Further update.

Hi all,

My ankle is recovering and I will try some running over the weekend. Stay tuned for a report. I am spending the weekend visiting some friends in Edmonton and then am back in the GTA on Monday. I am sure that Memory Express and West Edmonton Mall are going to be part of my weekend plans - a little bit of retail therapy with no PST, perhaps.

Onto the news of the day. According to the Globe and Mail editorial page today, the Egyptian Doctor mentioned with the Lesbian Couple yesterday was identified as a Christian. This is, of course, irrelevant - her reaction was inappropriate as discussed. Apparently she also felt that either Lesbian or Gay people were more susceptible to "disease or infections" - misinformed and, again irrelevant. A matter of education for a new immigrant to this country - no denial of service was given. We have a shortage of Doctors here - let us bring them in, train them in operating in our environment and move on. Don't look for offense where none is intended.

So, President Obama is coming on up here for a "working visit" - great - keep buying Canadian Ore buddy or we might not want to sell you Canadian Petroleum!

What else to tell you... Hmmmm... Well, some buddies of mine and I engaged in a discussion recently on the best Star Trek Episode of all time. Here are the finalists:

• Deep Space Nine: In the Pale Moonlight
• Original Series: Amok Time
• Next Generation: Relics
• Next Generation: Yesterday's Enterprise
• Voyager - Scorpion
• Original Series: City on the Edge of Forever
• Enterprise: Augments Cycle

Look everyone has their opinion. Mine - pretty simple: Journey to Babel from the Original Series. The look of joy on McCoy's face when he gets the "last word" is worth the price of admission! Well, you know, there are other choices, of course and like minds may disagree with good cheer, as they say. Hey, why don't we all agree that Star Trek, The Next Generation: The Measure of a Man is the best episode of all time and just move on.

Paul

Lesbians, Budgets and Robots!

Hi everyone,

Am back up here in Yellowknife and the universe if unfolding as it should. Actually today was a good day - ankle injury aside.

Promised a commentary on the budget but before I get to that I want to comment on an article in the Globe and Mail today.

I guess I would start the article with the very first line:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090128.wdoctor28/BNStory/National/

Look, I am a pretty progressive guy. I actually couldn't give a damn about how people live their lives or how they choose to express love. Gay, Lesbian, Cross Gender - don't give a rat's ass.

So let's look at this situation. Doctor from Egypt - probably with less cultural training as part of her medical qualification that required. OK. Couple comes in and actually seeks out and finds offense. There is nothing in this article that indicates that they were denied medical treatment or the services of a doctor. There is a clear apology and attempt to make things better. The Doctor, in addition to be uncomfortable is now probably scared, the couple is wearing their hearts way to close to their chest. Everyone step back, acknowledge that cultural training is part of all this but that also we have a massive shortage of Doctors in this country and as such we are going to need people like the physician in mention to fill that gap and that we have to deal with some of the cultural challenges we will face.

Heavy sigh. This couple from Yellowknife needs to lighten up and get past it. Too many capes, not enough crusaders...

Budget. Let's watch Stephen Harper migrate into Brian Mulroney. OK, so, I support fiscal stimulus. This is all good. I kept hoping for $1 Billion Dollars for a contribution for the proposed Neptune Orbiter with Probes to support the American space program but, then again, they can't even listen to me on a trivial contribution to the ExoMars probe so we have to acknowledge that the Conservative Government is scientifically both uninterested and illiterate.

Anyway, the problem with this budget is that it isn't real. The amount of stimulus required is far greater than indicated here. The tax relief is great but that is what should have been introduced two years ago rather than the terrible and very inefficient GST reductions which have been in place and now will be very hard to remove. While I do agree with Liberal efforts to support this budget - if only because I hate Jack Layton and Olivia Chow that much. The bottom line is that if this budget succeeds, something I doubt, then the Liberals will be strengthened, if it fails, they won't be hurt.

Good news on the space front but only in a minor way: http://www.spacepolitics.com/

More stuff later - time for bed.

Paul

Happy Burns Day

Hi everyone - that's right, today is January 25th. The 250th birthday or Robbie Burns. Well done, he doesn't look a day over 249 either!

For those of you who don't know who Robert Burns was, here is the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Burns

Burns is from Ayr in Scotland, lovely place, and is considered to be the Scottish Bard. To those of you who don't think you know about this guy, well, you probably know his most famous song Auld Lang Syne and a classic it is too! More commonly celebrated on this day, however, is the Address to the Haggis. I have included a link in the links section to both an Scottish and English version of this culinary poem for all of you to enjoy!

Well, I am only 1/2 Scottish so I will now move unto other things.

RUNNING UPDATE:

I AM INJURED!!!! I twisted my ankle yesterday on some ice while doing a 6 km jaunt. It is badly swollen and quite bruised. Stay tuned - nothing broken so I expect this to slow me down a bit but not prevent any of the upcoming races.

KIDS UPDATE:

Back with their mother. I miss them already but am off in the morning to Yellowknife so the timing is about right. They were great companions over the past couple of weeks and, schedule madness aside, I will miss them further.

ASTRONOMY UPDATE:

Found a great new podcast - check out: http://365daysofastronomy.org/. This is the International Year of Astronomy and there is a podcast a day. Well worth the listen. Great themesong by George Hrab as well.

POLITICS UPDATE:

Stay tuned for my discussion on the budget later in the week.

See you!

Paul

Space and Science blog for today.

Hi there,

I think I will concentrate on the space program in today's blog - not exclusively, but mostly. Just feels like that kind of day.

As many of you who follow this blog know, NASA is presently undergoing a change in Administrator and there is some doubt as to whether the Constellation Program is the way things will proceed. With that in mind here are two articles which are encouraging each in their own way:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28777577/
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=27417

The first of these refers to the heavy lift capabilities of the Ares V and the second to the pending Ares I-X launch presently scheduled for July.

This is an interesting and well designed architecture. With a bit of extra funding NASA could shorten the gap between the Shuttle Retirement and the Orion 1 launch. Hopefully the new administration will recognise that and include this funding in his stimulus package. I agree with the principals of said package but it must address leading technology needs as well as roads, bridges and energy technology.

Other space news. The Dawn spacecraft will fly by Mars on February 17th which will help it pump up its velocity a bit allowing a rendezvous with Vesta in just under 950 days. This is very exciting to me as it is the first spacecraft to use Ion Propulsion to visit other worlds and will also be the first spacecraft to orbit two separate heavenly bodies. As I said in my New Year blog, 2009 will be an exciting year in space.

Well, that's it for this space blog. Here is a very happy article from Scientific American (thanks BT). It seems that the collective IQ of the people of Texas may be going up. Perhaps we will see more rationality as more scientifically friendly folks begin to dominate US politics.

http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=evolution-wins-a-round-in-texas-edu-2009-01-23

Stay tuned for a return to more conventional, political fare in my next posting.

Paul

President Obama

Hi gang,

So it is a better day in America! Change has come to America! The first daughters have come to America (aren't they just the cutest!)! It is all good! Sure it is, except for a failing economy, an intransigent stock market, serious energy and infrastructure problems and two wars.

I don't envy the man at all but I am very glad he is there!

So, what to expect? Well, let's take a look at what the very smart and talented Rachel Maddow has to say:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

So, how will it all turn out? Lord knows - I certainly don't and since I don't believe in "The Lord" I guess nobody has a clue. One must live in hope, however, and I don't think that optimism and hope are ever ill placed. Reminds me of a joke.

A young couple is blessed with the birth of twin sons

The boys are identical in every way but one

One of the lads is very pessimistic

The other is a complete optimist, can't see the bad side of any situation

Being good and concerned parents, they take the boys to see a child psychologist who informs them that there really isn't a problem but that it might make sense to "even the lads out a little"

"On the birthday", the psychologist suggests, "make sure the pessimistic boy wakes up in his room with every toy he could possibly want"

"And the optimist?" asks the mother

"Ah" says the shrink, "He wakes up to a steaming pile of horse manure"

The parents decide to give it a go and on the appointed morning they sneak into the pessimists room to find him sitting on the bed, surrounded by great gifts with his arms crossed lamenting that if he got all this stuff, clearly his brother got better stuff.

Somewhat chastened and perturbed the parents move onto the optimist's room and find him digging through the horse dung to get to the pony who made it.

My motto - look for ponies, they are out there somewhere. Sometimes you have to look hard but my experience is that they are always there.

Speaking of ponies. I am back onto the subject of Canadian Politics. Mr. Harper doesn't appear to be doing that well. It should be an interesting winter.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090120.wpoll21/BNStory/politics/home

Finally, on the too stupid to live front, we have the York University professors. You ever lived the life of an academic? I have and, believe me, there is not a lot to complain about. Here is another Globe article for consideration.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090120.wyork0120/BNStory/National/home

Finally some foresight and rational behaviour on the war crimes front. Mr. Obama makes a good call:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090121.wkhadr0121/BNStory/International/home

Remember, it is far better to do the right thing than to sell your soul out of misplaced fear.

Got to go!

Paul

Taking care of kids is WORK!

Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven't been on line much lately but, as many of you know, my ex-wife is in Scotland visiting a sick father so I am in full time Dad mode, have been for a week and have a week to go. Between school, activities and just feeding the little, err, darlings, I don't have many hours for "nice to haves" such as this blog.

So, what to talk about. Well, I am about halfway through Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman. Great book about the juxtaposition of energy sustainability, the growing middle class in developing countries and the environment - it has some really interesting ideas. The fact that we are refusing to give up oil or charge for it appropriately is just feeding those folks in the middle east and other fun places who want us all "In the belly of Allah". I am also enjoying the view that countries with oil providing economies can be less democratic than diverse economies. Canada is a strong exception to that, of course. Still, we have had the same government in Alberta for, what, a billion years, so perhaps he has a point. This is a very complicated book on a very complicated subject. Now, I have well informed friends who don't buy into the human cause for Global Warming argument - not sure I agree with them but I am not an expert. According to Friedman, most experts do disagree with those friends of mine but, sure, that is open to debate - maybe. What is not open to debate is our dependency on oil, our lack of focus on sustainability, and the political aspirations of those whom our cousins to the south buy their oil from. Anyway, it is a reasonably lengthy book. I recommend a read. Here are a couple of links of interest on it:

http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/16-09/pl_print

http://www.sciam.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=451D2588-FBF7-96B5-5767E30ECE43BA17

http://www.thomaslfriedman.com/


So, Mr. Obama goes to Washington, eh? Well done sir. I remember back to my original predictions about him and that he could not beat John McCain. I was wrong and I now leave the future to posterity - not to my predictions. At least until the next time. Anyway, this man has some big problems in front of him and some big expectations to fill. Comparisons to Lincoln abound:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

While I don't think the world will be a fundamentally different place starting Tuesday, I think it has prospects for vast improvement.

Stay tuned...

Paul

Wow - are people ever stupid, or what?

Hi there,

I came across this little, joyous, diddy this morning on Morning Joe which is MSNBC's morning TV program. This shows the amazing problem with the US auto manufacturers. They just don't get it. Sure, Hybrid sales are down - so are auto sales period. In fact, Japanese manufacturers sales are down fare less than US manufacturers, who are completely incapable of developing anything useful. I mean, listen, this idiot, is talking about selling a 40 mile per gallon Cadillac. I love it, a Cadillac!! And the damn thing isn't even ready yet! The Prius is already over 50 mpg and the Camary Hybrid gets about 42 mpg. While the Prius isn't a luxury car, there is certainly a luxury version of the Camary which sells for about $35,000 CAD - a lot less than the "vaporware" Cadillac.

Idiots - they deserve to go out of business and be a testament to companies who earn their poor fate.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

OK - so let us examine his basic argument. Gas prices are too low. Good. Carbon tax. That solves it. Let's move on.

Sorry. I am too disgusted to discuss further. Blog you later.

Paul

Just a quick update.

Hi Everyone,

The kids are in bed, the dishwasher is on and the Romba is vacuuming my living room. All is well. I am in primary caregiver mode for the next couple of weeks, not a problem, as I enjoy it but it does occupy my time.

Was at the Science Centre yesterday for the International Year of Astronomy. It was a fair bit of fun.

Weight continues to go in the right direction at about the rate I want it to. Remember, the goal here is to cross the finish line in Reykjavik just a shade under 100 kg - 13.8 to go and 8 months to do it.

Eagerly awaiting the Obama Inauguration and the Canadian budget - the world continues to be fun and politics unfolds as it should.

Great news on the Mars Rovers - they continue to function, although Spirit is in rough shape. I have included a link to a webcast called Five Years on Mars - share and enjoy!

Got to go. Well update you again soon.

Paul

The silly season is now over...

Hi everyone - Happy New Year!

Frankly, I hope that is the last time I have to say that phrase for 360 days.

Well, let me start off with a note to an old and very dear friend, Tom Millar, ailing in Scotland at this time. Tom has been under the weather for some time and I know that my sons, his grandsons, and I are rooting for him. Keep up the good fight, Tommy.

I have entered this year focused on my fitness with the following run schedule in mind and, for the most part, booked:

• Chilly Half Marathon in Burlington - March 1
• Prague Half Marathon - March 28
• Hartwell Challenge Half Marathon - April 22
• Ottawa Half Marathon - May 24
• Reykjavik Marathon - August 22

You will notice my weight which is duly recorded here, publicly, on my blog. I am currently at 114.4 kg and want to be at 100 by my date with destiny in August. Weight has been one of the three or four major challenges of my life and this, my 50th year, is the year in which I want to address it. Don't know if I will succeed but I am confident that I can do so. Stay tuned for weekly updates.

Promised some top political stuff for 2008 so here goes - top five:

5. Stephen Harper winning the federal election here in Canada

4. John McCain picking Sarah Palin as his running mate just before the Republican Convention

3. Stephane Dion scaring the bejezus out of Stephen Harper with his very real threat to form a coalition government

2. Michael Ignatiff using item 3 to rest control of the Liberals away from Messrs. Dion

1. Barack Obama - end of story.

Other clean up business. Over the holidays I had, believe it or not, several occasions to watch the film version of Mama Mia. Many years ago, I dated a truly wonderful young woman named Cory who tried to convince me of the simple charm of Abba music. She was right, I was wrong. Fair enough, the movie is worth the rental.

Back at you all in a day or so. Continue, as you always do, to be cool.

Paul

PS. Personal motto for 2009 - my 50th year - no apologies owed, required or needed. And I mean that.

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone,

I am pleased to note that the International Year of Astronomy has begun. I will update this blog from time to time with interesting tidbits related to this and have included a link to to the IYA in the links section of this blog.

With that in mind, let me give you my list of the top astronomy stories of 2008, counting down:

5. More than 300 exoplanets have now been discovered. It is my belief that almost all star systems will have planets and so far we are only good at finding the odd ones that are easily noticed because of their oddity.

4. Hey, Mercury is a cool place after all! The Messenger spacecraft flies by Mercury twice and discovers a more complex world than was previously thought to exist. http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/

3. Phoenix lands on Mars. Well, this is also from my top science stories of the year but Mars itself is just such an interesting place. We continue to find evidence of life there and evidence against it, of course. There is so much going on there right now - three orbiters, two rovers and a lander which just shut down a couple of weeks ago. http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/index.html

2. Dark Energy. We now know that the expansion of the universe is accelerating and the driving factor is something called Dark Energy. We are starting to understand some basic principals of this phenomenon but it is very early days yet. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_energy

1. Saturn continues to astound. Way to go Cassini. http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm

So, now we are going into 2009 - many questions about the role and function of NASA (http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/12/22/1723064.aspx). In theory we should see launch of:

• Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
• Ares 1-X
• Hubble Repair Mission
• Further construction missions to the ISS
• Kepler Mission

We should also see the Dawn flyby of Mars and the third Messenger Flyby of Mercury and the continued movement outward of the New Horizons mission to Pluto. All in all it should be a great space year.

Paul