This is a sad place to start: Another Canadian soldier has given his life for the mission in Afghanistan. Sapper Brian Collier, was killed by a bomb in Afghanistan Tuesday He was killed while on a foot patrol in the village of Nakhonay, in the eastern part of Panjwaii District by an improvised explosive device (IED). Collier who was just 24, was born in Toronto and raised in Bradford, Ont. He was a member of the 1 Combat Engineer Regiment based at CFB Edmonton and was serving in Afghanistan with the 1st Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment.

Read and produced by Nicholas Fiscina.

Stories written by Jonathan Moore and Nicholas Fiscina.

Read and produced by Lachlan Fletcher.

Stories written by Chris Hanna, Emily Brass and Jose Espinoza.

Sorry to abandon my post for the weekend but it had to be done. My sanity and well-being were at stake. I've done my best to recruit a writer or two but to no avail. It's hard to blame anyone either - "Would you like to chronicle bad new for very little money and hardly any recognition?"

That might change in the not so distant future but for now that is an apt description of the gig. Mostly I do this in tandem with my radio show. The links here today are to the Canadian stories I talked about this morning. Isn't it endearing when I share loads of personal information?

It has been hard to not get overly emotional about what British Petroleum has done to the Gulf of Mexico and the marine life and animals that make up those fragile eco-systems. Something that I expected to be mitigated by an outcry for sanity and clean energy policies, and stricter observance to the regulations that already exist. My hopes have sadly gone unanswered.