Presentation Day

Today we are presenting our blogs in class and what we have learned over the term regarding blogging. It has been an interesting time one of the biggest challenges for me was to find time to write and update the blog at the start of the term. Once I was no longer working full time it was easier to find time to update the blog.

My most interesting blog post and comment would be the post I made on WR-104, interesting because it is an interesting subject and I had a physicist from Bulgaria comment on it

Mighty Casey has Struck Out

There will be no new deal reached by the United States and China over climate change, this is the latest news in a week that has seen more grandstanding then actual action.

China, India along with other developing nations at one boycotted the conference in order to get more commitments out of developed nations, in terms of money to be spent and carbon caps.

China for all its wealth, economic and political clout is considered a developing nation. So the argument they are making is that since the developed nations have been polluting for so long they should bear more of the responsibility for cleaning up green house gases.

Now fine I'll buy the part that Canada should be leading the way in terms of technology development, innovation and implementation. (I don't think we are Stephen!)

But there is no way China and India are going to tell me that, Canada with a population of 33 million produces anywhere near as much pollution as countries with 1.3 billion. Regardless of the fact we’ve been polluting longer.

I suppose however this is why climate change is doomed, nobody wants to make the first step and actually do something. I wonder if in 30 years we won’t be looking back wishing we had done more now

WR-104

WR-104 for those of you who don’t know is a start estimated to be 8000 light years away from the Earth. Why would or should any of us car about a star some 8000 light years away?

Well the reason has to deal with the fact that it is nearing the end of its life span, now when stars start to near the end of their life spans they begin to collapse on themselves forming supernovas. Depending on the size of the star it may be possible for a black hole to form at the center while collapsing.

(Ok so to recap for those not up to date on their astrology here it is in short form WR-104 a large star is nearing the end of its life span, it is large enough that it may form a black hole when it does, oh and it’s 8000 light years away.)

If WR-204 were to form a black hole it would emit a gamma ray burst, which are very focused beams of light which would shoot out from opposite directions. See the picture for a better understanding

Now none of this is really that bad unless you are in the path of one of these bursts and seriously who would want to get in the way of one of these.

Well you see WR-104 rotation is aligned with a 16 degree radius of Earth. Yup, that’s right.

So there is a potential that when WR-104 does explode the beams emitted could be aimed towards the direction of Earth.

If a Gamma-burst were to hit Earth we would not really have any warning as it moves at the speed of light, we would essentially see it and that would be it.

What would be the potential outcome of these beams aimed at Earth, nobody really knows. It wouldn’t be good it could potential create a smog like substance which would block out our Sun and potentially have life altering effects on the food chain.

So that’s why WR-104 is something to worry about, I’m not saying you should be up all night worry about it. But its food for thought and something that is pretty interesting.

P.S. Here’s the kicker, it might have already exploded we just have no way to know about it ;)

Parking

Grrrr,

The parking at my apartment building is horrible. When we moved in the spot we received wasn't the best it is difficult to get in and out of. There is a large tree located at the end of it so this makes it even more difficult to get in and out and I run the risk of hitting the tree pretty much every time I pull in. The company that runs my building CLVgroup has a twitter account so I've decided to twitter about my parking woes and mentioning their twitter account in the hopes I get a response that way, because they have blown me off when I've taken more formal routes of complaint.

So I'm hoping that with the knowledge I've gained from Social Media this year of other success stories people have had in getting their concerns addressed using twitter I've decided to adopt that route in the hopes that my complaint gets fixed.

Goodbye "peace, order and good government"

Canadians are often regarded as being polite, well-mannered, and overall a very nice group of people. We've developed into the 'timbit' nation where many identify Tim Hoton's as a national icon and more can identify with this Canadian tradition then they can with John A. MacDonald.

However, you can push those thoughts aside as the 2010 Olympic Games draw closer. As noted in the following article (Wall Street Journal) with the approach of the games Canadian athletes have begun to talk smack concerning out chances at winning the most medals or taking a large number of gold medals. Much of this talk has stemmed from the fact that the last time Canada held the Olympics we as a nation did not fair that well, not winning a gold medal in either of those to Olympics. To combat this and ensure that 2010 is one of Canada's best medal hauls every, the government has anted up $120 million through the "Own the Podium" campaign designed to raise funding for our athletes.

This money has allowed our athletics to train full time rather than work part-time in order to pay for training and other associated costs. Along with our recent strong performances at the 2009 world championships Canada managed to win those games with an impressive 36 medals. So things are looking pretty positive for us as the games come to Vancouver in 2010. Maybe for once Canada will have a few bragging rights.

Glee

How wonderful is Glee?

For anyone that hasn't see Glee yet, I think you are missing out on a great show that not only provides a healthy dose of enternainment every hour from 9-10 on Wednesday nights. It also in my mind provides some great family orientatied messaging for parents and teens alike. Now don't get me wrong it is no 'Leave It To Beaver" it often has frank dicussions about sex, drug use and other imoral acts. The shows content was actually condemed by several christian groups as being antichristian (Time) While some may be able to find unchristian acts and morals in Glee, where can't you find unchristian acts and morals in today's day and age. All you need to do is take a look at these store fronts. I personally think Glee provides some great lessons on life that everyone could use, from parents reacting to their child coming out, to over coming adversity Glee has a lesson for everyone.

So if you haven't checked it out yet give Glee a try you might be surprized!

White House Crashers

Another pair of reality star hopefuls began their quest last night to become reality tv start when they crashed the White House state dinner being held for the visiting Indian PM. This is now the third most recent attempt by someone to get into a reality TV show. Ok, now I'm all for wanting to get paid money for letting people film me as I go about my normal life and pretend that it is not being scripted (aka The Hills). But doing crazy, wild and foolish things will not get you anywhere and we as a society should not be rewarding people for this type of behavior. From Octomom, The Balloon Boy and now the white house crashers, people are starting to do crazy things in order to get on television and all for what. A chance at fifteen minutes of frame, have we come that far as a society that we value fame and fortune, over helping to improve society not only for ourselves but others as well.