March Blizzard and Today's Aftermath

This is the result of yesterday's blizzard. This is a picture of the side of my driveway. There is actually a commercial garbage bin under that drift somewhere. To view more pictures of the blizzard or the aftermath visit the gallery.

March...Out Like a Lamb???

March came in like a lion...unfortunately it went out like a lion as you can see what it was like in Inuvik today.

Good Work Microsoft

$53 billion in the bank, fighting with the US Department of Justice, fighting with the European Union; Microsoft is used to playing big games with the big players. But Microsoft does do some good things for the little people. Their charitable foundation gives away millions every year in computers, software and other products and services to schools and those technologically challenged individuals that they can help. Now the big Microsoft machine is going to make its products in the Inuktitut language of the Eastern Arctic Inuit.

Nunavut, home to the Inuit, played host to some Microsoft representatives who were up taking a look at how they can make their product for the aboriginal language. Creating software in Inuktitut is going to be an extreme challenge for developers. Inuktitut is a language that is made up of symbols and consonants. It also doens't have words for many technical terms used in the computing world. The task for software engineers is to find words and concepts in the Inuit language that is applicable to computers. Concepts such as e-mail, shutdown, networking don't exist. Computers are a new idea to many Inuit; their culture has been passed down with storytelling, drum dancing and their skills consisted of hunting and fishing. “It is very important to us to make sure the composition of the words is acceptable to the community,” said Mina Gharbi-Hamel, Windows international programme manager to Microsoft Canada. The development of product will represent a substantial boost for a language, which like other ancient and native tongues is suffering from the global onslaught of English.

Microsoft says they are developing a so-called language interface pack, to be available as a free download. That means menus will drop down with Inuktitut commands. Applications from e-mail to databases will be available in Inuktitut. Inuktitut speakers will be able to use Windows and all its features in their own language. This is a good public relations coup for Microsoft. If this works out then this is something that they should be looking at for other aboriginal languages. Good Job Microsoft. If you would like to leave a comment please visit EclecticBlogs

Photo of the Week

Inuvik Landmark "The Igloo Church"

For more Pictures visit my friend at EclecticBlogs or Sports Guru

NASA Does Something Good

So I have done a bit of slamming on NASA and several governments mostly the US lately with regards to wasting money on the space program. But I find myself backing down somewhat today. Yesterday's test of the new experimental plane seems to me to be a good way to spend money. This new plane set a new speed record topping out at about 8000kph (5000mph). The X-43A as it is called may expand the evolution of the jet aircraft. The experimental flight lasted about 11 seconds and covered a distance of about 15 miles. By comparison, a little more than 100 years ago the Wright Brothers flew their new plane for 12 seconds for a distance of 120 feet.

The new engine is called a scramjet which is a cross between a jet and a rocket. The major difference is that while a rocket must carry its fuel load and oxygen load in order for the rocket to propel, the screamjet only has to carry its fuel load and can pull the oxygen out of the atmosphere. This step forward will help save on fossil fuels and make air transport faster. A flight that now takes 15 hours to complete could be completed in as little as 2 hours. While the commercial use for this is still many years off it is still a step in the right direction and if it helps the environment it will be well worth the pricetag. NASA plans another test later in the fall of 2004.

What Were They Thinking??

Did you hear about the 38 year old woman in Berlin, Germany who lost her purse. She made a report with the police and was so overjoyed when she received a call from them that she hopped right into her car and drove to the station to collect it. The problem with doing this was the she was totally intoxicated and did nothing to hide it. She parked out front of the station and stumbled in to collect her belongings. The police promptly gave her the purse and immediately asked her for her license back along with her car keys. She was charged with DUI and lost her license for a year.

Then there is the case of the 69 year old Brooklyn man who tossed his bowling ball off of his 17th story apartment balcony. The problem with this is that the ball landed on the sidewalk below narrowly missing a parole officer and 2 police officers. The man was arrested and charged with attempted murder, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon.

A Houston man went to police after seeing Mel Gibson's controversial film "The Passion of Christ" and confessed to murdering a 19-year-old woman who was pregnant with his child. Police had thought the woman had hanged herself, but the man went to the police on March 9 to admit that he had killed her. The man wanted to seek redemption after talking to a friend and seeing the movie about the last hours of Christ's life. He mentioned to authorities that speaking with the friend and seeing the movie 'The Passion of Christ' made him feel remorse.

An Oklahoma couple were surprised when they woke up and found a drunk burglary suspect asleep in bed with them. The couple from the Oklahoma city of Ardmore called police, ran out of their house and watched officers arrest the man who was still sleeping in their bed despite the sirens and commotion. The police said in the arrest report that the man was so intoxicated that it took them 2 or 3 minutes to arouse the man. The guy must have thought he was Goldilocks and instead of porridge found the bottle of booze that was just right.

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The Lighter Side of Photos

In the middle of all this serious discussion it is nice to find some things that make you smile or go hmmmmm. My friends have started a photo gallery of funny photos that will hopefully make you smile.



For more pictures visit our friends at EclecticBlogs or the Sports Guru.

NHL Tonight 03-26-04

After a win on Monday and an overtime point on Wednesday they were up to 7th place on the playoff yo-yo. Last night both St. Louis and Nashville won and the playoff yo-yo dropped them to 9th. A win against Los Angeles had the yo-yo rise to 7th again. Fernando Pisani, Ryan Smyth and Petr Nedved all scored for the Oilers as they beat the Kings by a score of 3-1. Ty Conklin made 18 saves in earning his 16th victory of the season. Petr Nedved's goal was the 300th of his NHL career. Fernando now has 5 goals in his last 5 games. Oates, Bergeron, Dvorak and Torres all had assists. Ian Laperriere had the lone goal for LA. The loss leaves LA 5 points out of a playoff spot with 5 games to go. Our friend the Sports Guru has the three stars tonight as:

*Ryan Smyth

**Roman Cechmanek

***Ty Conklin

For information on the other games tonight in the NHL visit our friends the Sports Guru and the SportsPundit

Mars vs. Earth

I wrote a little while ago about whether or not it was worth sending missions to Mars. I questioned if it was really worth it. I received responses about how there are always better places to spend money, that the knowledge we gain is worth the money and that there may be metals or rocks not available on Earth that can benefit us. But after reading a whole month's worth of news on the Mars trips, future space plans and other programs under way I still must wonder if this is the right thing to be doing. Being a Canadian I realize that these are not my tax dollars that are being used for space exploration. But are the American people happy with spending their tax dollars this way?

Lets look at some of the facts. The cost to send the 2 current rovers to Mars was over $800,000,000. The current government has $5 trillion dollars earmarked for the space program over the next 10 years. There are many thousands of jobs associated with NASA and its many projects. We typically think of the Americans that live in south Florida and Houston as those who are affected by employment. In Florida alone there are over 23,000 employees working for over 200 businesses with payrolls of $4.5 billion. The new project that has started to build a new shuttle replacement vehicle is expected to cost $6.6 billion over the next 5 years. But it spreads further than that. There are the Canadian engineers who developed the Canadarm and there is a small company in Whitehorse, Yukon by the name of Icefield Instruments that has been hired by NASA to develop a drill for use in a future trip to Mars. But still is it worth it?

The quest for knowledge that comes from space travel is imense. And the value can be immeasurable. James Burke, the British author, host, and narrator of the acclaimed television series Connections, is fond of saying that any time humanity's view of reality is changed by new knowledge, reality itself is changed. This statement is very true and the missions to Mars have definitely increased the knowledge of humanity. The new findings that Mars once had flowing water and saltwater are huge discoveries and will help scientists better understand the evolution of Mars. They may or may not find minerals on Mars that don't exist on earth. This make several more trips with more specialized equipment. But what does it mean to us?

Then we have news from NASA that they have found a 20 year old problem on the space shuttles. A potentially disastrous problem with the space shuttles rudder went undetected for two decades. The defective gear was installed in the top position on the tail-mounted rudder, where it was subject to the least force. However, the faulty gear could not have handled the most extreme forces during landing if it had been in the bottom position. This error in the gear being installed backwards could have disabled the rudder by jamming it open or closed. The loss of the rudder speed brake would have meant the loss of vehicle and loss of crew. So let me understand this correctly...NASA can spend billions on their space program annually yet the best engineers in the world can't catch a potentially disasterous error for 20 years? Maybe they need to spend their money fixing the current space program before they expand it.

The lack of collaboration on the Mars program is also disturbing. No less than 5 space agencies have sent space vehicles to Mars in the last 6 months. Why are these space agencies not working together to accomplish what they are all trying to do seperately? This added waste of money is in the high billions.

We have many problems in the world today. There are wars. Money though can't end the wars. Most of the wars are related to religion, nationalities and politics. Money can't help that. But the money being spent on the space program can help other problems on earth such as drought, food shortages, housing shortages, health care issues, education issues, global warming and pollution. If the money spent on the space program was spent on trying to make a dent on the problems back on earth we would all benefit from it. Think about it...what is the good of exploring Mars and the rest of space when we have serious problems at home. What good is this exploration going to do if we continue to kill Earth with greenhouse gasses and pollution. Will it make any difference that water “was” on Mars when our own planet is destroyed and uninhabitable? You know what also troubles me? We built a space ship in the 1960s that could go to the moon, land and return to earth. We can build shuttles that can go into orbit, deploy satellites and then return to earth to be used again. We can build a space station that can orbit the earth and give us a place to do scientific experiments and exploration. We can build a spacecraft to take rovers to Mars and be able to control them from Earth. We can do all that but we can't build more energy efficient vehicles for travel on earth? Maybe if the kind of money being spent on space was spent on developing energy efficient vehicles we could be severely cut the amount of greenhouse gases that are currently destroying the ozone layer of our atmosphere. I am sure if the money was spent on developing new food sources and building homes for the homeless and cleaning up the pollution we are creating that we would generate equivalent numbers of jobs that are currently employed in the space program. Let's consider solving the problems at home before we solve the problem of Martian life.

If you would like to leave a comment on this posting please visit EclecticBlogs and give me your thoughts.

Global Warming???

You know I have been reading a lot of articles lately about global warming. I got up yesterday and I was going to write about how true this was. I mean, it was -4 outside and we had freezing rain and a light snow falling. -4 at this time of year is unheard of. The normals for this time of year for us are lows of -29 and highs of -18 so -4 is unbelievably warm. It must be global warming.

I read that carbon dioxide levels (greenhouse gas) are at the highest levels ever. The new data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also suggests that the rate of increase of the gas may have accelerated in the last two years. Carbon dioxide emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, are thought to be a principle cause of global warming. The increase in 2003 from 2002 was 2.5ppm (parts per million) where the average over the last 10 years has been 1.5ppm yearly increase. According to scientists, if we continue to increase at this rate then by the time the year 2100 comes about the average temperature will have risen by 6 degrees. That kind of increase is going to cut into the polar ice caps and decrease their size dramatically. It will also be enough to take already dry areas of the world and make them deserts. It will seriously hamper our ability to grow the food required to sustain life.

African-based scientists are calling for governments in the region and around the world to do more to prepare for the effects of global warming, in a bid to minimise the potentially devastating results. African countries are expected to be the hardest hit by climate change because they have the least resources to adapt. The difference between impacts on developing and industrialized countries is clear-cut. In industrialized countries one speaks of loss of property and income, whereas in developing countries one speaks of loss of life and livelihood. The more I read the more it starts to worry me. Do I want to leave this earth kinowing that I didn't do my part to help and that my great granchildren might not be able to survive as I have?

Then I got up this morning and it was -32 again, and it didn't warm up much during the day either. Global warming? Maybe somewhere else but not here today. Give me yout thoughts. To leave your comment visit my friend at EclecticBlogs.