bombing (taken in 1945 or 1946 by the UK government).

Around the world, and all across Canada…

Saturday April 4th is a global day of action against war. The date coincides with the 60th anniversary NATO summit in Strasbourg and is also the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous 1967 Beyond Vietnam speech at the Riverside Church in New York. The Canadian Peace Alliance and the Collectif Échec à la guerre are calling for pan-Canadian demonstrations on Saturday to demand an end to the NATO-led war.

(thanks Grace Warkentin, via cousin Boyd Reimer)

Oeiras, Portugal

I’m preparing for my talk at OFFF 2009 in Oeiras, Portugal (on the coast, 10 minutes from Lisbon) next month. An audience of 4000+ is expected, and seats are almost sold out… This year’s theme: “This isn’t flying. This is falling in style.” Fail Gracefully.

Leap into the Void, 1960, by Yves Klein, Harry Shrunk, John Gender (Gelatin silver print).

The Swiss do everything possible to make their guests’ stay in Switzerland perfect… watch the video here.

(thanks Gregor, via swissmiss)

Winnipeg, Canada

Today marks 33 years since the birth of Circle Design Incorporated (founding partner Geoff Hayes and I actually started as Circle Graphics back then— we share our illustrious April Fools’ birthdate back in 1976 with this little company called Apple Computer :-). Carrying on, with gusto…