Roberta Bondar, Neurologist, Astronaut.
An article from CBC caught my eye today. Roberta Bondar discusses the future of human space exploration and Canada's role in it.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/space/qa-bondar.html
Anyone out there willing to nominate me for CSA President ;-) Oh nuts, I'd need to be an astronaut first, though, huh? Hmm, have to work on that.
In that vein, I went out to see Comet McNaught last night, which is truly spectacular! Like Hale-Bop, but with a much more intricate tail. Totally awesome. However, since my camera isn't with me, I'll show the picture taken by the Siding Spring Observatory, on 20 Jan. For those of you curious, Siding Spring is in the Warrambungles of NSW, Australia.
It's a pretty awesome comet. And, you won't see it again for 300,000 years, so look closely!
I direct your attention to the new links on the right sidebar to the Union of Concerned Scientists website. In particular, check out the 'Scientific Abuses from A to Z' page and the ExxonMobil Global Warming Report.
A Movie to See.
I've seen it twice now and I feel even more forceful about it after the second viewing... Everyone who reads this blog needs to see the movie 'An Inconvenient Truth'. It details, in shocking fact and scientific reality, the current state of humanity's affect on Earth's climate.
In particular, it dispells the myth that scientists are undecided about whether or not carbon emissions from human activities contribute to global warming. They do, no uncertainty there. If you haven't seen it by the time I see you next, expect to be asked if you'd like to sit down and watch it.
I'll make greenies out of you lot yet ;-) Now turn off the lights, crank the taps shut, and turn down the thermostat by 2 degrees.
Love you all!
Another Wander
Two days after getting back home, I took off again on another trip. There wasn't much internet while I was away, which explains the lack of posting for the last couple of weeks.
The tour went through several mines, taking things like copper, gold, and coal from the ground. All of them were interesting, and certainly very large scale. And what fun to see the processing that makes powdered rock into useable metal.
One of the highlights would have to be the iron smelter in Wollongong. There we saw the inferno that makes iron ore into steel. If you ever get a chance to see steel being made, go. A question though: how powerful a torch is it that will blow through a 1 meter length of 23 centimeter thick solid steel tablet in 2 minutes? Hoo-wah! Hot, though. The way they use recycled steel is pretty nifty: pile the rusty old bits into a bin, then dump it into the smelting pot, mix with plenty of 'clean' liquid iron, blow liquid oxygen into the mix to bring up to temperature (1700 degrees C), brew for 20 minutes, dump off the steel, drain the slag, lather, rinse, repeat. It's just that easy...
And all for 2.3 million dollars in electricity per week.
Anyone out there interested in process engineering?
Anyway, learned a lot on the trip and had fun sifting through the hormones of 38 17-year olds. Back at it now at Uni, but things are going to change. Don't know exactly how yet, but I'll keep you posted.
The 'Increase in Entertainment Factor Package' finally arrived and I can't thank you enough! The pillow case was a conversation starter for the whole trip :-) It makes me happy. So was the knitting, but hey, I like to think I'm a bit of an original.
I'm told that my camera is fixed - I toasted to connections to the CCD, which apparently have been replaced. Somehow, I'll get it back, but I haven't figured that out yet. Anyone coming to Aus any time soon?
Miss you lots...
Completely Around the Earth.
I've arrived safely back in Australia after yet another unplanned adventure. The flight out of Calgary was not without it's problems as the crush of post-New Year's bashers dragged their hinies out of bed early enough to completely fill Calgary airport at 0500 on 2 January. I arrived at about 0505, and was just able to make it to my gate for boarding as the last two people slipped past the gate entrance at 0650. Then we waited on the ground for the rest of the people clearing customs and security until about 0730.
Upon arriving in L.A. at 0930, I had about 12 hours to kill until the flight to Aus started off at 2030. I went for a walk around the city near the airport, then got back at about 1615. The scale of operations at LAX is staggering. There are so many airplane movements that two sets of parallel runways cannot get ahead. There was always at least one waiting to go. Massive...
Anyway, I got back to the QANTAS lineup in time to see that my flight was delayed. The information board said delayed until 9:30 AM. AM?!? I thought that surely can't be right. They must mean 9:30 PM.
Nope.
The airplane went mechanical in NZ the night before and wasn't able to takeoff in time for U.S. Customs to be open on arrival. To Qantas' credit, they put us up in the Sheraton, paid for dinner and breakfast, and got us out the next morning. However, they boarded us about an hour late and I didn't get into Melbourne until after midnight. The original time was supposed to be 0925 on the 4th January.
So, that all means that I've flown entirely around the world, but not without delays, in the last 6 weeks. And, my bags didn't even get lost!
Had a wonderful Christmas seeing all of you. Sorry I didn't get to see everyone. Miss you lots. Love y'all!
