New Years Eve Update.

Well folks,

Here we are on the 31st of December with 2010, the last year of the first decade of the 20th century about to begin. Bear in mind that the last year of the 20th century was, by definition 2000, so 2011 is the first year of the second decade.

Anyway, I had a good night! I went on the Running Room Resolution run tonight - my first race since the Ottawa 1/2 Marathon. My time was ok, 37 minutes and I did walk about 1/4 of it but better than I expected. You see, I have a bit of a medical problem which raised to the fore after my last run in Ottawa. I noticed, after that run, that my lower back was "itchy" - only word I can use to describe it. Then I noticed some pain down my right leg. Well, in early December I had a CT scan and it revealed that I have Severe Lumbar Stenosis in the lower two vertebrates of my back. For a really scary read on what this is, exactly, you could go to Wikipedia and view the following article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_stenosis

I will tell you that, while serious, I do not have much risk of some of the advanced or more dangerous symptoms of the condition. So, after a seven month break I tried a 5 km run tonight as reported. Here is the photographic evidence to prove it, thanks to my son James!





Before the run!

















And, five km later...



Crossing the finish line in just over 37 minutes...











Thanks to Barb and the boys for being there for me - it is great to have someone there to cheer you on as you cross the finish line.

So, how is my back? I will update you all in a day or so, but I won't be doing a lot of running until April - no Prague 1/2 Marathon this year, dammit!

I am aiming to run the Chicago Marathon in October with my friend Stephanie and I plan to do four things in the mean time:

1. Walking every day
2. Swimming regularly
3. Working with the WGG to finally rest my weight issue under control
4. Meet with Andy to discuss some other exercise options to both increase my lower back strength and to work on the weight.

Stay tuned.

Got off my last flight for the year yesterday, coming back from a family visit to Edmonton, and am heading to Yellowknife on the 10th followed shortly thereafter with a five week visit to Lagos.

Will have some other New Year stuff to report on before we all head back to work on Monday but in the mean time....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Paul

2010 Predictions - Part 2

Hi everyone,

Continuing with my posting from yesterday, here are the top five predictions that I have for 2010:

5. Gordon Brown loses the next UK election to David Cameron. This should not be interpreted as a win (or mandate) for Cameron, nor a loss for Brown, simply time to change hands - as we did here in Canada after Paul Martin's indecisive reign as PM. Cameron will come to office as uninspired and unloved but a change for change's sake. A pity really, his party has so much potential.

4. Buckingham Palace announces the engagement of HRH William, Prince of Wales to Kate Middleton. The Queen learned a few things through the Diana/Sarah fiasco's that her sons were forced to endure. Love matches work better than the alternative and the middle class brings real cache to the royal family in terms of credibility and common touch. Kate, the poor girl, will be hounded by the press but it will be better managed than in earlier times. The Queen will be shown to be a loving and involved Grandmother and Charles will be the proudest Papa out there and will show it.

3. The Kepler and Corot Spacecrafts will reveal a large number of earth like Exoplanets and the number of detected Exoplanets will rise from its current level of 415 (as of December 18, 2009) to well over 1000. Please understand how extraordinary this is - everywhere we look we are finding planets and the chemicals of life. At some point those two trends will meet up - I am not taking Star Trek here. The exoplanet equivalent of bacteria or plants, perhaps, but life nonetheless. If we find it, it will change everything in terms of our expectations of the Universe around us. It could conceivably cause a real shakedowns to those of religious faith - Earth Life, and by extension, Humankind, would be a bit less special, a bit less divine.

2. The World Cup will be won by an underdog team, not of the usual suspects (Brazil, Argentina, France, Italy, Germany). I actually don't have a clue here but I think the African location of the cup may cause a "local" (meaning continentally local) team to surprise. Note: of all the predictions that I am making, this is the one I am least comfortable with.

1. Neither the US nor Israel will do anything to Iran to stop their Nuclear program. Iran is in the process of another revolution, one which will see the fall of the ayatollahs and the Republican Guard. Any activity by the US or Israel will detract or derail that revolution. They will monitor and support the rebels but will stay out of it in 2010.

Well that's it for my predictions. Next up, my personal milestone moments of 2009 - the good, the bad and the ugly...

Will be back with you again by New Year's Eve!

Paul

Ten Predictions for 2010 - Part 1

Hi gang,

As many of you know I am not well known for the accuracy of my predictions but I will endevour to come up with some here which I believe are defensible and don't have an emotional bias to them.

10. Michael Ignatiff resigns as leader of the Liberals to be succeeded by Bob Rae. I just don't think Ignatiff has it in him and think he will be pushed out before Christmas 2010.

9. No Federal election in 2010. While I believe the economy is recovering, I think that the Tory numbers will not be moving enough to ensure a majority and thus, I believe, we will see a second full year of Tory Minority Government. The challenge to Harper is that if we have another election and he either loses or doesn't get a majority then Quebec may have to find itself a new premier as there may be a vacancy when Jean Charet heads to Ottawa.

8. The Obama Administration will reluctantly resolve to follow the "Flexible Path" option provided by the Augustine Commission. It will allow the Ares/Orion initiatives to continue, will extend the life of the Space Shuttle and will come up with some extra funding for NASA. Not the $3B per year needed but probably 1/2 to 2/3 of it. The Shuttle will extend to 2014 and Ares/Orion will fly that year.

7. The Democrats will keep the House in the US and may even keep most of their seats. The will make a small gain in the Senate. The Republicans will eat their young, figuratively speaking, with internal right wing purity checks which will cause their popularity to further erode and will likely eliminate even the most unlikely Palin 2012 scenarios.

6. The Federal Government will begin to lay the groundwork for both a Carbon tax and a GST increase. The actual rises will not come until 2012 or 2013 but the rhetoric will begin by all four federal political parties.

Next up, our top five predictions for 2010 and a personal note from me regarding my running activities coming up for next year.

Paul

Top ten stories from 2009 - Mackin's View. Part 2

Ok bloggerettes!

We have the second part of our top ten stories of 2009, Mackin's view, off the cuff!

5. The discovery of the a new exoplanet which might, just maybe, have water and be of a sufficient low mass that it is somewhat similar to earth. Now, don't sign up for tickets to visit yet, it is a pretty wacked out place but what is cool is that it was discovered with basically amateur telescopes. The idea is to look at red dwarf stars and look for planetary occoltations. The guys who pulled this off did that with a bunch of amateur scopes and they have given us a hint, just a hint, of what the Kepler mission might uncover. Links to follow:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GJ_1214_b
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_Mission

4. Augustine Commission on Space Flight. The Obama Administration put together a mixed bag of space experts, including, it seems, some paid lobbyists, to review the Bush Moon/Mars strategy including the Constellation and Orion programs. While the commission didn't really have any recommendations, they did provide some options including a "Moon First", a "Mars First" and a "Flexible Path". My feeling remains "Moon First" followed by missions to Asteroids and near Mars endeavours. Whatever is going to happen, NASA needs a an approximately 20% increase in funding and that will help the US economy in the following ways: Job creation, high technology R&D, environmental sciences, sustainability.... etc....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Review_of_United_States_Human_Space_Flight_Plans_Committee

3. The death of the Lion of the Senate - Edward Kennedy. There is not one piece of social legislation that has entered the public fray within the boarders of the United States of America in over 40 years which has not had this man's name on it. The entire health care debate now going on, has his name on it and you could also argue he was critical in delivering on item 1 in this list. Rest in Peace, Senator.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/us/politics/27kennedy.html

2. The repair of the Hubble Space Telescope. What can I say! This is the best advertisement out there for amateur astronomy. Scheduled, cancelled, reworked, replaced, rescheduled... It happened. Look at the results:

http://images.google.ca/images?sourceid=navclient&rlz=1T4GGLL_enCA334CA334&q=new+hubble+pictures&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=d38xS7aqDsjklAeypcmoBw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBUQsAQwAA

1. The Inauguration of President Barack Hussein Obama. The United States is a better and more functional country today than it was one year ago - end of story:



Next up, in just a couple of days, predictions for 2010, the last year of the first decade of the 21st century. No matter what anyone else tells you, 2011 is the beginning of the "Teens"

Merry Christmas

Paul

Top ten stories from 2009 - Mackin's View. Part 1

Hi everyone,

It is time for my personal review of the top stories of 2009. These are not anything other than my own opinions and are a bit off the cuff but here we go:

10. Sarah Palin quits. She is an idiot, studying to be a moron but clearly has a work ethic issue:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/03/sarah-palin-resignation-s_n_225557.html

I suppose that if you love her you don't think about, well, much of anything really, but this speech has more logical non-sequitars than just about anything I have read of late... She is a quitter and a fool.

9. Although this happened initially in 2008, its impact was felt in 2009. Her Excellency Madame Michaëlle Jean saved Parliament and supported the popular vote, I suppose with her limited support of idiot face Harper's chance to salvage the government that he put in extreme danger with his nasty partisanship to Her Majesty's Loyal (and not so loyal) Opposition. Look, I supported the Liberal/NDP/BQ initiative to oust Harper but, in hindsight, Her Excellency executed her role as Governor General with deftness and an understanding of the reality of the situation.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/article726676.ece


8. Michael Jackson's death. You know, I just don't know what to say about this. The man was so damned talented and so damned lost. I guess I have to reduce him to he level of Marilyn Monroe or Princess Diane, a person who could not stand the thought of being anything other than an icon and so they ended their life, intentionally or otherwise, in a manner that assured then would remain one.

Rather than give you an article on his death, I would rather give you, in line with his clear wishes, a testament to his talent:




7. Relaunch of Star Trek. Good lord, I have been following this show since 1967 - what can I say, I love it! Watching J. J. Abrams Star Trek was one of the top moments of my year and I have the unique experience of viewing both the Canadian and Nigerian premiers! The trailer says it all!



6. Final one for this post... Death Panels. Cousins to the south, you are being lied to! Comprehensive, single payer health care allows Canadians to live longer than you do and pay less for the privilege. Hey, ask Jack Bauer! Kiefer Sutherland is Canadian and his Grandfather invented the Canadian Health Care System:



Stay tuned, part 2 to follow in a couple of days!

Paul

Evil is Hot!

Hi everyone,

The boys, the WGG and I went to see Toxic Avenger, The Musical on Friday night. What a hoot! The play has a very simple theme - nerdy boy meets blind girl, boy decides to clean up toxic waste in town, is brutalized by some bullies and thrown into said waste, emerges as mutant superhero and ultimately save the day and wins the blind girl's affection.

This thing has a cast of five and about 20 separate roles, two characters "the White Dude" and "the Black Dude" play most of those characters, male and female. Here is one scene from the play on YouTube.






My advice: take in the show! It is not expensive and it is a great night at the theater!


This evening we went down to Nathan Phillips Square to do some shopping and check out the Christmas lights - follows a picture of my three favorite people and some really beautiful lights.

















And so we head into the last five days before Christmas. It is going to be a busy couple of weeks. I have meetings almost every day this week as well as afternoon and evening events. Then we get into Christmas and that is always a busy time. We will be visiting the WGG's family in Edmonton from the 28th to the 30th and then spending New Years eve at home. I am running the Resolution Run in Aurora on the 31st and then heading off to Yellowknife on the 10th. Followed by Lagos upon my return.

Ah, life never seems to slow down much. Oh well!

In any case, will update this blog sometime before Christmas. Stay tuned....


Paul

A couple of great articles...

Hi gang,

I came across a really interesting article on MSNBC on the top 50 scientific discoveries over the past 50 years. The interesting aspect of this is the exponential aspect of knowledge. With respect to the exploration of the solar system, for example, in 1957 we had launched an satellite. By 2007, we were totally dependent on space technology (GPS, Weather Satellites, and Medical monitoring technology).

http://www.casw.org/casw/article/50-science-sagas-50-years

Now, I would put that kind of track some results here from my Christian Fundamentalist friends (and yes, I do have some). Here is the question - you have cholera. I give you two treatment options: Prayer or 350 mg of amoxilyn 3 times a day for 10 days. What are you, oh person who god talks to directly, gonna do? What if you challenge god? Say prove your existence to me, cure me without scientific intervention - you demand that I ignore the vast preponderance of the evidence and deny evolution and the formation of the universe? Prove it to me.

I will gladly help any Christian fundamentalist who wants to take this test. I will monitor the results and will accept God on high, should the evidence support his existence. To date nobody has accepted this offer but I remain in hope.

Now, also on the science front, we have evidence of a world not dissimilar to our own:

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/12/16/2152989.aspx

What kind of world do we live in with such wonders in it! Oh, I forgot, we don't. The Universe is 6000 years old and every bit of evidence to the contrary is an insult to our "faith".

Paul

Listening to "Social Distortian" and otherwise feeling Bliss...

Hi gang,

The WGG and I have had a pretty good weekend, the kids were over yesterday and we took them uptown to the Yonge and Eglinton area of Toronto. They seem to genuinely like my recent move and are having a great time down in the big city. Here is a photo taken yesterday of them and the WGG as we decorated the Christmas Tree.

So we are all going to see the Toxic Avenger next week here in Toronto as a Christmas treat for the boys. It should be a great time.

OK so, now onto the news. First off, let's talk about Copenhagen. My opinion is that the focus here is wrong. Climategate, Global Warming, the wrong terms... Let us talk instead about sustainability. Do you know how much energy the sun dumps onto our planet in a day? Every thing we use for energy comes from that source - coal, oil, solar, wind, geothermal - they are all basically solar in nature. So let's be more efficient in how we get it, avoid the coal/oil middle man! The Picken's plan is still one of the smartest plan's I have heard on sustainability - natural gas for hybrid cars, wind and solar for grid generation, topped up, of course by some nuclear. Make sure you have a smart grid, a progressive taxation policy and a politically enlightened environment and, well, Bob is your Uncle!

Vaccination: http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2295541

Enough said, get the jab and be healthy!

Paul

December Smogsbord.

Hi gang

A bunch of stuff to go over...

I am back in Canada having completed my fifth trip to Nigeria this year and that, of course, included two layovers in Europe (Prague, the UK and Iceland). It has been a good year but I must admit that Nigeria is, as always, a challenge. I want to build the transnational fibre optical network there, it would be such an accomplishment and would so help the people of that fine, but challenged nation. Stay tuned...

Came across a great article on GM foods in today's National Post. Actually it was pointed out to me by the World's Greatest Geophysicist but I agree with it in its entirety. In the words of Marc, the World's Greatest Pig Farmer "we need this technology to feed all humans":

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=2311489

Now, onto other things...

I am tempted to discuss the US Senate debate on health care but keep coming back to the same two lines:

1. Canadians live longer
2. We have lower costs, per capita, for health care than Americans

I could make many other comments but will hold off unless challenged. We also teach science in schools, and our physician base reflects this...

Something on US Afghanistan policy. Tom Freidman makes a great point on taxation policy. War is painful!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Now, understand that I support a huge tax increase for fuel in Canada as well. It encourages a move to a non-carbon based fuel economy. More about that in a later blog.

Well, running out of steam. Should let you know that I am within 15 days of making a decision about the Prague 2010 1/2 Marathon. Lots depends on whether the Nigerians pay their outstanding bill or not by next week. They pay it, I am in Lagos, they don't I have 21.1 km of Prague cobblestones in front of me.

Later!

Paul

Greatest Show on Earth...

Hi guys,

On my way back from Lagos, sitting in Frankfurt airport with way, way, too much time on my hands so I decided to inflict my boredom on my faithful readers, you lucky sods, you...

Am in the middle of reading Richard Dawkin's Greatest Show on Earth. Really good book about the overwhelming evidence for evolution. Here is a link to the book's main web site, I suggest you check it out.

http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5589249912568597380

I had this aquaintence once, bit of a jerk really, who was a Christian Fundamentalist and once commented to me that all one had to do to reject evolution was "look at the evidence" meaning, of course, that it didn't withstand scrutiny. Well, Dave, old fellow, here is my response and if we ever meet again, this may be part of our discussion.

Check this book out, it is a real page turner!

Paul

Nigeria and loving it!

There is very little in this world that I cannot take. I was in the military and learned how to stand for hours on end, do pushups for no reason whatsoever, and be yelled at on a regular basis. Not a problem. I have a pretty good tolerance for things and have the patience of Job. Except for one thing...

Don't have me do nothing. I cannot stand to be bored...

I am sitting here in Lagos with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO!!!

I have tons of work to get done back home but it would be far more efficient to be there to do it. Plus I miss the WGG and my sons like mad!

OK, deep breath...

I start running again this week....

Bye from Lagos.

Paul